Concreto, a fourth-generation construction group in Argentina, ran seven active projects from a 10-tab Excel workbook, on a real margin in the single digits.
01The problem
Cost overruns showed up about 30 days after the fact, once someone had consolidated the spreadsheets by hand. The CEO could not answer “are we making or losing money?” without asking three people and waiting for an update.
Payroll was rebuilt from spreadsheets, WhatsApp photos and paper over three full days every two weeks.
02What was built
Work-Smart.ai, an AI consultancy, built a system called Capataz over nine months in four phases, with the first dashboard live within two months.
Capataz is a private AI that reads the firm’s contracts, specifications and cost sheets and answers questions with the source cited. Around it sits a live cost engine that tracks every project’s budget against actual spend.
03How it works
- 01Track every cost
Each cost line is mapped to a job, phase and category, and updated automatically for Argentina’s construction cost index.
- 02Compare budget to actual
A live view shows contract value, costs and deviation by phase for every project.
- 03Flag what slips
Late phases are flagged together with what they cost, such as idle crews and equipment hire.
- 04Answer with sources
Anyone can ask about a contract or cost and get an answer with its source. Capataz flags anything it cannot prove.
04What changed
The CEO now sees every project’s cost and schedule in real time, and the dashboard has replaced the Monday status meetings. Work-Smart.ai reports that finance catches overruns about three weeks earlier.
A payroll total across 24 pay periods, once a full day’s work, takes one click. Concreto now resells Capataz to other builders.
What this could look like for your clients
Your construction and project-based clients often learn about overruns at month end, when the money is already spent. A similar system could show each job’s margin live, so problems are fixed while they are small.