This post includes excerpts from my Jan-Feb 2012 Snow Business column. Spring services have been underway now for months, so I thought it might be a good time to remind you that you should be benchmarking your ‘big three’ right now: sales, production and overhead efficiencies. Why now? Because you’re likely over the hump of getting services started […]
When I started out as a landscape contractor in the late ‘70’s, I really didn’t drill down into job details to prepare an estimate. We did most of our work by the hour. We would simply compare the job at hand to work we completed in the past and then guess how long we thought […]
With winter in full swing, it’s hard not to be reminded of some of my most memorable seasons as a snow & ice contractor. One season I’ll never forget is the winter of 1999. The Midwest was hit pretty hard that year. During one storm we got 14 inches of snow in just under two […]
This article originally appeared in the January-February 2013 issue of Snow Business. Success! The word has a nice ring to it. We all want to be successful, right? And the only thing better than success is attaining it faster. So here’s my take on how to speed up the success of your snow business. Getting ahead […]
Well, ’tis the season for snow removal and so far this year Mother Nature has brought contractors all over the country some much needed activity. The past few winters have been slower and not as profitable for most snow removal contractors, so I’m glad to see many regions of the U.S. are getting off to […]
It’s that time of year when you’re taking stock of what has occurred in the past 11 (almost 12) months, and deciding where to go in the next 12. This probably means you’re setting goals, deciding who you want to work with, taking a look at staff, equipment, inventory…You’re gauging the performance of just about every […]
This article originally appeared in Snow Business magazine. In my 30 years as a contractor, a lot has changed in the industry…new technologies, equipment, laws etc. But even with all of these changes, the landscape of companies hasn’t changed much. There are still a lot of small companies. There are several reasons for this: size of their […]
This article originally appeared in Snow Business magazine. It’s that time of year when snow contracts are getting buttoned up and contractors begin praying to the snow gods that there will be some profitable snow events during the season. Afterall, a dry winter can be a tough situation to overcome for snow removal contractors. Lack […]
In my 25-year journey with GroundMasters I learned a lot about what it takes to build a business that is not only profitable and sustainable, but also attractive to acquirers. In the late 90’s the roll-ups came around and green industry companies all over the country were getting acquired. I witnessed some of my friends […]
This article appeared in the September 2013 issue of Snow Business As long as you are an employer, you will deal with turnover, new hires and promotions. With this in mind, it’s to your benefit to promote a learning culture at your company. A great way to promote and reinforce a learning culture is to establish […]