Best Tips for A Stress-Free Snow Removal Season

We all know that if snow and ice are not cleared from roads and parking lots, it can lead to potential accidents and even loss of life. Most of all, commercial snow management companies know that it can be a very stressful phase if not managed well. Peak snow removal season is overwhelming but not impossible to tackle. We are here to tell you that with proper planning and execution, it can be made much easier.

3 Important Snow Removal Tips For You

Here are some pain points that we can help you fix for stress-free snow management:

1. The Hassle of Multiple RFPs
2. Keep safety a top priority
3. Plan your operations better

The Hassle of Multiple RFPs

Snow removal contract season can begin as early as June and hits its peak in August. Managing multiple RFPs and meeting bid deadlines can be a significant source of stress. Responding to multiple RFPs takes a significant amount of time and effort and it can be resource-intensive, as it will require you to allocate staff and resources to develop and submit proposals. And even after all the hassle, a win is still not guaranteed. 

It is critical to understand the importance of accurate snow takeoffs or the lack thereof. If your sales process still runs on manual takeoff methods, inaccuracies and the time taken here is causing you to miss deadlines and sales quotas. Manual takeoffs are prone to errors that translate into inaccurate estimates. Bids based on these estimates result in overbidding and losing to your competition or underbidding and losing all your profit.

However, by automating your snow takeoffs, you can ease this stress and how! Auto-generated takeoffs save 95% of your time that was previously spent drawing polygons on screen. You now have time to multi-task and your estimates are accurate like never before. This, in turn, can enable you to submit 2X more bids, increasing your chances of meeting your sales quota. With a faster and more accurate sales process, clients are more likely to choose a snow removal contractor that can deliver on their promises.

Keep safety a top priority

We know that snow and ice management can be dangerous, so make sure safety is always a top priority. Apart from proper training, making your crew use proper safety equipment, and following all safety protocols, highlighting hazardous zones in and around the property area can alleviate some of your stress during ops. 

Here are some key aspects to which you should pay attention:

Worker safety: Performing ice and snow removal services is very risky where your workers can slip, trip, and fall. Snow removal equipment can also be dangerous if not used properly, and workers can suffer injuries from operating such equipment. An American Journal of Emergency Medicine Study showed that annually 11,500 people were taken to the hospital for snow shovel-related accidents between 1990 and 2006. This is a huge number and we don’t want your crew to suffer the same fate. 

Customer safety: As a commercial snow removal company, you have the responsibility to ensure that your clients' properties are safe for visitors and customers. Failure to properly remove snow and ice can create hazardous conditions that can lead to slips and falls, potentially resulting in liability for you in the form of lawsuits.

Reputation and business continuity: Safety incidents can damage your reputation and lead to lost business opportunities. By prioritizing safety during operations, you can build trust with your clients and maintain a positive reputation in the industry.

This strain can be reduced by conducting a thorough site inspection and taking detailed site notes. By marking off areas to avoid and areas that require extra attention, you can mitigate potential hazards and minimize your legal liability. If you want to learn how to improve site documentation and ultimately the operations, check this article out. 

Communication is key to stress-free snow removal. Ensure you have a digital system in place for communicating with your team and keeping everyone informed of changes in the weather or the snow removal plan.

Plan your operations better

Inadequate planning for snow and ice management operations can negatively impact your operations and your profit margins. The aim is to prevent your margins from leaking. However, this issue can be addressed by creating intuitive and highly detailed site maps that include every relevant property feature, and by enabling the marking of snow-shoveling directions on the same map. 

Your operations team can greatly benefit from using sitemaps, as they allow you to create snow service diagrams complete with arrows and icons for your crew to follow. By incorporating the push plan onto the map and identifying potential hazards and obstacles on the site, your team can plan snow removal and pushing operations more safely and avoid accidents. Here is an example of a site map with instructions for snow crews: 

By knowing exactly what needs to be done and when, you can allocate resources more effectively, such as planning the right equipment and personnel. This helps ensure the job is done quickly and efficiently, reducing costs and minimizing disruptions.

By automating your snow takeoffs and creating detailed site maps for ops teams, you can alleviate much of the stress associated with snow and ice management. Automated takeoffs ensure accurate estimates, which lead to precise and winning bids. As a result, you can exceed your sales quotas and maintain your profit margins. Wave goodbye to the days of manually measuring snow sites and switch to Attentive.ai for an unparalleled property intelligence experience. If you're interested in learning more, we would be delighted to schedule a call with you. Book a demo here.