EP 58 · 2023-06-26 · 2:03:49
From São Paulo to Moncton: Building a 11-Person Design Firm During Atlantic Canada's Labour Shortage | Ep 58
Brazilian-immigrant CEO Arides Cabreira traces a 37-year path from a 12-year-old draughtsman in a São Paulo metallurgical plant to running a 11-person internationally distributed design firm in Moncton — offering a rare outside-in perspective on Atlantic Canada construction.
AC
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:00Sponsor reads — Luminous Labs, Pizant, Procore — Three sponsor announcements before the interview begins.1:22Origins: hired at 12 in a Brazilian metallurgical plant — Cabreira recounts being taken to a job interview at 12 by his late brother, convincing a manager named Jesus to eventually hire him through persistence, and spending six years doing industrial design and early AutoCAD at a metal-shelving manufacturer.8:30Motor Construction and the Volart rotating building — Joins Motor Construction, one of Brazil's largest integrated firms (architecture, concrete, real estate, furniture). Works on the Volart building — a 40hp rotating-floor residential tower inspired by Picasso, completed in 2004. The building later went bankrupt and became a vandalism target.18:20Immigration journey: Brazil → Boston → BC — Explains the decision to leave Brazil, a visa process taking 6-9 months, landing in BC during the worst winter in a decade, adjusting to small-town Kamloops, and working for a design firm that wanted to add construction.30:50Alberta oil sands: Horizon North, modular camps, quality control — Takes a subcontract carpentry-lead role on a 3200-person CNRL camp built by Horizon North. After safety incidents got the sub kicked off site, Cabreira was hired directly as a QC inspector. Covers dry-camp rules, the camp-to-hotel pivot when oil prices crashed.38:00Deciding to come east: Moncton wins the comparison — Friends from the oil sands pitch Atlantic Canada's low housing costs. His wife sees a Brazilian community feature on the news about Moncton. They visit Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton; Moncton's energy wins. They rent first, then buy in Royal Oaks for $230k on a home listed for 3 years.47:50Atlas Structural Systems and the entrepreneurial leap — Joins Atlas as an account manager/designer for engineered wood products. Notices design quality gaps in some incoming projects. Side work grows until he has two full-time jobs. Consults wife, runs Plan B analysis (6 months of revenue secured; framing equipment in garage as fallback), then leaves Atlas with a transparent resignation.58:2046North: structuring the umbrella and first-month explosion — Explains the holding-company structure (design sub, project management sub, future construction sub) for tax and liability reasons. Within one month of going independent: four custom-home clients plus multi-unit apartment commissions (48-unit 6-storey buildings in Miramichi). Hires first employee virtually from Philippines then Brazil.1:10:50Building a globally distributed team of 11 — Walks through each hire: Marjorie (Philippines, US Air Force / UAE projects), Andresa (Brazil, Walmart rollout), Andreessa De Mayo, Janie (Vietnam, French master's degree, hospitals), Barbara, Carla (civil engineer, tallest building in South America). Hiring criterion: team player mindset, not credentials alone. Ukrainian mechanical engineer who worked on Chernobyl new containment structure also joins.1:25:00Modular manufacturing design for US client and 24-hour workflow — 46North designs manufactured homes for a Texas client (5 houses/week production line), including hinge-truss roofs pre-shingled for transport. Uses Philippines time-zone offset to run a 24-hour design relay — NB team works days, Philippines team takes over at night — finishing urgent projects in 3 days. Explains Part 3 vs Part 9 building code licensing limits as the ceiling for growth without a licensed architect partner.1:40:00Growth ambitions, market context, and wrap — Discusses plan to convert to Architecture Firm with a prospective licensed-architect partner (2023-24 goal), Nova Scotia as a target market, a new Ontario developer client wanting 10 multi-res buildings/year across Atlantic Canada, the housing/rental crisis driving demand, and the administration bottleneck that kills most small firms in year 3. Episode closes with sponsor reads.
// THE INTRO
Host Daniel Arsenault sits down with Arides Cabreira, CEO of 46North Group of Companies, who traveled from Moncton to record in Halifax. The episode is a deep founder-journey interview covering Cabreira's origins in southern Brazil (hired illegally at 12 as a designer), his progression through large-scale architecture in Brazil (including working on the Volart rotating building in Curitiba), immigration to Boston then Canada, work as a carpentry lead and quality-control inspector on Alberta oil-sands modular camps for Horizon North, and ultimately the 2020-21 launch of 46North in Moncton. The guest gives a detailed inside view of structuring an umbrella company (design + project management + holdings), hiring a globally-distributed team of architects (Philippines, Brazil, Vietnam, Ukraine) during a labor shortage, and the firm's current work designing modular manufactured homes for US clients. Secondary threads include: NB building-code Part 3 vs Part 9 licensing limits, the 2023 Moncton housing-market surge, the calculation logic behind taking calculated entrepreneurial risk with a Plan B in hand, and a frank assessment of why administration is the hardest part of growing a small design firm. The episode fits the show's 'give the industry a voice' promise well for New Brunswick operators but skews more immigration/global than Halifax-centric.
// THE LESSONS
See all 12 lessons ▸Start with a defined Plan B before taking the entrepreneurial leap — knowing your fallback removes the anxiety that clouds judgment.
“if something goes wrong what can I do takes away the anxiety”
Secure six months of confirmed revenue before leaving employment — it gives you negotiating room and time to hire without panic.
“I have enough job to carry me for six months six months is guaranteed”
Leave previous employers with full transparency and a generous notice period — they become your first referral network.
“I hope you guys support me on that says now sure I understand”
Build a holding-company umbrella from day one so you can add sub-companies, protect family assets, and access better tax brackets as you grow.
“let's build an umbrella so this umbrella we can create sub companies work underneath”
When you cannot find local labour, fish globally — posting internationally produced 20 résumés vs zero locally during a labor shortage.
“I got like about 20 resumes nobody in Canada oh everybody outside Canada”
Hire on attitude and team-player mindset first; technical skills can be taught, but toxic culture destroys a small firm fast.
“they have to have a respect for the team they have to be a team player nobody's better than anybody”
Running a weekly group training session with shared visuals keeps a globally distributed team aligned on local building conventions they didn't learn in their home country.
“we have a group meeting a picture the Google is a silver for all this because we can show pictures”
Use time-zone differences as a production advantage — a 24-hour design relay between NB and Philippines let 46North deliver a 3-day turnaround on urgent manufacturing packages.
“we work in eight hours each day we're working 24 hours on the same project”
Design every component of a manufactured home before production starts — hinge-truss roofs, plug locations, and assembly sequence must be solved on paper before the line runs.
“everything has to be taught before it goes to the production it's not like a custom home”
Understand Canadian building code Part 3 vs Part 9 limits early — the 600m² / 3-storey ceiling defines your business scope until you partner with a licensed architect.
“the footprint of the building cannot be more than 600 square meters and cannot be more than three stars”
Administration is the primary killer of small design firms in year 1-3 — even with great service and clients, neglecting invoicing, proposals, and payroll causes failure.
“it's not because they don't have the service they don't have the client it's the demonstration is the biggest factor for the company to fail”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Story · 6:16
“I got off the bus probably two blocks walking to this company and my leg started shaking”
Story · 10:55
“Anything that you imagine that we use in technology today, he introduced in this building 15, 20 years ago”
Story · 13:00
“The problem with this building, with all the technology that was introduced, the price was over and nobody could afford”
Framework · 14:59
“Today, most houses now they're using these LED lights, each light has a transformer”
Emotional · 21:50
“When I first came to North America I had a feeling that most builders was only two, three storeys”
Hot take · 50:06
“From the second or the third company I worked for, I never thought about money”
Framework · 52:16
“You can take chances, but depends how big is your chance — that can be a calculated risk”
Framework · 58:18
“I always was careful, I didn't want one of my clients to think that I'm overstepping, taking jobs from them”
Framework · 1:04:14
“It's like the paradox of what comes first, the chicken or the egg — do I hire these people now”
Framework · 1:08:59
“When she came over here to do custom homes, the first thing I told her is forget everything you learned in Brazil”
Hot take · 1:22:52
“I can safely say today that I don't have competition — nobody has competition”
Story · 1:29:07
“Because they still have radiation, they built up this team and you can only work 15 minutes”
Hot take · 1:41:21
“Most companies they fail in the first three years, and it's not because they don't have the service”
Framework · 1:44:51
“We have the rental crisis, there's no rental units everywhere, so what happened”
Hot take · 1:59:00
“I had a new client come to the office to do an addition, and this builder told them 130 per square foot”
Emotional · 2:00:20
“One policy that we have in our office: our job does not finish when you pay the last invoice”
All 12 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
✓ VERIFIED
Canadian National Building Code Part 9 limits buildings to 600 m² footprint and 3 storeys — exceeding either threshold requires Part 3 compliance and a licensed architect.
Confirmed across multiple sources including the City of North Vancouver, Thomas Drafting, and Building Code Forum. The 600 m² limit applies to 'building area' (greatest horizontal area of a single storey, not sum of all storeys). The 3-storey cap is also confirmed. This applies nationally; NB follow…
SOURCE ▸// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
46North Group of Companies Inc. ▸Arides CabreiraMoro Construções Civis LTDASuite VollardHorizon North Logistics Inc.Atlas Structural Systems Limited ▸
// PROJECTS NAMED
Suite VollardCNRL 3200-person modular camp (Alberta)Suncor 1200-person modular camp (Alberta)Miramichi 48-unit multi-res buildingsTexas modular manufactured homes (5/week production line)98-unit Massachusetts apartment building (spec, Peter Pittman)
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · vfLBQfFtWxQ