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Firm profile
Cascadia Architects is a Victoria-based architecture and interior design firm delivering thoughtful projects guided by three core principles: design, building, and community. With 19 team members, they've built their practice around the belief that every project should contribute positively to the community while maintaining the highest design standards. Their holistic approach requires seamless coordination across disciplines and phases for complex, multi-year projects.
Why "Just Get It Done" Nearly Broke a Growing Firm
Jules Chenowith had a problem. Cascadia Architects was growing fast—from 11 to 19 staff in just 12 months—but their systems couldn't keep up.
Jules found herself juggling multiple spreadsheets, dealing with clunky invoicing software, and watching things fall through the cracks. Their accounting system wasn't cloud-based, so she spent hours reformatting exported data just to make sense of their finances.
The firm's approach was simple: architects did the work until it was done, and leadership would figure out the rest later. With complex, multi-year projects, this meant they were blowing budgets regularly. Projects went over without warning, and Jules struggled to give anyone advance notice before they hit budget limits.
"I was struggling to stay ahead of project budget amounts and give warning before we hit our maximums. It was too much for one person to truly handle successfully."–Jules Chenowith, Business Manager, Cascadia Architects
The 3.5-Month Search That Changed Everything
Most architecture firms approach software selection backwards—they look for tools that do everything rather than tools that do their specific work well. Jules knew Cascadia needed something different. This wasn't about finding personal productivity software; she needed a platform that the entire team could adopt without disrupting their creative workflow.
Jules spent three and a half months evaluating options, including running parallel invoicing cycles to test real-world performance. She needed software that understood how architecture firms actually operate: multi-year projects with shifting scopes, complex consultant relationships, and the need for both principals and project managers to see financial health at a glance.
The evaluation revealed a critical insight about team adoption. It wasn't enough for Jules to love the software—she needed 18 architects and designers to embrace it without extensive training sessions or workflow disruptions. Previous tools had failed because they required the team to change how they worked rather than supporting their existing processes.
"Shopping for software is like a full-time job all on its own, especially when it's not just for me. I needed the entire office to buy in and disrupt their workflows for onboarding. I needed to be confident and proficient in how I was using the software so the transition would be smooth."–Jules Chenowith, Business Manager, Cascadia Architects
How 1 Dashboard Replaced 3 Broken Systems
Monograph transformed Cascadia's operations by solving their fundamental problem: disconnected systems that created more work instead of streamlining it. Instead of juggling separate tools for time tracking, project timelines, and invoicing, Jules could finally see everything in one place and make real-time decisions about project health.
The impact was immediate and measurable. Jules cut her administrative time in half while handling significantly more volume as the firm grew. Invoicing that used to take days of back-and-forth now happened with a few clicks. Most importantly, the team could see budget burn rates and project status without waiting for monthly reports, eliminating the surprise conversations with clients about fee overruns.
The integration gave Cascadia something they'd never had: proactive project management. Instead of discovering budget issues during invoicing, they could spot problems early and address them through scope adjustments or timeline changes. This shifted their client relationships from reactive damage control to professional, forward-looking partnership.
"Monograph allowed us to log time and show performance metrics like allocations, logged hours, invoiced hours, and budget status—all in one place. I could easily create invoices based on this data and make decisions about billing. It's pretty awesome."–Jules Chenowith, Business Manager, Cascadia Architects
The 90-Second Answer That Used to Take 90 Minutes
Cascadia discovered something unexpected: better operational tools didn't just save time—they transformed how the team worked together. What started as a solution to Jules's workflow problems became the foundation for a more collaborative, transparent firm culture.
The most visible change happened in their Monday morning meetings. Instead of Jules preparing reports and updating spreadsheets for hours beforehand, the team could see real-time staffing and project data on screen together. Architects who felt overwhelmed could get immediate help from colleagues with lighter workloads. Project managers could spot potential delays before they became client problems.
Even more surprising was how Monograph changed conversations with firm leadership. Instead of spending hours pulling data into digestible Excel reports, Jules could answer principal questions instantly. A simple request about team utilization or project profitability became a two-click conversation rather than an afternoon research project.
"How often I can show my principals an answer when they ask a question. I can say, 'Oh, actually, if you go into Monograph, I can show you right there.' Now I can just stand at their workstation and be like, click, click. There you go. That saves me an hour and a half every time."–Jules Chenowith, Business Manager, Cascadia Architects
Finally, Software That Actually Gets It
Jules had dealt with enough software vendors to know the drill. You explain what you need, they promise they can build it, then you end up paying $180 an hour to essentially do their job for them.
Monograph was different. Jules would think about a problem—like managing vacation requests across Teams and Outlook—and the solution would just appear in the next update. No custom programming. No lengthy implementation. It worked exactly how she'd hoped.
This wasn't luck. Jules realized she'd found software built by people who actually understood how architecture firms work. They didn't need her to explain why time tracking should connect to project budgets or why principals need instant access to utilization reports. They already knew.
"At every step of the way, I feel like Monograph is meeting us and my role. Hey, we have time-off requests now. Hey, we have automatic holiday entries now for stats. Hey, we have staffing that now communicates to your timesheet."–Jules Chenowith, Business Manager, Cascadia Architects
Ready to streamline your operations like Cascadia Architects? Get started with Monograph
