IOWAT: Providing Cemetery Sustainability through Soil Structure Innovation
Reinforced soil structure technology has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past 40 years, with advancements in geosynthetics in the form of geogrids, enabling more stable foundations for constructing sustainable architecture and pavement structures. A common theme of soil structure innovation has been a mindset shift away from concrete, combining geogrids with granular foundation compositions for more cost-effective, less laborious, longer-lasting, and much more stable installation of roads, buildings, culverts, and pathways.
IOWAT, an Eastern Ontario company specializing in soil structure technology, has spent the past decade leading the charge in the transition from concrete to more sustainable geostructural solutions across civil and private construction endeavours. Their business journey is a story of disruption, bringing innovation to traditional markets and, most recently, identifying their product’s market fit in a sector that sorely needs it: cemeteries and monuments.
MonuGrid® – Replacing Concrete for Grave Markers and Monuments
Tradition and convention of the past live at the heart of the cemetery industry. This partially explains why most cemeteries are using methods of installing grave markers and monuments devised over 50 years ago, while construction and soil reinforcement technology have moved on.
Most cemeteries rely solely on concrete as the foundation for their monuments. With the average headstone weighing anywhere from 100 to 400 pounds and monuments ranging in the multiple tonnes, cemetery owners require major foundations to support their structures. A standard installation of a grave marker in Canada requires a four-foot-deep fill of concrete, further compounding the combined weight of the structure and leading to sinking in the earth.
Beyond this, the concrete’s longevity is heavily compromised by water damage as the block has no permeability to enable drainage and is susceptible to frost damage as the change in temperatures through the season erodes and structurally breaks the block. The result, prematurely degraded monuments that are either sinking into the earth or taking on damage from a cracked foundation.
IOWAT is solving this problem with MonuGrid®, their reinforced soil solution specifically designed for the heavy markers and monuments found in cemeteries. Instead of digging a 4-foot hole, MonuGrid works at a depth of approximately 12 inches as a three-dimensional geocell filled with rock granulars. CEO, Pete Charron explains:
“Picture MonuGrid as a specially engineered solution to provide soil reinforcement for the monument. It is a malleable geocell that stabilizes the monument on a bed of permeable granulars. This enables water drainage and the flexibility to withstand the wear and tear of seasonal weather changes.”
Pete describes MonuGrid as a snowshoe for the monument, sitting high enough in the natural soil and spreading the weight to avoid any sinking. The solution adds little to no extra weight to the overall structure, and the design’s use of granules enables voids in the foundation to support frost and water conditions without damaging the integrity of the structure.
Cost-Effective Installation and Enhanced Sustainability
The value of MonuGrid’s improved structural support is coupled by its ease of installation, with upfront savings of 83% on costs and 5.5 hours of labour per marker. Using concrete, an average cemetery monument requires digging four times deeper, plus concrete mixing and filling, and 2-3 days for the foundation to settle, resulting in approximately $320 in costs versus $56 with MonuGrid. This difference in savings becomes further compounded by structural longevity and the massive costs of bringing an excavator to remove and replace cement.
Lowering the Environmental Footprint
By implementing IOWAT’s solutions, cemeteries improve their environmental impact by reducing labour, decreasing reliance on industrial machinery, maintaining their natural landscape, and allowing for proper water drainage. Beyond this, IOWAT’s MonuGrid are made from fully recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE), sourced from single-use plastics like shopping bags that would otherwise be sent to a landfill.
Using LDPE enables MonuGrid’s malleability, a crucial part of its structural integrity underground and a feature that would not be possible using the more brittle synthetic HDPE (high-density polyethylene). The other bonus, their LDPE products will last centuries, turning single-use plastics into a product that will serve its purpose for generations.
IOWAT’s Journey to Market Success and Industry Impact
There were several twists and turns on Pete’s journey shepherding IOWAT to profitability and market takeoff. Coming from a seasoned background in telecommunication sales, Pete entered entrepreneurship by opening a TELUS dealership in 2005.
“Coming from a successful career, I wanted to try my hand at running my own business. By 2010, I became interested in making a difference for the environment and stepping into a new market. I said goodbye to telecommunications and developed my new company IOWAT or ‘IT Once Was a Tire,’” he reflected.
Pete was looking for ways to reuse plastics and worn-out tires in landscaping, like rubber mulch for flower beds. Fast-forward to 2015, the business owner shifted focus to three-dimensional geocells, partnering with a UK Manufacturer to distribute their LDPE solution across North America.
“Bringing the benefits of soil reinforcement structures to Canada and the US’s pavement industry, while also lessening environmental impacts through reusing LDPE materials, resonated with the reason I started IOWAT,” recalled Pete.
In 2015, the IOWAT team was working to educate prospective clients on the benefits of their geocells, which led to the development of ArmorGrid, their increasingly popular solution for pavement structure reinforcement.
Finding the Perfect Use Case
Things really took off when IOWAT zeroed in on the cemetery’s antiquated soil structure system.
“One day we were pitching our solution to a cemetery owner for his parking lot, and they asked if it could work for their monuments. He was going through the same pains as most cemetery owners: sinking markers and heavy excavation and repair costs,” said Pete. “The team looked into it, saw the obvious value, and MonuGrid was born.”
Now, MonuGrid makes up over 90% of IOWAT’s revenue, proving what a strong market fit can do for a small innovative business. Overall, 2024 has seen IOWAT’s best year of growth, with MonuGrid now selling to the 5 biggest cemetery conglomerations in the USA.
Pete is optimistic that IOWAT is on the leading edge of a paradigm shift in the cemetery industry: “As word spreads about the benefits of MonuGrid, clients are coming to us. We had one company from Texas call because they were told by the cemetery they had to use our product if they were going to install their monument on the grounds.”
Growing to Meet the Needs of Cemetery Owners
Not ones to sit on their laurels, the IOWAT team are developing their solutions to match the needs of today’s cemeteries, including the new MonuGrid+ that is specifically designed to support the popular flat markers for cremated loved ones that use bronze on granite and have a built-in vase.
Pete is also looking to find ways to support the restrictive business structure of cemeteries and the burden of care on families for memorials. “Cemeteries don’t have coverage for the memorials, while families or later generations may not have the incentive or finances to repair damages. This leads to degrading cemeteries and a lack of dignity for our past generations and deceased loved ones. Though MonuGrid reduces the financial burden of care, there needs to be a shift in mindset and business modelling to support the sustainability of cemeteries.”
Pete did not give details on his plan to roll out a disruptive financial model to the industry, but asked us to stay tuned, hinting that the savings from using geogrids could be the catalyst needed to enable cemetery and memorial sustainability.
Finding Support at Launch Lab
Pete began leveraging Launch Lab’s services in 2015, looking to understand the funding opportunities available and validate the potential in IOWAT’s solutions:
“Working with Launch Lab connected us with seasoned entrepreneurs. They helped us penetrate our market with very little capital investment by supporting the sales and marketing side so we could pitch our solution with the confidence that our business model is built for success.”
IOWAT continues to work closely with Launch Lab, taking advantage of the organization’s DLG, or Digital Lead Generators, team. This à-la-carte service includes support for all digital marketing efforts, including social media and search engine ad campaigns, website support, and online media like webinars. Through DLG, IOWAT is amplifying their success, reaching new customers, and growing their digital footprint.
Growing Your Business to the Market Fit
IOWAT’s path has been anything but straightforward, pivoting on its technology to soil grids and then finding a surprise market fit in cemeteries, but as Pete will tell you, a business owner should not expect their company’s journey to be devoid of curveballs.
“You have to be ready to face changes that come quicker than you think. Pivot quickly, and don’t beat on a locked door. Once we identified a problem that is affecting everyone in an industry, we knew we could help reshape it in a way that helps our clients while at the same time staying true to IOWAT’s original goal of making a positive impact on the environment.”
This customer-centric and market validation approach is a great indication of how a small business can use established technology to revolutionize a sector in need of new solutions. Pete had this advice for anyone looking to jump into entrepreneurship:
“Be honest about what you are selling and make sure you are helping your clients and society at large with your product or service. Supporting environmental efforts was a driving factor for me, and applying this technology to uplift cemeteries and the memorials of our deceased loved ones doubles my inspiration to grow IOWAT.”
