PART ONE Here
PART TWO Here
PART THREE Here
“What time do you need your lot plowed by?” Adam’s heart started to pump faster and his mind raced as he realized the opportunity front of him.
As his excitement increased, his worry and bad memories of the nights prior decreased. This is the stuff that he lived for! Customers that needed his services, and a new challenge! It didn’t matter anymore that he was tired. Just the thought of a new parking lot to plow, with new obstacles and figuring out new efficiencies and the best way to plow the lot were enough to wake him out of his tired stupor.
But how was he physically going to be able to plow this lot? His truck plows were already behind for their open – ups, and he didn’t have anything else to plow with … or did he? Could he use a skid steer to plow snow with?
Skid Steer With A Snow Bucket
Adam owned an old LS185 skid steer that was used to load salt into the back of his salt truck. Currently, the salt truck was broken down and so Adam had secured a sub-contractor to do the salting while the truck was being repaired.
“I can be there in 2 hours and have you opened up by 8:00,” blurted out Adam trying to fill in the awkward silence on the other end of the phone.
The voice replied “Okay, let me know when you’re on site.”
The voice on the other end sounded a little like he was disappointed, but didn’t have many other options so he had to settle.
“Oh well,” thought Adam. “If we’re able to fit this in and do it right, hopefully he would consider switching over from Joe’s Landscape.”
The Low-Baller In The Dirt
Joe was the contractor guy that underbid everybody. Nobody around town could figure out how Joe was still in business. Based on his below ground low prices, yet he seemed to continue to thrive. Stealing business away from honest landscapers like Adam.
The other reason that nobody liked Joe (at least not in the local landscaping community) was that Joe was crafty – and that’s putting it nicely. Crafty in this case, means he always finds a way to one-up the other guy. No matter what it takes. Well, Joe had crossed the line when he told the management board at Adams biggest townhome account that Adam wasn’t ‘big enough’ to handle the snow removal for them. This cost Adam the snow contract, and ultimately the summer work as well.
Adam switched his thinking over to the task at hand. How could he get the skid steer on site? Would the skid steer be able to really plow the snow, and stack it up over the curb like his trucks?
“Well, it’s all I’ve got to go on now,” thought Adam.
Salt Truck Operator Turned Skid Steer Plow Guy
Genius! I can have Corey use his salt truck to haul it over to the site. Then pay him to operate it before he does our salting route! “Corey!!” Adam said excitedly over his Nextel. “Yup!” answered Corey sleepily after a few minutes. Corey was a farmer outside of town and had really nothing going on during the winter. He was a relatively solemn guy and had a sun-baked complexion that didn’t show much emotion. He consistently wore Carhart overalls – even to church.
“Can you haul my skid steer over to the office building next to the clinic? I think I have an ‘in’ over there. Joe’s crew didn’t show up, and the owner just called me,” said Adam.
“Well, imagine that – Joe didn’t show up,” Corey stated in a sarcastic tone. NOBODY likes Joe.
“Yeah, I can do that, but you want me to plow it with your skid steer and bucket? Won’t that take forever?”
“I don’t know, Corey, it’s all I’ve got at this point. I’m behind and my other guys are, too.”
Now we’re talking! For those of you snow fighters out there that have been in the snow industry for a while, you might remember when skid steers started to become more popular for doing snow removal. It wasn’t that long ago that skid steers were left at the shop, just waiting to be discovered as one of the fastest snow removal tools out there.
Stay tuned for next week when Adam and his team figure out the logistics of hauling, maintaining, and bidding their snow removal based on the increase in productivity caused by using a skid steer plow for snow removal!
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