In short
Tivoli Projects is a Melbourne builder of high-end residential and commercial projects. In July 2026 owner Alex Booth moved the business onto Foreman, a site management app for small builders. Before that, Tivoli kept site diaries on paper and shared timesheets and photos through a cloud folder and WhatsApp. Within two weeks of switching, the whole crew was logging diaries in Foreman without being reminded. Inductions and safety documents are now in the same place, ready for clients, subcontractors and inspectors.
Meet Alex and Marcelle
Alex Booth
Owner, Tivoli Projects
Alex leads Tivoli Projects. He’s a registered builder with more than ten years in high-end residential and commercial construction, project management and property development. He’s a member of the Master Builders Association of Victoria, with commerce and law degrees from the University of Melbourne. He made the call to move Tivoli onto Foreman, and he’s the one who connected it to ChatGPT.
Marcelle Granier
Project Coordinator, Tivoli Projects
Marcelle keeps the office side of every job running. In a normal week she does quantity take-offs and pricing for tenders, prepares construction documents, tests and tags equipment, supports the site teams and checks safety and compliance on site. She also writes the company’s processes, which makes her the person who has to get the crew to follow them.
What was Tivoli using before Foreman?
At the end of each day the crew filled in site diaries on paper. Someone photographed each page and uploaded it to the company’s cloud folder, along with timesheets and site photos. Some of it only ever went through WhatsApp.
“Information wasn’t centralised and it was very hard to search for it,” says Marcelle, Tivoli’s Project Coordinator.
When photos didn’t sync, the office lost the diaries and timesheets that were in them. Inductions and OH&S paperwork were also on paper and rarely recorded. If a client or inspector had asked for proof, it would have been hard to find.
Why did Tivoli switch?
Tivoli was growing, and the old way couldn’t keep up. Alex’s first move was to try to build a tool of his own. Then he looked at what was already available.
“I actually tried building our own system first. When I looked at what else was out there, Foreman was a no-brainer.”
Marcelle had used BuildPass in an earlier job. “It was too formal and not aligned to our company,” she says.
How did Tivoli set Foreman up?
Alex had Tivoli running on Foreman the day he signed up. Foreman runs in the phone’s browser, so the crew didn’t need to install anything. Here’s how the first few months went, from Tivoli’s account.
8 July 2026
Alex opens a Foreman account. The same day he sets up the first job, the first induction is signed and the first site diary is logged.
9 July
The first of the crew joins, and the rest follow.
Late July
Two weeks in, the whole crew is logging diaries without Marcelle chasing them.
6 August
Tivoli moves onto a paid plan.
October
Every Tivoli job runs on Foreman, each with its own diaries, photos, induction register and safety documents.
How long did it take the crew to start using it?
“A couple of the workers grumbled at first, but within two weeks everyone was using it without me chasing.”
For the crew, one diary entry on the phone replaced both the paper diary and the separate timesheet, and photos went straight to the right job.
How does Tivoli use Foreman day to day?
Tivoli runs its jobs with its own builders and carpenters plus a network of subcontractors. At the end of each day, each of the crew logs a diary entry for the job they worked on, with their hours. Tivoli has Foreman set to record hours in the site diary, so the diary is the timesheet as well. Site photos are taken in the app and saved with the job.
New workers and visitors sign the site induction in Foreman, which keeps a register for each job. Plans, safety documents and other project files sit with the job as well, so whoever is on site can open them on a phone. The crew fill in safety forms in the app, and Alex uses ChatGPT to pull answers out of all of it.
What’s different now?
All of Tivoli’s project documents are in Foreman: plans, site diaries, photos, inductions and safety paperwork. Marcelle has already used it to show plans to clients and subcontractors, and safety documents to a safety inspector, straight from the app.
What has changed most is her week. “I’m not chasing people anymore, and all site information is there if we are audited.”
| Before Foreman | With Foreman | |
|---|---|---|
| Site diaries | Filled in on paper, photographed and uploaded to a cloud folder | Logged on the crew’s phones and stored with the job |
| Timesheets | Kept separately and sent to the office | Hours go in the site diary, so the diary is the timesheet |
| Site photos | In the cloud folder or a WhatsApp chat, and lost when they didn’t sync | Taken in Foreman and stored with the job they belong to |
| Inductions and OH&S | On paper and rarely recorded | Signed in Foreman, with a register for each job |
| Finding a record | Very hard to search | Search the job in Foreman, or ask ChatGPT |
| Getting the crew to do it | Marcelle chasing people | The crew does it without reminders |
Asking ChatGPT about any job
Alex has connected ChatGPT to Foreman. He asks it questions in plain English, and it answers from Tivoli’s site records. He uses it to recall what happened on a job and to work out the hours each person worked across sites.
“I just ask ChatGPT. What happened on a job, or how many hours someone worked across all our sites, and it pulls the answer straight out of Foreman.”
Example conversation. You ask how many hours each person worked across all your sites this fortnight. Your AI assistant looks in Foreman's site diaries and answers: Marco 76 hours, Sam 71.5 hours, Lee 64 hours, 211.5 hours in total. You ask what happened at Smith Street last Tuesday, and it summarises that day's three diary entries and photos.
Working with the Foreman team
“The Foreman team is really responsive. They listen to what builders need, and they like working with us on the software.”
What can other small builders take from Tivoli?
- Expect a little grumbling. A couple of Tivoli’s crew grumbled at first, and everyone was using Foreman without reminders inside two weeks.
- Make the new task replace old ones. At Tivoli one diary entry replaced the paper diary and the timesheet.
- Keep records with the job. When diaries, photos, inductions and safety documents live together, an audit or a client question has one place to look.
- Look at what’s already out there. Alex tried building his own tool before he found Foreman.
Marcelle’s advice is shorter:
“I’d recommend signing up for Foreman. It’s user-friendly, and the team will adapt quickly.”