Robert Smart of Smart Scapes, Rich Arlington & Associates and SIMA discusses why snow plowing is now referred to as risk management.

According to Smart, snow and ice managers are similar to firemen and emergency medical technicians (EMT’s). They always need to be fully prepared for any situation and ready to go when a snow storm hits. This includes fully functional plow trucks, skid steers and wheel loaders as well as spreaders and shovels. They also need to have employees who are ready and willing to work at any time, day or night, and enough ice melt, brine and or salt to ride out the event.

It is for this reason that many snow contractors now require either non-refundable retainers or monthly deposits to keep their snow team ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays, regardless of whether it snows or not.  You or your clients may not think about it but there is a real cost associated with having a company ready, willing and able to manage a storm and that cost needs to be paid for by someone.