Sterling Hornoi, Hornoi Transport – 1959-1972.

Sterling Hornoi is a true entrepreneur at heart. As a young man growing up on a small farm outside Rouleau, Saskatchewan, he was always driven by big dreams and a healthy ambition. The farm life of his childhood impressed upon him certain principles: 

• Treat others how you want to be treated. 

• Do the right thing. 

• If a job is worth doing, it’s worthdoing right.

With those principles ingrained in him, Sterling began his adventure in the trucking industry. He started driving trucks for Hornoi Transport, a company that he and his father, Eddie Hornoi, founded. After those years spent behind the wheel, he recognized that the time had come to take a chance and start his first company, Sterling Truck and Trailer Sales, in 1972. 

During a trip to Ontario to acquire a few used trucks for Sterling Truck and Trailer Sales in the fall of 1973, Sterling made an interesting observation. “There was a rail strike in Canada at the time. I was coming back from Toronto, and I noticed all of the leased equipment, rental trailers on the highway, and I thought rentals would be a good thing to bring to Saskatchewan,” Sterling recalled. As fate would have it, when he returned to Saskatchewan from that trip, a Freuhauf trailer salesman happened to be in town. Sterling purchased his first three rental units for $1,800 down. Hornoi Leasing Ltd. was born.

Sterling and his wife Pat were determined to build their business on the same principles and values they believed in when raising their family of seven children: Integrity and the ‘Golden Rule.’ Pat was involved in the business daily with Sterling, overseeing the books and being the sounding board for Sterling in making business decisions, allowing the company to grow. Two of the Hornoi’s five daughters began working in the business in the early days, as well as Sterling’s youngest of seven kids, his son Shawn. Sterling and Pat’s daughters, Tammy Hoffart and Shannon Hornoi-Ross have been part of the company since the early years. 

In those early years, a handful of staff operated both Hornoi Leasing and Sterling Truck and Trailer Sales under one roof in Regina. This tight-knit group handled every aspect of the business, from answering phones to picking up and delivering equipment to maintaining the equipment. Good work ethic and teamwork in the early stages served the young company well. In those early days, the fleet consisted of 20 trucks and 50 trailers. 

There were challenges in the beginning. We were pioneers in Western Canada in the rental and leasing business, and in Saskatchewan, we were the only company that offered this type of service. Since no one had done it in the province before, there was no ‘blueprint,’ nothing to model the operation after. It was truly an exercise of trial and error. We had to continually evaluate what worked and what didn’t – and make constant adjustments and improvements day by day.

As the trucking industry grew in Saskatchewan, Hornoi Leasing grew right along with it. In 1979, the mining sector in northern Saskatchewan began a rapid expansion. This was an opportunity to extend our reach into Saskatoon, where we opened the second location in the province. By the mid-1980s, the fleet had grown to over 50 trucks and 100 trailers. The environment was wide open for growth from the late 1970s through the late 1990s. A large part of Hornoi Leasing’s success in the early days was being flexible and reacting quickly to customers’ needs. We had to chase the business where industries were growing rapidly and companies’ needs were specialized. When the pipeline grew, we built deck trucks with picker cranes. When the uranium demand took off in the north, it was not uncommon to get a call for 10-20 dry vans or flat decks at any given time. We provided a lot of equipment for the Canadian Armed Forces base in Moose Jaw, hauling trucks, tanks, helicopters, and other types of military equipment. We became very good at finding the right connections and building vital relationships with our equipment suppliers, allowing us to meet increased demand immediately. If there was a demand out there in Saskatchewan, Hornoi Leasing would find a way to meet it. Sterling’s attitude was and still is, “If we can do it, we will do it.” 

We began getting calls from companies with diverse trade backgrounds, looking for all kinds of rental solutions. Often this took an investment of money and time on our part. We had to quickly become well-versed in specialized equipment that was new to our fleet – such as picker cranes, tractors with wet kits, product pumps, detach trailers, and more. Things had grown far beyond simple tractor units or delivery trucks. We were never afraid to invest on behalf of our customers – which created a very strong relationship between us over the years. Our customers relied on us to provide them with what they needed to be successful, and we relied on them just as much. “No” was not a word we used because we never wanted to turn away new business. We couldn’t afford to – so we found a way and stayed committed to our customers.

The business went through many exciting changes over the next few decades. Our people were one of the most important parts of our success over these years. They learned quickly that every interaction with a new customer presented the question, “Can we offer a better solution here?” Many times, the answer lay within their willingness to think outside of the box. This was not only from an equipment perspective but also from how we handled the customer from a service perspective. If a customer asked for something we had never done before, there was no immediate “no” answer. Our team always brought ideas back to management to see if there would be a way we could make something happen for the customer.

Shawn Hornoi, Sterling’s son and the company’s current president, has been a critical factor in the organization’s direction since the late 1980s. Shawn spent his younger years immersed in the business’s daily operations through the leadership of his father, Sterling. Things were much simpler in those days, but our basic principles were always the same. Shawn gained his experience by doing whatever needed to be done – from running equipment back and forth to customers, picking up new equipment across Canada, to maintaining the fleet and managing the small crew that helped the company run smoothly. There was no better way to learn the needs of our customers than carrying the ‘after-hours phone.’ With 24/7 support for our customers, if someone needed a truck at 2 am, Shawn got the phone call. From that moment, the race was on to get that customer back on the road. He knew back then that we were in the business of superior customer service, and that became our standard. It was the best possible training a future president could ever have – starting from the bottom, literally. Sweeping the shop floors and cleaning trucks as a young boy gave him a humble perspective, and his father would have it no other way. He spent countless hours servicing trucks and trailers. There was much to learn in the shop in those years. GMC Trucks with Detroit diesels were the units of choice. Cabovers with ‘Screaming Jimmy’s’ and Dayton wheels provided a wealth of knowledge for the taking. By shadowing a handful of long-time old-school technicians, a person couldn’t help but gain a lot of knowledge. As he grew older, Shawn was a big part of stretching the capabilities of the growing company in those years. This was due to two significant factors. One, he loved the industry as a child, and that passion has never left him. Two, because usually, the extra responsibility of innovative things we did fell on his shoulders. Sterling was the man to give the new idea his blessing and support, and Shawn was the guy who made the idea work. Sterling and Shawn created a successful balance of old-school thinking and new innovative ideas. The possibilities were endless if we were willing to put in the work.

Dedicated logistics became part of our business back in 1987. Since then, we have had a Dedicated Logistics Division offering trucks and drivers to long-time customers all over the province. The division was born in 1987 when a Saskatchewan customer was told by other local trucking companies that it would be impossible to serve their needs due to the number of their locations and how spread out they were all over the province. This customer was told that with hundreds of locations across Saskatchewan, the size of the job and frequency of trailer moves were too much to handle and were not worth their effort. After some strategizing and a lot of planning, we took on the challenge. That original customer is still with us today – going strong.

The Dedicated Logistics Division honed our skills in serving customers in remote locations across Saskatchewan. Our province had opportunities to partner with customers who had work in remote areas. By developing an equipment delivery and mobile maintenance system, we were able to offer high-level customer service that our opposition was not willing to do. Customers could expect 20-50 deck trailers and a small fleet of tractors delivered on-site at the start of a large construction project anywhere in Western Canada. By saving the customer time and money, we became the call year after year – and this arm of our business grew rapidly. It is one of the foundational pieces of our yearly operations today. Each interaction with a new customer presented the question, “Can we offer a solution here?” Again, the answer was often found within our willingness to think outside the box. Of the sheer landscape of our province, work sites at remote locations were a challenging factor in providing equipment and service. We developed our team and methods to offer equipment delivery and on-site servicing anywhere in Saskatchewan. That helped us to grow our business with companies that had job sites in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. This is one of the ways we set ourselves apart from our competition. Literally going the ‘extra mile.’

In 1993, Hornoi Leasing wrote its first full-service lease. This was a completely new option for businesses in Saskatchewan that needed trucks but did not want to be in the trucking business. It was a successful first attempt, and the leasing side began
to grow under Shawn’s management. In 1997, Hornoi Leasing moved to its current location in Regina, expanding its footprint to accommodate the growing fleet. This allowed us to establish a stand-alone maintenance location in 2015 for the fleet providing quicker turn-around times for repairs and maintenance.

In 2000, Hornoi’s Saskatoon location was moved to a new building as well, offering a much larger footprint for the expanding Saskatoon fleet. Today, we operate a fleet of over 855 units that continues to grow.

We were happy to step into Alberta by adding a location in Lloydminster in 2015. One of the driving factors for this expansion was our ability to look after our full-service lease customers who had locations in Alberta and our fleet customers who travelled northern routes between Saskatchewan and Alberta regularly. This expansion also strengthened our rental business by offering Lloydminster customers the convenience of a local rental fleet for their truck and trailer needs. Lloydminster also allowed us an opportunity to grow our equipment line-up with product-pump tractor units. This is an example of how we have supported our dealership, Sterling Truck and Trailer Sales, through our leasing and rental company. We have taken steps to position Volvo truck products in markets where other manufacturers have had a stronghold. At any given time, customers’ trucks would require repair, and we were able to get the Volvo brand into their hands – a ‘try and see’ situation without
a large output of capital on their part. 

Over the last decade, the storage business has been one of the fastest-growing components of our industry. This began years ago by utilizing older trailer units cycled out of the fleet as storage trailers. By adding moveable, on-demand additional storage, we were able to provide a new and valuable service to our customers. This part of the business took off for us. We expanded this to include sea-can storage containers serving residential and commercial customers across the province. After the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the supply chain industry, it became evident that local companies were changing their strategy regarding their own inventory and materials. They began placing orders months in advance to serve their customers without suffering major delays in wait time for stock. By increasing their on-site storage with a simple phone call, they were able to meet their customers’ demands on time rather than waiting on materials to be delivered from their suppliers. Many companies have taken advantage of utilizing our own on-site Hornoi Leasing storage yards and our drivers. Our construction industry customers saved time and money by ordering their building supplies and loading them directly in their designated Hornoi Leasing storage trailers in our storage yard. When they required the materials, they would call us, and within hours, our drivers would shuttle the trailers directly to job sites as needed. By eliminating the step of having materials land at their facility and then procuring storage, etc., we became an important step in the process, which freed up a lot of time and costs for our customers. This allowed them to focus on their own business and jobs rather than trying to manage the storage and transport of
their supplies. 

Diversification has also been a huge part of our success. We have always been willing to adapt and be creative when considering the needs of our customers. We have staff on call 24/7 for emergency rentals. As a member of both NationaLease and Volvo Truck Leasing System, we offer unparalleled support for our customers all over North America. Our range of equipment has grown from the first trucks and trailers in 1973.

A snapshot of what we offer to customers today includes:

• 1-ton Cube Vans

• 1-ton Ambient Temp Trucks

• 5-ton Straight Trucks

• 5-ton Deck Trucks

• 5-ton Reefer Trucks

• Picker Trucks

• Day Cab and Sleeper Tractors

• Wet Kit Tractors

• Product Pump Tractors

• Shunt Units

• Gravel Trucks and Trailers

• Reefer/Heater Trailers

• Dry Vans

• Flat Decks

• Step Decks

• Low Beds

• Detach Low Beds

• Storage Trailers and Containers

• Super B Grain Trailers

Although the years have brought new challenges, such as both local and national rental and leasing competitors moving into our province, our foundation keeps us as strong today as we have ever been. Customer service is the one common thread over the years that has set us apart from the competition next door, as well as competition in North America as a whole. We have had some major national players come into Saskatchewan, but they have never set down deep roots. We believe strongly this is due to our level of service, which they simply cannot compete with.

Due to the continued growth of the business in the past decade, we found it necessary to start up our own Remarketing Division to sell our rental and lease return units. This has become another tool in our toolbox for us to use and has been very successful. The nature of a well-run rental fleet yields trucks and trailers that have been maintained at the highest level, which gives customers in the used market unparalleled confidence when purchasing Hornoi Leasing units. Julie Hornoi heads up the remarketing of our units and has done so for the past several years. Customer service again is crucial in the sales process, and finding the right mix of equipment and financing to complete the sale. We have become known as a source of quality used equipment that demands a premium. All of our units are sold with their complete maintenance history. This is just another avenue for us to build long-term customer relationships. It brings new customers into our buildings and helps us create future rental and lease business with these new customers. We have had customers from coast-to-coast within both Canada and the United States, and these customers come back to purchase their trucks from us year after year as they grow their own fleets.

Throughout our 50 years, our people and customers have been the reason for our success. We have been incredibly blessed to have a tight-knit group of hard-working staff from grassroots industries here in Saskatchewan. Nearly all our long-term staff have come from farming backgrounds and the old-school trucking industry. On the farm, if equipment went down, you had to figure out a way to get things repaired and back in the field. These were the days of hand-bombing loads on dairy runs. Running freight to every small town in Saskatchewan to meet deadlines. In those days, you did not want to let people down in small-town Saskatchewan your word was your bond. Farming and transportation back then awarded a young person a degree in common sense and an undeniable work ethic. Our people bring those principles to work with them daily here at Hornoi. At Hornoi Leasing, there is no ‘upper management.’ There are, however, owners who lead by inspiring the best in our people and have done every facet of the work themselves at one point or another. The shared respect between staff and ownership has been an important part of our growth over these last 50 years. We currently comprise just over 25 staff in our three locations. We have been fortunate to have many long-term staff who have been with us for 20, 30, and 40+ years. Julie has been an integral part of the business since joining in 2012. Julie looks after the marketing and sales of lease and rental returns, along with several other areas, including business development. Together, we truly believe in what we do and are equally committed to caring for our customers and their needs. As Shawn Hornoi states, “Our staff is always willing to go the extra mile for customers. Our motto around the shop
is, ‘We do difficult, but we specialize in the impossible.’”

The leadership and vision Sterling had over 50 years ago as a rental pioneer in Saskatchewan has truly set our path for success today, as it has kept us a strong competitor in the North American leasing and rental market. Shawn adds, “Anyone in this business knows it is a ‘given’ that equipment will break down, and sometimes things go wrong. It’s how you deal with it and the manner in which you look after your customer – that is your reputation at the end of the day.”

We also would like to give thanks to all our customers. Over the years, they have trusted us to partner with them in their business and their growth. The relationships built over a desk or a table at a coffee shop have stood the test of time. We are passionate collaborators with our customers, trying new specs as technology advances, testing new trailer lines, and seeing what we can develop to further their success. These relationships have happened because our customers trust us to do the right things for their interests and to do it with integrity. 

Our hope for the future is that we can continue to expand our presence in this market in the years to come, finding new and innovative ways to serve our customers as the future of our industry changes and grows. We sincerely thank our family, staff, and, most of all, our customers for trusting us over these last 50 years with their lease and rental business. It has been an honour to grow with you, and we look forward to what the future will bring.