By Ryan Whisner
SNOW STRONG SIMA, ASCA leaders are optimistic about the snow and ice industry heading into the 2021-22 winter season
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n anticipation of a healthy dose of snow to come in the 2021-22 winter season, it appears the snow and ice management industry remains strong. Leaders of the two largest snow contractor associations, Martin Tirado, executive director of Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA) and Kevin Gilbride, executive director of the Accredited Snow Contractors Association (ASCA) agree that the industry is in a strong position coming off a healthy 2020-21 season. “The industry is healthy provided it snows next winter,” Gilbride says. “We are coming off an average, to above average winter in most areas. As long as we see average snowfall the industry will enjoy another healthy season.”
Looking back Going into the 2020-21 winter, snow removal contractors were coming off one or two lower than average snowfall years. Combined with the COVID19 pandemic, there was potential for a dual impact of reduced revenue. With the
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light snowfall the previous season, some customers with seasonal contracts were likely looking at that and saying, “we paid for a whole bunch of stuff that we never got.” Conversely, contractors that were operating on largely seasonal contracts in areas where there was little snow did very well because of the lower expenses. The challenge becomes maintaining those customers on those seasonal contracts after a low snow winter. Going into the season, the thought was the pandemic would only compound the issue. Ultimately, COVID-19 had minimal impact on the snow and ice management industry. “It did have some customers reduce services, or limit servicing the entire property, but in all, this industry is more impacted by lack of snow,” Gilbride said. Not surprisingly, snow and ice management services were quickly identified as essential services during the pandemic. “It was so essential to have snow and ice services to clear those properties, so that business and transportation and healthcare could continue,” Tirado said. “I think from a business perspective, that was a positive.” Admittedly, there were still some challenges and there will be some ongoing ones, such as keeping
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