Harbaeks Construções, New Danish Builder in Rio

By  Sarah Brown, contributing reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Hailing from Denmark, the Harbaeks Construções e Reformas construction company has recently opened up in Copacabana, offering expatriates and Brazilians an extensive list of building services for their homes and properties. This will be welcome news to those that struggle working with local builders to get renovation projects finished in Rio, on time and as estimated.

Harbaeks Construções e Reformas prides itself on “good quality Danish work” and tells The Rio Times they strive to achieve three key objectives: quality work, on-time delivery and compliance to all agreements.

Christoffer Harbaek is the founder and creator of the business and offers a range of services from brick layering, tiling, plastering and painting, to carpentry, landscaping, concrete work and demolition. He also works with a team of other expatriates that specialize in plumbing and electrics, adding to the already impressive portfolio of available services.

“There are other expats here in Rio that I team up with time to time”, says Harbaek when asked about his team of workers. “It’s nice to work with people that have the same kind of mindset as yourself. We help each other out” he adds.

Harbaek’s career started early and has always been grounded in construction. “The first time I worked in construction was when I was fifteen years-old in an old company in my home town”, he shares. From there, Harbaek went on a four-year journey between construction studies and related work experience that taught him valuable knowledge of brick layering, tiling and roofing.

His work also took him to Australia where he spent one year mastering the art of tiling, before returning to Denmark with substantial expertise in his field and built up his construction experience there, before eventually making his move to Rio.

“I learned a lot of new, different things that made me the builder I am today: honest, hard working, straight forward and always wanting to try something new to expand my performance”, Harbaek describes himself to The Rio Times. “People call me a perfectionist but I just think it is about putting some heart, effort, honor and time into it and it will come out great.”

Based in Copacabana, Harbaeks Construções e Reformas works in various parts of the city, including a recent project in Barra de Guaratiba. Some of the most asked for requests are for big wooden beams, brickwork and concrete, yet “the most popular request so far is tiling on walls, floors, whole bathrooms, kitchens and so on. To my luck, Brazilians love to have tiles everywhere” jokes Harbaek. He adds this is largely due to high costs of wooden flooring pushing preference to towards tiling, as well as general popularity.

So far, the company has received only positive feedback and has had no complaints. This is due to the quality work on offer as well as Harbaek’s professional philosophy. “I am a man of my word,” he promises. “I have a policy that if something is not made right or breaks for whatever reason, I will fix it for free.” He adds, “Nobody is perfect. But you need to try to be.”

Visit Harbaeks Construções e Reformas facebook page for photos of the company’s work and as a channel of contact. Alternatively, inquiries of interest can be sent via email at [email protected] or directly to Christoffer on (21) 995305444.