APRIL 2014
H
business elite canada
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create a game-changing invention that would
shatter common-sensical approaches and re-
place them with the tools of the future. Bro-
die, a graduate from the Richard Ivey School of
Business at Western University, and Hasegawa,
a Civil Structural Engineer with a degree from
the same school, formed the application in
their final semester of university. Hasegawa,
who worked on site doing concrete restoration
with a company in Winnipeg at the time, was
plagued to see the lack of technology being
used on site, and noted first-hand the frustra-
tions that arise from delayed communication
and the lack of tools available to solve the is-
sue. After six months of in-depth research fol-
lowed by avidly testing the product on close to
$500 million worth of projects, the partners
launched Bridgit, a mobile and web software
to target deficiency management, and are in
the process of getting companies acquainted
with the newly released product.
Bridgit enables construction deficiencies to be
tracked and communicated in real-time. In-
stead of the traditional method of writing a list
by hand of all the deficiencies that exist on site,
and then transcribing this list in excel which is
then emailed out to relevant subcontractors,
the application is designed to snap a photo of
the deficiency, assign it to appropriate subcon-
tractor, tag its location and send out the email
automatically. With the click of a button, the
problem is identified and the double-work is
eliminated.
The 14-month old business has already
launched the iOS software for the iPhone, and
is working to launch the Android version this
Summer. “I see mobile technology taking over
the construction world. Money is both spent
and made on site, and there really aren’t many
software solutions that are tailored to the
workflow on site,” says Brodie who explains
how there is a high demand for the product
and not many alternatives to suit users’ needs.
“We clearly understand the needs of our cus-
tomers and that allows us to build a product
that helps with their overall workflow.”
Brodie and Hasegawa, who were accepted into
the Next 36 Program for Canada’s high impact
individuals of 2013, accredit their new success
