The verdict in three sentences
Dispatching 40 trucks by phone and whiteboard is expensive in wasted kilometres and risky during an inspection, because waste tracking documents are incomplete. Custom route software with optimisation, digital manifests, weighing and a customer portal costs roughly 120,000 to 260,000 CAD and ships in 4 to 6 months. With 15 to 25% fewer kilometres, payback often comes in under two years on fuel and maintenance alone.
The hidden cost of dispatching by phone
Julie runs an industrial waste collection company in Montréal-Est, near the refinery and port belt. Her fleet has 40 trucks (front loaders, roll-offs, vacuum tankers for used oil) serving 900 clients: food plants, machine shops, printers, private clinics. Every morning two dispatchers call drivers, reshuffle routes around urgent requests and log pickups in notebooks.
The outcome: trucks crossing paths on Notre-Dame Street, half-full containers emptied, clients calling back for missed pickups, and paper manifests signed at the end of the day and sometimes lost. Yet Québec's Regulation respecting hazardous materials, under the Environment Quality Act, requires tracking from generator to treatment facility, and the ministry of the environment (MELCCFP) can audit those records. A missing manifest is a costly finding.
| Indicator | Current setup (phone, paper) | With route software |
|---|---|---|
| Kilometres per truck per day | 180 to 220 km | 140 to 175 km (15 to 25% less) |
| Average container fill rate | 55 to 65% | 75 to 85% |
| Daily planning time | 3 to 4 h for two dispatchers | 45 min with human validation |
| Lost or incomplete manifests | 5 to 8% | under 1% |
| Invoicing delay after pickup | 15 to 30 days | 2 to 5 days |
| Customer complaints per month | 60 to 90 | 15 to 25 |
Modules and their 2026 cost
The system combines a web back office for dispatchers, an offline-capable driver app (coverage drops inside some plants and underground loading docks) and a customer portal, all bilingual French and English as Québec's Charter of the French Language requires French first.
| Module | Key functions | Indicative 2026 cost (CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and contract master | Sites, waste streams, frequencies, rates | 15,000 to 30,000 |
| Route optimisation | Routing, capacity and time window constraints | 35,000 to 80,000 |
| Offline driver app | Daily route, photos, signature, GPS | 25,000 to 50,000 |
| Digital manifests and weighing | Tracking documents, scale integration, traceability | 18,000 to 40,000 |
| Customer portal | Pickup requests, history, certificates | 12,000 to 30,000 |
| Invoicing and dashboards | Per-tonne or per-lift billing, KPIs | 15,000 to 30,000 |
| Total | Delivered in 4 to 6 months | 120,000 to 260,000 |
Add Canadian hosting (about 300 to 900 CAD per month, in line with Québec's Law 25 on personal information), rugged phones for drivers (600 to 1,000 CAD each) and annual maintenance of about 15% of the build cost.
The optimisation module is the hardest part. It must model plant time windows, each vehicle's capacity, heavy-vehicle restrictions in some boroughs, winter road conditions and the order of drops at landfill or treatment sites. Proven routing algorithms do most of the work, but field configuration takes 3 to 4 weeks with the dispatchers.
How to scope the project without overruns
Start with a pilot on 8 to 10 trucks and one waste stream for 6 weeks. Measure kilometres, fill rate and planning time before and after, then roll out to the whole fleet. Require exportable data and delivery of the source code: line-of-business software tied to a single vendor becomes a risk.
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Julie runs the numbers on fuel. Her 40 trucks average 200 km a day, 250 days a year, at 40 litres per 100 km in Québec winters. With diesel around 1.85 CAD per litre in 2026: 40 × 200 × 250 × 0.40 × 1.85 = 1.48 million CAD of fuel a year. A conservative 18% cut in kilometres saves about 266,000 CAD a year.
Fleet managers often estimate tyres and maintenance at a further 0.30 to 0.45 CAD per kilometre, which adds 72,000 to 108,000 CAD of savings. For a 200,000 CAD project, payback arrives in about 7 to 8 months, before counting faster invoicing and reduced compliance risk.
FAQ
Does the app work without mobile coverage?
Yes, the driver app stores the day's route and syncs when coverage returns. A full day of data weighs under 20 MB, photos included.
Can we connect our existing truck scales?
Most recent scale indicators have serial or network outputs. A reading gateway costs roughly 4,000 to 8,000 CAD per site.
How long does driver training take?
Half a day is usually enough, with one screen per step and large buttons. Plan 2 weeks of field support, when 10 to 15% of drivers need help.
Wouldn't an off-the-shelf SaaS be cheaper?
North American route SaaS for haulers costs 50 to 120 CAD per vehicle per month, so 24,000 to 57,600 CAD a year for 40 trucks, and rarely handles Québec manifests natively. Custom wins when manifests and billing rules are specific.
What about paper history?
Teams usually key in the last 12 months of contracts and frequencies, 2 to 3 weeks of work, and archive the rest as scans.
Let's scope your project. Tell us about your fleet, accounts and disposal sites: we design a pilot, then the full rollout over 4 to 6 months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
