Listen to contractors.
We start from real paperwork: spec books, drawing sets, vendor quotes and paper timesheets from working crews. If a feature does not match how the job is actually run, we change the feature.
About Chantro
Software built for the people who build.
We believe contractors deserve tools as smart as the work they do.
01Our mission
Technology that respects the trade.
Construction is one of the oldest industries in the world. Plenty of contractors still run big operations on spreadsheets, phone calls and what the crew remembers.
Chantro is our answer: an AI operating system built for contractors. It is not adapted from enterprise software, and it is not a generic project tool with a construction skin. Every feature is designed around how contractors estimate, sell, run and improve their work.
02Why we started
The tools did not fit the work.
We saw a gap. The software available to contractors was one of three things.
- 01
Too heavy to get going.
Enterprise platforms assume an IT department and a long rollout before anyone sees value. Contractors want to be working in it, not configuring it.
- 02
Too generic to know construction.
A general project tool does not know what a spec section, a take-off or a sub bid is, so the contractor does the translating.
- 03
Too disconnected to teach you anything.
One system for estimates, another for tracking, a spreadsheet for budgets and a filing cabinet for lessons. None of them talk to each other, and none of them learn from the last job.
Chantro puts preconstruction, field work and the numbers in one system, so what happens on each job feeds the next estimate.
03How we build
Three habits we do not drop.
Ship small, keep shipping.
Chantro grows in small, finished steps that contractors can use right away, rather than in one big launch that arrives late.
AI that shows its work.
AI should take over the data entry and the re-keying, not the judgment. It shows its sources where it has them, asks before the big changes, and learns only from your own company's history.
How the AI works
04The team
The people behind Chantro.
Leadership
Eric Kruse
Chief Executive Officer
A WVU civil engineer and Marine Corps veteran who founded Kruse Inc. after leading teams in construction, energy and law enforcement.
Shen-Shyang Ho
Chief Technology Officer
Professor of Computer Science at Rowan University, formerly at Caltech/NASA JPL, with over 90 peer-reviewed papers in machine learning.
Founding engineers
The engineers who built the platform from the ground up.
Suraj Bitla
Lead Software Engineer
Shapes Chantro's architecture and engineering direction, and builds its production systems.
Gopi Krishna Patapanchala
Lead LLM Engineer
Shapes Chantro's AI architecture and builds reliable systems on large language models and the cloud.
Rajeshwari Gangoni
Software Engineer
Builds across the frontend and backend, including Chantro's billing and payment workflows.
Come and see what we are building.
Book a demo and we will walk through Chantro with you, or create an account and look around.
Chantro is made by SmartTech ProServe LLC in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.