About Rodeio

Born From the Rhythm of the Paver Trade

The Rodo-Rake traces its roots to the pioneering installation crews who helped transform Florida’s paver trade. By the early 1990s, Southeast and Central Florida had become centers of innovation, shaped by skilled Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican crews.

These were business owners and craftspeople who brought experience, competitive spirit, and close-knit training networks to the job. As production housing boomed, installation became a constant pursuit of speed without sacrificing precision: How many square feet can we lay today? This week? That drive for a better process changed the trade.

The Rodeio Takes Shape

Out of that working culture came the Rodeio, or rotary motion. Whether its origin belongs to Brazilian, Guatemalan, or Mexican crews remains a friendly debate, but the technique became part of the craft.

The original rodo is a lightweight, T-shaped aluminum screeding tool used to push, pull, spread, flatten, and screed the bedding sand beneath interlocking pavers. Instead of relying only on pipes and a board like a train running on tracks, installers can work the dumped sand with a more fluid approach.

Once the aggregate is flattened, the installer steadily draws the tool toward their boots while stepping backward, moving around and around the surface in a controlled rhythm. In experienced hands, it is more than a shortcut. It is a practiced skill.

The Community Behind the Craft

The story of paver installation in Florida is inseparable from the immigrant communities who mastered it. As interlocking concrete pavers grew through the late 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, tight-knit crews trained family members, friends, and new installers in a trade that rewards speed, rhythm, and precision.

Brazilian communities concentrated in Broward and Palm Beach counties helped build strong word-of-mouth labor networks. Guatemalan and Mexican crews expanded the skilled workforce further through the housing boom. Today, much of this specialized work is still carried forward by first- and second-generation immigrant owner-operators and subcontractors.

The interlocking paver industry in Florida has deep roots in the specialized craftsmanship of immigrant communities. Emerging in the late 1980s and booming through the 1990s and 2000s, tight-knit crews, particularly from Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico, established a reputation for precision, speed, and mastery of the trade.

Editorial and industry oral history

Carrying the Craft Forward

The Rodo-Rake brings that jobsite knowledge into a purpose-built tool for today’s paver contractors and serious DIYers. Its lightweight aluminum design helps installers spread, level, and screed bedding sand with the fluid control that experienced crews have practiced for decades.

It does not replace the skill of the installer. It helps that skill work more efficiently.

Screed faster. Build flatter. Get off your knees.

Shop the Rodo-Rake