web / Benttree
Benttree is a web-based B2B application designed to automate cost validation in construction billing. It is the flagship product of Project Recapture Inc., a Calgary-based startup founded by three partners aiming to bring digital innovation to the construction industry.
For this project, I worked closely with the CTO and Co-founder, who was also the sole developer on the team at the time. Through continuous collaborative sprints and whiteboard sessions, we defined and refined the MVP scope, which I translated into an intuitive application UI.
Tools
Adobe XD, Photoshop
Team
1 product designer, 1 developer (CTO)
Problem
Many construction projects still rely heavily on manual, paper-based billing reviews. This traditional approach drains excessive time and manual labour while driving up the frequency of billing errors.
In commercial construction, billing errors are compounding and costly—the larger the project, the more catastrophic the financial discrepancy. Construction owners and project managers urgently needed a faster, accurate, and reliable way to validate ongoing costs without combing through piles of paperwork.
Opportunity & Goals
The construction industry was long overdue for a transition away from tedious paper reviews. Benttree set out to eliminate this friction by automating validation from the ground up.
Goal: Increase financial transparency and accountability in construction management by automating cost validation and mitigating costly billing errors.
Objective: Design a streamlined web-based MVP application that translates complex auditing workflows into an intuitive digital experience.
Key Solutions & Results
While the backend automatically flags calculation mismatches and discrepancies, the core design challenge was giving managers full visibility and control to review, monitor, and resolve these issues efficiently. The MVP focused on high-density data clarity across two key interfaces:
Labor Hours & Cost Validation Board
Designed a detailed validation interface that visualizes total hours logged across crews and equipment. Managers can review line-by-line time logs against contractual rates, easily spot calculation mismatches, and make direct inline adjustments before costs are approved.
Dashboard Ideas
Proposed dashboard concepts that provide managers with a clear, high-level summary of costs and labour hours organized by project.
Login Page Ideas
