DAY 15 - WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU BEFORE YOU START

construction financing

Building team

This text is part of Tetéia’s Building Journal — documenting the process of building a house on the Maraú Peninsula, Bahia.

After understanding the limits — and what was required to get the project approved — as we shared in the previous texts, what emerges is not clarity, but a new layer of questions.

Much of what defines building with a Caixa construction loan in Brazil is only understood in practice — as became clear when certain conditions of the territory proved unavoidable.

Before construction begins, a Caixa engineer visits the site to verify the land and confirm it as collateral.

After that, the process moves into staged measurements. The loan is not released all at once — it is disbursed according to progress.

These measurements are based on photographic records, organized digitally, and supported by a technical professional who translates the construction progress into the format required by the bank.

There is also a specific financial framework. One key document is the PCI (Individual Construction Cost Plan), which defines the percentage weight of each phase of the project. These decisions are closely tied to the territory — as we explored here.

The PCI supports the PLS (Service Progress Report), which tracks what has been completed over time.

With each validated report, Caixa releases a proportional amount of funds. Construction unfolds in cycles: measurement, validation, disbursement, continuation.

And this reinforces something that was already present from the beginning — that the territory came before the house:https://www.teteia.art.br/en/post/day-8-the-territory-came-before-the-house

What we learned through the process

Construction begins with understanding the land. Before design, there is the behavior of the place.

A house requires an entire village to be built.It involves people, knowledge, and presence.

The loan conditions the construction. The pace follows what has been approved.

Not every team is prepared to operate within this system.

The spreadsheet is not a detail.

Technical mediation makes a difference.

Each stage depends on the previous one.

Not everything is visible at the beginning.

This doesn’t replace the process.But it may help you move through it with more clarity.

Other moments of this process are being documented in Tetéia’s Building Journal on Instagram.