Snow SOI Research

Compared to 2005 State of the Industry data, the number of snow-only firms has shifted slightly in the last decade, increasing roughly 6 percent. According to the numbers, it would seem that a number of landscape firms offering snow and ice management services (73 percent in 2005) have shifted to snow-only operations. The number of other allied firms conducting winter maintenance has stayed roughly the same.

Service Make-up

Cause and effect

Low-ball contractors, salt prices, insurance costs and the overall mental and physical stress of working an aggressive winter fueled snow fighters' anxiety during winter 2014-15.

On the flip side, respondents reported that fuel prices, consumer/client confidence and the number of workable plowing and deicing events (for better or for worse) all had a positive impact on their winter operations.

Methodology/How we conducted the research
In April, Lawn & Landscape's sister publication, Snow magazine, conducted its 2015 State of the Industry research by sending out a survey via SurveyMonkey to its circulation list. More than 500 professional snow and ice managers from the United States and Canada responded to the survey. In addition, Snow magazine interviewed additional professional snow and ice managers to gain first-hand insights on the challenges and trends from winter 2014-15.

Roads to growth

Looking to the immediate and near future, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of respondents expect to experience growth from winter services. That’s a pretty impressive and optimistic outlook by a good portion of the industry.
But how will a lot of this growth be achieved? Some of the data to the right may provide a glimpse at how snow fighters expect to accomplish growth over the next five years. For starters, respondents expect to seek out educational opportunities to run more efficient operations. Likewise, nearly half will invest in technology to streamline (and presumably make more efficient) their operations.

Finally, while the majority of respondents believe snow and ice management will become a more critical component to their bottom lines, only a small group (12 percent) expect to join the existing 10 percent as snow-only companies. However, consider the fact that, if that projection holds true, then within the next half decade, nearly a quarter of snowfighters will be snow-only operations.