Propeller Consulting Inc.

Had a fantastic touchpoint with the Surfaice team yesterday - exciting things are in the works! Every project and client interaction teaches us something new, and that’s the beauty of AI in project management: continuous learning, adapting, and improving. Stagnation isn’t an option. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t cut it anymore. Our latest focus? Workflow. Imagine AI agents seamlessly managing your project workflows, optimizing processes, and driving efficiency. What challenges keep you up at night? What would your "living the dream" scenario look like for managing capital projects? Let's chat. #AI #ProjectManagement #Innovation www.propellerconsulting.ca

Great market. Doing your homework to test out new markets, or finding an untouched niche is the key to success for brick and mortar. Let's chat. www.propellerconsulting.ca

Whilst reviewing a draft process proposal for a client we noted they had missed a few key steps. We were told to keep it high level. This was for their client who was about to embark on a network transformation. However, everything budget related was missing - how to establish it, development of prototypes, internal approval process...just to name a few. Money and time are like a see saw. Less of one usually affects the other. High level doesn't mean missing crucial steps. Let's chat. www.propellerconsulting.ca

I had a great conversation today with an experienced leader in construction. We discussed the worrying trend of companies only looking at the bottom line. By focusing solely on the budget, not having the right people around the table, not asking the right and required questions of contractors/consultants, companies run a significant risk in budget overruns and poor quality work. Expertise, experience, attention to detail, and time all add to a better project outcome. If projects aren't turning out as planned, there is something amiss in the process. We understand, the current environment is all about the numbers. Everyone is trying to beat out competitors to get the job which seemingly is a good thing for clients. Buyer beware more than ever. Make sure you are getting what you designed, what you expect and for the amount you are hoping for. Let's chat. www.propellerconsulting.ca

In design and construction, there are a ton of moving parts and people involved. Every project impacts different teams in different ways, but it's usually the execution team that feels the weight of stalled decisions, extra approvals, and constant changes. One small tweak to speed up the approval process saved the execution team up to two months of their project schedule. By bringing the right people into the conversation — finance, construction, and the capital meeting teams — we were able to challenge the status quo. The bottleneck? Waiting for physical signatures from approving parties. We changed that. Now, project budgets are loaded within 48 hours of approval. That's what we call a win-win. Let's talk. www.propellerconsulting.ca

In design and construction, there are a ton of moving parts and people involved. Every project impacts different teams in different ways, but it's usually the execution team that feels the weight of stalled decisions, extra approvals, and constant changes. One small tweak to speed up the approval process saved the execution team up to two months of their project schedule. By bringing the right people into the conversation — finance, construction, and the capital meeting teams — we were able to challenge the status quo. The bottleneck? Waiting for physical signatures from approving parties. We changed that. Now, project budgets are loaded within 48 hours of approval. That's what we call a win-win. Let's talk. www.propellerconsulting.ca

Complacency. Runs rampant in the design and construction fields. This combined with the fear of new or unknown, change, and not wanting to disrupt a tried process. With all the changes in the world, shifting consumer shopping habits, WFH, RTO, vast vacation rental options - one would think this should push us to innovate, truly create, design, listen and inspire. There's a call to true design that is coming to play. Whether we choose to embrace it or not. It is taking us back to our roots. Designing for use, designing for the end user, designing for people. Ask yourself, is your team truly designing to their true potential? Are you bringing out that potential? Let's chat. www.propellerconsulting.ca

AI in design and construction? As much as we think what we do can't be done by AI, we need to rethink how we think. It's not a matter of what we do, but how we do it. What can AI help with? Before email, we spent more time drawing, designing, doing site visits, site meetings and overall problem solving. Technology has given us a pipeline to do a number of things faster and easier, why wouldn't AI do the same? AI, as all technology, when used for things that benefit, things that help make life easier, is a great tool. Companies like Surfaice are leaning into that hard. Repetitive tasks can be managed by AI, giving you more time on the site, building relationships, and actually enjoying your job versus being over loaded with administrative tasks. Will you be disrupted or a disrupter? Let's chat. Check out https://surfaice.pro/

If you've diagnosed a problem and then call in a consultant to help, you're already too late. The purpose of reaching out to an SME is to have them come in and talk to you and your team. Talk to them about your successes, pain points, things that are ok but could be better, etc. It's always better to get ahead of the problem. Ahead of your competition. Ahead of the game. You'll either find out that everything is good to go, or you'll unravel something before it unravels you. Your budget and capital plan will thank you for it. So will your team. Talk to us. www.propellerconsulting.ca

Let's talk budget. How does your company go about putting together one for your capital projects? Do you have a baseline to work from? Or do you pick a thumb suck number? You'd be surprised how many go with the latter... When you've got a big capital budget to spend over time, you really need to count your pennies as best you can. 1. Use past projects of similar scope (keywords, SIMILAR SCOPE) to get an idea of cost per square foot 2. Talk to construction experts who've done similar projects to help you get an idea of what costs might look like 3. Hire an estimator or estimating team to assist with the due diligence you need (trust us, you need it) 4. When in doubt, prototype. The one most dreaded thing that most companies don't want to do. Why? Because it takes away valuable time. Risk? A LOT of money if you don't do it. No one said you need to do a full blown model of what you need, but figure out what you can do within a dark site to help you understand complex construction details, ensure end users are truly happy with layout and functionality of the space, and your construction team gets to play. All of it leads to a much better idea on budget than you started with. The trick is convincing upper level management that you need to prototype when you have no baseline to source from. We've talked about prototyping before and we'll do it again. Another trick, set a budget for the next year's capital plan. Then go for capital in the year the project is to start, again, with a full business case. It will factor in inflation, site issues, changes in the market, design etc. As they say, measure twice, cut once. Let's talk.