For many years, construction has been, together with tourism, the source of employment in Spain. But after the real estate bubble, the sector lives today a silent crisis, because qualified hands are missing and the generational relay seems more and more distant. The underlying problem, as Cristian, mason and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience, is the salary: “A good officer who fits you well should charge at least 2,800 euros per month.”
In an interview on the YouTube channel Podcast OfficesCristian has reviewed his career since he started Lampista in Badalona to found his own reform company and explains the “raw reality” of being a mason in 2025.
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He explains that with 20 years he was already autonomous and went from doing water and electricity facilities to lift curtain walls in Barcelona, until the 2008 crisis forced him to stop charging well to move on to a fixed salary of just 1,064 euros. Today he acknowledges that this change saved him from defaults, but forced him to start from scratch
Between the payroll and the reality of the trade
Cristian admits that he pays his officers, according to agreement: “A first -standing officer takes about 1,800 euros clean.” With overtime and some punctual work can reach 2,400 euros. However, the cost for the company is much greater: “I can pay 24 euros per hour, but the worker receives 12. That difference is devouring social security and charges assumed by the company.”
Therefore, many entrepreneurs opt for self -employed, who charge per meter: “An alert can request 14 or 16 euros the square meter and be invoiced with VAT. It is more expensive, but you do not depend on an employee getting bad or not appearing.”
Cristian acknowledges that, despite the numbers, he prefers to have his own team: “If a client gives me the keys of a floor and tells me ‘do it to your liking’, I cannot depend on an autonomous being late or getting off the work. That’s why I keep template, even if it costs me more.”
A physical work and with little reward
The testimony puts on the table one of the great contradictions of the trade, since the physical effort required against the low social and economic assessment. “The officer is taking the task forward, leaves his back and in the end he sees that he charges 100 euros more than a pawn. That burns.”
The problem adds, it is not just salary. The lack of vocation among young people makes it even more difficult to find pawns and assistants who hold the rhythm. “Of the last ten pawns, only one has earned me. Many are more aware of the mobile than of the work. And that demotivates those who really pull the car.”
Reforms, a sector that does not rest
Cristian explains that today his team is mainly dedicated to integral reforms of housing and local. His philosophy is clear and is that “quality and trust.” “We deliver the keys when everything is perfect. I do not take more works than I can cover. I prefer to tell a client to wait three months before failing.”
But it warns that the current model is unsustainable if the work of the mason is not dignified. “We are the ones who make people live in their homes, and yet we are seen as the last link. If the trade is not valued, there will not be a little one who knows how to lift a wall.”