Tremblay & Associés Électrique Inc.
Tremblay & Associés Électrique is technically strong — 22 years of expertise, established GC relationships, licensed field team. The business generates ~$3.2M CAD annually and operates nine concurrent projects.
The core finding is that the business is informationally blind. Budget overruns are discovered after jobs close (too late to act), billing takes 18 days on average after completion (a preventable cash lag), and ~$40–60K in Construction Act holdbacks is at risk of forfeiture due to manual Excel tracking gaps.
The recommended starting point — a real-time job cost dashboard triggered by one weekly update from the foreman — addresses all three critical gaps. QuickBooks stays. The field team changes nothing.
10 axes assessed from the session. Higher = more controlled. Red = immediate action required.
22-year field expertise, LEC licensing (ESA Ontario), long-standing GC trust, quality of execution.
Estimation and quoting, client status updates, project scheduling, financial conversations with GCs.
PO generation, budget burn alerts, billing trigger at 90%, holdback tracking and release notifications.
Three processes creating the most operational pain, financial exposure, or owner load.
Budget vs. actual is only reconciled after project close. On 9 concurrent projects, a single 5% overrun on a $200K job is $10K absorbed silently. This is how the October commercial fit-out loss happened — not an anomaly, a structural gap.
Linda invoices only when Marc explicitly tells her to. Marc forgets because he is already on the next project. At $3.2M annual revenue, this represents ~$160K in receivables perpetually 2–3 weeks further from collection than necessary.
Field, estimators, and admin route all questions through Marc via phone and SMS. This time should be on estimation, GC relationships, and business development. It is not a personality issue — it is a system design issue.
There is no mechanism to detect a project trending over budget during execution. The loss Marc described is a structural outcome of this gap.
Ontario's Construction Act requires 10% holdback on all contracts. At $3.2M, ~$320K is in holdback at any point. Marc estimates $40–60K at risk due to Excel tracking gaps and missed release windows — some already forfeited.
Industry standard for trades billing is ≤5 days after substantial completion. A billing trigger at 90% project completion would cut this to under 3 days without changing Linda's QuickBooks workflow.
Cash decisions — hiring, equipment, slow-season reserves — are made reactively. Marc cannot see cash risk before it becomes urgent.
Every material order, budget question, schedule conflict, and status update flows through Marc personally. ~12 hours per week. This is a bottleneck that makes the business unscalable beyond Marc's personal bandwidth.
- 22-year trade expertise and LEC licensing (ESA Ontario)
- Long-standing GC relationships — repeat business base
- Experienced field team of 12 journeymen
- Established at $3.2M scale with consistent revenue
- Zero real-time project cost visibility
- All information flows through Marc — 12h/week reactive load
- 18-day billing delay — preventable cash lag
- Fully manual 6-step project lifecycle
- Job cost dashboard — profitable projects stay profitable
- Billing automation — $160K+ receivables lag recovered
- Holdback system — $40–60K exposure protected
- Digital reporting = competitive advantage with GCs
- Competitors adopting project management software
- GCs expecting digital project reporting (12–24 months)
- Owner burnout if reactive load continues
- Construction Act holdback windows — non-recoverable if missed
The structural cause of the October loss. Cannot be fixed by working harder — only by changing the information flow.
Every completed project sits unbilled for nearly three weeks. A single trigger at 90% completion eliminates this entirely.
Ontario Construction Act windows are strict and non-negotiable. Excel tracking has already resulted in missed windows. This is an active financial threat.
When no one else has visibility, everyone asks the one person who does. This is a system problem, not a people problem.
Materials ordered by SMS, tracked in a paper binder. No connection to project budget. Cost overruns from materials are invisible until invoices arrive — weeks later.
Job cost dashboard driven by Dave's weekly % update
Dave submits one number per week — percentage complete. System calculates burn rate, flags over-budget projects, gives Marc a live view of all 9 jobs. Dave changes nothing on site.
Automated billing trigger at 90% project completion
When Dave marks 90% complete, Linda gets a notification to invoice. Billing drops from 18 days to under 3. No change to Linda's QuickBooks workflow — only when she invoices, not how.
Holdback register with automated Construction Act alerts
Digital register replaces Excel. Every project's holdback logged with Ontario Act timeline. Alerts fire 30 days before release window expires. Estimated protected exposure: $40–60K in Phase 1.
Real-time job cost dashboard with automated billing trigger
Marc runs nine concurrent projects with no way to see which ones are trending over budget until they close. The commercial fit-out loss is not an exception — it is what happens when execution is strong but information is slow.
The fix is designed around one constraint: Dave cannot be asked to change anything on site. One number per week — percentage complete — is all Dave submits. Everything else is automatic: burn rate calculation, over-budget alerts to Marc, billing trigger to Linda, holdback tracking update.
QuickBooks is not replaced. Linda's invoicing workflow is unchanged — only triggered faster. Simon's estimation Excel connects as a data source, not replaced. The field team is unaffected.
Three focused phases. Each builds on the previous. Do not start Phase 2 before Phase 1 is stable in production.
This report is based on a single guided conversation and reflects information shared during the session. It is a starting point for clarity and prioritization — not a substitute for professional advice.
Financial figures are estimates based on information provided. For accounting, tax, legal, or regulatory matters (including Construction Act compliance), consult licensed professionals. SwiftyX is an independent AI transformation advisor — not an accountant, lawyer, or financial advisor.
This report was produced as a demo using a simulated session. In a real engagement, findings would be validated through follow-up sessions and document review before final recommendations are made.