Ex-elerate Landcare is a fictional snow-removal and landscape company in the metro, owned and operated by Adam. He and his wife started the small organization a few years ago with a vision to build a strong company around hard work, perseverance, attention-to-detail and honesty. Adam strives to drive these core values home with his staff of 7 other full time employees. By paying attention to this series, you’ll get a glimpse of how KAGE Innovation grew from its own Experience-Driven-Innovation. This episode will dig into why plowing snow using a skid steer helps keep contractors honest when billing seasonal or hourly snow contracts.
Home At Last – The Snow Has Stopped
Adam wakes up to his alarm clock blasting some morning news over the radio station it was set to. Still half asleep, and wondering if he’s really at home or still back at a hotel somewhere, he turns his head to the left and sees Heather. She’s still sound asleep and a few stray strands of her auburn hair are relaxed in front or her face. Adam quickly hits the snooze on the alarm as he comes to, and watches Heather for a moment, hoping that he hadn’t woken her. It seems that she’s still fast asleep, so Adam carefully climbs out of bed. He glances back at the alarm clock as he leaves the room, and it’s flashing 6:05.
Eat Breakfast Free Then Go. Plow. Snow. – Why We Get Hotels
It’s the day after the big snow event that lasted 3 days. Snowing on and off for 2 days straight, dumping 14” all together. Adam reminisces how it wasn’t bad that it snowed 14”. What was bad is the fact that it lasted, and lasted, and lasted seaming to never quit snowing. Sometimes the snow would fall heavily, 1-2 inches per hour, other times it would flurry, or do nothing at all.
This is the first day that Adam has been able to sleep in his own bed since the snow event began 3 days ago. Since he lives 45 minutes from his nearest snow contracts, he and his guys all stay in local hotels so that they are able to respond more quickly to emergencies, and open-ups. Adam also theorizes that this allows them to get better sleep, not having to go home to busy families and sleep during the day. Hotels, for the most part are quiet, not to mention a free breakfast!
3 Eggs And A Skid-Steer-Plow
Well, I will get some breakfast before everyone’s up and try to knock out the proposal for the new site. As the mind – fog starts to clear, and his brain starts to stack and organize the day, Adam gets 3 eggs cooking, just how he likes them. Suddenly from the bedroom comes a loud voice “traffic is a MESS, E890 is slow, and the bloomington ramp is at a standstill. Snow plow trucks are still salting, and the DOT states that they will be out pre-treating the roads for the next snowfall expected on Friday.” Crap, I only hit snooze!
How Fast Plowing Snow Using A Skid Steer Was
Adam rushes over to the bedroom where his sleepy bride is starting to stir, and Adam kills the radio mid-sentence of the radio announcer saying: “the weather report is next brought to you by……”. Heather looks up at him through her sleepy eyes and messy hair, and smiles. Her head falls back onto the pillow, and she mumbles “ ‘mornin’ “ and stretches, blue eyes squinting. “Mornin’” Adam replies as he returns to his eggs. As he flips them with the spatula, he remembers the comments Corey made the night before regurding how fast plowing snow using a skid steer was. Spinning around, plowing in both directions, and stacking! Adam puts a couple of pieces of toast in the toaster, thinking – are skid steers with snow buckets or plows on them the ‘best thing since sliced bread’?
Snow Proposals Can Be Seasonal, Per Push, Per Hour, Or Per Inch
After breakfast, and a cup of his favorite ‘black juice’ Adam turns his mind to the proposal. His seasonal proposal is pretty standard. Adam, has already presented this building owner a snow removal and landscape proposal 2 years in a row. Joe’s landscaping (the local low-baller who undercuts all of the competition) was issued their contract the last two years. Adam smirks. Now that we are getting piles of snow, old boy Joe can’t keep up. Adam gets energized. This is his chance to show everyone, including his competition, that he’s been right all along.
Seasonal Contract VS Hourly Snow Plowing
Adam has always believed in building relationships, and doing what is the best for his customer. Yes, he needs to make money doing what he does, but he also wants to be as transparent as possible with his customers. If a customer wants something that Adam knows from his own experience isn’t going to benefit them, he’ll do his best to educate them and offer an alternative. In this particular case, it’s about the seasonal contract method VS. hourly snow. The whole reason that Joe’s landscaping keeps getting this particular contract is because he’s willing to plow snow by the hour, and his hourly rate is based on an old beat-up pickup truck slugging through the lot. It’s not fast, and bad for the property manager.
Adam has found out that Joe pays his subs $45 / hour when they provide a truck and a plow. Adam presses his lips together, contemplating….my guess is that Joe bills those hours to the property owner at about $65, which is extremely low and unsustainable. Well, that is why Joe couldn’t keep up in this last snowstorm! His trucks probably broke, or his sub-contractors weren’t loyal (or paid enough), or any number of other things. Now it’s my job to pick up the pieces, and hopefully present an attractive seasonal contract to the property owner.
Plowing Snow Using A Skid Steer Wins Seasonal Contracts
Adam paces around his tiny office. He needs to really sell this property owner on the seasonal contract, but how? I refuse to plow snow by the hour! It’s not good for anybody! He thinks, as he leans over his desk to grab a piece of paper to jot down the drawbacks of hourly snow removal.
- Hourly snow removal contracts promote poor operator performance (lower efficiency = more time hence more money)
- Hourly snow removal bids promote lower advertised prices (advertising a low hourly rate always means there will be extras)
- Hourly snow plowing is usually done using the bare minimum piece of equipment (oldest, most in-efficient plow-trucks are sent to the hourly contracts)
- If it doesn’t snow, the hourly contractor has no income
- It doesn’t help build a relationship with the customer because it always comes down to how much you’re costing them per hour.
The Skid Steer Advantage
Adam has made it his goal to have all of his snow contracts be seasonal. He feels this is a more sustainable way to grow a business, offer full time employment to his employees, and build good relationships with customers. Then Adam remembers the skid steer advantage. Plowing Snow Using A Skid Steer allows Adam to remove the snow in half the time as a plow truck would. Adam smiles, now I can offer the property manager two options:
- One option could be to take a standard seasonal contract which includes all summer and winter services (hauling snow and salt application is extra)
- Billing using per inch plowed (set $$ amount based on how many inches are getting cleared).
Either way, Adam can take advantage of his new found efficiency utilizing a skid steer to remove snow. At the same time It’s good for the property owner because Adam isn’t going to be able to move slowly to make money. It’s a win-win either way for both of them.
Will the property manager receive Adam’s suggestions about the new proposals? Will Adam be awarded the contract and avoid succumb to the pressure to work by the hour like everybody else? Find out next week how Adam expertly presents these concepts to the property owner, and talks about his idea to leave the skid steer and plow on-site.
Mike Stephan
President
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