Grace Hur: Enabling Contractors, Brokers, and Dump Truck Drivers in the Construction Industry to Track Their Material Hauls From Start To Finish

HaulR is a mobile and web application-based software that enables contractors, brokers, and dump truck drivers in the construction industry to track their material hauls from start to finish. With our solution, users can automatically capture load times, digitally quantify the material that has been moved throughout the day, and gather immediate insights to exactly where they are in relation to cost and production.

Tell us about yourself?

Hi all! ☺

I was the third overall hire (and the first business hire) at HaulR Logistics. Prior to joining this team in October 2019, I completed my Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, and I jump-started my career with 4+ years of student/user onboarding and engagement experience in both university and corporate settings.

I made the transition into Construction Technology for several reasons: this team, the tangible pain-points in the construction logistics space, and the profound value-add we see in introducing digital solutions to a traditionally paper-based industry.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

First and foremost: Trust the process.

It’s important to have your north star, but to also allow yourself kindness and grace to progress in a non-linear path. As you tread forward, you will uncover new information that will challenge you, complicate your understanding of reality, and even require you to reiterate your plan. Lean into your intuition and don’t be afraid to pivot. Everything you experience, the good and the unplanned, will be an asset to you in one way or another.

What problem does your business solve?

We are laser-focused on ensuring that contractors can retrieve critical insights that are often hidden in the trucking management process.

With the current paper-ticketing system, contractors do not have a firm handle on their material production and costs. Without clearly parsing a dump truck cycle time into impact variables, they can’t optimize productivity across various projects, nor can they reduce carbon emissions from idling trucks. Moreover, the current reliance on paper tickets contributes to trucking downtime, administrative delays, and high margin for error.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

Our founder, Tom Chute, comes with 15+ years experience in the construction industry – starting in the field completing his carpentry apprenticeship and eventually moving into management. Tom has worked for several major contractors in this space including: Kiewit, FTGC Consortium (Dragados, Ledcor, Bell and Van Pile), and B&B Contracting. Through these experiences, he has not only seen and felt the pain-points associated with hauling firsthand, but also has gained an intimate understanding of the complex landscape to overcome the high barriers to product adoption.

What is your magic sauce?

Not only do we differ from our competition by our contractor-centric and project management-primary approach, but we also offer a stand-alone, digital alternative to the paper ticketing process that goes beyond displaying raw data.

In other words, we don’t replace the mountain of paper tickets with a sea of raw data.

Our foundational pillars are project management, full automation, and safety. HaulR passively pulls GPS information and, by utilizing artificial intelligence, it detects travel, idle, load, dump and scale shack events without user input. This technology flags on-field changes, significantly reduces the need for constant monitoring, and enables contractors to implement strategies to combat cycle time inefficiencies.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

In the next five years, we aim to have a dominant presence not only in Canada, but also in the United States. We understand that our solution only tackles a very niche aspect of construction management. As such, we will also continue to build partnerships with larger construction management platforms so our data can contribute to a larger picture. This way, contractors can ultimately experience a streamlined and efficient digital experience.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

The biggest challenge we’ve faced so far – and are still facing – is building and refining a scalable, virtual, and easy onboarding experience for our unique user groups.

Our platform serves many types of users. Within a contracting company, there are project managers, foremen, office administrators, truck dispatchers, and more. After the key members are onboarding to our platform, we also have to ensure all of their connected owner operators (e.g. dump truck drivers) are also signed up on our application and ready to go.

Not all users are familiar with using technology to capture their work contribution. Moreover, there are also language barriers that our support team have to reconcile to deliver effective communication.

This is particularly a rewarding challenge to face because standard customer support practices for SaaS companies (e.g. FAQs on website, Knowledge Articles, In-bound Emails) aren’t typically the most viable options.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

We invite any and all construction groundbreakers – contractors, technology providers, general enthusiasts – to connect with us.

You can reach me (Grace) directly at [email protected].