STUMBELBLOC'S revolutionary new product (Patent registered) empowers the everyman to build without specialist skills! House, walls, sheds, soakaways, ponds, and much more can be built with unskilled labour ten times faster than conventional methods. Using its original design, building is as simple as stacking blocks on top of each other whilst retaining high precision margins!

Using STUMBELBLOC'S unique mould set up, hollow core blocks can be created on site within 48 hours with basic manual labour and without external power! This minimiSes transportation costs, production costs, and carbon footprint.

Moreover, local communities can become empowered by creating a local economy based around the manufacturing and construction using such blocks.

Stumbelbloc was invented to give anyone with limited skills and limited means the opportunity to build their own home in a cost effective way.

The interlocking building blocks are made with the unique and innovative Stumbelbloc plastic moulds, which are filled with a concrete mix and left to dry. When removed from the mould, a very accurate hollow core block is created. The unique interlocking shape allows building with great ease and, in conjunction with the glue i.e. thin bed mortar and render (NHBRC approved building method), a very strong, fast and cheap construction method is created.

The material cost for making a standard block is between R 6, 00 and R 8, 00. A significant consideration is the saving on the cost of transport of normal blocks at R 3, 00 per 100 km. The additional labour cost varies from area to area. Stumbelbloc can be manufactured on site thereby saving money and creating work on site.

SABS block strength requirement is 4 MPa per block. The standard block has been tested around 4, 8 MPa. Materials can be varied in accordance with local requirements and the strength required.

An average unskilled labourer can make up to 60 blocks a day using the traditional hand mixing method. With some basic tools and power a small production unit employing four labourers per day can manufacture up to 250 blocks per day.

Stumbelbloc creates employment for a single person and selling his own blocks for a cost of R 15 317,54 per person for the moulds. This is based on 60 moulds, with one person making 30 blocks per day, by hand. In South Africa, the material cost is between R 6, 00 to R 8, 00 per block which could then be sold in rural areas at R 14, 00 or in urban areas for R 18, 00 per block plus transport cost.

This innovative building system requires no lintels instead the blocks are placed, filled with concrete and rebar creating a Stumbelbloc lintel. A structure can be built to roof height in one day and can take full load bearing immediately.

Stumbelbloc has been developed by Andre Esterhuizen. Andre was born and raised in the Western Cape of South Africa. With experience in many different types of construction; from low-cost housing to multimillion-rand private homes. He has encountered all the normal building problems especially those prevailing in South Africa notably low or zero skilled labour and extremes of temperature.

Keen to help the disadvantaged, Andre started to experiment with concrete building blocks that can be produced from moulds at low cost. After three years of extensive experimentation and testing, a suitable mould and block was developed. The block design is unique in that the blocks are interlocking and therefore self-aligning and self-levelling (In a similar way to children’s bricks). The blocks resulting from the moulds can be produced locally and built into structures using low or zero skilled labour and without the use of any external energy source.

The blocks have already been used to build houses, boundary walls, and dwellings with great success. We are now ready to offer Stumbelbloc to the worldwide market. Patents are registered for both the mould and the block. Stumbelbloc is a registered trade name.