While many snow contractors around the country are preparing for the “show time” that is the winter season, others lament the fact that the last couple years haven’t presented much “snow time.”
“It was a very challenging year,” says Kris Kiser, CEO and president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. “Some areas got a lot, but other people that traditionally get snow didn’t. These companies have been weather dependent for a long time, so whether it’s wet or dry, we just hope for a better season next year.”
Snow professionals from around the country discuss how the 2023-24 season went for them, dig into challenges they’ve encountered and provide insight into what they expect for the 2024-25 season.
Year in review
All in all, many snow contractors say their areas received less snow than usual.
For example, Jeff Heller, president of Innovative Maintenance Solutions in Carmel, Ind., says it was another “low snow” season, with Central Indiana only receiving about 12 inches of snow.
However, the company still did about the normal amount of salting that it normally does due to cold rain events that led to flash freezes.
“We adjusted the strategy in the sense that we had to wait until it stopped raining before we could go out and apply chemicals to our sites,” Heller says. “If these had been freezing rain events, we would have gone out ahead of the storm and applied chemicals, but since it was rain, we had to wait until the rain stopped, so it was pretty much, get ready, get set and then all of a sudden, go now because as soon as it stopped raining, the temperatures dropped within 30 to 60 minutes, and everything froze. I've seen some snow markets like Minneapolis that two years ago saw their third snowiest winter, in excess of 100 inches of snow, and then this past year was one of their lightest winners ever, 30 inches of snow.”
On Long Island, N.Y., James Fritz, founder of Reinigen Lawns, says the story has been much the same, with the company doing more salt runs than snow removal due to rain that froze.
“A lot of these storms are losing their power once they get to Long Island,” Fritz says. “We serviced four to five storms, whereas in years prior, we’d service eight storms, some up to 14 inches per storm. That significantly decreased revenue, so we had to increase our prices to make up for it.”
Other areas of the country, like West Bend, Ind., experienced a “feast or famine” kind of winter.
“We had three-quarters of our snow fall in a 10-day window,” says Aron Rodman, owner of Extra Mile Snow Plowing, based in West Bend, Ind. “We usually get about 50 inches of snow. Last year, we had 39, but 20 of it came in one day. The first 8 inches and the last 8 inches of the year melted before we were able to plow.”
Rodman adds that because of the warmer temperatures, there seemed to be less frost on the ground, which meant more plow damage on turf.
Fighting challenges
As it has been across the green industry, labor has proven to be a challenge in the snow industry, Kiser says.
“It’s become how do you keep labor to push snow if there’s no snow?” Kiser says. “A lot of these labor jobs are moving to other sectors.”
Kiser notes that that’s where diversifying the business, such as expanding into holiday lighting or hardscapes, can help offset those challenges.
“Those companies that are fast on their feet and adaptable are the ones that will survive,” Kiser says.
To assist with labor issues in the past, Innovative Maintenance Solutions makes use of equipment such as the Ventrac snow clearing system, where operators place a brine tank on the back of it and one person can clear thousands of square feet of sidewalk while simultaneously applying brine.
“That can take the place of half a dozen people,” Heller says. “I would certainly look at gaining those types of efficiencies, especially in these low snow years where every dollar counts.”
Rodman notes that equipment costs and insurance costs have also risen.
“Equipment has gone up the last three years—it’s gone up much faster than what our customers are willing to pay,” Rodman says. “Insurance companies are being much more cautious about their risks. Most customers are not cool with me raising their price 35% in the last few years. We've had to let some of them go.”
Fritz agrees.
“The cost of equipment, labor and materials has gone through the roof, and the return on investment on it is so long that when there aren’t enough snowstorms, a lot of contractors in our area are completely discontinuing offering that service” Fritz says.
Top trends
One major trend within the industry, Rodman says, is salt reduction.
“With the technology and techniques that we've implemented, we've gone down from 600-plus pounds per acre of salt to 200 to 300 pounds,” Rodman says. “Our customers don’t notice a difference, and we still have clear pavement.”
In order to achieve that, Extra Mile has implemented a few pieces of technology: salt meters to give a readout of how much salt exits the hopper; trucks that have prewet kits on them, allowing the company to prewet the salt which cuts rates by 30%; and active edge snowplows added onto skid loaders and wheel loaders, which trace the concrete for the best possible scrape.
“The only way to really reduce how much salt you use is to couple it with reducing how much snow and ice and hard pack is left on the pavement,” Rodman says. “Those segmented plows leave drastically less snow and ice on the ground, which means there’s drastically less to salt away after the fact. One of the industry trends I think we're going to be seeing eventually is people coming up with salt application rates that are actually based on science, not just based on what the last four generations of people who have plowed have been dumping on the pavement.”
Materials besides salt have also come into play.
For example, manufacturers such as Monroe Truck Equipment, Douglas Dynamics and Hilltip North America have seen an uptick in customers using liquid de-icing and anti-icing materials.
Whatever strategy is used, Kiser says manufacturers will continue to create equipment to assist landscape pros with their challenges.
“Regardless of your age, weight, sex, there’s a snow product that’s going to fit your needs and price point,” Kiser says. “This industry produces products to move wet, heavy snow, dry fluffy snow, deep snow—you name it—this industry has a machine for you.”
Words of advice
To prepare for stormy skies ahead, Heller recommends that snow contractors be budget conscious.
“Especially if you rely heavily on snow for income, I would be prepared for every year to be a below-average season financially, but when you do have an above-average winter, make sure that you're watching that income judiciously and spending it wisely, because you don't know the next year could be very low snow year,” Heller says.
He adds that making sure equipment is in working order and investing in a private meteorological service are also key.
“You don't want a service that hypes every storm as the storm of the century, but you want someone that's going to give you the facts and give you their honest interpretation of what’s coming into your area,” Heller says.
Fritz suggests that snow companies raise their prices to accommodate for rising costs.
“I see it time and again where guys price themselves way too low, and when it comes time to perform, they realize that it wasn’t worth it for the amount of risk involved,” Fritz says. “Don’t be afraid to raise prices. A lot of people won’t do it because they’re afraid to lose a client over it, but at the end of the day, it’s better to lose a client you’re not making money on than to keep a client, have it be a headache for you and still not make any money on it.”
