Will you be ready for your area’s first snowstorm? It may only be early fall, but now is the time to buy or lease your snow and ice removal equipment—including any salt spreaders you’ll need.
If you’re new to snow and ice management, you definitely need a salt spreader and other snow-fighting equipment to clean off sidewalks, storefronts, and crosswalks.
How to Get the Snow Plowing Gigs
Before you spend a lot of money on snow and ice equipment, you need to start marketing your snow subcontracting services. You don’t want to wait until December—especially if you live in a Snow Belt—to start hunting down snow-moving jobs.
Instead, you should be looking for snow and ice management jobs now while contractors are bidding for jobs and visiting job sites. It’s a sub-contractors world since there aren’t enough people who want to push snow in the middle of a snow event.
Plus, snow contractors can only take so many jobs based on their plowing pool. So, if you want to push snow, you need to contact these contractors now to get on their list.
Here are four tips to help you get snow-moving gigs this winter:
- Market your snow plowing services now: Late summer or early fall are the perfect times to make cold calls to snow contractors in your area. You can also drop off your business card to local snowplow and truck dealerships as well as truck repair businesses.
Use social media to land snow-moving jobs. You can reach out to local contractors through LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
- Character means more to a contractor than having all of the right snow equipment: In the snow industry, it’s hard to find workers with these values:
- Reliability
- Availability
- Honesty
According to Snow Magazine, contractors would rather train you to use their snow equipment than have to deal with a subcontractor who doesn’t feel like getting out of bed at 3 a.m. to plow snow.
- Your reputation is all you have at the end of the day: Snow contractors prefer to find sub-contractors through word-of-mouth.
So, you don’t have to go to ZipRecruiter to find a gig, instead build relationships with lawn care, landscaping and other contractors in your area who plow snow over the winter.
- You don’t need a full fleet of trucks with plows: Don’t feel you need to go out and buy all of the fancy snow and ice equipment—such as trucks, plows and other big ticket items.
Depending on where you live, your snow contractor will be happy to hire you if you only own a pick-up and a shovel.
Sidewalk snow crews are in demand—and if you’re willing to go the extra mile—you may be expected to help the sidewalk crews when you’re done plowing during a winter storm.
5 Tips for Finding the Right Salt Spreader for You
You need an ice melt spreader that’s going to do the job right the first time around. You also need a salt spreader that won’t broadcast product into any lawn or landscaped area as well as into any stormwater drains.
Here are five tips to help you find the right winter spreader for your snow and ice removal business:
- Pick a salt spreader with a rust-resistant hopper. Stainless steel is the ideal material for a salt spreader, but poly works well, and it’s more economical.
- Know how much capacity you need in an ice melt spreader. You need to consider the weight capacity—how much ice melt the spreader can hold as well as the spreader’s frame.
You don’t want to go on product volume alone without knowing what type of salt spreader you need. For example, a100 lbs. of ice melt may not fit in a 100 lbs. salt spreader.
- Choose an ice melt spreader with a frame that holds up to corrosive materials. Stainless steel frames are tough and resist rusting. Powder-coated frames also stand up to corrosive salt.
Learn more: 11 Reasons to Buy Spyker’s ERGO-PRO™ Salt Spreader.
- Choose a broadcast or a drop spreader. For wider walkways, store entrances or ramps, use a broadcast spreader. Conversely, a drop spreader works in more narrow areas to avoid wasting ice melt and covering grassy areas.
- Pick an ice melt spreader with a deflector. You can get into those tight spaces without spreading salt onto flowerbeds or lawns.
Why You Need Spyker’s Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader
If you’re taking on commercial accounts and HOAs, you’re required to clean off sidewalks and other areas where people walk regularly. Spyker’s Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader provides you with a salt spreader that helps you clean up fast in a snowstorm.
Here are 10 benefits you get when you invest in our Ergo-Pro™ salt spreader:
- The stainless steel frame prevents rust.
- Its ergonomically designed handle adjusts according to your height starting at 5’5” up to 6’3” to reduce user fatigue.
- The bridge-free hopper is impact-resistant and allows rock salt to flow freely. You won’t have to shake or bounce the winter spreader to empty the hopper.
- The extra-long opening measures 2.75” W x 2.4” H to distribute rock salt’s large granules.
Learn more: How to Start a Lawn Care Business on a Budget.
- It comes with a stainless steel carving blade that breaks up ice melt and won’t rust.
- The Hi-Vis reflective frame keeps you safe during snowstorms and in the low winter lighting.
- It’s durable due to the all-welded frame that lasts for a lifetime.
- The support stand fits all rear platform carriers. You can position it to allow for maximum fill without tipping over.
- This salt spreader comes with a full deflector to control ice melt distribution from spraying onto grass areas or into stormwater drains.
- The ice melt spreader’s large pneumatic tires minimize fatigue as well as increases traction on icy sidewalks.
Take the Next Step for Owning the Ergo-Pro™ Winter Spreader
If you’re adding snow clean-up services during the winter, then you need our Ergo-Pro™ salt spreader. You’ll find our spreaders at one of our authorized dealers or online at these fine retailers.
Sources:
A.M. Leonard, “Spreaders Buying Guide.”
ConsumerReports.org, “Ice Melt is Ice Melt. Here’s How to Use It.”
Gardenlines, “A Guide to Salt Spreaders, Grit Spreaders and Rock Salt Spreaders from Gardenlines.”
