SNOW REMOVAL: Let it Snow

Snow removal is an alluring business for landscape contractors looking to keep their labor force and equipment from going idle once the temperatures drop and winter’s first flakes begin to fall. In fact, nearly three-quarters of snow fighters are landscape contractors during the warm weather.
 
And as many veteran snow contractors are well aware, the snow and ice removal business is either feast or famine because it all depends on Mother Nature.
 
However, contractors still find ways to turn a winter profit. For example, despite a pair of unseasonably back-to-back warm winters, nearly 45 percent of contractors reported an increase in snow-related revenue during Winter 2006-07, according to research data compiled by GIE Media’s Snow Magazine, one of Lawn & Landscape’s sister publications.
 
So how does a landscape contractor offering snow removal services boost his winter revenue? Whether you’re a seasoned pro or new to the world of snow removal, it’s good practice to establish a solid growth strategy as well as sound operational procedures and business systems to maintain service consistency and improve efficiency even in the leanest of winters.

SMART GROWTH. Ron Hittle’s initial business strategy was to grow his snow operations, The Hittle Snow Co., rapidly and indiscriminately, which coincided with the way the landscape portion of the business, parent company Hittle Landscaping, was expanding.
 
However, this model didn’t serve the snow removal operation as well as it had served the Westfield, Ind.-based company’s landscape operation. As the landscape side produced steady and predictable profits, the company re-examined its snow business.
 
“We were serving a lot of the same clients,” says Jeremy Hittle, vice president, general manager and son,  of the company’s separate landscape and snow removal divisions. “But it was two different worlds.”
 
Geographically, Greater Indianapolis doesn’t see a lot of snow during a typical winter. An average year will dump 27 inches of snow on the region, which translates into between eight and 15 snow events, two or three of which are substantial 4- to 8-inch snowfalls. 
 
Erratic growth gave the company a diverse group of commercial clients, all with varying degrees of snow removal tolerance. To begin managing for smart growth, the focus shifted from indiscriminant growth to acquiring “perfect” customers. While the  perception of the good customer is one who pays on time and doesn’t grip about service, the Hittles raised their standards for who they wanted as clients. “The perfect customer works with us and trusts us to start when we want to and when the time is right,” Ron Hittle says. “They also are willing to pay for the major services required to keep their properties clean – salt, snow removal and sidewalks.”
 
Customers to avoid, the Hittles determined, were those who want to retain the right to decide when services, such as salting and sidewalk cleaning, were performed.
 
Increasingly, local property managers are trying to do much more with much less. Retaining the right to say when snow contractors should plow and salt shaves some costs off of expenditures. Likewise, clients have become increasingly demanding. When they call, managers want  services performed immediately.
 
“It’s just not practical to think we can pull that off so fast on such short notice,” Jeremy Hittle says. “It’s hard to be responsive when you don’t know what to expect from one snowfall to the next.”
 
These are the property managers  Ron Hittle wanted to wash his hands of. “It’s better for everyone involved if we just do it all for the client and we have total control over these services for each event,” he says.
 
Since clients demand faster and better services, the Hittles educate their clients on the long-term value of placing all of the snow removal decisions into their hands. For example, granting them the ability to choose when to salt a property will reduce slip-and-fall accidents. Or, allowing the firm to decide where to pile bulk snow, in the long term, reduces dangerous refreeze conditions.
 
“By educating our clients we try to make their jobs easier,” Ron Hittle says. “If we can gain their trust we can do a more complete job for them, and if we can accomplish that we’ve made their jobs (as property managers) easier because we can provide them cleaner, better looking properties.”

SMART SYSTEMS. Snow Contractor Tom Canete learned the hard way the rigors of poor planning and storm management. Early in his snow fighting career, Canete, owner and president of Canete Snow Removal and Canete Landscape & Garden Center in Wanye, N.J., overextended himself, committing to more jobs than his resources and sub-par systems could possibly handle.
 
“It was a nightmare,” Canete says. “When it snowed it felt like I was out there for days. I knew there had to be a better way to do this.”
 
When he returned to his office, the volume of angry client messages overwhelmed Canete’s answering machine. “It took a lot of years, mistakes and problems to get them to this point,” he says. “But we have our procedures extremely well organized to the point that it all runs like a clock during a snow event.”
 
At the core of Canete’s snow removal system is the philosophy that everyone one on staff plays an instrumental role in managing a storm, both before, during and after the event plays itself out.
 
A few days before a sizable snow storm approaches, Canete’s weather service gives him the heads-up and his crews spring into action. Canete uses this time wisely because solid preparation can take the fight out of a storm.
 
“Every little thing you can think of we’re doing,” Canete says, adding his snow crew consults a master list that details everything to review to prepare for the storm. In addition, drivers and shovel crews are contacted two days prior to an event to make sure they’re ready and healthy for when the snow begins to fall.
 
Joe Porta is Canete’s central command during a snow event. Porta knows nearly every client and is the  point person to troubleshoot their needs during a snow event.
 
Lastly, before the snow event is under way, customer call sheets, containing storm notes and client comments or requests, are distributed to drivers.
 
As soon as three-quarters of an inch of snow accumulates Canete’s trucks are out salting. At 2 inches, Canete’s crews start pushing snow according to their assigned routes. Once a property is clean the driver radios Porta at headquarters with a status report before leaving for the next site.
 
While on site, drivers complete a detailed check list. Also, each driver is outfitted with a yard stick to record snow depth at the property.
 
“Each time a driver visits a parking lot we went them to tell us just how much snow there was on the ground when they arrived,” Canete says. “It protects us if a client wants to question a snowfall. For example, you have a customer who is paying you a certain rate to come out and blow when it snows between 4 and 7 inches. Sometimes the local weather guys will ballpark their weather reports and the client hears that less than 4 inches fell. By taking the measurements we have proof that in that particular area more than 4 inches did fall. By not being able to prove that, that could mean a lot of money.”
 
From there, Porta dispatches one of four quality control chiefs, who arrives and inspects the property. Site inspectors make sure there is no snow against the curbs, no snow on sidewalks, parking spaces are clear, there is no ice and snow hasn’t been piled in front of dumpsters or fire hydrants.  Likewise, any special service needs are checked and at this time potential property damage is noted.
 
When the snow event subsides, drivers return to headquarters and check in with Porta.
 
Similar to pre-storm preparation, Canete relies on a post-mortem checklist to review the recent snow event. The day after the storm, five employees inspect each truck, snowplow and piece of equipment. Everything is power washed, cleaned and inventoried.
 
“We take the time to go through everything so thoroughly so that when we get the next storm we can concentrate on the snow and not on whether the equipment might fail,” he says.
 
As for client relations, after a storm, office members fax service slips – detailing the event’s activities – to clients who request them. Other clients are billed at the end of the month, Canete says.