Located in the heart of the city of Aveiro, Ponto Urbano is a company specialized in the construction, development and rehabilitation of high quality developments in prime locations. With a focus on creating, innovating and reaching further in the application of avant-garde and sustainable solutions, Ponto Urbano always ensures accuracy in design and unquestionable quality in construction.
Paulo Martins, founder of Ponto Urbano, has no doubts: being both builder and developer of a house is a great challenge, “an even greater challenge when we talk about a house that we would like to have for ourselves. Nevertheless, we can’t see ourselves doing this job any other way. We always build as if the houses were for us, places where we would be proud to live with our families and where we would welcome our friends. Despite all the work and challenges, the truth is that we feel very proud of everything that we have built.
Looking back at the last five years, the entrepreneur reveals that he is very satisfied with everything that Ponto Urbano has achieved. “The brand has asserted itself in the market, and we now have a portfolio of more than 400 clients, a large number for such a short period of time. I feel that we are at the ideal level, so we should now focus on consolidating our position”, since he believes that it would not be beneficial to continue to grow and explains why: “A large institution cannot take care of the quality that we have, attention and proximity to the client. In a large company it is more difficult for attention to be completely dedicated to the project. In contrast, at Ponto Urbano we bet on differentiated, distinct projects, where a different know-how is required. In addition, we incessantly seek continuous improvement, since we want to offer the best to our clients. This is what motivates us and what we are passionate about. We always build responsibly, so the locations we choose are of excellence.”
Recently Ponto Urbano delivered about 120 apartments, with another 150 still under construction in the Puro Golden and Maximum projects. Paulo Martins reveals that the company is now preparing to continue to invest in Barra and Costa Nova, where it will present innovative solutions to its clients. “We will also move forward with an innovative project in Vagueira, an area that is little recognized by the region itself, which has never been properly explored and used, even though excellent services are available there and there is the added value of being a beach region that is not yet densely populated, allowing, in the summer, all those who live there to enjoy sun and beach days full of tranquility. The two buildings that we are going to build are close to the new marina, a structure that will further enhance the use of the Ria de Aveiro, which I am passionate about. We will promote these new ventures to the four corners of the world and I believe that the success will be resounding, not least because the prices we will charge are not prohibitive.
The pandemic and the war
Questioned about the weight that the pandemic had in the company, Paulo Martins refers that, undoubtedly, it affected Ponto Urbano, especially in what concerns the workforce, since several teams were stopped at different times, due to the fact that one of the elements became infected. “Whenever this happened, the remaining eight people had to stay at home on call. This led to delays in several works that, in the end, meant a year’s delay in relation to the work we had outlined, which meant a loss of capital, since a delay in a work inevitably means an increase in cost. Nevertheless, this cost was not charged to our client.
Once the pandemic was over, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, which led to an exponential increase in the price of many of the raw materials Ponto Urbano works with on a daily basis. “Bearing in mind that the quotations we give to our clients, before a work is awarded, take place well before the actual start of construction, when we were faced with this price differential we chose to bear this difference and scrupulously comply with the price agreed with our clients. None of them paid a cent more as a result of these increases. If, in the past, there were other times when prices went down and customers did not benefit from this decrease, it was not fair that, now, facing the opposite of the situation, our posture was different. Of course, this option required an even more attentive and careful management. We also had to work even harder and look for different solutions. Even so, since we buy most of all the necessary products at the beginning of each project, even though this means a greater financial effort on our part, the prices are set with our suppliers right away. This way of working has meant that the damage resulting from these increases has been more easily absorbed, even though our margins have in some cases been markedly squeezed.
Competition and the Future
As for the existing competition in the market, the entrepreneur assures that it’s not enough to have a beautiful design, a funny façade, an extraordinary 3D project, full of paradisiacal images. “The quality in real estate promotion is related to factors that, in Portugal, continue to be neglected: good structural quality and excellent acoustic and thermal quality, something that is expensive to do. Many companies are still only concerned with what clients can see with the naked eye, something we can’t perceive, once we consider that what’s inside the walls is as or more important than what’s outside. It is this care that I consider as excellent construction and superior quality”.
As for the future of the civil construction sector, the businessman considers that it will necessarily go through prefabricated installations, in steel, concrete, and wood, “since traditional specialists will no longer exist. I believe that, in the medium term, more than 60% of all the construction that will take place in our country will have to be prefabricated. These solutions already exist in other countries, however, they have nothing to do with the architecture, the quality, and the construction performance that the Portuguese are used to. We are a country of excellent architects that will no longer have traditional and quality construction, since nobody will know how to build it”, he concludes.
Message to all clients
“I hope our clients know that they can count on the entire Urban Point team forever. We will always listen to them, we will always solve any problems that arise once the construction is over, and we are always available to continue to surprise them with new products and equipment.”