Chas Kane · software for aviation fuel contractors
Custom tools for hydrant, tank farm, and Jet-A work
I build software for specialty shops that install and rehab airport fuel systems: double-wall pipe, pits and vaults, EFSO, flush and commission. Sit with your estimator or PM, learn how you actually work, and ship something your crew will use.
Two project slots open this quarter. Fixed scope. You keep the code.
Aviation fuel infrastructure
Who this is for
Hydrant systems, tank farms, Jet-A distribution, and commissioning. Written for specialty contractors in that trade, not construction software in general.
A good fit if
- You install or rehab hydrant pits, HPVs, isolation vaults, double-wall Jet-A, tank farms, or pump and filter skids.
- One or two people still carry most of the pricing and package knowledge in their heads.
- Closeout, as-builts, and fuel-committee paperwork eat more time than they should after the field work is done.
- You already chase authority or fuel-consortium work in Florida or the Southeast.
Probably not if
- You need a full company rollout of HeavyBid, Procore, or Dynamics.
- You want a chat bot bolted onto your existing process with no changes underneath.
- You are looking for software to resell as a product.
Typical buyer
Owner or ops lead in the bid room
Runs a specialty aviation-fuel contractor: hydrant, tank farm, transmission, filtration, EFSO. Roughly mid-market volume, crew that scales with packages, pricing still concentrated in one or two heads.
Wins smaller fuel packages as prime, or hydrant and tank work under a larger JV. Day-to-day tools are usually QuickBooks, Excel, email PDFs, and shared drives.
Looking for someone who can work directly with the estimator and ship in weeks, not a long software sales cycle.
Context from this market
Examples of the work and companies in this lane. Not a client list.
TPA Airside D
Hillsborough County Aviation Authority program with apron and hydrant work under Crisdel, and specialty Jet-A distribution (pits, EFSO, flush and commission) of the kind CEI has been awarded on that field.
Tampa Fuel Committee work
Recurring fuel-farm capital through the committee and its agent: hydrant heads, lids, tank upgrades, pipeline overfill. Smaller packages, lots of documentation.
Shops in the same trade
Meccon, Kinley, CEI, Seneca, and similar fuel specialists. If those names are familiar from bid lists, this page is aimed at you.
Facility operators
Into-plane and tank-farm M&O companies (Allied Aviation and peers). Different org chart, same need for records that match the live system.
Where shops lose time and margin
Aviation fuel work is a small club. Most off-the-shelf software is aimed at someone else.
Pricing from memory
Rod, coatings, trucking, night premiums, badging time. One outdated number on a long pipe run can wipe the margin. Spreadsheets do not catch that for you.
Every bid starts over
Addenda, hold points, committee comments, and last job’s flush notes sit in email. The next package repeats a lot of the same work, but you rebuild it anyway.
Closeout lag
As-builts, test packs, EFSO records, spoil tickets. Field finished Friday; the office is still assembling PDFs while the next IFB is due.
Tools built for someone else
Procore fits GCs. QuickBooks fits the books. Neither is built around hydrant loops, isolation vaults, or how your estimator actually talks through a package.
What I build
Tailored software for your shop. You own what we ship.
Something your estimator can use on a live package: notes and assumptions in plain language, and a way to pull what you did on the last similar job when memory fails.
Drawings, addenda, photos, flush sheets, and change notes in one place the field will open on a phone. Shaped around your packages, not a generic project template.
Past performance, licenses, key people, equipment lists, and fuel-system write-ups kept ready so the next authority IFB is mostly assembly.
Stable screens for the steps you always do. Flexible areas for the odd package. Labels your crew already uses: pit, vault, EFSO, double-wall.
Background
Short version of why a fuel shop would hire me.
Replaced spreadsheet-heavy ops for a services company: custom fields the business defines, permissions, audit log, live updates. Next.js, Supabase, TypeScript.
I can sit with operators and ship a system they keep using.
I design and build physical projects that have to stand, heat, and pass inspection. That background helps when we talk means and methods.
Less time translating trench and pipe talk into software talk.
Built live overlay tools that had to run inside other people’s pages over strict message boundaries. Comfortable working next to legacy software.
We do not need to replace everything you already run.
I have shipped end-to-end work at large companies. For specialty shops I keep the craft and drop the process overhead.
Solid software on a contractor timeline.
Ops platform work with Tash Canter: tashcanter.com. Interactive portfolio: chaskane.com.
How we start
A short path to a yes or a no. Two project slots this quarter.
Bid review (90 minutes)
Bring one recent or live fuel package (redact what you need to). We walk where time and margin slip. You leave with a short written scope, or a clear recommendation to wait.
No charge for specialty fuel shops
Two-week first build
One workflow: bid help, closeout pack, or job file. Hosted where you want. Your data stays yours. Done when your estimator or PM uses it on a real package.
Fixed fee after the review
Continue or stop
Extend what worked, or end there. No long contract required to find out if this helps.
Month to month after that
Common questions
We already have QuickBooks and Excel.
Keep them. I build the job-facing layer; accounting stays in QuickBooks.
Our work is too specialized for outside software people.
That is why generic tools miss. I start from your packet and your language, not a template library.
Could we buy an estimating product instead?
If one fits, buy it. Many are aimed at residential or general takeoff. If your pain is fuel closeout and package knowledge, a small custom build is often cheaper than forcing a mismatch.
We’re smaller than the national fuel contractors.
That is the intended size. Large shops buy enterprise suites. Mid-size specialty shops usually need a focused tool before the person who knows everything retires.
Ready to talk through a package?
If you run hydrant, tank farm, or Jet-A distribution work and a lot of the process still lives in binders and one person's head, that is enough to start. In the review I will say whether a short project is worth doing.
Prefer email? Subject line “fuel review”, and name the airport or package.