Transitioning Your Snow and Ice Removal Back to Green in Time for Spring

According to the calendar and the buds on trees, spring has arrived. And yet, if you live in the upper Midwest or in other regions that get a lot of snow, you may still be scraping parking lots and salting sidewalks.

Finishing Your Snow Season on a Positive Note

For some of you, there still may be snow on the ground. So, spring is slow in coming.

At the same time, you’re getting calls for spring clean-ups as well as mowing and lawn fertilization jobs. When you’re sure that Old Man Winter is gone for another year, it’s time to clean up your equipment and finish up with billing.

Learn more: 8 Things to Know When Starting a Lawn Care Business

Take Care of Your Snow Equipment

Your trucks, plows and spreaders take a beating over the winter—especially if you live in a high snow state. So, the end of the season must be dedicated to cleaning up your snow and ice equipment.

Why?

For two reasons,

  1. Allowing the dirt, salt and other grime on your equipment leads to corrosion and expensive repairs and/or you may need to buy new equipment next fall.
  1. Pay special attention to the equipment you use for both the white and green parts of your lawn care business. You need them clean and shiny when working on your customers’ lawns and landscapes.

Here’s a quick maintenance check-up for your trucks, plows and other snow equipment:

  1. Clean-up your vehicles both inside and out:
  • Inside your truck, get rid of all trash, update your emergency kit and get your vehicle ready for springtime jobs.
  • For the outside of your trucks, make sure you wash them from top to tires. Get underneath the carriages, so you remove all of the dirt and grime that accumulated over the winter.
  • Look under the hood and check fluids. Grease electrical parts of your trucks as well as check your oil and transmission fluids. Then, drain the fluids as appropriate and refill for the spring.
  • Make sure you do a thorough inspection of your plows. You need to drain the hydraulic fluid and refill it, lower the moldboard down so you can check for rust and broken parts. Check the hydraulics, so the plow is angled to get the best scrape and grease electrical parts. Add anti-rust to your plows and along the moldboards to prevent corrosion.
  • Also, store your snowplows so they won’t be touching the ground—especially if you store them in the yard. Keep the blade up to avoid rust and cover with a tarp to keep your snowplows protected from the elements.
  • Check your trucks’ tires to make sure that you have the right tire pressure.

Read more: 8 Tips for Marketing and Advertising Your Lawn Care Business

Wrap Up the Business Side of Your White Company

Now it’s time for the fun part—finishing up invoices and reviewing the winter season to prepare for next year’s snow.

Here are six tips to closing out the business side of your snow business:

  1. Finish and send any outstanding invoices.
  1. Survey your customers so you know what you need to improve on and what can stay the same. Make it simple and easy for your busy customers to complete the surveys.
  1. Evaluate your current contracts. Did you meet your profit margins? How much do you want to make next year? Will your current contracts help you reach your financial goals?
  1. Contact customers who got bad service from other snow contractors. Use them as leads to get new business.
  1. Evaluate your equipment. What needs to be replaced? What needs repairs? The off-season is the best time to find deals on snowplows and other snow equipment.
  1. Write up a plan to grow next year. Jot ideas down that you want to try as well as new cities and municipalities that would benefit from your snow removal services.

Get a Spyker Spreader to Get the Job Done in the Winter and Spring

Spyker manufactures professional spreaders for lawn care and landscaping businesses to work efficiently in both the winter and spring.

Our Ergo-Series and Pro-Series give you the edge to make homeowners and property managers’ proud of their lawns. We also have an excellent selection of Spyker accessories.

If you’re ready to order your new Spyker spreader, find a dealer near you or from these online stores.

If you want to learn more about transitioning your white business back into a green one this spring, check out the following articles and videos:

MagnumTruckRacks.com, “7 Tips for Maintaining Your Snow Plow in Season This Winter.”

SnowMagazineOnline.com, “Ken’s Two Cents: Post Season To-Do List.”

TPTrailersinc.com, “How to Inspect Your Plow Before Using It.”

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