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The ProBrace: A Faster, Easier, More Accurate Bracing System for Concrete Formworks

Invented by a frustrated general contractor

By Rain Noe - October 18, 2022

in Tools & Craft

Pouring a concrete foundation requires setting up board forms. Typically one drives in stakes behind the boards, or braces them at an angle, to support the walls and keep them plumb and level with one another:

This can be a fiddly process and, as general contractor Aaron George puts it, "pegging and framing is backbreaking work and time-consuming!"

After pouring more than his share of forms, George set out to invent a quicker, easier, more accurate way to install perfectly plumb and level formworks. George subsequently designed the ProBrace and got it into production:

Here's how you set them up. Note the built-in bubble levels:

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George reckons using his ProBrace system yields 80% faster leveling and adjusting, a 50% overall time savings in setting up the forms, accuracy down to the millimeter level, a 60%-75% more efficient breakdown time, and a 70%-90% reduction in waste (no more cutting up timbers to make one-time bracings).

George is apparently selling the system in his home country of New Zealand, but there are no prices listed on the website.

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Anthony Towers

2 years ago

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That looks incredibly expensive.
I can't see it working for cost.
They will be way more expensive than lengths of wood.
It still requires an about of time to set up.
storage, maintenance, its probably not worth it

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Jason Pokines

2 years ago

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Having just had a driveway poured, my first thought was to put the bubble level on a notched dial that you can turn to set what grade incline you want.

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Roly S

2 years ago

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I don't know how long each of those tasks would usually take, but those %'s equate to cutting the time to 1/3 the original. Factor in an hourly rate and reducing materials by 90% and I imagine that a professional builder would see a positive ROI. Most tradies I know can calculate that sort of time/$ stuff in their heads. They'll work out pretty quickly if its viable or not.

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