Above average snow totals so far this winter have been a blessing for many contractors.
“Keep it coming!” says an enthusiastic William G. Pols, III, president of Good Earth Landscape Contractors in Oradell, N.J. “With the uncertain new year this is a recession-proof God send, of course as long as our clients can pay during these tough times.”
Through mid-January, contractors in snowbelt cities like Syracuse, N.Y., and Erie, Pa., mirrored Pols sentiments as they saw nearly double the average snowfall for their regions, according to National Weather Service data.
Snow fighter Barney Naylor reports a record winter so far with his snow removal business up 200 percent from Winter 2007-08.
“Even if things slow down we will probably be up 50 percent by the time our season is over,” says the owner of Naylor Landscape Management in Kalamazoo, Mich. “Our average snowfall for Kalamazoo is 77 inches and we’re already over 100 inches and it’s only Jan. 16.”
In addition, one of the unique issues with this season’s winter weather is the frequency of the storms in some regions.
“Our crews have been activated at least one or twice weekly since the beginning of December,” says Bruce Moore, Sr., president of Eastern Land Management in Stamford, Conn. “While we have not received a single storm with significant accumulation, the frequency of the storms takes its toll on the workers. Revenue for the 2008-09 winter season is double that of last season.”
Frequent snow events coupled with cold temperatures in New England have made cleanup easier on snow fighting equipment, says Mike Ficara, president of Exeter Land Contractors in Stratham, N.H. “On New Hampshire’s seacoast we have had approximately 61 inches in 9 events and most of it has been powder because of the extremely cold temperatures,” he says.
“Last year at this time we had approximately 53 inches in 9 events, so we’re looking forward to continuing this trend for the remainder of the year.”
For North American snow fighters like Ficara, this is the second snow season in a row that has produced record snowfall amounts before the mid point. Together Winter 2008-09 and Winter 2007-08 are stark contracts to the previous three snow season when unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of snowfall were more conducive to strengthening a contractor’s short game on the local golf course than honing his snow removal skills clearing a retail parking lot.
Prior to this season Snow Contractor Matt Ulwelling added personnel and snow fighting equipment to take on commercial accounts for the first time. Acknowledging the risk in his growth strategy, Ulwelling says he’s fortunate to have already tended 16 plowable events so far this winter when the average for his home region of Adams, Minn., is 12 to 14 events for an entire season
“My snow operation from last year has been pretty much a 180-degree change from last year,” says Ulwelling, the owner of Turf Solutions. “I’m so glad after jumping in head first into the commercial side of thing it’s really turning out the best it can be.”
Fortune and Mother Nature, though, have not smiled as brightly for every U.S. snow fighter.
Brian Akehurst, president of Akehurst Landscape Services in Joppa, Md., reports a disappointing winter so far. “We have done some salting,” Akehurst says. “However, it has not been anything to get too excited about. We have expanded into some new markets, but we haven’t had any snow there, either.”
A good winter, though, stands to have a far reaching impact for the landscape industry. A lucrative snow season could trigger a profitable spring for many of the industry’s equipment manufacturers. Nearly three quarters (72 percent, according to Snow Magazine data) of snow removal contractors engage in landscape work during the warm weather and depend on snow revenue for an influx of cash to jump start their spring operations, whether it’s purchasing materials, acquiring new equipment or even expanding their labor forces.