How We Scoped and Priced a Load Board for Boxerloads
Big freight load boards charge small carriers high fees and are built for large operators. A US owner-operator, who went from driving trucks to running a small logistics company, wanted an alternative. He had never commissioned software, and every scope and cost decision was new to him. He needed to know what the platform would take before spending a build budget. Hygge ran product discovery and design: 109 user stories across eight modules, wireframes, UI/UX design and a build estimate. With scope and price in hand, he chose to hold off on development, the call discovery exists to support.
Do You Know What Your Product Will Cost?
If you know the market and have no spec yet, we start with discovery: user stories, wireframes and a number. You decide on the build with the scope and price in hand.
Where a Founder's Idea Stalls Before Software
The founder knew the market from the cab. Turning that into software was new ground.
Load Boards Built for Big Operators
High fees, complicated systems and little room for small carriers.
An Idea Without a Specification
A frustration with the market had to become a product someone could build.
First Software Project
Every decision about scope and cost was unfamiliar to the client.
Budget Before Commitment
The founder needed to know the cost before deciding to build.
The Challenge
The client grew from driving trucks to running a small logistics company. From the inside, he saw that the main freight load boards charge high fees and suit large operators. He wanted an option for carriers like himself. The idea had to become a specified product. The client had never commissioned software, so scope and cost decisions were new to him.
A first-time founder with deep market knowledge and no experience buying software.
Our Solution
Hygge worked out with him what the platform needed to do and wrote a requirements specification. It breaks into 109 user stories across eight modules, with field-level validation rules. Wireframes covered the core flows, and the UI/UX design followed. The team delivered everything on schedule, together with an estimate for the build. With the product specified and costed, the client chose to hold off on development for now. A discovery phase exists to support that call, before a budget is spent.
Paid discovery and design: specification, wireframes, UI/UX and an estimate.
How the Product Discovery Solves It
Each card answers one problem above.
A Board Shaped for Small Carriers
The spec centres on what small carriers need: saved filters, location sharing and chat.
109 User Stories
The idea became stories across eight modules, with field-level validation rules.
Decisions He Could See
Wireframes and designs showed the product before any choice about building it.
A Build Estimate
A build estimate came with the spec and the designs.
What the Specified Platform Covers
The specification describes a two-sided load board for shippers and drivers.
Shipper Load Posting
Origin, destination, time windows, size, cargo type, hazmat or temperature needs, up to ten stops, miles and rate.
Driver Profiles and Trucks
Drivers register truck types from a fixed list and can add more than one truck.
Saved Route Filters
Drivers filter loads by state, date, load type, truck type and rate, and save up to ten presets.
Location Sharing With Opt-Out
Drivers can publish their location for three hours so shippers find free trucks.
Load Statuses and Chat
Loads move through statuses from ready for pickup to delivered, with a chat for text, images and PDFs.
Subscriptions and Admin
Monthly subscription access and an admin panel for users, documents, subscriptions and activity.
What Would Run Without Anyone Pressing a Button
In the specified flow, a few steps take care of themselves.
Booked Loads Leave the Board
Once a driver books a load, it drops off the list for everyone else.
Location Sharing Ends on Its Own
A driver's shared location switches off after three hours.
Statuses Follow the Load
Status updates and chat stay with the load from pickup to delivery.
What the Discovery Delivered
What the founder had in hand when the discovery was done.
User Stories in a Ready Backlog
Specified End to End
Designs and Wireframes Delivered
Before Any Build Budget
The Services Behind Boxerloads
Angular
NestJS
MongoDB
Socket.IO
Stripe
AWS
GitLab CI
FigmaThey are so understanding and quick to help us find a way to solve our problems — pleasantly persistent!
Executive
Boxerloads (AFGL)
How the Discovery Ran
Requirements
Specification
Wireframes
UI/UX Design
Estimate
Industries We Serve
Industries where shippers and carriers need to find each other fast.
Logistics & Warehouse Automation
Operator interfaces for autonomous fleets, industrial integration and systems rebuilt without taking a working site offline.
Solutions Behind Boxerloads
The Hygge solutions this build draws on.
Marketplace Development
A load board where small carriers find freight, specified and costed in discovery.
More Products Hygge Has Shipped
Other systems Hygge built around the way a team already works.
BoardsOnline
A founder paid for a platform reported as done. Engineers checked every feature, and the rebuild started from what worked.
- 3 verdictsFor every feature reported as done
- 6 monthsFrom the audit to a tested, live platform
- 1+ yearOf support after the contract ended
IntellicAIr
A nurse staffing marketplace built around a sealed bidding engine written from scratch. Bids stay hidden until the round closes.
- 1 roundFor a post that waits 78 days to fill
- No nameOn a bid that used to hide a 40 % cut
- 1 inviteBrings a facility's own agencies onboard
NOODLZ
Live auction software for an Irish agency network. Auctions moved off phone calls into one platform with verified bidders and a document vault.
- 1 platformReplaces auctions run outside any system
- 1 vaultReplaces contracts moving between inboxes
- 2+ yearsOf continuous delivery since 2024
PlayFusionLabs CRM
Custom CRM development for a game studio. An agent researches companies, Today lists who to ping, and finance sits in one database.
- ~2 monthsFrom first call to daily use
- 150+Releases since launch
- 1 databaseFor sales, projects and finance
- $0In per-seat licences
Product Discovery: Questions Buyers Ask
Did Hygge build the Boxerloads platform?
What does a product discovery phase produce?
Why run discovery before development?
Which stack was proposed for the load board software?
What did the client say?
Let's Build Something That Matters
We're your one-stop Digital Engineering Partner. Tell us the process, product, or data problem you're trying to solve, and Hygge scopes AI and software work around the business result you need.
Tell Us What You're Building
Share the product, process, or data problem behind the request, along with the systems, data, or timeline the build has to work around.
Get an Audit-Backed Consultation
Hygge reviews the systems and data behind the request, so the first call opens with real specifics on the table.
Receive a Scoped Proposal
A plan with the approach, team, timeline, and cost, built around the business result the project needs to hit.