Philly’s lackluster snowfall this year has been enough to make snow-removal companies happy
Even this season’s timid snow and ice events were numerous enough to help businesses stay afloat, a relief after a string of mild winters.
Several of the Philadelphia region’s professional snow-removers are torn about whether the area has seen its last flakes of the season.
Regardless, they say, the number of snow and ice events this season has already been just enough to keep their businesses afloat until spring.
“I think this will be it,” said Ryan Dittes, owner of RD’s Total Lawn, referencing the coating that was forecast for parts of the region this week. “It looks like temperatures will go up next week, which is fine. … This winter was great.”
“This year has been very good,” said Josh Raymond, president of Raymond Landscaping & Hardscaping, based in Trappe. “But I definitely don’t think the snow is done for the season.”
The ringing endorsements come despite a lackluster total snowfall of 8 inches in Philadelphia, about half what is normal for the city, and after a stretch of mild winters. But business owners said there have been more instances of snow, sleet, and freezing rain this winter, which means more opportunities to salt customers’ walkways and plow their driveways and parking lots.
» READ MORE: Another storm, another snow miss for Philly. Can this keep happening until spring?
In Lower Bucks County, RD’s revenue is up 120% compared to last season, Dittes said, and customer count is up 25%.
This year, the company instituted a $300 retainer cost for its more than 100 snow-removal customers, in order to ensure that RD stays in the black even if there are very few snowy or icy days, as was the case in recent years, Dittes said. All customers have exceeded that amount, he said, with their total bills — before the retainer credit — hovering around $700 on average as of early this week.
Had it been a snowless winter, Dittes and others who run snow-removal services said, they could have survived. Most snow-removal services are part of companies that also do landscaping, roofing, and other residential or commercial handiwork, and several local business owners said snow removal accounts for 10% or less of their annual revenue.
“It would be a small hit,” Dittes said. “We can recover if we get nothing, but with the retainer now, we can at least break even. In the winter, we just try to stay out of the red as much as possible.”
That can be difficult, business owners said, when new equipment costs several thousand dollars apiece, trucks cost tens of thousand of dollars each, and snowplow liability insurance can run up to $20,000 or more.
“If we get two snow events, we can comfortably make it through a winter,” said Bob Hoover, owner and president of Little Bob’s Landscape Management, which does snow removal for commercial clients within three miles of its Barrington headquarters.
Hoover has not instituted a retainer cost.
“I’ve been called a fool by a couple of my competitors,” he said. But Little Bob’s has “smaller mom-and-pop operations” among its clients.
“They can’t necessarily afford to send us $1,000 or even $500 upfront for the season,” he said.
Why consumers and business owners pay for snow removal
While some older clients are physically unable to shovel their properties, others opt in for the peace of mind, business owners said.
“I don’t want to do it,” Lauren Carter, 43, of King of Prussia, said with a laugh. “It’s a convenience and a time thing. It’s knowing that someone is going to take care of it.”
This year, Carter, who runs a pet-setting company, hired Matt Murphy of Murph’s Professional Services to remove snow from her and her neighbor’s driveways and walkways. She said it’s been a worthwhile expense.
For Murphy, who added snow removal to his portfolio three years ago, the additional revenue made for an “above-average” offseason bonus, one that can help the Pottstown-based business buy more equipment for the busier spring and summer seasons.
Snow removal “has been something to help me and my guys stay afloat when all other work dies,” said Murphy, who usually charges his 40 residential customers between $40 and $120 per visit, depending on the size of the property and the amount of snow or ice.
Murphy has already seen what a fickle industry snow removal can be. Two seasons ago, he said, he took a loss, having invested $5,000 in new snowblowers and other equipment in a year when there was hardly any snow and ice.
On the commercial side, Raymond Landscaping’s customer count has doubled in the past five years as more businesses worry about slip-and-fall liability, said Raymond. The reliability of the commercial customer base has buoyed Raymond’s business. Snow removal, the owner said, accounts for 40% of revenue.
Elsewhere in Montgomery County, Tyler Schiele, owner of TNS Landscaping & Hardscaping, serves a mix of customers: Some commercial properties that are on a seasonal contract, and some residential customers whom he doesn’t charge an upfront fee.
“If we get a bunch of snow, you make money on the inches-per-hour [customers], but you lose money on the contracts that pay snow or no snow,” Schiele said. But “us getting 40 inches or more of snow [in a season], it just doesn’t happen anymore.”
Still, Schiele said he’s hoping for a bit more this season.
“March sometimes is good for a blizzard,” he said. “I’d like to get at least another salt event.”