Snow removal would seem to be the most thankless job in the world, but the people who do it for a living also have the most grateful customers.
"Yeah, it's what I hear all the time, you know, I really like you and I hope you do well, but I'd just as soon not see any snow," said Phil Spain, owner of Ace Lawn Services and Snow Removal in Sioux CIty.
Some people, he said, only call Spain when the snow reaches a depth of 6 or 8 inches. Other customers want someone there as soon as the snow hits the ground. These are the business people or homeowners concerned about liability and public safety, Spain said.
Liability is a big issue, said Will Barker who has been in charge of snow removal work for Lieber Construction, headquartered in Lawton, Iowa, for a little more than two years. Lieber's biggest client, for instance, St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, wants snow removal workers on site immediately.
"If it's snowing, they want at least one person there pretty much the whole time -- salting and keeping everything clear," he said. "They've never been concerned about a bill -- as long as we keep it clean. As long as it's getting done, there's no complaints.
"We have all kinds of heavy equipment, and it's nice to be able to keep them rolling. If they're sitting, it's costing you money."
Snow box attachments, pushers and plows are available to hook on to all of the company's skid loaders, front-end loaders, tractors and pickups, converting dirt pushers to snow pushers in no time at all.
Strictly commercial
Lieber's snow removal customers are all commercial. The company doesn't take on the residential customers who are a large part of Ace Lawn's clientele -- lawn care customers naturally turning to Ace for their wintertime chores. It's something Barker understands. He worked for Hollands Lawn Care for nine years, doing a lot of snow removal work.
Spain said Ace has its highest priority places, "And of course Monday through Friday, everybody wants to be done first," he said. "Everyone wants their lot done so when their employees show up at 7:30 in the morning or whatever time it is, the lot's cleared. It's a thankless job because you can't please everybody."
Like dozens of other construction and lawn care companies in the area, Lieber Construction turned to snow removal to pick up the wintertime slack. Barker said he'd rather be moving dirt, as was the case nearly all of last winter. He would actually rather move dirt OR snow all winter, just not both during the same time period, because it's so messy switching back and forth between the two when the ground isn't frozen.
Last winter turned into a "pretty ugly deal," he said, with guys moving dirt around during winter days, then being shuffled around at night to deal with snow, and different guys being needed to replace the snow workers on dirt jobs during daytime hours.
Early last winter, when it started snowing, he noted, the ground wasn't yet frozen, which caused its own problems.
"We'd push snow and we'd push it off the curb and as soon as your front tires hit the dirt, you'd sink, at least with the heavier equipment," he said. "So it makes it a little more difficult. But when people want stuff done, it's just got to be done. You have to adapt."
Until a couple of years ago, Lieber didn't do much snow removal work, just helping neighbors, basically -- Kmart being the firm's one contract until Barker joined the company and St. Luke's signed up.
"The first year I was around, we just did Kmart and St. Luke's, which was fine because we had less equipment then, and a lot of guys in the construction business, they count on that layoff in the winter because we work them hard all summer," Barker said. "They want that time off in the winter to kind of kick back and recharge their batteries, and they collect unemployment."
Then last year, with more equipment and more employees wanting more work, Lieber expanded its snow removal work, taking on bigger clients like Gateway in North SIoux CIty, Hy-Vee on Gordon Drive, some smaller businesses on Sioux City's south side, some grocery stores and churches which boasted big parking lots.
This year, in fact, he had to turn down some new customers.
"When somebody calls, I do hate to turn them down, but I don't want to get to the point where you can't handle it," he said. "I know we could handle more but it could turn into a real headache because moving dirt is our main priority. If we set it up to do snow and we commit to that contract, we're not going to back out of it."
All of the snow removal contracts are set up to allow Lieber its own judgment regarding start times and work scheduling, with the exeption of St. Luke's requesting someone on site as soon as possible. But even St. Luke's doesn't call with specific requests once the work has begun, Barker said.
St. Luke's also has a separate contractor for all the sidewalk work, leaving the parking lots and ramps to Lieber Construction. Snow is being cleared away when it's only half an inch deep and salt put down.
"When it snows, we push everything to the corners of the ramps, and no matter how much snow is on the ground, there's always more snow on the parking ramps," he said. "And then we have to haul it off. We have a dump trailer that goes behind a pickup because it has to be short enough to get in the ramps and haul it all down to the bottom. Every bit of snow off of the St. Luke's property gets hauled off every time it snows. We'll pile it as we're pushing it."
One big storm had crews hauling snow off the campus three straight nights.
Plan of attack
"We would usually have anywhere from three to six semis hauling snow off, and then two or three skidloaders running, cleaning up and then a front-end loader loading. We'd have a salt truck come in when we're done and put some salt down to pretty well melt it," he said.
It sounds like a military operation.
"Yeah, it's sort of an adrenalin rush. It's go, go, go, you know, rush, rush," he said. "But if it starts early enough, it's not near the rush.
And like any good military commander planning an invasion, Barker recalls some sleepless nights while waiting for the snowflakes to fall.
"I'm the one that makes all the decisions as far as when to start stuff. So if there's snow in the forecast, I'm up every hour, checking the weather," he said. "If it starts snowing at 3 o'clock in the morning, I'm calling right away saying 'Let's get going!'
"And I'm right out there with them. I'm not going to call a bunch of guys at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning and go back to bed. I go right out there with them, and I go job to job, making sure everything's getting done. I'll hop in there and help them out whenever I can."
Fortunately, with some pre-planning, his guys generally know where they are going to be sent once the snow hits. And if they get tired, it's up to him to find relief. He'd rather relieve a tired worker than have them crash into a building or parked car.
Barker would also prefer the snow come on Saturday night. It's so much easier to push the snow around on Sunday because most lots are empty or near empty. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't often cooperate.
"Under ideal conditions, it would start snowing late afternoon, and it would quit before midnight and you can go out and get everybody done," Spain said. "But that's fantasy world."