Cloud-based deficiency management software
By: Mudeeha Yousaf
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The days of delayed communication are coming to a halt with the making of new technologies that bridge this lapse. The construction world is, more so than ever, willing to trade in traditional methods of conceptualization for more efficient procedures that delegate information from the worksite at a faster pace. It is with this notion of enriched communication that birthed Bridgit – a Waterloo-based business that recently launched deficiency management software aiming to respond to issues of miscommunications on construction sites. Through the eyes of its makers Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Hasegawa, Bridgit will serve as a cloud-based communication platform set to redefine the construction industry.
The inspiration for the intuitive tool was sparked by the duo’s entrepreneurial search to create a game-changing invention that would shatter common-sensical approaches and replace them with the tools of the future. Brodie, 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 frustrations that arise from delayed communication and the lack of tools available to solve the issue. After six months of in-depth research followed 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. Instead 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 subcontractor, 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 customers 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 to their group of motivated project managers and site supervisors that strive to better the industry and its participants. It is through this support from their internal team, as well as industry leaders such as McKay-Cocker Construction Ltd. who were one of their beta testers and heavily contributed to its growth, that Bridgit is gaining industry traction. “We want to change the way communication happens on site by making it more suitable for those crew members constantly on the go, and making it known that writing on a desktop computer or by hand is just not practical,” advocates Brodie.
Placing 2nd for the Accelerator Graduate of the Year Award, Bridgit is working to get the Canadian market on board with the application and the unlimited potential that this will bring.
For more information on Bridgit, visit www.gobridgit.com
