Langton Group has seen growth, profitability soar since adopting self-performing model
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Group has seen growth, profitability soar since adopting a self-performing model; plus the company is a leader in automation
Patrick White // Photography by Jeff Ellis
Take the
the narrative with your clients
Carla Iniquez
By JON CRANDALL, CSP
Focusing on long-term strategy and association growth, the SIMA Board of Directors, in conjunction with CEO Martin Tirado, recently completed a longer-term road map of initiatives that align with the board’s strategic outcomes.
We collected several concepts through member surveys and discussions with the board and SIMA members. The board reviewed the list, extensively discussed the merits of each topic, and assigned priority rankings. Four areas, which align with SIMA’s strategic outcomes, rose to the top:
(OUTCOMES 1-3)
We want to make sure the association continues to grow and retain our members, and the board has committed to 7% year-over-year growth. A strong, engaged and growing membership ensures SIMA, its members and the industry benefit from the sharing of new ideas and perspectives.
More members will also bring added funding that gives SIMA the resources to develop the highestlevel, industry-leading education and training programs possible; and to position the association and its members as leaders and advocates for industry excellence.
(OUTCOME 2)
Increasing premium costs and decreasing availability of insurance continue to burden snow companies. We believe SIMA and its stakeholders can make progress in liability protection and affordable premiums.
SIMA has cultivated relationships with several insurance providers who understand the intricacies of snow and ice management. In addition, several
1 2 3
Snow and ice professionals will have access to comprehensive role-focused education and resources to gain knowledge for the long-term success of themselves and their team.
SIMA member companies will benefit from access to business resources and participation in a growing peer-to-peer community.
resources are available to help snow professionals better understand the complexities of business insurance at www.sima.org/insurance
Our long-term focus, however, is to explore the possibilities of a captive insurance program for SIMA members. A captive is wholly owned and controlled by its insureds. Its primary purpose is to insure the risks of its owners, and its insureds benefit from the captive insurer’s underwriting profits, according to the International Risk Management Institute. SIMA is hosting a free webinar to share more information about the captive concept on September 8. RSVP by visiting my.sima.org/home/calendar.
1-2)
Many company owners and managers come to the industry with heavy knowledge of the operations side but without the business expertise needed to build strong, sustainable organizations. SIMA has always prioritized education, and we want to give our members resources to help them succeed.
The snow business can be incredibly rewarding for those who are seeking career opportunities. Our focus will be on both creating education focused on business
SIMA is the industry leader in the creation of and advocacy for recognized best practices and standards of excellence for the snow and ice management industry.
foundation and growth as well as on promoting the industry – and SIMA’s role in it – as a path toward achieving career fulfillment.
2-3)
We feel these sectors have much to gain by connecting decades of industry knowledge to develop best practices, standards and legislative cooperation in order for the private and public sectors to be in greater alignment.
Our initial foray into this initiative is opening lines of communication with key leaders and organizations in the public sector with a direct stakeholder interest in advancing snow and ice services. Some conversations have started, and we are learning that we have more mutual interests in common than not. In this exploratory stage, we will gather information and look at developing partnerships when it makes sense to SIMA.
The expected timeline for implementation of these projects is two or more years. Stay tuned as these programs come into focus and we share how you can participate in and benefit from them.
Jonathan Crandall, CSP, is the 2022 chair of the SIMA Board of Directors and chief visionary for JC Grounds Management in Massachusetts. Email him at jon@jcgrounds.com.
EDITORIAL
Director of Education & Content
Cheryl Higley // 262-236-9972 // cheryl@sima.org
Design & Production Director Lisa Lehman // 216-798-1853 // lisa@sima.org
ADVERTISING SALES & MANAGEMENT
Senior Manager, Engagement and Business Development
Kerri Joseph // 614-557-3948 // kerri@sima.org
DIGITAL MEDIA & MARKETING
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Stephanie Orvis // 262-236-9948 // steph@sima.org
SUBSCRIPTION
Subscription questions/cancellations: cs@e-circ.net
Subscription changes/updates: sima.org/subscription
EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Charmaine Allen Allen Builders
Nichole Ashton North Country Snow & Ice Management
Erin Faupel, ASM ULS Landscaping
Jim Hornung Jr., CSP Elbers Landscape Service
Tyler Jabaay Priority Landscape & Maintenance
Rick Kier, CSP Forge Ahead Consulting and Software LLC
Bob Marks, CSP, ASM emi landscape
William Moore, CSP, ASM Executive Property Maintenance
10140 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, WI 53092 414-375-1940 // info@sima.org // www.sima.org
Chief Executive Officer
Martin Tirado, CAE // martin@sima.org
Chief Operating Officer
Brian Birch, CAE // brian@sima.org
Director of Events
Heather Carew, CAE // heather@sima.org
Thomas
USM
Kevin Speilman Nxgen Networks Inc.
Robert Young K.E.Y. Property Services
Michael Wagner, CSP Colorado Designscapes Co.
Manager, Finance & Operations
KC Hallgren // kc@sima.org
Manager, Billing & Member Services
Aimee Krzywicki // aimee@sima.org
Office Manager & Executive Assistant
Nikki Luedtke // nikki@sima.org
Manager, Education & Credentials
Ellen Lobello // ellen@sima.org
Manager, Member Development Chris Dix // chris@sima.org
Business Process Analyst Nakishia Lee // nakishia@sima.org
SIMA OFFICERS & DIRECTORS
Board Chair: Jonathan Crandall, CSP, JC Grounds Management
Immediate Past Chair: Wayne Michalak, CSP, cutmytreedown.com
Vice Chair: Mark Arthofer, CSP, Skyline Construction
Secretary / Treasurer: David Wescott, CSP, Transblue Ruben Diaz, ASM, Diaz Group LLC
Connie Gaul, ASM, Brightview Enterprise Solutions
Patrick Kane, CSP, Evercor Facility Management
Chris Hinton, CSP, GRM Inc.
Danny Milligan, ASM, Strathmore Landscape Contractors John Janes, CSP, ASM, Caterpillar Debora Babin Katz, TrucBrush Corporation
Snow Business (5730) (ISSN 2155-2576) Copyright © 2022 by the Snow & Ice Management Association, 10140 N. Port Washington Rd., Mequon, WI 53092 is produced and published February, April, June, August, September, October, December by the Snow & Ice Management Association. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without permission of the Publisher, SIMA – Snow & Ice Management Association. Subscribe at SIMA.org/subscribe. Periodicals postage prices is paid at Mequon, WI, and additional entry offices at 11716 S. Preston Hwy, Lebanon Junction, KY 40150-9998. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIMA - Snow Business – PO Box 8818, Lowell, MA 01853.
By CHRIS DIX
SIMA is always focused on helping members grow their snow businesses using comprehensive member benefits, events and programs. But we also focus a lot of internal energy on growing and maintaining our membership. Our No. 1 challenge in this area may surprise you: it’s getting members to renew their membership on time!
We know that this business is seasonal and that drives a lot of the reason people pay late or have gaps in their membership.
We spend a lot of time and resources chasing renewal invoices, whereas we would like to spend more time
deepening relationships, problem solving and being a more consultative resource to the industry.
We hope to make dramatic changes over the next few years to make the renewal process easier for you:
Auto renew your membership. The auto-renewal function is available in our membership system. Sign up and your credit card on file will automatically be charged when it’s time to renew, ensuring you don’t miss out on member benefits (including the $200 a year training commitment).
Not a member? Consider EasyPay by month. For a $20 starting fee, new members can opt-in to be charged $40 monthly vs. one annual membership payment. Our goal is to bring in new members who may think more
Aspen Equipment BLOOMINGTON, MN
952-656-7133
DAVENPORT, IA
563-949-4045
ABC Rentals SOUTH ST. PAUL, MN
651-451-2264
Country Side Services RAMSEY, MN
763-441-4943
Friendly Chevrolet FRIDLEY, MN
763-786-6100
L-Z Truck Equipment ST. PAUL, MN
651-488-2571
North Central Bus & Equipment ST. CLOUD, MN 320-251-7252
Northland Farm Systems OWATONNA, MN 800-385-3911
Park Chrysler Jeep BURNSVILLE, MN 952-890-5337
Perry’s Truck Repair LONG LAKE, MN 952-473-4898
Pod’s Tire & Wheel WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN 651-426-4640
PPMI Motor Sports ROCHESTER, MN 507-252-8097
Precision Landscaping HASTINGS, MN 651-437-2305
RecTech Outdoor Solutions PLATO, MN 952-686-8711
Rule Tire & Auto WILLMAR, MN 320-235-1146
Russell’s Automotive NORTH BRANCH, MN 651-674-4000
Snow Plows Plus WAVERLY, MN 763-682-5536
seasonally about snow and who aren’t ready to bite off an entire membership investment all at once. Learn more at www.sima.org/join
On top of our efforts to improve late payments and lost memberships, we constantly seek to add membership value. In 2022, take advantage of these programs and services to enhance your membership:
Trial Run for All-Access Pass training: With SIMA’s All-Access Pass, companies can verify basic knowledge of safety and techniques for all snow ops employees — with no login or individual account setup required. SIMA members can request a free trial of the Snow Plowing Safety & Preparation training video. Liquids training: Our Fundamentals of Anti-Icing & Liquids on-demand certificate course is free to members.
Enhanced customer service: We launched a knowledge base in our web chat to help visitors find what they need. Our vision is that members and stakeholders can reach out 24/7 and get a timely response, along with some helpful automated tools if we aren’t in the office at the time.
Chris Dix is Membership & Development Manager for SIMA. Email at chris@sima.org.
Congratulations to the following staff members celebrating 15 years of service to SIMA:
Martin Tirado, CAE CEO
Heather Carew, CAE Director of Events
Ellen Lobello Education & Credentialing Manager
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SIMA and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services are teaming up for a one-day training event on September 13 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH. Key topics include risk/insurance, changing weather patterns in the Northeast and managing ice events. Learn more and register at www.sima.org/nhss
All times EST. Event details and registration information available at my.sima.org/home/calendar
SEPTEMBER 8
Webinar: Captive Insurance
Noon
SEPTEMBER 15
Compass Network: Grow Your Business with Rockefeller Habits
2 p.m.
SEPTEMBER 28
Member Networking / Product Showcase
11 a.m.
OCTOBER 12
Webinar: Property Management Communications
Noon
This summer more than 2,200 attendees and exhibitors attended SIMA’s 25th Best Show in Snow. Two facility tours, 150+ exhibitors, a keynote speaker on a unicycle, 20+ education sessions and a lot of fun made for an “out of this world” event.
During the Snow & Ice Symposium in Milwaukee, SIMA recognized several companies and team members for their commitment to culture, professionalism and dedication to their organizations and the industry at large.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees!
LANDSCAPE AMERICA // WRENTHAM, MA
In his four years in commercial business development for Landscape America in Wrentham, MA, Doug Jasset has tripled the company’s snow revenue –selling over $800,000 in new work in 2021. But his impact goes far beyond the bottom line. He also has helped overhaul the company’s culture and improve the safety and training program – all of which has contributed to a 95% team member retention rate for the past two years.
“We hired Doug to help us develop relationships and sell work, and he has done so much more to help our organization grow and improve,” says company President Doug McDuff.
Jasset is a member of the company’s Leadership Team and Culture Committee and takes employee appreciation seriously, planning teambuilding events and rewarding team members for good work throughout the year.
“Many mornings you will find Doug in the yard during dispatch just connecting with team members – giving hugs, high fives and
praise to our team,” McDuff says. “Doug is genuinely appreciative of their efforts to take care of the clients he has made promises to, and he makes a habit of letting them know.”
Jasset may be responsible for sales, but he understands the importance of bridging sales to operations and the end user for a better customer experience. It’s not unusual for Jasset to jump in during a storm to help crews and make sure clients’ needs are met. That commitment to customer service includes building in processes designed to streamline communication and improve transparency.
He created a timeline for new clients to help them understand what to expect and when, from when staking and preseason walkthroughs would take place to how often their account manager would check in. Jasset also helped bring new ideas to the table, such as using the company’s software to be more transparent and communicative with customers during
and after events. He also worked with the company’s snow manager to understand the company’s new brine pretreatments so he could share that knowledge and the benefits with customers.
“In the event something doesn’t go as planned at a customer’s property, Doug is the first to visit or call, takes full responsibility, and works tirelessly with production to come up with a solution to uphold our service and quality,” McDuff says.
BRILAR, LLC // FARMINGTON HILLS, MI
Jane Keskitalo had a record-breaking sales season for Brilar in 2021; but her commitment didn’t end once the contracts were signed. National Director of Operations Travis Jacks says Keskitalo’s dedication to the customer experience is shown in her focus on relationships, not transactions.
“On many occasions, even after the new client transition had been completed, Jane would take calls from clients and vendors to provide an overall great customer experience. She always took the time to resolve issues for clients, even if those issues were not in the area of her responsibility,” Jacks says, noting that those efforts helped the company retain 100% of its national customer base year over year.
OVER $5 MILLION
members, as well. For example, with the help of the operations team, Keskitalo developed a more efficient new client transition/onboarding process; and led projects to adapt multiple methods of proposal generation and prospecting to continue to innovate sales.
“Jane exhibits one of the company’s core values of unity. She does this in her own unique way of including the team when needed. This allows the entire team to feel more involved in the new sales process,” Jacks says. “Jane’s goals are to create lasting and sustainable relationships and systems to ensure we can grow and scale at light speed while providing a quality service and product to our end user.”
The importance of developing relationships extends to her Brilar team
“Jane exhibits one of the company’s core values of unity. She does this in her own unique way of including the team when needed. This allows the entire team to feel more involved in the new sales process.”
—TRAVIS JACKS / NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
If you don’t work in administration, you may not see the heavy lift that goes on behind the scenes running up to the winter season.
Markham Property Services Office Administrator Anahita Rezazadeh had her hands full and managed it all with positive energy and a friendly attitude.
Among her tasks were ensuring that all client contracts were fully executed and complete prior to service; issuing preseason inspection letters to every client – a target that had never been reached before; and setting up all employees in the new payroll system to ensure everyone was paid on
time with all outstanding timesheets collected before submission deadlines. All of that plus her “regular” HR duties, payroll, customer service, billing, event planning and dispatching assistance made for long hours.
“This required an enormous amount of time and effort,” says Operations Manager Ken Jorgenson, CSP, ASM. “The quality of Anahita’s efforts in these areas was outstanding with near 100% accuracy throughout a very busy winter season.”
Rezazadeh was also very involved in client communications, including coaching them through the digital contract signing process; ensuring that pre-storm service information was sent; and promptly responding to billing inquiries.
“Although relatively new to the senior management group and arriving with virtually no snow and ice management experience, Anahita quickly took it upon herself to learn and ask pertinent questions, and almost immediately she became a vital member of our winter team,” Jorgenson says. “Her positive can-do attitude, eye to detail, and cooperative nature quickly made Anahita a most valued and trusted teammate.”
MSNW GROUP // FERNDALE, WA
With 10 years of snow industry service under her belt, MSNW Group Branch Administrator Amy DeWitt was well prepared for a winter season that involved a lot of new faces. With a new manager and mostly new crews, DeWitt spent numerous hours making sure everything ran as smoothly as possible.
“With a very large new contract it took lots of time and communication to get everything to fall into place. Amy managed adding sites to routes; mapping sites; balancing workload per crew; managing subs and in-house crew; billing out to clients; training in-house employees on safety; and coordinating equipment repairs,” says Facilities Administrator Shanan Hoekstra. Dewitt’s understanding of snow work processes also enabled her to take the reins when another
administrator was out on leave. She managed daytime calls and coordinated repairs with the mechanic while snow crews slept. She sorted and itemized client billing from employee timecards and subcontractor data/invoices.
“Without the site and operations knowledge, the billing can be messy and it’s difficult to collect when billing is wrong. Amy does this in a 48-hour turnaround,” Hoekstra says, adding that DeWitt is cool under pressure and focuses on making sure everyone is satisfied.
“Even when we are getting hammered by weather or inundated by phone calls, Amy is reaching out to teams, accounting, clients – and doing everything it takes to satisfy all parties. Her customer service goes beyond the client and extends to her whole team, the accounting department, and anyone who needs something to keep moving, to keep cashflow going and to keep clients happy with our services.”
Near the mid-part of 2021, Ground Pros’ human resources manager abruptly resigned, leaving vacant a role that includes oversight of leading recruiting; coaching and developing frontline employees and managers; and coordinating the onboarding processes of the company’s employees.
“As our company headed into the snow season without an HR professional on staff, many leaders within the organization were uneasy and concerned about the potential lack of people support during critical snow operations,” says Chief Operations Officer Philip Pezza.
2022 UNDER $5 MILLION
Luckily, Ground Pros had Rolando Ruiz, ASM, who selflessly and courageously stepped up to fill the role despite not having any formal training or HR experience. It was not a decision the company made lightly: “Rolando’s 20 years of experience and his team’s proven record of providing safe, quality
service to our clients made senior leadership uneasy about removing him from the company’s snow operations.”
Ruiz eased their concerns and then some. He successfully hired and onboarded over 225 snow employees – the most in one year in the company’s 30-year history. In addition, he dedicated personal time to learn the company’s new payroll processing system to ensure that the onboarding process for the company’s new hires was seamless and stress-free.
While jumping into the HR role, Ruiz also wanted to ensure that team members and customers were taken care of. He partnered with the company’s seven operations managers in advance of the 2021-2022 snow season to organize and plan route assignments, and to allocate equipment and employees by site. He also committed to reporting to the company’s headquarters during snow events to provide hands-on, in-person onboarding of new employees.
“Rolando worked to train the peers selected to assume his operational leadership responsibilities. He spent time personally introducing his backfill to clients, subcontractors and employees, which helped ensure a successful transition of leadership responsibilities,” Pezza says. “This peer-to-peer teamwork was essential to our company’s success in 2021.”
Despite not being actively involved in operations last year, Ruiz realized there needed to be a better process for allocating employees to job sites in need of support. He assisted in the rollout of a process in which operations managers are required to check-in with headquarters to begin an event stating the target headcount and actual headcount by property. This knowledge allowed Ruiz to assign backup employees more efficiently to sites needing additional resources and drastically increase customer satisfaction.
“Rolando has earned a reputation as an employee advocate with a strong sense of awareness related to the needs of not only his direct employees, but also employees in other departments,” Pezza says. “His ideas and suggestions carry a great deal of value within our team, and this is a direct testament to the trust that leaders and employees alike have for Rolando.”
Never settle for less than the best. That could well be the motto of Zach Kelley, CSP, who was commended for his approach to team training, operations execution and customer service.
“Zach’s creativity leads our company down paths I could never imagine,” says Sauers Snow & Ice Management CEO Stephanie Sauers-Boyd, CSP. “He is an outside-the-box thinker who pushes us to think beyond our bubble for new ideas and to extend beyond our comfort zones.”
As Director of Operations, Kelley is responsible for all snow training for the company’s seasonal field operations managers and brine applicators, full-time account managers, and service provider team. He leads Snow Pro Summits, which are 4-hour company training events held in the fall. Field ops managers also receive weekly training from October through March to ensure they are upholding “The Sauers Way,” and that they are properly trained and equipped to do their jobs.
OVER $5 MILLION
Sauers-Boyd says Kelley also created an operations calendar to keep the operations team on track 365 days a year and developed detailed snow response plans and procedures for before, during and after snow events to ensure seamless service.
“Until all the sites have been cleared, the field guys have returned with their trucks, and the account managers are home safe, Zach’s job doesn’t stop,” says Sauers-Boyd. “Zach takes course correction very seriously and gives frequent feedback to the team.”
The focus on preparedness helps to ensure customer satisfaction; and Kelley works to find solutions for those who are less than satisfied with their service.
“When a client provides a rating of 8/10 or below for any reason, Zach personally calls them to get more details and resolve their issue,” Sauers-Boyd says. “Zach will lead the ops team in troubleshooting, finding the root cause of the dissatisfaction (even if it seems minor) and communicating the plan in order to get their rating back up to a 10/10.”
“Zach’s creativity leads our company down paths I could never imagine. He is an outside-thebox thinker who pushes us to think beyond our bubble for new ideas and to extend beyond our comfort zones.”
—STEPHANIE SAUERS-BOYD, CSP, CEO / SAUERS SNOW & ICE MANAGEMENT
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It’s not easy to find quality, reliable sidewalk team members; but Big Lakes Lawncare appears to have struck gold with Sidewalk Team Leader Wayne Robinson.
Robinson started on a sidewalk team in 2020. Snow Operations Manager Joshua Denean, ASM, says Robinson had zero experience when he started; but his dedication, great attitude and strong work ethic helped elevate him to sidewalk team leader this past winter.
“Wayne is the most thorough worker we have ever had. Even if we’re 16 hours into an event and it’s bitter cold, he does not cut corners and does not give up easily,” Denean says, adding that
Robinson is always bringing ideas to improve quality, safety and efficiency to operations management.
Robinson has never had a callback to any job site and leads by example to elevate the rest of the team’s workmanship with positivity. He mentors new team members and is very consistent in showing them how to work safely and efficiently with a high degree of quality.
Denean cited an instance where Robinson went above and beyond to resolve an issue for a customer.
Not only did he resolve the problem by reservicing the area in question, but Robinson also serviced the entire property again to show the client that the company wanted to make the situation right.
“This industry needs more people with a passion for the work, the benefit, and the excitement of running a great company. Wayne is one of those people. He was born to do this and to be great at it,” Denean says. “He is a snow and ice management professional in the finest sense. We have high hopes for Wayne and his future in this industry.”
As Earth Development has grown, Casey Wawiorka, CSP has worked to ensure operations run at high efficiency, that team members are happy in their jobs, and that customers are satisfied.
“Casey lives, sleeps and breathes snow. He is researching snow year-round to see what the latest trends and innovations are,” says Operations Manager Matt Hager, CSP. That passion rubs off on his team members, evidenced by the fact that Wawiorka had the highest satisfaction rate of all the company’s field supervisors in 2021
Among the innovations Wawiorka helped to implement was
increased use of brine and salt tracking devices, which resulted in a 27% reduction in salt use. Hager says expenses for the company’s top customers dropped by 15% and service requests dropped 58% compared to previous years thanks to Wawiorka’s suggestions on improving efficiencies.
Wawiorka worked proactively to review all customers with repeat issues from the previous season to make a new snow removal plan for 2021-2022. Wawiorka also spends time every summer reviewing client maps to see how the company can be more efficient.
“Although our customer base grew by over 20%, our customer service requests were down 32%,
mainly due to Casey ensuring customer expectations were met,” Hager says. “He made sure that the customers’ needs were passed along to the crew doing the work. Casey went above and beyond to ensure that not only was their immediate request resolved, but to make sure it didn’t happen in the future.”
The Best Places to Work in Snow & Ice award recognizes companies that are focused on empowering their workforce and promoting our industry as one in which you can build successful and rewarding careers. This annual award is bestowed on companies that meet or exceed certain criteria related to company culture, leadership, training and personnel support and engagement.
BRILAR, LLC
Farmington Hills, Michigan
EAST END GROUP
Yaphank, New York
LANDSCAPE AMERICA
Wrentham, Massachusetts
EXECUTIVE PROPERTY MAINTENANCE Plymouth, Michigan
Fowlerville, Michigan
Allentown, Pennsylvania
OUTDOOR PRIDE LANDSCAPE AND SNOW MANAGEMENT
Manchester, New Hampshire
The SIMA Foundation awarded the Alan Steiman Symposium Scholarship to two recipients in 2022. The scholarship provides complimentary registration, hotel and a travel stipend for first-time Symposium attendees. This year’s winners were (below) Jeremy Becker of JJ’s Green Mountain Plowing in Johnson, VT, and Cary Kocher of Snow Buddy in Ann Arbor, MI.
The inaugural Dean Fisher Innovation Scholarship was presented by the SIMA Foundation to Raven Rodriguez for his Raven Bumper Plow. The scholarship recognizes the independent spirit of those who bring innovative products and services to the snow and ice management industry. Pictured with Rodriguez is Douglas Dynamics’ Mark Adamson.
SIMA CEO Martin Tirado recognized immediate past board chair Wayne Michalak, CSP, of The Greener Side for his six years of service with the SIMA Board of Directors. Also recognized was Chris Marino, ASM, of Xtreme Snow Pros.
By DEBORA BABIN KATZ
Since its inception in 2020, the SIMA Foundation has made great strides in a very short period. Part of its mission is to conduct research on issues impacting snow industry stakeholders; and in June 2022, SIMA, the SIMA Foundation and WolfWorks Consulting’s Steve Wolf presented results of important research projects during the Snow & Ice Symposium in Milwaukee, WI.
The first is an update to the original 2016 SIMA Industry Impact study that details the private snow and ice management industry’s composition and dynamics, including organization size and growth; operations; economic impact; and industry growth trends. Data was compiled through secondary research and an analysis of available sources.
“Steve conducted the 2016 SIMA Industry Impact study, so his knowledge brought crucial insights and background experience to our current research goals,” says SIMA CEO Martin Tirado.
The second project was much more in-depth. The goal of the survey was to focus the research toward a profitability study by surveying key economics of service provider companies throughout North America.
The data was collected from SIMA member and nonmember service providers through a confidential survey in May 2022. The results will provide important economic benchmarks such as company financial structures; financial health of the industry; and the establishment of baselines from which to track changes in costs and profits over the coming years.
“Benchmarking is highly valuable because it provides a way to compare yourselves against peers. If you have ever wondered what others in the industry are doing, benchmarking surveys can provide the answers,” Tirado says.
Thanks to its generous donors, the SIMA Foundation is starting to thrive by focusing on its mission of opportunity, research and awareness. We are already exploring several ways to build upon our research projects to offer more value to the industry in 2023. None of this could be achieved without the generosity of those founding individuals and supplier companies who stepped up early to support the Foundation. To learn more and to donate to the SIMA Foundation visit www.sima.org/foundation.
Vice President of TrucBrush. Email her at dkatz@trucbrush.com.
The Economic Survey & Market Study’s data will help educate the industry on the typical financial structure of snow and ice management companies; measure the financial health of the industry; and establish a baseline for companies to use to track changes in costs and profits in the future. Key areas addressed in the survey are labor, pricing, trends, revenue, costs and profit.
The 2022 Industry Impact study updates data last collected by SIMA in 2016. The study provides an overview of the private-sector snow and ice management industry’s composition and dynamics, including total size (revenues, providers) and growth; typical operations; economic impact of the industry; and trends that could impact the health of the industry. Research found that the market is very stable, characterized by modest but consistent growth.
$20.8 billion Estimated revenue of the U.S. private snow & ice management industry
businesses
workers
billion
revenue of the Canadian private snow & ice management industry
businesses
The complete results from the SIMA Foundation’s Industry Impact Study and Economic Survey and Market Study will be available for download at www.sima.org
2021-2022
Snow and ice management companies are safety service providers. It is your job to provide services that enable safe passage on client sites. It’s important, too, that the safety-first focus extends to the very people assigned to those sites — your team members.
Focusing on safety in a profession in which working for 20 hours straight is mistakenly touted as a badge of honor can be difficult. If you or your snow and ice team has a “safety is for wimps” mentality, your focus should turn to creating a better internal safety culture — and that starts at the top. Owners and managers must be the catalyst to ensuring that safety matters and isn’t just a buzzword in your company.
While the focus on safety starts at the top, it is imperative that your team members have a voice and input in the creation of a safety program. Leadership must be engaged, but a safety culture thrives when there are ambassadors who deliver the messages and lead by example at every level of the company.
Adopting safety/loss control measures can make your company an above-average risk for an insurance company. But just putting together a safety manual and having some safety talks won’t cut it in the long run. You must commit to training, implementing, monitoring, disciplining and constantly reviewing your program. Ask your agent to review your safety training program and offer suggestions on how you can lower your risk.
A direct result of a strong safety culture is improved operational efficiencies. This is the case no matter the employees’ position. When a safety-related incident occurs, the effects can ripple throughout the company and negatively impact all facets of the business. The inefficiencies are visible in many ways, since responding to and resolving an incident requires a great deal of resources, which can be reduced or eliminated with the proper culture and procedures in place.
Safety:
“The condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.”
–WEBSTERS
DICTIONARY
No snow and ice management company seeks out danger, risk or injury. But too many times they find us when we are not working in a safe manner. Following are suggestions to keep danger, risk and injury at bay in your snow operations. This list may seem a bit daunting, but it really is easier than you think – and well worth the costs of implementing.
Set up or expand your dedicated safety department. It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Decide if it is going to be a position given to one of your existing team members, or if you are going to hire a new person. Either way, newer owners/managers shouldn’t try to take on the job, since they likely are already wearing too many hats.
Set goals and measurables for the department. This person will need to know the expectations and how success for the department will be measured. The cost of this person will be quickly recouped when you start spending less on repairing damaged items and employees missing time from injuries.
Don’t look at your insurance agent or carrier as “bad guys” that take our money and almost never give any of it back. They are not a necessary evil but a necessary partner.
Most insurance companies and agencies offer free safety training and seminars, and many will come to your facilities and conduct an OSHA-style inspection. This will help you get and stay compliant with OSHA standards, before you receive a visit from OSHA itself. Look for companies that give annual rebates for great safety scores and work with your insurance company. It will be a win for both parties.
Your people are your most important asset and your path to future growth and success. Do they know and believe in your company’s safety culture? Are you doing all you can, even on a baseline level to keep them safe? Are you supplying them with correct PPE? Are there processes and procedures in place to keep them safe, and corrective actions when unsafe conditions arise?
SAFETY SELLS! In today’s more forward-thinking world, large companies are including a safety component in their RFPs, and insisting that their vendor-partners provide safety scores and OSHA forms. No longer will best price be the only guide. This is great news for any company that is working hard to have a strong safety culture. In many cases this will give you an advantage over your competition and may even limit how many companies you will be bidding against.
When you are looking for something to help separate your company from others and show the prospective client a value add, safety sells every time. These companies have strict safety procedures for their people and are looking for the same with whomever they hire.
You must also have procedures in place to maintain the safety and condition of your company’s vehicles and equipment. Finally, are the jobsites that your teams work on safe and monitored for hazards?
It is very important to keep in mind that, in today’s world, your people are going to be your best ambassadors and promoters. If they feel appreciated and safe, then they will be your best face forward when you hire new people and are developing employee retention initiatives.
These committees can range from 2 to 10 people and should include representatives from all departments, not just operations. Make sure goals and objectives are set, and that they are measurable for success. Give them broad access to all levels of safety checks. Vehicles, facilities, equipment and personnel should be on their lists of daily, weekly and monthly checks. Having personnel at all levels of your company involved in the safety process will help build your safety culture faster and stronger. As often as possible, make safety fun, timely and, most importantly, make it a way of life, not an added expense.
Matthew Gerich, CSP, is Vice President of Training for Business Resources One. Contact him at mgerich@ businessresourcesone.com.
Long shifts, late nights, cold weather … not exactly the most ideal working conditions. But all of these are realities if you work in the snow and ice management industry. Implementing safety protocols to protect your team is essential to protect them from the following health concerns:
SLEEP DEPRIVATION. Snow & ice management professionals are prone to sleep deprivation when working long-duration storms. Sleeplessness slows your reflexes and reaction time, which can prevent you from identifying and stopping in times of danger. It is much like being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, so your mental and psychomotor skills diminish. Plus, lack of sleep can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and weight gain.
SANITATION. During a storm, contractors may not have access to facilities to wash their hands, leaving them prone to spreading or catching colds or other illnesses. Make hand sanitizer or antibacterial wipes readily available to your crews to encourage their use when soap and water are not
• Pre-storm planning should include a discussion with the team to rest/sleep prior to being called in for work.
• Factor short naps and breaks into your staff’s production schedule to help keep your crew safer during long-storm events.
• Build a culture that makes team members comfortable to report fatigue to their supervisors.
DISTRACTED DRIVING. The increasing use of smartphones and other in-vehicle technology lends itself to convenience in our multi-tasking world; but it also opens up a dangerous and potentially fatal path. Don’t allow employees to be distracted when operating equipment.
• Enact policies that prohibit texting and phone calls (even hands-free) when operating equipment.
• When possible, include a plan for bathroom access during long-duration events.
• Incorporate the use of antibacterial wipes as a part of the cleaning process for trucks and equipment. Wipe down steering wheels, plow and equipment controls, door handles and all other items in the cab that crews may touch.
NUTRITION AND HYDRATION. Stopping for meals may not be an option during a snowstorm, so many rely on fast food and energy drinks to keep going. Poor nutrition can lead to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other long-term health issues.
• Ensure team members know to make equipment adjustments and read site maps before operations begin.
• A cool playlist can help pass the time; but restrict team members from blasting the radio or listening with headphones that can limit their ability to hear their surroundings.
• Plan time for your team to stop for short breaks to refresh, eat a healthy snack and stretch.
• Encourage your teams to drink plenty of water to help sustain energy. Discourage energy drinks, which can be harmful if consumed in excess.
COMMERCIAL SITES ARE FRAUGHT WITH POTENTIAL SLIP AND FALL AREAS. Since your teams are first responders, they’re arriving at uncleared sites, leaving them open to potential accidents. Conducting risk assessments and comprehensive site engineering, and then properly training your teams to identify and safely manage these areas, can go a long way toward lessening the possibility of an employee or pedestrian falling on the site.
BLACK ICE. Black ice can occur in different spots, particularly when sites are subject to melt/refreeze conditions. Radiative cooling (when surface temperatures drop below the air temperature and surfaces emit heat into the colder upper atmosphere) is a leading cause of black ice. It can happen quickly, leaving unsuspecting pedestrians at risk.
STEPS/CURBS. Stepping on and off curbs and navigating steps is a prime area of concern. Crews should be properly trained to service these areas, and extra care should be given to the curb lines to prevent snow/ ice buildup where pedestrians would step from the curb/steps into the parking lot/walkway.
PARKING AREAS. Shifting weight and balance can be an issue as people get into or out of their vehicles when snow and ice is present. The same is true for service providers entering or exiting their plow trucks or equipment. Always use three points of contact for stability.
RUNOFF. When conducting a risk assessment of a site, use an eagle eye to identify hazards that don’t look ominous when it’s not snowing but could cause big problems during the winter. Areas include drainage spouts, gutters, drains that flow directly onto the pavement, awnings, etc. Any of these could contribute to melt/refreeze, causing hazardous conditions.
WALKWAYS. Risks could include hidden depressions, the type of material (asphalt, concrete, pavers), black ice, snow and ice buildup, transitions from dry store entrances into the elements, etc.
SIMA offers safety-related materials at my.sima.org. Download Tear and Teach training documents, Safety Quick Cards, checklists and more. Members have access to additional free courses, including Safety Boot Camp.
Visit www.sima.org/startup for all Snow Startup resources.
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Langton Group has seen growth, profitability soar since adopting a self-performing model
BY PATRICK WHITE / PHOTOS BY JEFF ELLIS
THERE’S AN OLD SAYING that if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. Langton Group, a four-season firm serving the greater Chicago area, has taken that sentiment to heart and transformed itself into a purely self-performing company.
LANGTON LEADERS: (from left) President Joe Langton; Director of Human Resources Shawn Wojtkiewicz, ASM; General Manager Tanner Lindell; Vice President John Langton, CSP; Director of Snow Operations Tony Schanna, CSP, ASM; Sales Director Sales Kyle Cook; and Director of Landscape Maintenance Hugo Otero-Rojas.
CREATIVE SALT SAVINGS Page 32
AUTOMATION TRANSFORMATION Page 36
AUTOMATION GAINING GROUND IN SNOW Page 37
Earlier in its history, the company – which was founded in 2005 by brothers John and Joe Langton – utilized subcontractors; in fact, subcontracting is how they got started in the industry.
“Before we opened our company, Joe and I were actually subcontractors of another company. We had personal trucks that we used to plow snow for them,” explains Vice President John Langton, CSP, who heads up the company’s winter operations.
The arrangement mostly worked, but the Langtons noticed that sometimes the contractor didn’t get paid by a client, and that in turn left them without compensation. “We thought the whole reason why we’re subcontractors is so that we get paid no matter what,” John says.
That’s when the brothers decided to go into business themselves. “We started with our personal trucks and added one older used truck, and a skid steer, and we picked up a couple accounts while we continued doing a little bit of subcontracting for a couple of other companies,” John says. “I think we did $40,000 in our first year, and we were excited.” Fast-forward to today, and Langton Group is currently billing several million dollars in snow and ice work annually.
“We have a mix of big box retail; parking lots at banks, fast food restaurants and drug stores; a lot of school districts,” John says. And over the past three to five years, Langton Group began taking on some city work as well.
The scale of the operation is only one
of the ways the company has evolved. It has also transformed its business model and seen profitability increase.
In its first years, Langton Group had five or six employee and several independent contractors who owned their own plow trucks and turned in timesheets. An insurance company representative pointed out that using the latter approach, they were still holding all of the liability, and that they would be better using a formal subcontractor model.
“We spent a little money on legal fees and had do-not-compete agreements set up on those accounts, and a good subcontractor agreement,” John explains.
But the Langtons began to notice some downsides to the subcontractor model: While the company was retaining about 98% of the clients it was servicing, the retention rate on subcontracted properties was at least 20% lower. “These subs were smaller companies, without administrators,
so we would often have to hound them for invoicing information. And then they would give it to us, but predated to the date of the event, and that would create a cash flow issue for us,” John explains.
Perhaps the biggest issue, though, was that their own company was not flourishing under this model. “We struggled with profitability,” he says. “We were so focused on selling accounts and getting market share that profitability suffered.”
Some people suggested scaling up their use of subcontractors. “I felt that we needed to do the opposite,” John states. “We haven’t used a subcontractor since about 2015. And, you know, that’s also when our profitability definitely shot up.”
Bringing all winter work in house has been the right decision for Langton Group, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been challenges.
Payroll costs come every two weeks, instead of paying subs in 30, 45 or 60 days, John points out. Another is the capital investment required.
“The trucks, the plows and spreaders, everything. We have to purchase and maintain those. But I honestly feel that these cons are heavily outweighed by the pros.”
The pros to self-performing can be summed up in two words: continuity and control. “I would say it’s made our life easier, because there’s continuity throughout the whole operation.”
— JOHN LANGTON, CSP | VICE PRESIDENT, LANGTON GROUP
The benefits of self-performing can be summed up in two words: continuity and control. “I would say it’s made our life easier, because there’s continuity throughout the whole operation,” John says. For example, all invoicing is internal, so it’s easy to verify. And the company can capture all of the data it wants to help make operational/business decisions. That data is also easily accessible if it’s needed to defend slip and fall claims, etc.
Self-performing also improves the results for the clients. For instance, when working with a subcontractor, the primary contractor is legally limited as far as what it can tell a sub to do and when to do it, “because servicing is at their discretion,” John says. This is an area where there is some gray in the snow industry, but it is still an obstacle that must be confronted when working with subs, he points out. On the other hand, a self-performing contractor has complete control over the level and quality of service.
Clients see this consistency, Langton says. When the company used subs, he would sometimes field questions from clients about why a Langton Group truck was working on a neighboring property, but a third-party company was on their site. “We would try to avoid those scenarios, but the clients are not stupid,” he states. “Using subcontractors just led to a lot more issues. We see no reason for us ever to go back.”
One primary reason that some snow and ice companies choose to use a subcontractor model is to help expand coverage area. Langton Group is more concerned with
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growing closer to home, where John says there is plenty of opportunity. The company’s service area extends to about a 100-mile radius from its Woodstock, IL headquarters. Sales staff are incentivized to sell closer to home, which makes operations easier and more cost-effective, especially at a time of high fuel prices.
The company utilizes satellite locations in the winter to help it service that broad area. “They’re usually temporary sites, something we can get a six-month lease on, and often they’re pretty much just a gravel parking lot that we can store salt or equipment on,” John says. In other instances, customers agree to allow Langton Group to stage equipment or materials at their large facilities. “In the next three years we may look at expanding to other locations. But at this point, our process fits very well with what we’re doing working out of this hub.”
Efficient routing also takes
on special importance when selfperforming, he notes.
In addition to preseason route scheduling, planning is done before each event, looking at changes to staffing or equipment issues that need to be accounted for. “Or if there were any customers that had an issue last time out that we want to really make sure we service well so we don’t have back-to-back problems,” John says. “Typically, we adjust for service level over profitability. And usually, when we do that, profitability falls in line.”
The ability to make these sorts of adjustments, like prioritizing a certain customer at a specific time, are nearly impossible when using subs, he adds.
That said, self-performing also means maintaining a larger in-house team. That means hiring more employees – something that’s been a challenge for years and that has only become more burdensome since Covid. “Getting winter employees has been a challenge for 17 years,” John says.
Salting services are a huge part of Langton Group’s business. The company sees about 30 to 50 salt events each season, as opposed to 10 to 20 plow events. Precision is critical when it comes to working with salt, says John Langton, CSP. “That’s probably one of the areas I’m most passionate about in this business.”
Beyond carefully recording the amount of salt loaded onto trucks, calibrating equipment and applying only the amount of salt needed in any event, Langton Group recently undertook an effort to ensure that its salt doesn’t make its way into the environment. In 2018, the company put up a new salt dome and undertook an ambitious project to build a system to capture its salt runoff.
Some cautioned that doing so would also capture contaminants, like rust from trucks, rubber, oils and hydraulic fluid. “We said, ‘Yes, but either way all of that is going in the environment, so if we could actually trap it and separate it, that’d be better.”
The asphalt pad surrounding the salt pile was contoured to direct rain/ melt water into a relatively small (12X12-inch) drain where underground filters capture the contaminants. The resulting brine is pumped to tanks beside the company’s brine-making facility. “Usually, we let it sit for a couple days because it helps the rest of the contaminants kind of settle. And then we pump it into our brine maker while it’s making brine.” There is a bit of labor involved, like cleaning filters, but Langton says the payoff, both financially and environmentally, has been tremendous. “This past winter, which was a lighter winter for us, we saved 28 tons of salt that would have been lost to run off.”
TEAMWORK: To service client properties quickly and efficiently, HR Director Shawn Wojtkiewicz, ASM (right) helps build a large inhouse winter workforce.
He says it helps that Langton Group can offer year-round employment. The company’s roughly 100 year-round employees are supplemented in the winter; during the 2021-22 season, the crew swelled to nearly 300 employees during big events.
John credits the company’s dedicated team for finding, training and retaining all these employees. That team is led by Director of Snow Operations Tony Schanna, CSP, ASM
and General Manager Tanner Lindell. “They may have had to throw up a few Hail Mary passes, but we’ve maintained a full staff!” he jokes.
To help ensure they’re never shortstaffed, the company makes it a policy to overstaff. “We hire 120% of what we need to go out in any given event. And then we also have a 20% overlap in our fleet,” he says, citing lessons learned during a 2011 blizzard “that damn near crippled us.”
RUNOFF PAYOFF:
Director of Snow Operations Tony Schanna, CSP, ASM, and General Manager Tanner Lindell oversee Langton Group’s salt runoff program. Runoff flows to a drain (1), where underground filters capture contaminants. The brine is pumped to tanks inside the brine-making facility (2) and later added into the brine maker (3) for reuse.
Calculated risk pays off
John says that he and Joe “are polar opposites,” in some ways. “Joe prefers to go with the grain, and I’m always looking to go against the grain.”
That give and take helps the company avoid pitfalls in some cases and take advantage of opportunities in others.
One scenario in which their shared
vision paid off was during Covid. “Covid actually accelerated our business,” John says. During this tumultuous time, when many companies were cautiously scaling back, Langton Group decided to step on the gas. “We just figured that a lot of people were being conservatively skeptical. And a lot of times when you’re skep-
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The quality and character of your workforce defines your success in snow. SIMA’s credentialing programs can become a linchpin for snow-specific skills, development and employee growth.
Advanced Snow Management (ASM) program
A core-knowledge program designed for crew/account managers and operations managers
Prerequisites: No
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Prerequisites: Yes
Annual requirements: Yes
Team training is easy with our ASM/CSP group plans. Save money while SIMA handles account management and setup. We can even help you designate a training champion and set completion goals.
For use toward ASM or CSP training, the $200 AnnualTraining Commitment is available each year ofrenewal. We can help you apply it to your Team Plan.
Align your workforce with proven training and credentialing programs to grow in snow.
Email Chris@sima.org to get started! www.sima.org
GREEN ZONING: Julia Langton is Director of Robotics for AOS. Langton Group’s focus on robotics is attracting younger, more techsavvy team members.
President Joe Langton is the king of automation at Langton Group. The company has a separate business, Automated Outdoor Solutions, that sells and services robotic mowers. The company uses Husqvarna mowers on its commercial lawn care accounts; and Joe feels that robotic technology will soon make its way to snow and ice management (see opposite page).
The use of robotic mowers and other electric equipment led Langton Group to build a dedicated high-tech charging room capable of charging some 250 equipment batteries. It has also helped the company attract younger, more techsavvy, employees to the industry. And electric power (the company recently added two electric vehicles to its sales fleet) will hopefully make a small dent in the company’s large monthly fuel bill, which recently totaled $55,000.
ROBOTIC DASHBOARD: Robot activity and battery life can be accessed to help guide and troubleshoot.
MOBILE CHARGING: Joe Langton had MowFleet trailer units custom designed for easy delivery and retrieval of robotic lawnmowers.
Continued from page 33
tical on something, your first move is to take a step back. And our first move was to take two steps forward.”
That included tripling the size of the company’s sales team as part of a concerted effort to add new accounts that were up for grabs as other companies took a wait-and-see approach.
And it meant additional and substantial investments in equipment. “We’ve spent about $8 million in the past three years, with another $2.5 million worth of equipment that’s
been ordered and will be here before winter,” John says.
He admits that going all-in during an uncertain time was nerve-wracking. “Even people in our office asked, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ ”
At least in this instance, looking at what others were doing and then going the opposite direction paid off. “That’s what allowed us to really accelerate our growth, and really become super-profitable,” John notes. “It took a lot of courage for Joe and I to do that, but it’s paid dividends. That put us to the next level, really over the past couple years.”
The decision to invest big in equipment during the pandemic has proven to be especially wise now that prices are up, interest rates have risen and everything is harder to get.
“Not that I knew at that time, but the calculated risk paid off because, where everybody else is struggling to get fleet, we have ours in good shape,” John says.
Patrick White has covered the landscape and snow and ice management industries for a variety of magazines for 25 years. He is based in Vermont. Contact him at pwhite@meadowridgemedia.com.
During the 25th Annual Snow & Ice Symposium, SIMA moderated a panel on automation in the snow industry. Panelists were Joe Langton, President of Langton Group and CEO of Automated Outdoor Services; Michael Mayberry, CTO, Level Green Landscaping and True Winds Consulting; and Ryan Hebel, Vice President, Green Ventures Landscape Care. Among the takeaways:
Beta-testing. Robotic snow removal machines are being beta tested across the United States and Canada, with successful results and improvements being made each season. To date, multiple wellfunded companies are working with snow professionals in real-world snow management scenarios. As with most robotics products (think Tesla), software updates over time will help improve systems and performance, as well as identify issues and errors.
Strategy change. Robotics in snow requires professionals to change their mindset about how work should be accomplished and how new technology can save time and allow crew members much-needed rest during longduration events. For example, robotics can be used on sidewalks to provide a “second shift” to cover priority areas and keep things clear while sidewalk crews sleep.
Workforce education. Communication to crews and managers is essential when adopting robotics. This includes ensuring that your existing workforce is informed about how these machines will help – not replace – them. On top of that, working with select clients to beta test robots on their sites is essential to adoption success.
Increased data. Robotics combined with data collection can provide more robust risk management and service verification since robots are tied into GPS systems and can provide video and other digital documentation of services rendered. This data is valuable for slip and fall claims and can also be used to refine efficiency on sites and measure the true impact of robotics for the company.
Not just for the big guys. This technology is not only a fit for large companies; it will be available and accessible to smaller commercial companies. In fact, smaller companies in some ways have an advantage in adopting robotic technology, because they can make decisions more quickly and can have C-Suite level support in the field to ensure quality control and success.
Communication to crews and managers is essential when adopting robotics. This includes ensuring that your existing workforce is informed about how these machines will help – not replace – them.
Reviewing contracts against capacity can identify clients that may not be good fits for your company
By MIKE McCARRON
Now is the time to review your contracts to ensure you can meet your obligations given your current or planned staffing levels. Jumping on this assessment now will save you stress and anxiety when it is time to honor those contracts.
Companies struggle more and more to find reliable workers and subcontractors while trying to balance the increasing costs of inflation and supply chain issues. You may have to make tough decisions to have a fighting chance at survival during the next few years.
Listed below are a few things to consider to help ensure you will be able to meet your client’s expectations and protect your company’s reputation.
List your equipment and operator needs to fulfill your current contracts and any new ones you may pick up for the coming season. Use a simple spreadsheet to look at your equipment and staff and where shortages exist or are expected. List in the first column the jobs you currently have. Next, label subsequent columns with things that you will need to take A-plus care of each particular property, such
as trucks, loaders, plows, shovels, salt spreaders, sidewalk clearers, shovelers, drivers, etc.
Once you know the resources you will need, identify where you are fully staffed and where you expect to need additional resources to cover your contract obligations.
One of the most challenging tasks for many is finding reliable and available hand labor, especially in positions like sidewalk clearers. While new and efficient equipment and technology can often replace these human resources, many companies don’t have the financial resources to invest in such equipment. Some companies might consider dropping contracts at the last minute because they can’t get the necessary labor resources. Don’t be like those companies.
Once you know your capacity, review your contracts. Look for things like partial vs. full service; whether the client expects pre-treatment applications or just post-event services; and if you contracted for a specific precipitation depth at which you will use loaders and for how long. When experienced labor resources are unavailable, contracts with high service-level demands and expectations become difficult to fulfill. It’s better to address potential shortfalls now instead of failing during a storm.
As you review your contracts, think strategically about which team members should be assigned to each site, based on the complexities. Reviewing strategies and options is critical when working on challenging jobs.
For example, it takes extreme patience and creativity on your team’s part to service a site with high vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Consider putting your best team members on these sites so they can quickly and effectively manage issues and do a great job for the client.
Review the payment terms for the contracts you have in place. Some clients insist on terms like net 60, which means you may not get paid until 75 days past the invoice date if the check is cut on day 60 and then mailed. Many clients can make direct deposit payments to your bank account to avoid payment delays. Consider offering a discount to customers who choose this option.
After reviewing site conditions, client expectations, labor availability and actual job costs, you may realize that some jobs are not a good fit for your company.
It’s better to recognize that you will not be highly successful on a particular job and cut it loose before you are in the thick of the
job and realize you can’t meet the job’s requirements and the client’s expectations.
Sometimes the job requirements and your resources change over time. Holding onto a contract you can’t successfully service will cause needless
and advanced equipment we need; and what contract labor is available to us. We have thinned out our contract list accordingly.
Our solution, based on the size of our company, labor availability, our existing equipment inventory and our geographical location, was to contract with clients with smaller locations who want full-service care. Doing this has allowed us to concentrate on specific client areas and not have to drive across town as much.
We realized we had 30% less stress, anxiety and headache for approximately the same income. We had to walk away from some clients who we simply couldn’t service at the level they expected with the resources we had.
As Winnie the Pooh says, “I always get to where I’m going by walking away from where I have been.” Be courageous, walk away from clients and contracts that don’t work for you anymore, and walk instead toward new and more efficient customer relationships. It’s OK. Be like Winnie the Pooh!
Mike McCarron is president and founder of Image Works Landscape Management, a commercial landscape maintenance and snow removal firm in the Northern Virginia market. He has 20+ years of industry experience. Email him at mike@ imageworkslandscaping.com.
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By MICHAEL WAGNER, CSP
The snow and ice management industry always places a priority on the level of service (LOS) that’s provided to a client. Many organizations look at components such as:
• Trigger points
• Snow and ice amount thresholds
• Specific site requirements such as size, type, surface material, piling spots, etc.
• Number of personnel along with their qualifications and experience
• The type of equipment to be used
• Materials requested and provided All these aspects of a sound LOS are necessary, but we must take it a few steps further to be effective and efficient, and to create strong, longterm relationships with clients in which all parties see an extraordinary value. We’ll work through different phases in the strategy below for a better understanding how to take our LOS to the next level.
Fully understand the capabilities of your organization. This includes components such as the number of personnel, structure, their qualifications and experience; the assets that you manage; how you approach safety; determining the risks you’re willing to take on, as well as those you’re not; and how you currently manage your snow and ice program. Without knowing these areas of the organization throughout your process of meeting with clients and developing site requirements, it’s going to be extremely difficult to develop a sound action and operational plan come time for snow and ice events.
Meet with the client to develop the site specifications and put together the contract. You must reflect on Phase 1 in this situation. As you’re working with the client and discussing the service they’re seeking, you must consider how your organization is going to accomplish its objectives and meet the client’s needs.
Do not overcommit you and the company to performing a service that you can’t implement or sustain for the duration of the snow season. Whether it’s due to a lack of equipment, personnel or experience with a specialty service, know your limitations and only commit to specifications you can successfully adhere to. For standard components of the service specifications, discuss areas such as:
• Lot size, as well as problem areas such as low and high spots, more-shaded versus less-shaded areas, surface material, drain and gutter locations, and piling zones.
• Desired times of service, such as before a business opens at 7 a.m., after the business closes at 6 p.m.,
etc. Whatever the time may be, you want to set specific time and response guidelines.
• Safety concerns, including entrance and emergency exit, fire lanes, hydrants, walking paths and sidewalks from the street, parking lots, or any other areas leading to business entrances, and other high-traffic areas.
• The importance of using specific equipment for the job, as well as liquid and granular materials.
• Enforcing the plan of allowing the snow contractor to determine material usage based on professional experience and qualifications (such as being a CSP or ASM).
• An Emergency Operations Plan for severe storms such as excessive ice, wind, blowing snow, blizzards, etc. Advise the client how you will respond in mild to severe scenarios, and what that service will offer them.
There’s a growing list of resources at my.sima.org that can help guide you on many of these tasks. If you can’t find the answers you’re looking for, reach out to the SIMA staff at info@sima.org; and remember that you have a very large network of snow professionals with tremendous experience through SIMA.
Don’t forget to discuss snow operations with your safety professional to look at operational risks. Know these before you develop site requirements with the client so you can be prepared to identify potential hazards as you’re developing the specifications. While this isn’t an exhaustive list, it can help you get started:
• Increased slip, trip and fall areas
• Areas that may induce thaw and refreeze pooling
• Site drainage zones
• People and/or vehicle traffic at the time of service
• Emergency entrance and exit points, as well as high-traffic areas
• Potential landscaping or parking areas that may be damaged
• Loading docks and ramps
• Utility boxes, lines, equipment
• Site type (such as medical, commercial, residential, etc.)
Now it’s time to take all your planning work and put it into action. This can be a challenging phase since you’re communicating expectations, response plans, personnel and equipment prep, and more, to all of your clients.
It’s beneficial to map out how you want to prepare for the season and ensure you’re meeting the site specifications by planning processes and response plans with every level of staff from administration, laborers, supervisors, equipment and shop managers, and operational managers. Make sure they understand what’s expected of them as far as workload, response times, preparation and performance. Identify areas of potential training, scheduling and improvements to increase your level of preparedness and effectiveness.
Have documented backup plans
that can be referred to in case they are needed. Make sure drivers, operators, laborers and all other staff members are well-informed and prepared to tackle the certain and uncertain roads ahead.
Don’t think that just because your strategy is set for the season and that you have everything in place the way it needs to be, that you won’t need to improve in various areas. As a supervisor and manager, listen to those working and dealing with the hustle and bustle of doing exceptional work
for your organization; be innovative and persistent.
Have periodic staff meetings to discuss what went well and what didn’t; what ideas people have to improve processes; and more. Finally, listen to the client. When concerns arise, address them collaboratively and find the root cause. Communicate professionally and develop a level of service for the client that lasts.
Michael Wagner, CSP, is fleet and safety manager at Designscapes Colorado Inc. Contact him at 303328-5554 or mwagner@designscapes.org.
By THOMAS SKUTA, CSP
For snow contractors, having welltrained employees, appropriate chemicals and functioning equipment are just a few of the necessary components to executing at a high level before, during and after a snow season. Equally as important to your successful snow season is providing consistent, clear and timely communications with your customers. Follow these pointers and timeframes for a more successful partnership.
collaboration
Long before the first snowflakes fall, meet with your customers to collectively review the agreed-upon scope of work, making sure that both parties have a clear and defined understanding of expectations of what is in scope and what is out of scope.
Next, conduct a thorough preseason walkthrough at the property with the customer that establishes the following:
• Communication plan (pre/ during/post-storm communications).
• Confirm property boundaries, any site-specific nuances (extra parcels, sidewalks, etc.), and that the property will be staked before snow season begins.
• Where the snow will be pushed and what areas are expected to be prioritized when arriving on site.
• Review conditions of the paved surfaces, including parking areas and sidewalks, identifying any potential slip or trip hazards, along with documenting any pre-existing damage.
• Establish how services are to be reported and invoiced. Does the customer require use of a consolidated maintenance management system, or will the customer accept your in-house service data?
In-season communication
Providing timely pre-storm communications that highlight the forecasted impacts and any subsequent plans to provide service to your customer’s property is also an important task to help ensure a successful relationship. In addition:
• Make certain that you have provided primary and backup contact information to keep an open line of communication during events.
• Provide in-season feedback to your customer on what is working well and what is not, so that quick adjustments can be made before the next storm.
• Be sure to work with your customer to quickly address any additional out-of-scope work that may be necessary (hauling, re-stacking, icicle removal, etc.).
Postseason communication
Schedule a postseason walk-through with the contractor documenting the following:
• Any new snow-related damage that was not noted in the preseason walk-through and a timeline to have any issues resolved.
• An established end-of-season clean-up date and snow stake removal.
• Any open and honest feedback
The Site Engineering and Service Verification Tear & Teach is a good tool to jump start the preseason walk-through process. Download it for free at my.sima.org.
reviewing the season’s performance.
In the final postseason meeting, it’s also important to finalize and complete any outstanding invoicing issues, and discuss any lessons learned or opportunities to build continuous improvement into the program for the next snow season.
As with most aspects in life, whether personal or professional, you are bound to be more successful when you have clear and open communication. In the snow business, it is no different.
Following this communication plan will help limit unexpected misunderstandings with service delivery expectations, build the partnership between your organization and the customer, and ultimately deliver a better and safer product to customers, employees, vendors and the community as a whole.
By DAVID GALLAGHER
Should I work with a national/regional management company? I see a lot of posts on social media asking this question. The answers range from “It’s a great way to grow your business or experience” to “Don’t do it EVER!”
The people in the latter camp often state that if no one works for large management companies they will cease to exist and that would be better for the market. In an absolute sense the first part would certainly be true; however, the probability that no one will work for these management companies is slim.
The reality is that they offer something that certain purchasers of snow and ice services want: a one-source (or at least fewer sources) option to manage service delivery. The end customer doesn’t want to deal with service providers at a local level and/or doesn’t want to deal with hundreds across a region/nation. Like it or not, the concept of a national/ regional management company (NRMC) is here to stay. So, let’s look more closely at the question of “should I?” – or even “how can I?” – work with an NRMC?
There are several considerations to be made when deciding if you should work with any customer; and in the case of an NRMC, they are your customer. When making an evaluation of customer fit, the following factors, and perhaps others like culture of the customer’s organization, should be considered.
Will they accept the way I do business?
This consideration is a two-way street, and encompasses the process and expectations of communication, decisionmaking, service verification, liability, invoicing, etc., when
SIMA’s Standard Practice for Procuring and Planning Snow and Ice Management Services provides guidance in the creation of RFPs, contracts and more. Extensive guidelines on level of service and scope of work parameters are included. Learn more at www.sima.org/standards.
determining whether there is a fit or alignment between you and the NRMC. Ask questions about the administrative part of the relationship in addition to the scope of work (SOW) and level of service (LOS).
I accept their SOW? Does it match the LOS expectation?
Most NRMCs will provide you with their SOW. Part of their obligation to their customers (the owners/tenants of the lots you will service) is to provide a standard and acceptable SOW for all hired contractors to follow. Your job is to determine whether you are comfortable with it. Don’t be afraid to question it or even attempt to negotiate it.
You also need to ensure that the SOW and the LOS align. In a previous life, I managed a contract for a large grocery store chain across the northeastern United States. Their SOW included a 3-inch plow trigger and no provision for a pre-salt application since many of their stores were in areas with salt-sensitive environments.
The store managers and corporate facilities team were always unhappy with 3 inches of accumulation on their parking lots. Envision little old ladies trying to push a grocery cart through 3 inches of snow. It took this illustration during a particular Nor’easter to help them understand that their SOW and LOS weren’t aligned; and to meet their expectations, the SOW needed to change. Think ahead and look for these kinds of potential misalignments.
These disagreements could be a store manager or representative refusing to sign service verifications, invoices being disputed, concerns over where snow should be plowed, or any number of other things. In many cases, the NRMC will not have a local representative; so, make sure you understand – and they can articulate – how disputes and their resolutions will be handled. Don’t assume all will be well or that “it’ll just get worked out.”
In many cases, the NRMC will tell you what they are willing to pay for snow and ice services and how they are willing to pay it: per-event, seasonal, etc. Look at this as an opportunity to evaluate the SOW and your production capabilities.
Many NRMCs have snow experts on their teams, so their estimates are rooted in some basis of operational understanding and are typically based on the best practices and equipment for the job. Ask yourself: “Can I profitably produce this work at their price?” If not, try to negotiate. If they refuse, move on to other possible customers or jobs with the NRMC.
Don’t look at it only from your vantage point, though;
ask them how they arrived at their price. What equipment are they assuming will be used? How much salt are they estimating will be applied, etc. Don’t just assume your price is right and theirs is wrong. Use it as an opportunity to learn and evaluate your own estimating and production practices.
You should also consider the cost or even opportunity you may have to win similar work on your own. Can you get in front of the decision maker(s) for similar properties in your service area without working with the NRMC?
In the end, there is no one answer that fits all here. Each company must make its own decisions about customer fit as it applies to working with NRMC customers. I know companies that won’t ever work with an NRMC, and others who only work for NRMCs. Both are successful because they understand how their business fits (or doesn’t) with NRMC customers.
The key is to approach the NRMC as the customer and treat the relationship like that with any other customer. Strive to meet and exceed their expectations; communicate clearly and effectively with them; and don’t make them special because of the work they provide.
David Gallagher is principal for Spiritus Business Advisors. He has over 25 years of experience as a senior service-oriented leader on all aspects of property service. Contact him at david@spiritusba.com.
As the owner, are you paying yourself … correctly?
By CARLA INIGUEZ
There are different motivating factors for starting a snow and ice business; but business owners obviously should shoot for making a healthy profit. Making a high net profit allows you to either live comfortably, or continually invest back into the business for growth. The problem is that many business owners don’t understand a major aspect of the finances that effect profits: owner’s salary.
You may have come across business owners at events or online forums that boast about their business’s high profits. The issue is when these same owners do not understand the importance of paying themselves a salary for the work they perform, plus making the net profit on the business.
Are your profits accurate?
It’s important to understand that the profits of the business and owner’s salary are separate and distinct. The profit is the return that you earn on your business, and the reward that you receive for the risk of owning a business. The salary is for what you do in the business as the busi ness owner. If you are not paying yourself a mar ket-based wage for the work you are perform ing, then your financials are misleading. You are not only distorting the financials, but you may actually be operating at a loss. So net profit is only part of the success story.
OWNER’S DISTRIBUTION is when the owner takes funds out of the business for personal use at regular intervals or when needed. Owner’s distributions do not have tax deductions and are contributed by writing yourself a check or
is a set wage that gets paid each pay period and includes
Structure dictates payment
How you pay yourself depends on your business structure:
Sole proprietorship: Your business income is your income and business owners pay themselves through an owner’s draw.
Partnership: Profits or losses pass through to the partners, and they pay themselves through owners’ draws and/or guaranteed payments.
S Corporation: Owners can pay themselves a salary and through shareholders’ distributions.
C Corporation: Owners can pay themselves by way of salary and through dividends.
Knowing these requirements is important for establishing the proper owner’s compensation.
Now that we know the business entity structures that allow for an owner’s salary, we can examine the process behind determining the salary amount. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as a simple calculation. There are some general rules of thumb with regard to percentages of profits or other metrics that some CPAs use in calculating an owner’s salary.
Every business is different, and
what each business owner performs in the business varies, thus making it inaccurate to have one calculation used across the board. Two business owners in the snow and ice industry may have similar profits and similarsized businesses, but one owner may be absentee with additional managers, while the other may be handling the majority of the management tasks.
It’s okay to hire managers and other staff to help support administrative functions; but if you want to continue to pay yourself the same salary, then you will need to continue performing tasks worthy of that salary. You may think, “I’m the business owner, why can’t I pay myself what I want?”
To start, paying yourself a low salary is a red flag to the IRS and can often trigger an audit. Paying yourself too much is also not viewed well by the IRS, plus your financial reports will not show the true picture of your company.
You may think, “I’m the business owner, why can’t I pay myself what I want?” To start, paying yourself a low salary is a red flag to the IRS and can often trigger an audit. Paying yourself too much is also not viewed well by the IRS, plus your financial reports will not show the true picture of your company.
The IRS notes that owners must pay themselves a “reasonable” salary in an S corporation. To determine this, you can compare salaries with other companies, compare within your own company, and base it off a hypothetical sale of your company or replacement of yourself and the duties you as the owner perform. The IRS also considers:
• the financial health of the business;
• the overall experience in the industry;
• any economic conditions within the industry; and
• the location that the business operates in.
Remember, paying yourself an owner’s salary only occurs if your business entity allows for it. There are no shortcuts or simplified paths to high profits. Don’t pay yourself a low salary to allow for higher profits; instead, understand where you are and plan to improve from there.
Cycle CPA is a full-service firm that offers bookkeeping, controller and CFO services to service-based industries, including landscaping and snow and ice. For more information on cash flow forecasting and accounting, contact Carla Iniguez at carlap@cyclecpa.com.
ABy JASON OSTRANDER, CSP
s the last few weeks of summer wind down and autumn takes over, all attention turns to the incoming winter season.
In addition to sending final proposals and making lastminute decisions on equipment and material purchases, you’ll inevitably need to deal with staffing issues. Whether you have a large inhouse crew or you’re a solo owner/ operator, at some point you’ll have more work than your team can handle. With labor shortages all around, you might need to explore bringing on a subcontractor to help fulfill your snow accounts.
The thought of leveraging a subcontractor to do your snow work is a scary proposition, especially if you’ve never done it. Working with subs can be stressful and, in some cases, damaging to your organization’s reputation. But if structured correctly, a subcontractor business model has the potential to grow your book of business.
Clearly worded, detailed service provider agreements are the key to any great subcontractor partnership. Additionally, the more information you can provide your subs (e.g., scope of work) about the specific sites they will be working on, the better the outcome.
Jason Ostrander, CSP, is chief operating officer for East End Group in Yaphank, NY. Email him at jason@eastendgroup.net.
Here are some tools that you can put in your subs’ toolboxes to ensure a successful winter season.
1 Define the level of service
It may sound simple, but a great way to encourage quality subcontractor relationships is to spell out exactly what level of service the client has chosen for their site. Does your sub know the difference between low, medium and high levels of service? Make sure that both you and your sub can answer the following question similarly: “What does the client want the parking lot to look like when customers/tenants arrive in the morning?”
2 Agree on trigger depth
Every subcontractor agreement should outline a basic start time – in other words, at which point during a weather event snow service begins (aka “trigger depth”). While the standard depths in the commercial realm are 1⁄2”, 1” or 2”, it’s important to remember that not all trigger depths are equal. For example, a subcontractor working at a 1/2” trigger would probably have crews on-site as the storm begins, whereas the property with a 2” trigger might not need a crew present until an hour or more into a storm.
3 Highlight hours of operation
You might not think listing the hours of operation in your subs’ scope of work matters all that much; but when it comes to avoiding hazardous situations and providing safe access to all doorways and walkways, it helps to know exactly when (and where) the most foot traffic will take place.
4 Provide a detailed site map
Your scope of work should include a site map that has different color designations for the lots and the walkways (including all exterior doorways, stairs and emergency exits). Reduced confusion at the site map level means a lower chance that a parking lot or a sidewalk will be overlooked during a storm.
5 Identify priority areas
Prioritizing high-traffic entrances and walkways will ensure that everyone knows where to concentrate their energies when the greatest number of people will be on premises.
6 Set expectations for ice-only events
Not all winter weather events involve snow – especially on the coasts, where “ice-only” events are quite prevalent. Make sure your scope of work defines the expectation of service for events that may only contain ice, or for events that don’t reach snow trigger depths. Taking the time to detail your expectations for “more frequent deicer applications” during an ice event is time well spent.
7 Require post-event processes
Finally, every scope of work should spell out what happens after the storm is over. If you want your sub to make a return visit the morning after a snow event to perform an ice check or to tidy up snow piles, specifically call that out in your scope of work. Keep in mind that managing expectations for subs after the storm is over is just as important as during the storm.
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Drive the narrative with your clients so they don’t feel the need to dictate
By MICHAEL WAGNER, CSP
Developing site requirements and site specifications is a collaborative process between a company and client; but deciding trigger points for service or for using materials should be left to the snow pro. There’s a variety of reasons this should fall on your shoulders, and it’s important to convey this to the client during specification development and event response.
While some clients may know how to successfully partner on snow contracts, the service provider should inform them of how to properly mitigate snow and ice concerns, as well as make the decisions on when to treat surfaces and clear snow.
Many times, when the decisionmaking is given to the client, they may hold back from performing additional but necessary services such as pretreating and anti-icing to save money, only to have the snow operations manager get a call about ice or snow buildup due to no surface treatment. Then the snow contractor must remobilize and provide the service, which typically costs the client more money than if they had elected to have the contractor make the decision at response time.
Not only does this cause operational issues for the contractor, it causes panic
and worry of potential slip and fall incidents on the client’s property prior to treatment.
While many snow contractors understand that responding to unplanned and emergency services requires a shift in operational direction, it can also cause issues on the client side.
For instance, you have a commercial site where you finished plowing during response time, and the service of treating the surface wasn’t requested. The temperature drops 5-10° F, and all of a sudden you have a fresh layer of ice throughout the parking lot and in front of the building. Slips, falls, accidents and liability now worry the client; and customers walking in and out of the business have the perception of a business that doesn’t keep them safe.
Relay the importance of letting the snow pro make the decisions based on weather analysis and planning, and then having the ability to properly treat the surface to prepare the client for the opening of their business. It’s not only the snow contractor who must perform their duties to keep people safe; it’s the client as well.
As a snow professional, if you’re telling your clients they must leave trigger decisions up to you, it’s important that you have the knowledge required to do so. Several courses and resources are available to give you the confidence
If a property owner/manager wants to dictate how, when and where services are to be performed, ensure that liability for that discretion lies with them. The contract should make clear that if the owner declines or decides not to have the contractor apply the services to any portion of the premises, the owner acknowledges that the contractor is not responsible for any damages or claims whatsoever relating to or caused, in whole or in part, by the failure to apply the services to the premises in any circumstance.
and support from your client in the decision-making process. If you’re implementing much of the material you’ve learned, you will be performing snow and ice management operations at the same level of other exceptional businesses across the entire industry.
Being trained and certified also helps in the process of obtaining and retaining clients, and it can help gain or return access to liability insurance. Lastly, if you ever have a lawsuit you must respond to, being certified lets others know you’ve been through industry-standard training. Only make decisions when you have the knowledge to carry out an objective with exceptional performance in mind.
Finally, focus on developing a relationship of mutual trust and respect with your client. While this may take some time, especially if you have new clients or if you’re rebuilding broken relationships, be diligent and don’t give up.
Learn from previous situations, and always work to build an understanding from your client that you will make the best decision possible for them to meet the expected service. There are definitely some situations that may strain a relationship, such as navigating through a legal battle and finding discrepancies over liability; not showing up and performing the agreed upon service; or billing a client for additional services without prior notice of services performed or requested. While it can be difficult to develop trust in the relationship, it only takes one bad decision to permanently harm the relationship.
Lastly, this is a great time to teach the client and property managers about proper snow and ice management, and how to effectively work as a partnership to solve a problem.
Michael Wagner, CSP, is fleet and safety manager at Designscapes Colorado Inc. Contact him at 303-328-5554 or mwagner@designscapes.org.
By JAMIE PERRAS
Many factors play into selecting the right clients for your company. Depending on your company’s size, focus and appetite for risk, not every client will be a good fit; and as you grow, that fit will evolve. Following are some suggestions based on how we evaluate potential partnerships:
1 First impressions are important. First impressions speak volumes. If you’re considering a client whose property appears unkempt, has a
property manager who seems to always be chasing their tail, etc., it is likely a reflection on their approach to business. We like to deal with professional people who keep the bar high.
2 Know your niche. Make sure the client fits well with your company. If your portfolio is mainly industrial sites, your systems will be built for a certain level of service, timing and thresholds. This same system may not work well with other property types. What might look like a good fit if the property fills a gap in your portfolio may lead to headaches down the road. This doesn’t mean you should not look for new clients or entertain property types outside your primary focus; just know
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what you may be getting into and that you’ll be able to properly meet the client's service needs.
3 What’s the contract say? Be incredibly careful about clients who want you to assume all liability on a site, regardless of negligence. When it comes to liability concerns on a site, it must be a two-way street between the client and the contractor.
4 The client-contractor relationship is key. The relationship between a client and a contractor is key to a long and successful business relationship. We value clients who listen and value our expertise as winter service providers; who appreciate the
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partnership between us and them; and who communicate to ensure we can be successful and keep their sites safe. Poor communication can lead to liability issues that could be avoided; for example, if a shift that used to start at 6 a.m. is changed to start at midnight, that would change the time when service is needed. If you don’t know that, a delay in service could result in a slip and fall that not only jeopardizes your relationship with the client but also opens you up to liability.
5 Consult your insurance company. Insurance costs and availability
KNOW YOUR NICHE: Part of the process of evaluating a potential client is to determine if it fits your portfolio since different property types have different service needs.
continue to be a challenge for snow providers. A few years ago, we received our insurance renewal with a 62% across-the-board increase even though we had not had a slip and fall claim against us in almost a dozen years. We began reviewing our portfolio and shifting away from high-risk sites like retail and homeowners’ associations, which draw a lot of foot traffic. We also are not afraid to drop customers with unrealistic expectations or who we know won’t have our back. I encourage you to share your client
portfolio with your insurance partner, who may be able to provide guidance on whether certain properties are worth the risk.
We cannot hand pick every client. That said, be aware of red flags raised when you start negotiations with a new client. Hopefully they can be ironed out; if not, don’t be afraid to pass on potential work as it could cost you in the end.
Jamie Perras is president/co-owner of BP Landscaping & Snow Removal in Caledon, Ontario. Email him at Jamie.perras@ bplandscaping.ca.
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By JARED NUSBAUM
Every snow contractor has had a client question clauses in the snow services contract, or provide a contract with clauses that are not reasonable. When that happens, there usually needs to be a conversation and potentially a change made to the contract. Some of these situations could be avoided by how the clauses or changes are presented to the client. Here are some problematic ones to avoid:
If a client insists on a bare pavement clause in the contract, they want you to agree that you will “maintain bare pavement” at all times. Obviously, this can create issues and put an unnecessary burden on your company. You don’t have to blindly accept such a clause. Rephrasing or slightly changing such a requirement can mean the difference between losing or prevailing in a subsequent slip and fall lawsuit. Language such as “Contractor will take reasonable efforts to maintain
Contract templates: Sample contracts, basic terms and conditions and
Advanced clauses: A list of snowspecific clauses that cover liability, service restrictions, payment terms and more.
bare pavement” can still satisfy the client while protecting the contractor.
Another provision that is often ignored in snow services contracts is Force Majeure. More commonly referred to as the “Acts of God” clause, the pandemic reminded us that every contract needs to have such a clause. This will protect your company for failure to provide or delays in services, in the event of severe weather conditions; inability to provide appropriate workers for legitimate reasons; and other reasons. It should be something that you insist on in your contracts.
Most importantly, the indemnification provision in your snow services contract should not favor the property owner (i.e., place all of the responsibility on the contractor). Look for phrases like “Contractor shall be liable to indemnify Owner for all claims, regardless of negligence.”
These types of clauses are the owner’s attempts to get you to pay for any slip and fall injuries, regardless of whether you performed the services adequately. Rephrasing such clauses to only accept indemnification clauses when you are actually at fault or negligent is a great way to push back in order to protect your company.
Keep in mind that your contracts are vital in the event a lawsuit is brought against you. You will be held to the clauses that exist, so making sure they are acceptable to you ahead of time can save a lot of problems should something with the services go bad.
Jared Nusbaum is an attorney with the law firm of Zlimen & McGuiness, PLLC in St. Paul, MN. His practice areas include employment law, small business law, litigation, and bankruptcy. Email him at jnusbaum@zmattorneys.com.
BY JOSH HOWVER, ASM
Use of liquids in the snow removal industry is on the rise. While many contractors are starting to dabble with liquids on their job sites, it becomes harder to project your storage needs when you start adding more and more liquid capability to your operations. As we’ve grown our liquid operations over the years, we learned a lot of things that worked well, and a lot of things that we didn’t expect.
First off, you need a place to store liquids at your shop. This is obvious but still keep in mind that it takes some time to plan and make the right storage decisions.
Try to purchase equipment that will have some versatility as you grow and won’t leave you handcuffed down the road. While you might only need a 250-gallon tote right now, it’s probably a better idea to purchase a 1,500-gallon tank.
Multi-event flexibility becomes the name of the game. Instead of needing to constantly refill your 250-gallon tote between events, with a bigger tank you’ll be able to service long snow events or multiple back-to-back events more efficiently.
As with bulk salt, it might also be difficult to take materials delivery when it’s most convenient for you in the midst of other operations. A way to alleviate this is to control the quality and supply of your brine by
making your own. Brine making might seem expensive and difficult, but it’s really not as hard as you’d think. But once again, it requires more space. The brine maker isn’t a huge footprint, and you likely already have bulk salt storage; but water supply could be an issue. If you’re lucky enough to have a large supply line, you can probably feed water directly into your brine maker. If you have a well or a small capacity supply line, you’ll likely want to invest in another tank with a float valve. This allows you to have enough water on hand to keep your brine operation running instead of always having to wait for the water to fill.
Brine is a 23.3% solution of sodium chloride and water, which is not effective for melting when temperatures drop below 15°F. For this reason, an additive is a good option to allow for more effective melting at lower temperatures (think using treated salt to enhance melting effectiveness of granular salt).
As you ponder the possibility of additives for your brine, there’s another conundrum to solve. If you decide to use additives, you may need more storage to account for having different types of liquids on hand.
In our experience, it’s best to keep your additives separate and mix as needed. This is more out of precaution and cost because additives can be expensive. We try to account for the time of year and type of storm we are expecting. If we are expecting temperatures above 15°F, we most likely won’t use additives because we don’t truly need them to melt effectively.
In the same line of thinking, we try
to blend in the additives at different rates as the temperatures call for them. We may use a 90/10 blend or an 80/20 blend for the coldest storms. For these reasons, we added several separate storage tanks for our additives so that we can make the call depending on the situation.
and application rates
We like to create routes for deicing with liquids based on lot size to get a good idea of how many trucks we need and how much material will be required to get through a round of deicing. It’s important to plan for as many of the possibilities as you can. If it’s a storm where you’re using 100% NaCl brine, how much brine do you need? If you’re going to use 90% NaCl brine and 10% additive, how much of each do you need? Carry on for as many of those scenarios as you like.
The other thing to think about is application rates. For a typical snowstorm that gets plowed and deiced, we generally apply our liquids at 80 gallons per acre. But if we expect a cold event where we anticipate hard pack, we might apply up to 110 gallons per acre. Obviously, this changes the amount of brine and additives you need to apply to the same surface area.
It’s important to know the maximum amount of brine and additives that you could possibly need per event so that you can better calculate the storage you will need. These factors will help you map out your routes and find out how far/how many jobs you can handle on a single load. Can you stretch the one truck to accomplish the work, or would it be wise to add another spray truck to your fleet so that you can deice in a more timely manner for your clients? Another possibility is looking at the addition of jobsite storage.
As your operations grow, it will likely be to your advantage to add storage on jobsites to allow for filling sprayers in the field to maximize your routing. This adds another element to planning
before and after events since you’ll likely need a driver who can refill the jobsite storage tanks from your shop or strategically plan refills from your supplier to avoid being empty between events.
While all of this might seem overwhelming, when you start putting pen to paper, it’s much simpler than it sounds. It’s also not too different from properly planning logistics with bulk salt. It’s been awesome to see our operation go from a couple of totes for testing liquids to using over 30,000 gallons per deicing event. I’m hopeful that this helps you plan for your future and to really take advantage of liquid deicing for your company.
Josh Howver, ASM, is maintenance manager for Cornerstone Partners Horticultural Services in St. Charles, IL. Contact him at joshh@cphort.com.
THE SR MAG is bigger, badder, bolder and it brings an unprecedented level of performance to snow and ice contractors. The SR MAG comes with the ability to take on an arsenal of optional implements so regardless of how you need to attack the job, you’ll have the right solution. info.bossplow.com/mag
The Steiner rotary sweeper clears away light snow and other debris on pathways, parking lots and drives, delivering a clean finish. Attached to the all-season Steiner 450 tractor – and with a fully adjustable broom angle – operators have all the power and control they need to get the job done right. www.steinerturf.com
Metal Pless added the sidewalk option to its No. 1 blade, the MAXXPRO, so it can clear snow off the sidewalk and roadway in one path. The bottom part of the hydraulic wing has a mechanical float system that allows operators to be more efficient. The MaxxPro Sidewalk has the company’s recognizable features such as hydraulic angle, hydraulic wings and unique patented Live Edge technology. www.metalpless.com
The compact single auger is a lightweight snowblower ideal for all users. With a 16” serrated auger, it breaks through ice with ease. The direct-drive hydraulic chute rotation and hydraulic flap keep the operator warm in the cab. Designed with easy access for maintenance and lubrication. Hydraulic gearbox makes it ideal for tractors with no front PTO shaft. www.metec.ca
Stay safe with Lawson Products’ ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Class 3 high visibility 8-in-1 bomber jacket. It has a detachable hood, removable inner fleece jacket and six pockets (four outside, one inside with a hidden zippered pocket). The outer jacket and sleeves unzip. Material is PU-coated 300 Denier Oxford. www.lawsonproducts.com
Discount Snow Stakes offers the highest quality driveway markers installation drill bit on the market. The Shark Tooth Installer easily cores through frozen ground for optimal late-season installation. If you have concrete or curb installation spots, the Shark Tooth is also able to core through these hard materials. www.discountsnowstakes.com
The Virnig V60 Snow Blower has a paddle-style auger that chews through any type of snow and has a direct drive Eaton motor that throws snow up to 40 feet. Take advantage of all this attachment has to offer, including adjustable poly skid shoes, 3/16” fan housing, 270° hydraulic chut rotation and 5/8” x 8” reversible steel bolt-on edge. www.virnigmfg.com
Snow removal necessities at a great price! You’ll receive a high-visibility snow pusher and scoop shovel, 1-Gallon salt scoop, heavy duty broom, and fleecelined gloves. Purchase these products individually or in the convenient bundle. www.reinders.com
The Ventrac Sidewalk Snow Vehicle (SSV) is a skid-steer style stand-on machine designed to manage snow and ice on sidewalks as narrow as 36”. Attachments include a durable poly-bristle broom, snow blade and snowblower. Improve efficiency and save labor by adding the brine tank and drop spreader accessories. www.ventrac.com
Berlon’s mini snow blade is designed for snowplowing and light dozing. It is the ideal snow attachment for mini skids. The rolled stainless steel moldboard prevents corrosion and allows the snow to roll off. www.berlon.com
The Multihog CX tractor with drop spreader is the ideal combination for sidewalk snow and ice management. The tractor is compact enough to clear sidewalks, yet robust enough to operate in harsh conditions. The fully enclosed cabin also ensures that the operator stays safe and warm. www.multihog.com
Normand Co. Ltd.
Normand Co. Ltd. introduces a new generation of inverted snowblowers: 5 models (60, 74, 82, 92 and 100 inches wide) for tractors 20-140 hp PTO. Designed to increase efficiency and cost savings, offering a quicker process and a cleaner job. Rugged construction with Hardox 450 steel. www.cienormand.com
Clean your sidewalks easily and effectively using the Six-Way blade from HLA Snow. Both sides of the SixWay blade can be moved independently to form an angle blade, scoop or V-Blade to ensure you have the right blade for every condition. www.hlasnow.com
Make short work of sidewalk, driveway and pathway clean-up with the FISHER TRAILBLAZER mid-duty UTV straight blade plows. Constructed of highstrength, low-alloy steel components, these plows are purpose-built with professional-grade features for your midduty sport or recreational utility vehicle. Fully hydraulic blade controls allow you to easily adjust the blade lift and angle from inside the cab for quick and efficient snow removal. www.fisherplows.com
BackEZ EVR-GRIP is an ergonomically designed auxiliary handle that can be added to any shovel. Adjust along the tool shaft to fit your height and arm length. Comes with EVR-GRIP rubber strip and Allen wrench. Fits shaft diameters from 7/8” to 1 ½”. www.backez.net
Altoz outdoor power equipment featuring tracks continues to set new commercial standards for value in product and operator efficiency. The all-new 2023 Altoz Switch compact utility vehicle and attachments exceed boundaries as a new class standard for versatility and multi-seasonal usage. www.Altoz.com
Pronovost presents its new Cyclone 72” model (C7224), now available from stock. Designed for subcompact tractors with 25 to 40 hp, the C7224 comes in at less than 1,000 lbs. The Cyclone features a galvanized finish, increased visibility and a better-balanced weight distribution. https://pronovost.qc.ca/en/
Perfect for snow removal, this heavyduty wheeled contractor model is 50% more efficient than traditional snow shovels. The bi-directional, angled blade is perfect for windrowing snow. Blades are constructed of heavy-duty material. Snowcaster’s products are made in the USA using earth-friendly materials and processes; they feature a limited oneyear warranty.
www.thesnowcaster.com
Located in the Midwest, HitchDoc proudly manufactures professional-grade snowblowers, plows and spreaders from American steel. From hydraulic blowers for wheel loaders and tractors to Eagle Plows that mount to ATVs and UTVs, HitchDoc has the right attachment to keep your business going strong all winter long. www.hitchdoc.com
Whether clearing sidewalks or pathways after a major snowstorm, the American-made 30” or 36” Pro-series pushers and 26” Meyer contractor shovel are built to provide the ultimate snow clearing performance you’ve come to expect from the Meyer brand. www.meyerproducts.com
Hilltip’s Sweepaway brooms are hydraulically driven 20” rotating brushes intended for use on tractors, skid steers, UTVs and trucks. Available in five sizes, these brooms are perfect for clearing snow and debris from sidewalks, bike paths and other hard-to-reach areas. The brooms mount with quick-hitch mounting frames.
www.hilltipna.com
Snowbot S1 Pro is the autonomous snowblower that will remove snow from your driveway, yard and sidewalks. You will never have to shovel again. Just enjoy the winter and stay inside where it’s warm. Say no to cold weather and burdensome snow removal work. www.thesnowbot.com
Boschung AG
Carbon is key for the future of green sustainability, and the Boschung Pony 3.0 is the industry standard for multipurpose electric vehicles. It can accept 10 attachments for yearround use and complete a 6- to 8-hour shift with a charging time of only 100 minutes. www.boschung.com
The Ariens Mammoth 850 is a stand-on multi-attachment snow removal vehicle. All controls are located on the dashboard, right at the operator’s fingertips, allowing one hand to drive the vehicle and the other to work the attachment joystick. Available attachments include a snow head, blade, brush and brine spreader. www.ariens.com
When it’s time for sidewalk clean-up duty, equip your mid-duty UTV with the WESTERN IMPACT mid-duty UTV straight blade plow with hydraulic positioning. High-strength materials and a lightweight design provide the power, speed and precision for mid-duty recreational utility vehicles. The patent-pending Sway-Frame design allows the blade to shift from side-to-side and aligns with the wheel track to help prevent hard-packed snow.
www.westernplows.com
Plow Right Marking Stakes
Plow Right Marking Stakes introduces its new Polymer Blend, which increases rigidity and allows for better rebound action. Also new this year will be our Reflective Snow Stake option. Our patented installation tool allows users to install stakes up to 75% faster than conventional methods.
www.Plow-Right.com
GET MORE PRODUCT NEWS! Visit the Snow Business Tools Online page at go.sima.org/tools for more in-depth product information. Check out videos of the latest products and services in the industry. Research products and services by category. Save on purchases with SIMA Deals and search the SIMA Supplier Directory for manufacturers and dealer information. Suppliers can submit free product spotlights, too. COMING UP in October: Software & Technology and Weather Tools.
industry is changing. The equipment you need is at
New regulations in California and across the
OCTOBER 18-21, 2022
SIMA’s online certificate course teaches:
• The core science of how anti-icing and liquids work
• Insights into major deicers and their pros and cons
• Operational planning and implementation of liquid applications on sidewalks and in parking lots
• Introduction to making brine
• Liquid spray system calibration and application rate calculations
• Safety and environmental controls for storing, transporting and applying liquids
CEO // Loof’s Landscaping LLC Fond Du Lac, WI
Years in the industry: 5
Why did you join SIMA?: Membership services and to form professional associations with other snow contractors.
Best thing about snow: It provides a good livelihood for my family.
Tell us about your team: We are a family-owned business with a unique blend of American and Ukrainian cultures. Our team is a dedicated crew that fulfills our “White Glove Service” motto.
One piece of equipment you can’t live without: Arctic Snow & Ice sectionals and Case compact wheel loaders
Best SIMA resource you’ve used since joining: Membership discounts
Favorite business book: “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t,” by Simon Sinek
Owner // Big Lakes Lawncare Chesterfield, MI
Years in the industry: 6
Why did you join SIMA?: Growth and experience-sharing. Best thing about snow: The teamwork and drive it builds in our team.
Tell us about your team: My team is my second family! We win and learn together. I hope to work with them for life.
One piece of equipment you can’t live without: SnowWolf Quattro and Toro Multiforce
Best SIMA resource you’ve used since joining: Training and credential programs, and the SIMA Symposium roadshow sessions (in 2021)
Favorite business book: “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike,” by Phil Knight
Who is your mentor?: Service Autopilot’s Jonathan Pototschnik; JC Grounds Management’s Jon Crandall, CSP; Go iLawn’s Mike Rorie; and my parents.
Are you a new member interested in sharing a little bit about you to your fellow snow professionals? Email Manager of Membership & Development Chris Dix at chris@sima.org!
RapidLink™ Attachment System
Mount and dismount in record time
Floating A-Frame™
Contour the road for clean scraping
Municipal Style Chain Lift
Stack high, and adjust easily
Fully Enclosed Hydraulic Power Unit
Gain easy access via large maintenance panel
304 Stainless Steel Moldboard & 3/8"
Steel Cutting Edge
An investment that will last
