STORM FOR MICHIGAN & A QUESTION

[Doug406]

Thursday Night<br>Periods of snow. Significant accumulations are possible. Temperatures steady in the mid 20s. Chance of snow near 100 percent. <br> Friday<br>Occasional snow. Additional accumulations are likely. High near 30. Chance of snow near 100 percent. <br> Friday Night<br>Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow through midnight. Low around 20. <p>So now my question. How would some of you handle a snowfall like this?? If by 5 am friday morning their is 2 or more on the ground with it snowing crazy , would you try to completely clear all lots for the morning rush.. I am most refering to apartment comlexes and such?? If you only clear lanes and it is billed per push how would you deal with this?? If I go per truck hour I will probably be missing out on some cash seeing that I have contracted for $85 per Truck hour and it only takes about 6 to clear the entire place and $85 x 6 falls quite short of per push price. I know it kind of sounds greedy, but this is my livelyhood (unless I go broke).

 

[GeoffD]

Well the same storm is going to hit maine for friday night and saturday. We are trying to get ready for it right now. <p>Anyways back when i plowed per push this was what i did, only this was like when i was 16. I would charge full cost for the 1st visit and 1/2 cost each additional visit.<p>Anyways to plow a storm like that this is what we do. Plow out the lanes of the lots, sand/salt them heavy. Then just keep plowing during the day.<p>Geoff

 

[Matt]

We begin plowing at a 2&quot; trigger depth because we have some that request this. Normally we can get these done while it is snowing like crazy and adding up to our 4&quot; trigger depth for our other propertys. If it has accumulated another 2&quot; by the time we get done with these accounts we start back over on our 2&quot; accounts. We will occaisionally get a complaint from a resident that says we should have waited until it was done snowing then plow once not twice. I simply respond that the agreement is for a 4&quot; trigger depth so that is when we plow. Also ask them if they can tell you how much it will snow before it stops. In western NY it is not uncommom to get a 20 - 30&quot; snow fall in 24 hrs., we can't afford to plow 20&quot;+ of snow at the same cost of 4&quot;. By the same token if we wait and they or one of their visitors has trouble in the driveway then we are the one that catches the s---. We always try to provide the best service possible and have had very few complaints over the years. You will occaisionally find the cronic complainer and it never seems possible to keep them 100% happy. Everybody expects you to service them first and not worry about your other accounts. We don't wait until customers start calling saying they need to get plowed because they may call someone else someday. If other companys are plowing you better be plowing. Good luck with your accounts and let it snow, snow, snow.

 

[Eric ELM]

Same storm is getting here first. I just saw on the weather channel, we will have 6 to 9 inches by dawn and a total of 11 to 14 inches by Friday after noon with 25 MPH winds. The sixtyone driveways we do are all with in a mile, but it takes 6 hard hours to do them all the first time. We start at 2 inches and we will be doing them the second time as soon as we get done the first time. Each plow is a full charge and this could be a tripple plow, with drifting after that it could be 4. This is the agreement we have with our customers.<p>Sounds like we are in for a long sleepless drawn out money making snow storm. It's about time. <p>Dino, it was the relay that was bad, Thanks to all that replied. I just got in from checking everything over. Get your plows ready Lazer and the rest of you east of here. $$$$$$$$ <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<p><br>

 

[GeoffD]

We are getting ready here in maine. The loaders have been at the lots. We checked and re checked the trucks today. They say 8-12&quot; here in maine, and maybe more. Firday night is going to be the start of the battle, and will not end to sat night or sunday am. The bad thing is the cowboy's cheerleaders were comming to town friday night. I guess i won't be seeing them.<p>Geoff

 

[Lazer]

Sounds like we'll all be plowing!<p>I wish the snow forum had more visitors. The ones that do visit are good, and I don't have to hear about Dixie Choppers! <p>2 things: 1.) All our contracts are per season, so I don't make any more with snow. 2.) Regarding getting our trucks ready: We maintain/repair all our units at the end of each snow event. Our trucks/loaders just sit around ready to go. I &quot;touched base&quot; with all drivers today, just to chat and discuss stratgy, especially with the tricky timing of this snowfall. Made sure all units were topped on fuel.<p>Eric, 61 driveways within a mile? That is nice, keep them close. You take 2 guys to do those? Do you do the sidewalks and everthing?

 

[jeffclc]

Forecast calls for 2-4&quot; by 4:00am. then changing to freezing rain, maybe 3/4 to 1 inch of ice, then changing to all rain. Supposed to change to all rain around lunch time.<p>The game plan: Plow all lots before the open of business, drop salt. Re salt as the day goes on, at least once, maybe twice??? How would you attack it?<p>PS I hope it stays cold and its all snow. Ice sucks.<br>

 

[Eric ELM]

Lazer, the homes we do don't have sidewalks along the street. The sidewalks by the house we don't do unless it's wide enough for the JD to do and that's only on the circle drives, they are wide and short. The answer to the other question, I just have 1 guy to help. He runs the JD, I run the truck. Happy Plowing guys. I'm going to bed.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<br>

 

[ChucksChevyPages]

Well, here's what the Weather Channel says for me.<p>West Orange, NJ 07052<br>Tonight Partly cloudy. Low 17. Light E winds.<br>Tomorrow Cloudy with snow likely. High 36. Winds E 10 to 15 mph. 90% Chance of Precipitation. Snow accumulations of 6 to 12 inches.<br>Tomorrow night Cloudy with rain - possibly heavy. Low 34. Winds SW 10 to 15 mph. 90% Chance of Precipitation.<p>Man, 6&quot; of snow, then rain? Talk about heavy!!! <br>Depending on the forecast, we usually plow a few times, but bill for the total # of inches in a 24 hour period.<br>So on a storm like this, we'd plow at 3&quot;, then again at the end. If we seem to be gertting the full 12&quot;, we plow after every 3 - 4 &quot;. Plowing 6&quot; all at once puts more of a strain on our trucks and shovelers. It takes just as long to plow 6&quot; all at once, as it does to plow at 3&quot; increments. Why put more strain on our trucks? Imagine, 6&quot; of heavy wet snow. Time for 4 low and ballast! Since I have no salter on my truck, I leave snow in the back for ballast.<br>Since I bill the way I do, my customers don't complain about me plowing several times during a snowfall. There are other &quot;hidden insurances&quot;, such as this...<br>Say you don't plow any accounts at all, and 6&quot; accumulates. You head out, and plow two accounts. On the third, you snap a front axle u joint, or your plow breaks down.<br>It's still snowing, and now you have to worry about your other trucks doing 6&quot;+ on all your accounts. Worse yet, your friend that covers you will have to plow all that snow too. At least by plowing several times, if your truck breaks, all your accounts have less snow to be plowed. People can get out of their driveways with 3&quot;, but not when there is 6&quot;.<p>Let it $now, let it $now, let it $now!!!<p>~Chuck<br><p>----------<br>Chuck's Chevy Truck Pages - Snowplowing Central<br>http://members.aol.com/csmith669/plowcentral.html

 

[cutntrim]

Good Night Everybody,<p>I'm probably the last guy awake right now, can't sleep too well with the new baby here. Oh well, small price to pay for a brand new son. <p>We're looking at 8&quot; or more then maybe some freezing rain. Supposed to start around dawn and peter out about eighteen hours later. Our plowing is all on contract so the amount of snow doesn't matter. We'll probably start when there's 4&quot; down and then just keep looping around. Hopefully the snow will be done when they say, that way we can have all our properties done for Saturday morning. <p>Good Luck Boys.<p><p>----------<br>Dave in S.Ontario<br>

 

[plowking35]

Sorry Dave I am still awake also<br>4-7 for us then significant icing 3/4 to an 1&quot;<br>We are about 1/2 contract and 1/2 per push. We start at 1&quot; and plow every 1&quot; thereafter.<br>Except for the medical center they start at flake one and we stay there till the end.<br>We charge for the amount present at each push, not the toatl for the storm.<br>Dino<p>----------<br> Professional Ice and Snow Management <br>Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org

 

[scott]

i was just reading this cause i am sick of the dixie chopper too ; )...at least i know greatdanes are the mowers in MN to have,anyway it sounds like u all beleive the weather you here,every time they say snow it misses us,ive had only 7 plows this year,well i think this site is great and am so happy to be able to learn from it,

 

[Lazer]

scott,<br>The Super Surfer will be at a local dealer this Saturday! I'll have to take a peekster at it next week.

 

[Eric ELM]

Hey Scottlawns, I can't believe your sick of hearing Lazer and me kid about each others mowers after being a member for 2 days. I have gotten a lot of email encouraging it and we have had a lot of fun with it, but if it bothers you that much, it will stop imediatly. Sorry we affended you that much.

 

[scott]

eric you dont bother me at all..i love reading all your stuff,and ive been a member for about 5 months and im reading here 20 times aday,so keep talking i love it,and i hope it snows as much as you all do.