Blackwood is a construction equipment rental company managing a fleet of around 500 machines deployed across several jobsites at the same time. At this scale, every hour of operation or inactivity has a direct impact on costs and schedules.
Before Hiboo, monitoring relied heavily on estimates or manual exports of telematics data. Checking fuel consumption or understanding why a machine was standing still for long periods took time and rarely led to a view that both Blackwood and the customer could confidently share.
Fuel transparency was particularly sensitive: when customers challenged a fuel line on an invoice, it was difficult to rely on accurate, quickly verifiable data. The risk of ongoing disputes, and even loss of trust, was real.
Beyond fuel, Blackwood also wanted a clearer view of actual jobsite productivity. As James, who oversees the fleet, explains: when a site is running with, say, ten workers and two machines, the team wants to know how many hours those machines are really working each day. Ideally, they should be running for seven to eight hours. When the data only shows one to two hours of operation, that’s a clear signal to investigate and open a conversation with the jobsite.
Blackwood therefore faced a dual challenge:
To address these challenges, Blackwood uses Hiboo to centralize and leverage all its machine data in a single platform. Telematics data from roughly 500 pieces of equipment is aggregated, normalized and made accessible to both internal teams and customers.
With Hiboo, Blackwood can monitor, for each machine and each jobsite, operating hours, idle periods and fuel consumption. The company no longer has to juggle multiple systems or heterogeneous exports: reliable information is available in real time.
When a customer questions a fuel line on an invoice, Blackwood’s teams can now log into Hiboo and immediately check the actual volumes consumed over the period in question. Discussions move away from gut feelings and into the realm of shared, trusted data.
By tracking idle time, Blackwood quickly spots situations where machines are operating far below expected levels. The example of a site with ten workers and two machines showing only one to two hours of activity per day – when seven to eight hours would be expected – becomes the starting point for a constructive discussion with the customer: planning, crew organization, right-sizing the fleet on site, and more.
This ability to “make visible” how machines are used and when they stand idle is especially valuable for major customers like Balfour Beatty, with whom Blackwood shares this data to help fine-tune project delivery.
With Hiboo, every liter billed is backed by precise data from the machines’ telematics systems. When a customer raises a question about fuel, Blackwood’s teams simply check the platform to confirm the actual consumption over the relevant period.
This transparency reduces disputes, speeds up issue resolution and creates a more constructive relationship around billing. Conversations shift from challenging the numbers to optimizing how equipment is used.
Detailed tracking of idle time helps Blackwood and its customers identify inefficiencies on jobsites. When the data shows that a machine is only working one or two hours per day, even though the context (crew size, type of work) would justify seven to eight hours, the teams can:
Hiboo’s data thus becomes a tangible lever to improve jobsite productivity and ensure that every one of the 500 machines in the fleet delivers its full value.
By sharing utilization data with customers like Balfour Beatty, Blackwood goes beyond simply providing machines: the rental company delivers a clear, continuous view of equipment performance on site.
Customers gain concrete insights to track fuel consumption, compare activity across jobsites and make better operational decisions. This level of transparency strengthens trust and positions Blackwood as a performance partner, not just an equipment supplier.
Like Blackwood, rental companies and construction firms can turn their telematics data into a driver of transparency, productivity and trust with their customers. Hiboo helps them centralize, understand and share this information so they can get the most out of every machine on every jobsite.
