When it comes to building their own houses, many Romanians prefer to do it themselves, or get some friends over to help, rather than hiring professional masons, which are anyway rare, found a recent study by construction materials producer Holcim Romania.

The company found that 42 percent of Romanians prefer to work on their own or with friends on building or repairing their home, while 27 percent call freelance masons. The majority -74 percent - ask around among friends and family when searching for masons. But almost half of the respondents believe masons should have a certification in this area, according to the study carried out by Cult Market Research in January 2014.

The reality in Romania, where much of the workforce in constructions is not qualified, triggered Holcim to launch its newest social responsibility project, the Mason School, said the company’s general manager for Romania François Pétry. Only 5,900 masons currently hold certifications in Romania. Many specialists have left the country in search of higher salaries.

So far, 400 masons were trained under this free program in 2012 and 2013, and some of the graduates already held university degrees in certain fields. Engineers, managers, teachers, photographers and farmers joined the free courses to learn masonry.

The masonry course run by Holcim lasts for six days, and includes 15 hours of theory and 20 of practice, followed by an evaluation. Starting this year, all graduates will receive a certification from the National Qualifications Agency.

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Corina Chirileasa, corina@romania-insider.com