Executive Summary: Key Legal and Evidentiary Issues

• Scope of the fixed-price contract and whether the allegedly incomplete or defective items were actually included in the original devis.
• Proof that Qualinet had substantially completed the contracted post-disaster reconstruction work justifying the claimed unpaid balance.
• Credibility and sufficiency of the Syndicat’s evidence supporting its set-off claim for completion/rectification costs and alleged overpayments.
• Factual assessment of the alleged deficiencies (painting, mouldings, cleaning, baseboard joints) versus Qualinet’s evidence of completion, repairs and credits.
• Evaluation of the Syndicat’s abuse of process claim based on Qualinet’s initial choice of forum and refusal to consent to transfer.
• Judicial estimation of a modest amount for incomplete work (1 000 $) while rejecting the bulk of the Syndicat’s monetary claims.

Facts of the case

Groupe Belisle Inc., operating as Qualinet, is a contractor specializing in demolition and reconstruction after loss events. It was hired following a major water damage incident on 23 November 2019 in a 188-unit, 13-storey condominium building in Montréal administered by the Syndicat de la copropriété du Rouge Condominiums 6. Qualinet’s mandate covered demolition and reconstruction work in about twenty units and certain common areas, including flooring, kitchen cabinets, wall repairs and common-area restoration, based on a detailed devis accepted by the Syndicat’s insurer and the parties for a lump sum of about 388 772,95 $.
Work began in early 2020 and ended around March 2021. A final invoice dated 24 March 2021 showed a balance of 25 888,03 $. Qualinet then received a partial payment of 12 423,13 $ and granted a credit of 3 405,77 $ for flooring in unit 308, leaving an outstanding balance of about 10 059 $ which Qualinet claimed. According to project manager Maxime Bélisle, only a minor item remained: painting a stairwell (about 205 $), later credited.
The Syndicat was dissatisfied and, in a demand letter of 14 July 2022, listed items it considered incomplete or defective: wall painting in a staircase, changing two spring hinges in unit 1207, installing stained and varnished maple mouldings and painting a door frame in that unit, final cleaning and debris removal, and correcting latex on baseboards in corridors from the 2nd to 12th floors. It obtained a quote from First OnSite to perform this work for 10 055,43 $ and reserved its recourses against Qualinet. Qualinet did not respond; the Syndicat hired First OnSite, which completed the work between September 2022 and August 2023.

Positions of the parties

Qualinet, as plaintiff, sought payment of the outstanding 10 059 $ under the fixed-price contract, arguing that the work billed had been done by March 2021, that only minor items were outstanding and properly credited, and that the Syndicat was wrongly withholding the balance.
The Syndicat, as defendant and plaintiff in reconvention, argued that Qualinet had been overpaid and that certain work remained incomplete or defective. It claimed a right of set-off: 10 055,43 $ for the First OnSite work, plus 4 271,71 $ allegedly paid in excess. In a counterclaim, it also sought 1 149,78 $ in damages for legal costs it said were caused by Qualinet’s initial filing in the regular civil division in Joliette and its refusal to consent to transfer to the Small Claims Division in Montréal.

Key legal and evidentiary questions

The court held that Qualinet bore the burden of proving, on a balance of probabilities, that it had performed the work corresponding to the invoicing and that the remaining balance was correctly calculated. Documentary evidence and testimony persuaded the court that, when work ended in March 2021, the invoicing reflected actual progress and that the net balance after payments and credits was about 10 059 $.
The Syndicat had to prove that the disputed items were within the original devis yet incomplete or defective, justifying set-off, and that it had actually overpaid. Its evidence consisted mainly of the demand letter and First OnSite’s estimate. Qualinet, through vice-president Évelyne Neveu, testified that several listed items (spring hinges, custom mouldings, door-frame painting) were not included in the devis, that the stair painting had already been credited, that debris had not been improperly left, and that baseboard joints had been redone. Similar joint problems reappeared in October 2025, as confirmed by an inspector, suggesting building-related issues rather than unfinished work. The court found that, beyond the credited stair painting, the Syndicat had not convincingly shown that the full 10 055,43 $ of First OnSite work represented contractual obligations left unmet. It likewise found no clear proof of the alleged 4 271,71 $ overpayment.

Court’s analysis and reasoning

The court accepted that Qualinet had substantially completed the contracted work and that the outstanding balance indicated in the March 2021 invoice, after partial payment and credit, was valid. While it recognized that some minor work was not completed, it viewed the Syndicat’s proof regarding the scope and cost of uncompleted or defective items as weak and partly outside the original contract. The First OnSite estimate did not, on its own, establish that all of the listed work had originally been included in the devis or left deficient by Qualinet.
Exercising its discretion, the court fixed a global amount of 1 000 $ as reasonable compensation for non-completed work, without adopting the Syndicat’s 10 055,43 $ figure. The rest of the claimed completion/rectification amount and the alleged overpayment were rejected for lack of evidence. On the counterclaim for 1 149,78 $, the court found that Qualinet, as an employer of more than ten employees, was entitled to proceed in the regular civil division and that neither its initial choice of forum nor its opposition to transfer amounted to an abusive use of the right to litigate. The counterclaim therefore failed.

Outcome and monetary consequences

The court dismissed the Syndicat’s counterclaim and partially granted Qualinet’s main action. After deducting the 1 000 $ it arbitrarily awarded to the Syndicat for incomplete work, it ordered the Syndicat to pay Qualinet 9 059 $ in principal, plus legal interest and the additional indemnity under article 1619 of the Civil Code of Québec from 22 February 2023, the exact amounts of which cannot be determined from the decision since they depend on the applicable rate and payment date. It also ordered the Syndicat to pay 346 $ in court costs. Groupe Belisle Inc. (Qualinet) is thus the successful party, with a total fixed monetary award of 9 059 $ in principal plus 346 $ in costs, for a combined 9 405 $, in addition to unquantified interest and the statutory additional indemnity.