Snowplowing contractors are doing the best they can with the circumstances they face. Don't listen to the negative stories about a snowplowing contractor...Don't Eat (listen to) the Yellow Snow!
Most of your snowplowing contractors are in the landscaping industry. It is essential for these contractors to create year round cash flow to keep employees and make equipment & truck payments. They usually have the proper equipment and trucks to easily transition into this snowplowing service. Most snowplowing contractors are just breaking even with costs (materials, labor, and equipment payments).
It is a myth that these contractors are "making a king's ransom" with pushing snow & salting. It takes a tremendous amount of capital investment to transition their current equipment & trucks to perform this task. It costs almost $5,000 to purchase & install a new plow onto a truck! Salt spreaders can run as high as $10,000. Typically, your labor costs is at a higher hourly rate than normal. It is hard to get someone out in the middle of the night or on holidays to push snow. In the normal work force, employees are paid more for "midnight" shifts and not having guaranteed hours or days. If you are an "On Call" employee, you are usually paid a premium wage. Fuel expense is definitely a concern these days. With high fuel costs and the continued stop & go method of pushing snow, fuel has become a major factor to the bottom line. The other major factor is the wear & tear on your equipment & trucks. Snowplowing definitely reduces the useful life of these assets. The transmission, rear ends, shocks,springs & struts, front ends, tires, & engine take a tremendous beating to perform the snowplowing task. Salt spreading vehicles rust out at a tremendous rate from the effects of salt on the beds. My projection is that your equipment & trucks lose about 25% of their useful life from snowplowing year in , year out. Maintenance and Replacement costs of equipment & trucks will definitely reduce any chance of long term profits from snowplowing, and will even reduce their profits from their normal business of landscaping.
The next time you hear or talk negative about those snowplowing contractors.. remember they are performing a momentous task at virtually no profit! This service allows you to get to work, your kids get to school, or grandma get to her doctor's appointment.
Jan 27, 2008
Jan 10, 2008
December POLL Results are In!
The readers have spoken... unskilled labor in the United States should be making between $10-12 / hour. In Southeast Detroit, this wage scale is pretty prevalent. Due to the past Auto Industry & Union wage scales, most construction, landscape, & home improvement contractor had to pay this rate of pay to keep any reasonable worker. In other States and more remote areas of Michigan, I believe the scale would be more in the $7-9/hour range. A fellow contractor once said to me that," It's better to overpay unskilled workers than not to have any at all!". Most of us all started out in some business being an unskilled worker. The best way to gain experience and training is to start at the entry level and work your way up.
My experience has been that if I did not start unskilled workers in the $10-12/hour range, it was hard to get anyone to answer a want ad. Only until this recent downturn in the economy of Michigan was I able to hire people at $9/hr to start. After 2 weeks, they qualified for $10/hr. All the worker had to do was show up each day of work, be on time, and perform the task he was asked to do. I am shocked at the number of workers in this country who can NOT do this basic job requirement. Contractors in the past would require a worker to have excellent performance skills to receive such wages or raises. Now you have to financially reward workers to just show up for work! At least, that is what the worker expects these days.
The unskilled work force was revived somewhat the past 10 years by the influx of immigration workers in the Detroit area. It is a general myth that contractors hire immigration workers, say half the pay, of naturalized citizens. My experience has been that I hire immigration workers at the same start pay. They are very aware of the need for unskilled workers who will show up, work long hours, and work many consecutive days when needed. The smart thinking of any unskilled worker is to get as much overtime hours as possible. The remarkable thing I have seen in the past few years is that the unskilled immigration worker is beginning to exhibit the same lack of "work ethics" of the young naturalized citizens.. coming in late, not showing for work occasionally, complaining about too many hours, etc.. . This was unheard of 5-10years ago,
That famous line from Ted Knight in Caddyshack, "The world needs ditch diggers too!" does have meaning. Imagine if we have very minimal manual labor force! We take for granted the men and women who dig, trench, pave, construct, and assemble all the things we use on a daily basis. Imagine if we were a Do-it-Yourself society. If you think your wife is on you now for not putting the seat down, imagine her anger when you have not dug that fresh hole for your outdoor commode!
My experience has been that if I did not start unskilled workers in the $10-12/hour range, it was hard to get anyone to answer a want ad. Only until this recent downturn in the economy of Michigan was I able to hire people at $9/hr to start. After 2 weeks, they qualified for $10/hr. All the worker had to do was show up each day of work, be on time, and perform the task he was asked to do. I am shocked at the number of workers in this country who can NOT do this basic job requirement. Contractors in the past would require a worker to have excellent performance skills to receive such wages or raises. Now you have to financially reward workers to just show up for work! At least, that is what the worker expects these days.
The unskilled work force was revived somewhat the past 10 years by the influx of immigration workers in the Detroit area. It is a general myth that contractors hire immigration workers, say half the pay, of naturalized citizens. My experience has been that I hire immigration workers at the same start pay. They are very aware of the need for unskilled workers who will show up, work long hours, and work many consecutive days when needed. The smart thinking of any unskilled worker is to get as much overtime hours as possible. The remarkable thing I have seen in the past few years is that the unskilled immigration worker is beginning to exhibit the same lack of "work ethics" of the young naturalized citizens.. coming in late, not showing for work occasionally, complaining about too many hours, etc.. . This was unheard of 5-10years ago,
That famous line from Ted Knight in Caddyshack, "The world needs ditch diggers too!" does have meaning. Imagine if we have very minimal manual labor force! We take for granted the men and women who dig, trench, pave, construct, and assemble all the things we use on a daily basis. Imagine if we were a Do-it-Yourself society. If you think your wife is on you now for not putting the seat down, imagine her anger when you have not dug that fresh hole for your outdoor commode!
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