The heaviest lifting you can do for your snow and ice removal company lies in the prep work. If you establish the right systems and procedures, you can boost productivity so that your snow and ice removal company can make more profit while doing less work. We’ll check out 4 different ways your snow and ice removal business can boost productivity through sales functions, equipment, and snow and ice checklists.

Know your inventory. One of the biggest sources of waste is waiting, and unbillable hours can easily be cut if you know where to make the fixes. Salt depots are a major timesink, so stock salt at the yard or setup temporary winter yards closer to job sites to save on time. The second step is to give each piece of snow equipment a dedicated function rather than trying to stretch everything out to be multi-purposed. There’s no need to run trucks as both snow plows and salt trucks. Keep the snowplows on the field covering as much area as possible so that it will consistently generate revenue, while letting the salt trucks operate knowing that there will be some time sunk into restocking and travel. These two fixes alone will save you a significant amount of labor hours down the road by giving direct purpose and function within the organization.

Unbillable hours are the key culprit of lowering profits in the snow business, and we’ve only scratched the surface with time wasted on waiting. When it’s all said and done, there’s no avoiding travel time. You can’t change the time spent traveling between job sites, but your snow and ice removal company can mitigate the damage it does to labor hours. In an effort to boost efficiency, sales should be focused to create strong service areas. Having a list of contracts in a condensed area can help minimize the unbillable hours of travel, lower gas costs, and help create an efficient and optimized route that ensures all services are completed at an acceptable time. A focused snow sales strategy towards route density is the front line to making a profitable snow season.

Sales templates are a quick plug and play tool that will streamline operations no matter what industry you’re working in. Creating proper sales templates can take the guessing out of the estimating process, offering a baseline the sales team can work from with inputting markups and ensuring profit margins are met for your snow business. Through creating sales templates, you create repeatable processes that can minimize crew training and eliminate inconsistencies within the business while making sure expectations are clear. For example, if your business has cleared snow from a 40x60ft lot, it should be easier and faster to create similar estimates through a sales template knowing how long that should take your crew or snow subcontractors.

Checklists are an essential procedure to keep on top of the pre and post snow and ice removal job functions. Take the time to figure out key steps in every facet of your snow company. Developing checklists can save valuable time on the field from making costly avoidable mistakes like making sure snow plows have full gas tanks, trucks having fully charged phones or two-way radios, or even inspecting the vehicles to make sure they work properly. Eliminate the guessing and begin setting standards and expectations for your team members. It’s really just taking that extra step to set everyone up for success.