By Heather Gooch
If your current storm strategy includes dispatching plows in a frenzy overnight and early morning, and then the equipment (and workers) are sitting idle a couple hours later, consider this: Picking up individual residences and homeowner association (HOA) accounts can keep your equipment and employees moving—and the cash flowing.
Steve Rak, president of Southwest Landscape Management, Columbia Station, OH, estimates that about 45% of his snow business consists of HOA accounts. Another 5% are residential, most of which are also summer lawn care customers.
Mike Mason, CSP, vice president of The Lawn Pro, Louisville, KY, notes that HOA and multiresidence accounts comprise about 40% of his business. He likes the segment because the managerial headaches seem to be a little lower: Instead of reporting to a faceless executive who may be miles away, it’s often easier to gain the trust of the HOA manager, who must keep residents’ safety and happiness a top priority.
“Residential has its unique challenges, but there’s a higher sense of loyalty. You create more relationships than with other accounts,” he says. Mason is in a low-snow market (about 20 in. annually), which he says can create a “double-edged sword. When it does snow, it doesn’t take much to create a big problem.
To address the issue, Mason says his company takes more of a cafeteria approach to site management than they would with a retail site. “Retail is intense, it has to be done just one way and that’s that,” he says. “In the residential world, because it’s their money, they’re attached to it. They’re price-sensitive and budget-conscious, but they are more willing to work with you [to establish an appropriate level of service]. As you formulate the relationship, you learn their pain points. There might be more issues, but we’re able to solve more problems.”
Beneficial regulation
Is it possible to be a business owner and actually like regulation? Perhaps, if said owner is in Calgary, Alberta, Canada—and the regulation requires bare pavement within 24 hours of snowfall.
Ian Ashby, general manager of Calgary-based Arbutus Landscaping, Inc., says that with a city average of 192 in. of snowfall each year, his company is motivated to follow the letter of the law. “We carry $5 million in liability and have never used a dime,” he states, adding that the company is also choosy about its customers. “If we have someone who says ‘Don’t come unless it’s 2 in.,’ we don’t want the account. We believe in no shared liability—or shared stupidity.”
Ashby says the biggest reason to take on HOAs in particular is that most have noise policies that stipulate no plowing or mowing before 7 a.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. on Saturday or 9 a.m. on Sunday. “You can do all your commercial work overnight, and then have a fresh crew doing the 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift in the condos and developments,” he says. “By 9 a.m., your crew’s not fighting traffic or people getting in and out of their driveways.”
Ashby says the majority of his non-HOA residential accounts are through the Veterans Administration, where seniors are granted an allowance to stay in their homes. “That’s a solid core of business, and you get the money on time,” he says. “They’re obviously appreciative of what you’re doing. They’ve got a vested interest in your doing it right. Plus, our No. 1 reason is that they served our country and are entitled to snow removal."
Equipment considerations
Rak keeps skid steers on-site at several of his HOA accounts. There’s also hand shoveling: “I’d say about 70% want the walks to the front door shoveled,” he estimates. “Most people who live in cluster homes are there because they want this stuff done. They might want to do some of the summer maintenance on their own, but not the snow removal.”
Ashby uses 24- to 60-in. sweepers, tractors with mechanical brooms and skid steers on his residential accounts, which he estimates to be 20% of his business (HOAs make up 60%, with the remaining 20% comprised of traditional commercial accounts).
“For a 100-unit condo, for example, we’ll put a three-man crew, a plow, a sweeper and two shovelers,” he explains. “We’ll be there between one and a half to two and a half hours, depending on the snowfall. We go every day; we respond to every event.”
Ashby ensures that at a new account, backup equipment is assigned automatically to sit on-site. “You need not only a Plan B, but a Plan C,” he stresses. “If a plow breaks, the customer is paying for you to remove snow. He doesn’t care if you’re out there using a teaspoon to do it, as long as it gets done. You better have a plan, and a really good backup plan, and an even-better backup to the backup plan."
Different ballgame
Rak says the biggest difference he has seen between his other commercial snow & ice accounts and the HOA/homeowner accounts is the level of service they’re seeking. “An assisted living or medical facility will want zero tolerance,” he offers as an example. “But when an HOA doesn’t want to spend the budget on salt, they understand that they cannot be a zero-tolerance job.”
Ashby says that cash flow is the biggest reason why he focuses on HOAs and residential accounts. “We have their checks in the bank on the first of every month, as opposed to billing 30, 60, 90 days for the other accounts,” he says. “Our condo crews still have four or five houses on their way to or beside the condo, so we’re getting an extra $1,000 to $1,500 a month using the same guys in the same area.”
In fact, Ashby notes, he starts new techs on residential routes, before they are assigned to a HOA, condo or commercial crew. The thinking behind it, he explains, is that if you make a mistake, it’s less painful to lose one small residential account than a larger HOA contract. “It’s not the place to train them, when you have 100 ‘bosses’ watching them” at a condo account, he adds.
Mason says there’s a lot of tailoring to a residential account contract that doesn’t occur with a commercial or industrial account. For example, garbage corrals in apartment communities typically aren’t the snow removal contractor’s responsibility, yet that is an area often left unaddressed. Mason addresses these areas during contract negotiation. “You need to get clear paths to the dumpster area and to the mailbox center, too,” he says. “These areas aren’t part of the sidewalk or parking lot, but they need to be clear.”
Mason says that one event often requires two services at an HOA account: Early in the morning, the crew opens the main roads. Later, when the residents have left for work or errands, the crew returns to do the detail work. “It was a learning curve at first,” he admits. “What worked out for us is that the second round wasn’t as pressing time-wise. With the first round, people can get in and out for work, so that extended our equipment use (to move on to other accounts). Returning later to finish the job allows our guys more time and opportunity for us.”
 |
 |
Happier workers
Mason subcontracts about a third of the snow removal work, so residential accounts have been an enticement for keeping subs long term. Rak says he tries to keep the same crews and route managers on the account year-round. “They want to work more than four hours,” Mason says. “They want to maximize equipment, get a little extra to clean parking lots and push over curbs and get that clean, finished product.”
A personal approach
Unlike commercial and industrial accounts, residential accounts lend themselves to more personal interactions. Therefore, Mason says, crews on residential accounts have to fall into the “people person” category. Ashby agrees: “In many cases, the crews servicing the veterans’ homes are their only human contact. We make sure they’re waving in the window,” he says.
And, while he encourages his crews to chat up customers on those accounts, it’s a different story at an HOA account. “Our rule is to have no customer contact. Do not stop equipment for anything,” he says, noting that with so many homeowners on-site, one conversation can turn into a lengthy period of unproductiveness. “The customers know it, the staff knows it.”
“You need patient, kind and well-spoken staff,” Mason says. “On retail or industrial accounts, we strive to be gone from the account before people arrive. On residential, people are home so there’s much more interaction during an event. After a long day or long night plowing, your nerves can understandably be a little on the edge. We’re looking for people who can manage themselves as well as the site.”
Top Challenges
Arbutus Landscaping’s Ian Ashby shares what he sees as the biggest issues contractors grapple with when working at residential accounts:
- Cost vs. benefit. With the economy changing, there’s a lot more attention paid to the bottom line. “Your work is scrutinized much more heavily in the last two years than it ever has been,” Ashby says, noting that his crews run into the occasional homeowner grumbling about how he could cut his own grass or shovel his own walk for less—and thus lower his condo fees. “The problem is that the liability is phenomenal. If Bob down the street has a tractor and can plow the driveways, but one day he’s sick, doesn’t do it and there’s a slip and fall, what is the HOA going to do? Sue Bob? Take his house and sell it? They need licensed businesses to ensure the liability angle is covered.”
- Changing HOA boards. Ashby notes that when you work to build a rapport with board members, having to start over again when a new board is installed can be daunting. However, being present at meetings and getting to know more than just the current board members—and allowing your company’s reputation to speak for itself—usually minimizes the hurdle.
- Keeping everyone happy. It’s that “one in every crowd” that you’re never going to please, no matter what you do. And when an HOA has 100-plus homeowners, you might find yourself hearing from them now and then. But luckily, Ashby teases, “they’re not usually on the board!”
Heather Gooch is a frequent contributor to Snow Business magazine. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Read more about how one company manages residential in "Ayles focuses on keeping residential profitable."
