3D Configurator for Metal Buildings in Brazil: Selling in Portuguese

In short: A 3D configurator lets a Brazilian manufacturer of steel buildings, precast buildings or prefab homes show each project in 3D, in Portuguese and in reais, and get quote requests with the configuration already built.

A 3D configurator for a Brazilian manufacturer is a web page, in Portuguese, where the customer designs their galpão (the Brazilian word for a metal or industrial building), sees it in 3D while choosing sizes and options, and asks for an orçamento (a quote) with everything defined. It works for a steel galpão, a precast concrete one and a prefab home alike, because each product is a module with its own rules on the same engine.

Why Portuguese, and why it has to be written well

It sounds obvious, but it's worth saying: a buyer in Goiás or Paraná won't use a tool that isn't in their language. And translating isn't enough. In Brazil people say galpão, barracão out in the country, cobertura for the roof, telha for the sheeting, pé-direito for clear height, orçamento for the quote. If the tool uses other words, the customer feels it wasn't made for them.

The Estructuras 3D site and configurators currently run in Spanish and English. A quoting tool for a Brazilian manufacturer gets built in Portuguese as part of the project, with the vocabulary the factory already uses with its customers. The factory reviews the text, since it knows how its buyers talk. More on this in multilingual 3D configurator.

Steel galpões: agribusiness and inland industry

The typical steel galpão buyer is inland: a grower in Mato Grosso who needs to store machinery, a co-op in Paraná, a small manufacturer in the interior of São Paulo or Minas Gerais. They think about width, length, clear height, doors big enough for the combine, and open or closed sides.

The metal building configurator shows all of that: width from 6 to 40 m, length, overhang, pitch, truss or solid-web frames, curved roof, gable or single-slope, open, half-height or enclosed walls, door width and height, walk door, side canopy and colors. In walk mode the grower moves through the building and checks that the machine fits.

What changes the sale most is that the customer shows up with the galpão already designed. The sales rep knows whether it's a 20 × 40 m machinery shed or a 30 × 60 m grain building before calling. I cover that in qualified leads with a 3D quoting tool.

Precast galpões: different rules, same tool

Many Brazilian manufacturers build with precast concrete: columns and beams made at the plant and assembled on site. The rules differ from steel: different possible spans, different spacing, different heights, a different way of pricing.

For the engine, that changes nothing fundamental. Parts are generated from rules instead of being drawn one by one, so a precast module means describing its parts (columns, beams, roof) and its rules. I explain this in parametric rendering. The precast module isn't in the public configurators: it gets built to order for each manufacturer, with its own catalog of parts.

A factory that does both can have both in the same tool, and the customer can compare in 3D how their galpão looks each way.

Prefab homes: the buyer who wants to see their house

In the South, with its tradition of wooden houses, and across the country with prefab homes of every system, the buyer is a family. They don't think about frames; they think about bedrooms, the kitchen, the varanda (porch).

The prefab home configurator has a floor plan editor: drag rooms around, resize them, add bedrooms, move doors and windows, add an upper floor with stairs. Flat concrete, single-slope or gable roof, brick, stone or wood finishes, porch, pool and furniture. In prefab home 3D quoting tool I explain how to sell by models and rooms.

Reais, freight and a very big country

Brazil is huge, and freight matters. Shipping a galpão from a factory in Santa Catarina to Mato Grosso isn't the same as delivering it a hundred kilometers away. Distance-based delivery pricing can be added as part of the custom development; I explain it in calculating delivery in the quote.

Prices go in reais, from a table the factory manages: change the price of steel or telha and every new quote uses that value. They can stay visible to the sales team only, as in the quoting tool I built for EQUIBOX, a horse stable manufacturer in Berazategui, Argentina: the public designs in 3D and the sales rep sees prices, shipping and payment options.

And since so much of Brazilian sales happens on WhatsApp, the quote request can go straight there, with the configuration and an image.

Working with me from Brazil

I'm Facundo Campo, a software developer based in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina. I work remotely in English and Spanish; with a Brazilian manufacturer, meetings run in either of those, and the factory defines and reviews the Portuguese text in the tool. We're on the same clock: Brasília and Buenos Aires share a time zone.

Your factory sends me its catalog, project photos, sample orçamentos and the rules you apply. I put together a first version, send it as a link to test on a computer or phone, and we adjust it over video calls. Day-to-day contact is on WhatsApp or email.

If you want to see how your product would look, try the 3D configurators, read about custom 3D quoting software, or message me on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email facundocampo100@gmail.com. I answer in English and Spanish.

Frequently asked questions

Can the quoting tool be entirely in Portuguese?

Yes. Language is part of the custom development. The text is written with the factory's vocabulary, and the factory reviews it before launch.

Do you speak Portuguese?

I work in English and Spanish. With Brazilian manufacturers, meetings happen in one of those two languages, and the factory defines and reviews the Portuguese in the tool.

Can I configure a precast galpão?

Yes, as a custom module. It isn't in the public configurators: it's built with each factory's parts and rules, on the same engine as the steel building.

Can the customer request the orçamento over WhatsApp?

Yes. The request can go out over WhatsApp with the configuration and an image, as in the EQUIBOX quoting tool.