Although civil construction causes serious environmental impacts, it has significant social and economic importance. Its sustainable development is one of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to avoid irreversible environmental damage to future generations. Thus, sustainability should be inserted into the whole life cycle of a building, especially during the construction stage, by managing sustainable projects at construction sites. Using this setting, this descriptive and qualitative study aims at identifying the perceptions about sustainable practice during the construction stage. It presents methodology based on interviews and personal observations at construction sites in Brazil, using nine case studies in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The results from the analyzed construction sites show that sustainable practices are incipient and still unsatisfactory. However, this study also shows that the scenario has changed because of requirements from an increasingly more demanding society which is aware of the environmental impacts caused by this activity.