Equipment is going to go down during a storm. It’s unavoidable, but it doesn’t mean your business or your customers have to suffer. Tom Hougnon, president and chief operating officer of Reliable Property Services, says you can expect to have about 5 to 10 percent of your equipment go down during any given storm, so he has a backup plan.
Reliable, which has locations in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, uses a lot of subcontractors for snow management, particularly plowing. Hougnon says he has great relationships with his contract partners and that’s what really helps him stay on track.
Contractors will tell Reliable if a piece of equipment goes down and the company can then either shuffle another contractor onto the route or replace the broken vehicle with one of its own.
“We’re not staffed for a worst case scenario. You can’t be,” Hougnon says. “But you want to make sure you’re flexible, you’re routed tight enough that if a piece goes down it’s not detrimental to the whole route they’re on, or that site may not be able to get serviced because you lost one plow truck.”
Hougnon also asks his subcontractors about any extra equipment they might have in case he needs to use it during the winter. He says he’s willing to pay “a bit of a premium,” for that contingency plan and when a 15-inch storm is in the forecast, he’s hopping on the phone and seeing what extra equipment he can get out on the routes.
Hougnon says his relationships with his dealers are also key to keeping routes on track. He knows that he can rent a piece of equipment if he needs one during a storm to keep on track, or as close as he can.
And since accidents or breakdowns are bound to happen, he says the best course of action is to tell your customers as soon as possible that you’re going to be late.
“If something breaks down at 6 p.m. and you’re still plowing at 6 in the morning, you’d better call your customer,” he says. “You just say, ‘We had a front end loader go down, we’re shifting some equipment over there but we’re going to be a little bit late finishing your property. We’re doing all the key areas first and we’ll move to the back of the parking lots last. But be up front with your customers. We kind of swear by that good or bad.”
