S4-176: First Due Property Maintenance, Kingston NY

Speaker A: This no Jobs podcast episode is brought to you by Top Gun Backblades.

Speaker B: Are you ready for the best damn ride of your life? Give me a hell, give me a G Stand up right now and give me a hell, give me a G Stand up right now get ready to go she ain't moving slow she's taking control Pushing my pedal through the floor I'm begging for. Here we go. Snow Jobs nation. We are back again bringing you another episode of the Snow Jobs podcast main show Powered by Top. Powered by Top Gun Back blades. It's episode 176, 176th Monday in a row. We're dropping the best show in Snow just keeps rolling. I think somebody else uses that name too, but it doesn't make any sense.

Speaker C: How about you, buddy?

Speaker B: Um, doing good, man. We're, uh, we're. We're getting this done tonight and we're flying out of here in what, 24 hours?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think Tuesday morning I'm flying out, so. Yep, yep.

Speaker B: Heading for Schitt's. And Addie, we are back to our normal Sunday night under the gun recording schedule. We've recorded a bunch of episodes this week, and we forgot we needed the main one.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Normally what happens under we're better under the gun, dude, we're better.

Speaker C: Yeah, we get done one way or another.

Speaker B: How was your week?

Speaker C: Uh, not bad. Pretty busy, honestly. Busy just like you, I suppose. Yep, a lot of trucking.

Speaker B: Been busy. Trying to get as much work in as possible before our little, uh, vacation. So, uh, yeah, it's been a busy week. And I go back to work tomorrow and get out of work early Tuesday morning and get right on a Cessna and get the Cincinnati.

Speaker C: Yeah, same here.

Speaker B: We are on a big plane. I checked it. You're on a big plane. You're on a big Airbus.

Speaker C: This makes a bigger ball of fire.

Speaker B: I'd rather be in a big plane. I feel better.

Speaker C: It's not going to matter. Whatever happens, happens. Nothing you do about it, buddy. Enjoy the ride.

Speaker B: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. I. I don't know. I'm not a fan. Not a fan. Just don't like it. It's always the first. First flight of the year is always the toughest. By, uh, by the time we're out the storm a couple flights under our belt, it's a little bit easier.

Speaker C: Yeah, uh, doesn't bother me. I like it. Get up, get down, get out of here. It's all good. There you go.

Speaker B: Well, you got a what, Short hop into Minneapolis and then, uh, another. It's not a very long flight for you to Ohio. I was shocked at. Minneapolis to Ohio is like hour and 40 minutes, I think.

Speaker C: No clue. All right. Whatever they do, I just sit down and enjoy the ride. So they tell me I'm there, we're there, so.

Speaker B: Yep. Well. Well, you know, I, uh, I switched it up tonight, so I got to do it because Sean's going to yell at me. So you guys know who we are, right? But you want to hear it anyways, Juice box guy. That's right. I'm one of the baddest of all time, one of the best singers, one of the best looking you've ever seen. Hold my drink. Steve and Jeremy together again.

Speaker C: I don't know who's gonna get upset.

Speaker B: Sean.

Speaker C: Oh, who cares?

Speaker B: Sean loves the sound bites. He loves. He loves the, uh, his sound. Oh, uh, man. Yeah, it's, uh, it's been a busy week, but we're looking forward to getting out of here, getting with the crew again. Got some good events. Got the big Arctic party on Thursday night, which, uh, I don't even know. Uh, what are we gonna do? We're just gonna shut that down, go back to the house, grab the bags and go because, uh, we both have really early flights.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's what. I think that's what we normally do, so let's just do it.

Speaker B: I think we got to be at the airport, like 4am Sounds perfect to me. Yours is 5:50 or something.

Speaker C: Yeah, go send it.

Speaker B: Nice. Uh, can't possibly be any worse than Pittsburgh Airport trying to get out of there that morning.

Speaker C: That was terrible.

Speaker B: That was absolutely awful. So we're. We're counting on you, Cincinnati. Even though the episode, or the episode, the airport is in Kentucky, uh, it, uh, hopefully will be a lot better experienced in Pittsburgh instead of Kentucky. I have no idea. Yeah, the airport's actually over the border in Kentucky for Cincinnati. It's like 20 minutes away.

Speaker D: So.

Speaker B: Yeah, I was kind of shocked by that too, but that's apparently how it is. Yep, that's, uh, pretty much it for the, uh, for the week there. So, uh, today. Today we got a good one. We're staying local to me in New York. All right. We. We had him on a panel when winter storm or mega storm Fern was bearing down on us. Uh, we were talking to the guys that are local to me about what we're doing to. To prepare for it, and it was supposed to be like 20 something inches or whatever. I think we got every bit of, um, uh, was good, but we got Mike Fitzgerald of first do property maintenance in Kingston. You know, he was on that panel, but we never gave him a. A company profile episode. So we definitely wanted to get him back and, and get that done for him. So, uh, that's what we're doing today. He's here with us and we're going to hear all about his company. First do property maintenance. But before we do that, you know what we got to do. As always, we got to hear from team Top Gun and come back, do a quick week in review.

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Speaker B: You know those days, Some days you feel like you're in the zone, and some days you just know you don't got it. I don't got it. Today you don't got it. I definitely don't got it. I am not sharp. I, um, am not good. I'm, uh, I'm beat. So, uh, I. This, this may go off the rails, but.

Speaker C: I thought you took a nap today.

Speaker B: I did, but that actually made it worse. I think I'm. I'm still, like, foggy from it. I got an hour and a half uninterrupted. It was like, holy crap, what time is it? It felt like I slept for three days, so it was one of those weird things. But yeah, we can review. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, guys. Hope, uh, everybody had a great day. Hope everybody got to enjoy some time with their families. Hope the kids behaved all that good stuff. The wives were nice to you and hope, uh, you guys all had a great day. Uh, speaking of Father's Day, I also wanted to take a second and congratulate my dad. All right. Who I'm very proud of. And he sometimes listens to the show to see if I'm behaving myself, which we all know I'm usually not. Uh, but dad, uh, dad just retired this past Thursday after over 45 years of being one of the entire country's top oral surgeons. Uh, and that's not me saying that. That's all his doctor peers that will tell you anytime you meet them that you know how, how great a surgeon he is and how like highly, highly, uh, sought after he is. So he called it quits after. It's over 45 years because I'm 50 and he was practicing when I was 2. So it's 48 years, you know, 49 years. It's close. I was, I uh, was 2 when we moved up to Fishkill here. So he's been all, he's been a surgeon a long time and uh, you know, I'm very proud of him. Uh, he, he did it. He's like the ultimate role model for hard work. He worked multiple jobs putting himself through college. They had no money, putting, uh, himself through medical school. One of the most driven and hard working, uh, people I've ever met. So you couldn't have a better role model as a parent. So congrats to my dad on an amazing career and uh, best of luck. Now being with my mother 24 7, that should be interesting. That should be a really interesting household. I think a lot of golf is going to be played. A lot of day trading and a lot of golf just. He'll sit in his office and she'll tell him to stay up there. It'll be a good time. But, but yeah, congratulations to my dad. Let's see storm chasing season two live on YouTube. We got three episodes up for you. Uh, the Bruce company was episode three. That was the most recent. So if you haven't already done so, head over to YouTube, check out all three of those episodes. Sima 2026 is in Cincinnati this year. It's uh, this week. So uh, we're going to be out of here shortly, heading on to Cincinnati. And that's running from Tuesday. Uh, was it the 23rd to Friday the 26th? Uh, storm. What's that?

Speaker C: I said, yep, that's what it is. Storm.

Speaker B: Uh, field day is in July this year they moved it up a couple weeks, usually in August, but it is July 29th and 30th this year. So, uh, tickets are on sale currently on the Storm website. You can go over there and get them. Uh, the event will sell out. Uh, it sold out last year and uh, it's, it's really worth going. I think they, I think over 75% of the people flew in for it last year. So that was uh, that was nice to see. A lot of guys had a lot of interest, uh, I believe Jordan and Bob Marks are doing the uh, the keynotes this year. The speaking, I think they're talking about. Uh, I don't remember what the topic was, but I remember saying, oh, that's actually something I might actually sit there and listen to the whole time. It sounded very good. Uh, to get Bob's, I think two different perspectives on doing the same thing. Uh, Bob and Jordan. So that should be a great, great couple days out there. It always is. That's. It's always a good time out there. Um, September 17th is uh, the event that'll be up after that. Uh, the 16th and 7th actually. What, what do you got?

Speaker C: We got, we got a one day kind of a thing I guess that pusser shop, August 13th. Oh like a little, little uh, uh, Phantom, Phantom Turbo, Todd and some local vendors are going to be there. Just kind of a one day, kind of half a day trade show kind of thing.

Speaker B: Everybody out there that doesn't know who putz is, that's Josh Abrahamson of Valley Green and Fargo. So if you're in the Fargo area, I guess when is it? August 13th.

Speaker C: August 13th. Yep. It'll be at his, Josh's shop in Morehead.

Speaker B: So there you go.

Speaker C: We'll get more information out for it. But yeah, it's uh, just a one day kind of a midday thing. Just.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's cool. You need more of those.

Speaker C: Yeah, those are great stuff like that.

Speaker E: So.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Yeah, we are actually uh, we are actually in talks to bring a one day event to upstate New York. A snow jobs one uh, day event. So that uh, look for that next spring that's definitely uh, something we're going to pursue before the big, before the big gala. Gotta do a, you know, there's nothing in May like we need something in May. Something's gotta happen in May. So we might as well be the ones to do a nice one day in May for all the uh, upstate New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut guys. So look, look for that. Um, so September 16th and 17th is a Wednesday. Thursday, head over to Pennsylvania for those that storks on Wednesday the September 16th. That's their plow tech school for all Douglas products. Uh, phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal class. Highly recommend it. Worth every penny. Uh, the cheat code book alone is worth every penny. Uh, to be able to really fix anything Douglas. Uh, and then if you're there at Storks On Wednesday the 16th, you might as well head to Scranton Wilkes Bar. It's about an hour and change away. Hour and ten minutes. Uh, for Thursday that is the S and S Snow and Ice Solutions 6th Annual Snow Show. All right. I hear they're going big this year. So Tony and Janet always put on a great event. That's a. That's probably one of the most intimate networking events, wouldn't you say, Jay? Like, yeah, we're basically, like, left to network most of the time. Like, like they left us alone to break into groups and just talk shop. It was phenomenal last year.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Had a great panel discussion. And then it was like, all right, you boys are, uh, you're on your own. Try and behave. Which we might have or might not

Speaker C: have, but yeah, maybe.

Speaker B: Next up is the big concert out in October 1st in Oxbridge, Massachusetts, the Morton Wallace concert. Morton Walls, Laney Spalding's gonna be Patty Sam. And Northeast De Icing Solutions is having their third annual De Icing day. Uh, that's up in, as I said, Uxbridge, Massachusetts. And that is October 1st this year. Uh, that's it. New snow jobs patch hats are in. The store is stocked. Head on over to snowjobsnationstore.com get all your stuff for the next, uh, what do you got? Another week, right?

Speaker C: Yeah, we got 25 off on a lot.

Speaker B: Uh, another nine days. 25. 25 off and you get entered to win anything that. What is it?

Speaker E: Over a hundred?

Speaker C: Over 100. You're gonna enter to win that? Uh, I want to buy our suitcases,

Speaker B: uh, Snow Jobs monogrammed travel case. It's awesome.

Speaker C: Got them. I picked them up. They're in my place right now.

Speaker B: Carry ons or you got a bigger one?

Speaker C: Carry ons.

Speaker E: Nice. Perfect.

Speaker B: The carryon's great. So head on over to the Snow Jobs Nation store. Get your 25% off, spend a hundred dollars, get entered to win the carry on, which is not cheap. That is a what, 300 and something? $400 thing?

Speaker C: Close to 300. Yeah.

Speaker B: Pretty freaking pricey. Yep, yep. Keep hitting like and subscribe on Apple podcasts and Spotify. Give us those five star reviews and drop some comments. We've had a lot of comments recently on, uh, Spotify and Apple, so good for you guys. Keep them coming and, uh, that's about it. You got anything else, Jay?

Speaker C: I don't think so.

Speaker B: All right, let's hear from our partners. We'll be right back. And we'll get into it with Mike.

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Speaker B: Guys, if you follow the show, lately

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Speaker B: I'm officially losing my voice, but we're back. We are back. Thanks to our partners. We really appreciate you guys. We could not do it without you.

Speaker F: Thank you.

Speaker B: Thank you for, uh, standing behind the show as hard as you do. We could not do it without you. We generally genuinely appreciate all the support from our partners. They're amazing. And that's, uh, that's the cue for Mike to come on in. So, uh, Mikey, how are you, buddy? Uh, unmute and tell us all about it. How you doing, Bob?

Speaker D: What's up, brothers? How are you? Happy Father's Day.

Speaker B: Good. You too.

Speaker C: Thanks a lot. You as well.

Speaker D: Thank you.

Speaker B: How's it going?

Speaker D: Doing great, actually. I'm, uh, I'm starting my vacation off today. We just got in the big house, so we're, uh, we're getting it kicked off and we're hoping for a good week.

Speaker B: Awesome. Good for you, dude.

Speaker C: Nice.

Speaker B: I could never take vacations when we were doing lawns. If the boss was not around, you'd have so many call outs and guys not showing up. Like, come on.

Speaker D: No calls yet. But I'm sure once, uh, the week starts off, I'll be getting a few.

Speaker B: So, you know, it's good, though. It's been super hot and, uh, I don't know about up there, but our lawn's already browning.

Speaker D: Oh, it's dead. Uh, several, several of my places, my large commercial are that's. It's a dust field. I mean, green in sight.

Speaker B: It's. It's wild how, uh, this is the earliest I've ever seen it go brown. So it's been brown for a couple weeks. Yeah, pretty cool. And we've had rain. Yeah, we've had substantial rain. I think we're going to get another couple inches tomorrow. We got, uh, we got a big storm coming in. Uh, they're saying 2 or 3 inches of rain possible and like 50 mile an hour winds, so.

Speaker D: Well, you keep it in New York. I don't need that.

Speaker C: That's it.

Speaker B: Yeah, it should be great. Hopefully it's out of there by the time the Cessna takes off.

Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker B: Uh, uh, Jay, why don't you take us away, buddy?

Speaker C: You bet. Hey, Mike. What? Show everybody about first. Do property maintenance where you guys got started and what you're all about.

Speaker D: All right. So, uh, back in, back in about 20, 21, I had left a job down in, uh, the five boroughs there in the Bronx and got, uh, hired at a new job in, uh, Kingston, York. So I figured that I only worked two days a week on that job, and I had a lot of time to spend doing something else because sitting, uh, at home was not doing it for me. So over the years I've always been in the, uh, snow, land management, anything you could think of outside with machines, you know, doing something for somebody else. And I just figured, uh, you know, be a good time to start something for myself. So me and another buddy from work started up first two property maintenance. And we mainly didn't really know where we're going other than grass to start. And next thing you know, in that first year, I think we were doing everything that we could get our hands on. Pressure, washing, cleaning, uh, gutters, mowing grass. I mean, picking jobs way too big for what we were even capable of doing and just banging them out.

Speaker B: Yeah, we got it.

Speaker D: Yeah, we got done this before several times.

Speaker B: Absolutely no problem.

Speaker D: So we started out kind of very small. Um, one mower, one trailer, just kind of going around, had about 30 lawns. And um, unfortunately, right about around the end of that first year or so, we split up, uh, and I kind of went my own way with the business and really within that second year, took off, started, uh, to bring it down into just doing lawns, um, some minor tree work, anything landscaping wise, and then ended, uh, up getting the snow plowing, um, that kind of took off for me and, and here I am, you know, about five years later. And right now I'm honed in on basically lawn, snow and excavation. And that's what I focus on. I try not to do anything else. I try not to get on any roofs and do any gutters anymore ever. Um, very, very simple because as a second job for me, this is now more of a full time job for me. And uh, here we are.

Speaker B: It's crazy how that happens, right? Like I just need to do something on the side for a couple hours a week, make a little extra money. And now you're working, then you're working harder than your a job.

Speaker C: Yep, yep.

Speaker B: Yeah, it happens.

Speaker D: Pros and cons.

Speaker B: Yep. Well, I mean that happens if you do good work, the word gets around and uh, before you know it, you're like, what the hell happened?

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: So you, you guys just, you doing any hardscaping, anything like that? Nothing. You just. Smart man.

Speaker D: Dude, I have not dabbled in the hardscaping. I try. You know, even as of this year, I pretty much honed in on, I am doing lawn care and your basic, you know, trimming some hedges, anything like that. A little bit of, uh, you know, minor landscape work, but I, I have some pretty decent properties for lawns that aren't too, too much to deal with. And then, uh, I do the occasional excavation job you know, maybe, I don't know, five to ten a month maybe, uh, nothing too crazy to keep me going. And then the snow in the winter and that's it.

Speaker B: Do you have a, with the lawns, do you have a problem finding reliable guys to mow? Do you find yourself having to be there a lot?

Speaker D: I feel like I'm lucky. Uh, I do do a lot of it on my own. I mean, in the, in the summertime here for the lawns, I have two, two guys mainly. One's like kind of full time with me and a couple part time guys and then, uh, you know, several I throw in in between there when guys just want a little extra money. But for me, I grab a lot of the, uh, the other cops and firemen and all them guys, and they're always looking for a little bit extra money that we have the similar schedules and they're always willing to work. So I can't complain there. I have really good guys.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it used to be a lot easier, but my problem was we all got freaking old and nobody collectively, none of us wanted to cut lawns anymore. Yeah, that's why we just, we started like getting rid of a bunch of them at a time. Every year we downsize the lawns. Downsize. And after Covid, like, I don't know how you make money doing bulk lawns anymore.

Speaker D: Yeah, I, that's, I could say that's why I keep the couple excavation jobs going, you know, monthly, because, uh, I've weeded out a lot of people. We had a lot of, A lot of people that didn't want to pay what, you know, what we're worth and.

Speaker C: Sure.

Speaker D: And uh, you know, I just, I really got everything moving the way I needed it to, and I'm in a good position right now, so I don't want to take on too much or, or take on the customers I really don't need. And I kind of just stay with what I got right now. It's working out for me. So.

Speaker B: Very cool, man.

Speaker C: Very cool.

Speaker B: So we have similar markets, well, not similar markets, but we're pretty close in geography. We only about 45, 40, 45 minutes, depending on who's driving, uh, up the thruway from each other. Um, what, what are you guys averaging as far as your annual snowfall up there in Kingston?

Speaker D: So typically, uh, your average is, I'd say 40 to 50 inches a year.

Speaker B: Um, you're right in the same ball. It's all the Hudson Valley. So generally it's, it's pretty close.

Speaker D: Yeah, we didn't get that this past year, but that's generally what we get. And. And even sometimes less than that.

Speaker B: So what did you end up with your final total for the year? Were you over 80?

Speaker D: Uh, I was. I was right at 80 in my, uh, my higher elevations because I. I service like, um, 20 miles, you know, north and south, really. I don't go too far east and west. But on my strip, when the further north I went, the higher I got. And then in the lower end, I was getting right around like 65 to 70 inches.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Cause you're. You're right between, like Kingston's right between two big punch spots. Like you got the mid M. Hudson Valley, like fish kill to Poughkeepsie, that gets punched. And then you got Albany area, which gets punched. And you guys are kind of like in that. In that area in between where if you go north towards Albany, you'll have more and. But you got to go well south to get into that snow band again.

Speaker D: Yeah, it's. It's funny because typically over the years, and like I said, I've been doing it for years for everybody else and then, you know, in the last five for myself. And I always tell everybody I'm not really too worried about town. Ulster City, Kingston doesn't snow here. We may get a little touch of everything around us, but, ah, uh, it always goes around us. Right. Heavy storms. Yeah, that didn't happen this year.

Speaker B: Not this year. What about in years past though? You guys, you guys don't. You don't get any of the big ones.

Speaker D: We get it, but it's a lot of clippers. Um, we're getting. We're getting the edge of all effects. Yeah.

Speaker B: They reach you, the bands?

Speaker D: Yeah, they do, but we're really getting like. We're not getting the main part of it. We're getting the edges of it. I got you. It's not really accumulating. We'll get them. They'll come quick, they'll hit hard, but they're still not getting typically what other people around us are.

Speaker B: Yeah, they either go north to Albany or they go south to Fishkill. And you guys are right in the middle. So you're catching the edge of both.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Uh, but you still. I mean, you guys are still good for 40 plus, you know, year in, year out, right?

Speaker D: Yeah. This year, obviously, great winter, the. The years prior. Um, a lot of very wet. Um, we get a lot of rain even if we're not getting snow. It's always, It's. It's always Doing something whether it's rain or snow, but uh, typically not as much.

Speaker B: 10, 4. 10 4. What type of sites do you guys concentrate on?

Speaker D: Yeah, so when I started for myself and I have one truck, I had about 60 residential. Um, a lot of shoveling, you know, for some guys that were with me, a lot of shoveling sidewalks in the city environment. Um, a lot of, uh, angry customers when you know you're not there, when they think you're going to be there, even though if you're going to what the contract says, everybody's got an opinion. Um, so now. Exactly, exactly. And I, I did not like doing residential. So over the years I've, I've faded that out. Um, I went from at my peak, almost 100 residential to now I'm doing, I think I do maybe 10 residential overall and the rest is all commercial. Um, anything from your small doctor's office to several, uh, acre, uh, industrial, uh, lot.

Speaker B: Very cool. Is there room for growth up there?

Speaker D: There is, but there's a lot of big dogs in the game up here. Um, we've got a lot of, a lot of OGs are still in business up here. Um, they got a lot of the big, you know, package stores and uh, you know, local non management company. They, they have them scarfed up right now, but there's still room for growth. Especially um, in this last year or two. I've seen a lot of them starting to phase out, not wanting to do snow anymore because of the stress and the headache. Um, so I'm getting a lot more calls for the bigger type. Um, companies that have been out of the game for a while and uh, a lot of the other people just aren't cutting anymore. They're not providing the same service they said they were five, 10 years ago.

Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, and that really would come to light this past winter.

Speaker D: Yeah. Oh, definitely.

Speaker B: Did you get a lot of calls this spring?

Speaker D: I got so many calls, it got to the point where I was like, I would love to take you all, but I got to start going through these now and figuring out the who's who and what's going to be best for me.

Speaker B: So yeah, I mean I've, I've said that so many times on here that like we're getting calls from like property management companies saying like, all right, that know us, they know our, what we do well. And they're like, dude, we need you to do this. We need you to take this site on next year. Blank check, like just let us know what it's going to cost. And they've already okayed like they, they learned their lesson. Like they've said, you know, the property managers, the board's yelling at the property managers or the property owners yelling at the property managers, the property manager's telling them, you got what you paid for. If you want better service, you need to give me more money to work with.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Uh, you know, we need to have a bigger budget for snow. You can, you can go cheap on the lawn, you can go cheap on the blacktop ceiling, you can't go cheap on the snow.

Speaker D: Yeah, I, I really strive to provide top notch service no matter what you're actually paying for what's agreed upon. I always try, I'm always doing more than I, more than I probably should to get my money out of it. But I'm always, I'd rather have good, good quality, good service that people are bragging about to their friends and family and, and uh, you know, businesses around them rather than be, you know, over taxing myself, over taxing my guys and not being able to provide something that's, you know, worthwhile. So we talked about it during the, the show about Fern. I mean the amount of properties during that big storm, you know, even days to follow, still 2, 3ft of snow.

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker D: And uh, your lot's perfectly clean. It's, it's black. We don't have to worry about it. And it's just, you know, seeing that days later people really saw that and that's, it was, it was wild.

Speaker B: Yeah. That storm ended like 7am and most, I think every one of our properties was open by 10.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: Ready to go. And there were complexes, like complexes where people were trapped locally for two days. They couldn't get out of their conflict. There was 20 inches of snow just still sitting there. Get what you pay for.

Speaker D: I couldn't believe, honestly, like it's just not being able to provide what you say you're going to be. You, you know, sit telling these people that you're going to be able to do for them and then days later being trapped in like you said, and just driving past it like, man, wish I could help like.

Speaker B: So I think, I think the main problem in our area, um, because there was one company that is a, um, it's a, I don't think it's a national, but it's a, it's a private equity backed company now that bought up a bunch of companies in the area and they took on a lot of sites that should have dedicated trucks and dedicated equipment and they were doing them on routes which, that's okay. You can put trucks on routes and shit, or machines on routes, but when it's 2, 3 inch an hour snowfall rates for 7 hours, that you're going to be exposed. And at that point, if you're plowing with a truck and you made a run at 2 inches, you come back five hours later, there's 15 inches. You ain't moving that with a truck now, you know, especially if you got to carry it a long distance. So I think that's where a lot of the bigger companies got into, they got into trouble trying to just put these trucks on routes. And then God forbid you lose one truck, you know, one truck goes down and now you're backfilling, you're doubling up routes. It's, you know, that's how that shit happens. But yeah, it was, it was a, it was a good winner for, for the companies that do snow well around here.

Speaker D: That's for sure.

Speaker B: That is for sure. Oh, Jay, what do you think? Uh, Dinest leasing, uh, equipment segment?

Speaker C: I think so. All right, Mikey. You know, I like my equipment. What kind of equipment? Are you running your business?

Speaker D: So, uh, trucks wise, I'm running, uh, mainly all Fords and, uh, a couple Dodges thrown in there. Um, for equipment wise, I say, uh, we do have a loader, Wolf Loader. Got, uh, that prior to last season. Uh, Kubota skid steer, Bobcat, skid steer. Um, it's pretty much it for the big equipment. I've done, you know, larger rentals in the past, but that's where the Wolf Loader came in. It just wasn't, wasn't feasible for me and I was not getting the bank in my buck.

Speaker B: So, uh, that was your first winner with it, with the Wolf?

Speaker D: Yeah, it was my first winner with it.

Speaker B: How many hours did you get? Do you know of it? I'm sorry, Jay.

Speaker D: I want to say I put at least, at least 40 to 50 hours on it because, I mean, I, I ran that thing every storm, whether it was an inch or, you know, I was in that machine every storm. So, um, I, I, it might even be over 50. I can't remember off the top of my head, but, uh, I was running it a lot. Um, skid steer, same thing. Ah, I have a track skid steer. Um, I've had that since new several years ago. Great machine. Um, a couple different skid steers mixed in here and there, depending on the amount of sites that year. Mainly, um, mainly a couple bobcats, uh, if not at least one more, and then I'm Running, um, single dual stage snowblowers. Uh, all mixed. Mixed batch there. Um, as well as I run, uh, Kubota tractor for a couple of my larger sites with a snowblower on the front of it, enclosed cab heat. You know, it's anytime you can't get somebody to work, you know, it doesn't want to shovel, it's easy to be able to say, hey, I got a machine with some heat I could throw you in and just go sit and do sidewalks for me the whole time. Um, with a salter on the back of it. Um, that's pretty much it. The rest is all, you know, the old trusty pine handle.

Speaker C: What are you. What are you pushing on those Fords? What do you got on the front for blades?

Speaker D: So I'm all Fisher Western. I got one Western in the fleet. Um, but the rest is all fisher 8, 6, 9 sixes, uh, V plows. Um, and then I have, uh, a couple different pushers for the larger equipment. Um, right now I'm running. My main is a cage, and then I have a. Several rubber edge cheap pushers that I just leave at sites in case I need to throw them on. Um, but slowly phasing them out because I learned real quick after the first couple years of buying them how much more of a hassle it was going to be having those.

Speaker B: So, yeah.

Speaker C: Nice backup, though.

Speaker B: What. What. As you phase them out, what are you looking? What are you thinking for replacements?

Speaker D: Live edge.

Speaker C: Yeah. Ah.

Speaker D: And I. I need live edge. I'm, um, trying to get anything with a live edge, but I mean, obviously the. The Arctics, the more I see them, um, it's just obviously the way to go. I do love my cage. Um, they got the. The live edge on it now. Um, but for me, the best bang for my buck and especially the way I use the machines, um, live edges and anything that I can angle.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yep. I'll tell you, the Arctics are fireman proof. I can personally attest to that. Good to go.

Speaker D: I do.

Speaker B: You guys haven't been able to break

Speaker D: them, that's for sure. That's what I'm.

Speaker B: Not even Danny Damage. Not even Danny Damage has been able to break it. And his verdict has hydraulic.

Speaker D: Exactly.

Speaker B: Exactly.

Speaker C: That's.

Speaker D: That's good to hear.

Speaker C: That's. It is. What are you using for salters?

Speaker D: Uh, salter. Same thing. Uh, I'm using for the most part, it's all polycasters. Fisher Polycasters. Um, I do have one older Smith stainless. Uh, Smith that is just a simple on off chain drive. Works every time we turn it on. Um, my father runs that one. And then I also in my truck I actually run a salt dog with an auger.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker D: And just because I like honestly it was one of the first ones I had for my truck. My truck's got a six foot box. I like being able to just throw that thing in there. And the way it's shaped, I could still get another snowblower, a bunch of shovels, everything around it without sure too much of an issue. So it works good.

Speaker B: Cool.

Speaker C: It's very cool.

Speaker B: What else you got for him Jay? With equipment, anything or we cover it.

Speaker C: Did you have any. Yeah, that's probably majority of the qu. Did he have any issues last winter with the salt shortage you guys had out there?

Speaker D: So I didn't really have any issues. Uh, luckily for me I've been uh, blessed with knowing a lot of really good people in my area. Um, you know, a lot of people well connected on where we could still get salt. But I, I would say even though there was a shortage where I didn't feel it because I was always able to get some, I felt it in price because I mean. Oh yeah, not stocking up to the amount I use, I, you know, I didn't use anything too crazy. I'm not, not a huge company. Um, but I probably myself went through just over 100 tons of salt. Um, and by those last few triaxial loads of salt I was getting at the end of the season, I was paying probably. I probably paid half of my annual amount of salt just in those last three. I was so expensive, um, you know, several guys that were only selling local. I was able to get a couple, couple of yards here and there from somebody. But for the most part, uh, it was not a good year for salt, that's for sure. Luckily like I said, I really good people looking out for me that I was able to get some still. But a lot of other people did not.

Speaker B: Yeah, that was, it was all who you knew in our area. Definitely. It was definitely. Uh, if you were, if you had the right guy, if you've been doing business with the right guy for a long time, you, you stayed in salt. Like even though we paid like you said, the last load we had to take in, we, in hindsight we would have been okay because March was nothing. We didn't even have. I don't think we even salted. I think 1, 1, maybe 12 inch nothing the first two days of March and the rest of it was over. Um, so I Could have, I could have done without. I had enough in the bins to uh, to get through. But I took in that last load and I was like, what?

Speaker E: How much?

Speaker B: Joe was like, yeah, uh, do you want it? I'm like, yeah, I'll take it. But man, am I feeling it like right in the ass. Uh, was I think three times. I think it was like three times the price of a normal truckload.

Speaker D: We weren't even totally through the season yet. I think we were midway and our, our one of our biggest local, uh, suppliers. I was there, um, my buddy was hauling it for me. I was there, I was getting ready to pay. I'm sitting in line and uh, I don't know what it was. We'll just say a hundred dollars a ton. The guy in front of me pays at a hundred dollars a ton. I come up, she goes, oh, uh, sorry, they just went up. It's 180 a ton now. I'm like this guy, right? He, I'm behind him. I think my truck's in front of this. Like, what do you mean?

Speaker B: Oh my God. I would wig out if I didn't

Speaker D: need to solve that day. I probably would have left without salt because they would have kicked me out of there.

Speaker B: Holy crap, that sucks. So what do you, you said you do salt, granular salt. Are you using treated, untreated? What are you doing?

Speaker D: Uh, typically I just go untreated. Um, I mean I do uh, here and there, depending on pricing and everything. I'll grab some treated salt. What I, what I typically do honestly is um, throwing a lot of treated salt on um, our walkways because not a lot of people are asking for the calcium. So I get the treated for all of my walkways. It obviously works better and then on for the amount that I'm sending. Like I said, I'm always. My people are, are visiting the sites as much as they can. Um, they're scraping. We're using very little um, salt for actually, um, trying to get our, our places bare because they're getting scraped non stop. So they're, the amount that they're having to throw down in between isn't, isn't that bad. So for me it's just not using the treated is the feasible way to go.

Speaker B: Amen.

Speaker C: What kind of contracts you have then? Are you going hourly, seasonals or per time or what are you guys doing?

Speaker D: So uh, for me I don't have anybody that ever asked about hourly. I don't offer it. Um, for the most part I am contract. Um, I would say we're probably 70% contract, 30% per push. Um, luckily with the, the smaller commercial per push I grabbed this year saved me for all that extra labor and salt that I did have to buy. Um, but for the last.

Speaker B: You didn't have caps?

Speaker D: Two of my places I had caps. But uh, other than that I was able to make it through and, and did good with what I had. Having those extra per push I picked up this year.

Speaker B: You gonna have caps on everything next year?

Speaker D: Yes, I am. Knowing the way my luck works, we won't go over those caps for another 20 years.

Speaker B: No, but that's the thing. Like you're not gonna trigger it. But God forbid that we get that double up winner like we just had, man.

Speaker D: Yep.

Speaker B: Like you, I'm sure you know guys, I know guys that have good businesses in the area that do snow well, but their contracts were not ready for that 80 inches and they were on a lot of. One guy, I know he's 90, 10, he's 90% seasonal and he didn't have caps and he, he was, he's struggling. Like uh, you could really, even if you do great work, if the contract's not structured to watch out, watch your ass. In all, all winters, all conditions, it, you can, you could really feel it like negatively big time.

Speaker D: Yeah, A lot of, a lot of people around me felt it this year and uh, learning from some of the best, you know, paying attention to the show and the way I've, I've built my contracts, I tell them like, this is what you're going to pay, but you're, you're not going to have to worry. And luckily on uh, some of the contracts I might be a little low. I didn't really make out there, but I made out well in other places. And then the extra per push I added this year, it just, luckily it saved me because if I stayed with the way my, my structure was last year, I probably wouldn't have been as well off as I am this year.

Speaker B: There you go. I mean we all uh, like we put, we, we put the caps and floors in because we learned the hard way that we needed them. Yeah, that's, that's why we put them in like six years ago because we, we, that was the last banger winner was that that 89, 90 inch winter where we had the two mega storms that dropped 50 something inches between the two of them. We, we were like, I was like, it's, we had 48 inches. I think by January 1st or January 10th, I was like, holy. Like we're we're there, we got the whole winner left to go. And we learned the hard way, like, we lost a lot of money. We, we, we kept our service up because like you said, you're never going to not do above and beyond what the contract says. That's just, you know, most snow guys, most private, um, companies anyway.

Speaker D: Yeah, I stay away from a lot of those. Those management companies, you know, offering up the Walmarts for half of what they should be getting, if not a quarter of what they should be getting too, you know.

Speaker B: You don't want to take the Kingston Walmart for $38. Come on.

Speaker D: No, no, no, I'm good. No matter how many times it gets put in the portal, I'm still not taking it.

Speaker B: Oh, um, you're not going to sima, right?

Speaker D: Nah, Nope. Uh, not this year.

Speaker B: I'm tell you, there's a lot of, a lot of national management companies there and there's a lot of salt guys there to, I think. Jeremy, have you ever seen that many salt companies? What do we count? Like 11 boots were salt companies?

Speaker C: Seemed like quite a few this year. Y.

Speaker B: Like, I've never seen half that. And now they're all there. They're all. I think they're all doing damage control. No, the sky's not falling. Everything's good. We'll have salt. Don't worry about it.

Speaker D: We'll see.

Speaker B: Uh, they're going to be out. Any. If any part of this country has even a remotely decent winner, they're going to be out.

Speaker C: Have you either one of you guys stocked up yet this year for next season?

Speaker B: Y. I took, I took a loading.

Speaker D: I have a buddy looking to get off, uh, you know, good amount, so I'm gonna probably take some of that. But I was gonna wait till probably next month, start looking into it because m. I'm building a new shed somewhere else, so I'm trying to hold off on taking any more at the other one.

Speaker B: Yeah. Um, you. You looking to do any liquids in the future or not? Not worth it for you?

Speaker D: I don't think it's worth it for me right now.

Speaker B: Not for me either.

Speaker C: So.

Speaker B: I understand what you're doing.

Speaker D: Yeah, I just, you know, I like the idea of it, you know, being able to send that one truck out and just let them, let them hammer down. But for everything else, like, it's just not feasible for me. I think. I like the, uh, the granular.

Speaker C: I understand.

Speaker B: What about contracted weather service? Anybody telling, uh, you what's not coming and what's coming?

Speaker D: Honestly?

Speaker F: Nope.

Speaker D: Uh, I stay away from all that. I just monitor about 15 different weather channels that I can. My phone has about know, like I said, 15 tabs open. I just keep swiping to the next one to see who's, you know, out of the 15, maybe seven are pretty close to being the same. And then I go about 2 inches lower and also on the worst end, 5 inches higher. And we're, you know, pretty much. My guys know if it's snowing, whether it's snowing in an hour or it's snowing right now, they're working.

Speaker C: So there it is. How many guys are you running out in bent?

Speaker D: So bare, uh, minimum, I would say three to five guys. And then we go anywhere from three to five to 10 to 15, you know, on anything that's over five inches, I'll bring in the full. I'd rather just have everybody in, bang everything out quick. Um, you know, great service, bang everything out quick and guys are back home. But there's other days where they're all working the a job and we're doing it with those five on a big storm. So sometimes you just gotta make it work.

Speaker B: That is always the challenge when the storm is rolling in and you get that five day and they start hammering out the timing on it and you, you put the text out to all the, all the guys and say, all right, who's uh, who's working? Uh, and then the second question is, who is willing to trade a shift? Who is willing to try and get off? Who's gonna take a vacation day? And you know, uh, it's uh, it's nerve wracking until the crickets stop and the, the bings start coming in with. Oh yeah, I can, I can do a swap or I can do this somehow. They always make it happen. My guys always, they always make, always make it happen.

Speaker D: I've been desperate. A couple times I offered to pay some overtime pay for a few people. I offered, you know, that's the one

Speaker B: thing I can never, if they're getting overtime, I really can't. I, I can't complain. Like I tell them, take the overtime because you know, for some of them it's pensionable, you know, and uh, you gotta, you gotta let them take the ot. But otherwise, yeah, I've, yeah, I've, like, I've leaned on stuff. Hey, remember, remember how many times you took the track machine last year to do uh, side work and stuff? That was your need. This, this storm is my need. Get your ass in the seat.

Speaker C: Yeah. Payback. Payback.

Speaker B: Yep. All right. Yeah, you're right. But, yeah, it's. It's. It's sometimes a challenge doing it that way, but, you know, we're basically. We're basically in the same boat. Like, everybody, uh, everybody always asks about, you know, how we do things and stuff. And I tell them, like, it's very. It's very hard for you to run a normal company without those guys.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: Like, not everybody has the setup that me and you have where we have that ability to, you know, make a couple phone calls or put out a group text. And even if they don't normally work for us, we can get guys that are mature, for the most part. Mature, uh, somewhat responsible, and usually have some kind of knowledge in equipment operation.

Speaker D: Yep, exactly.

Speaker B: It's pretty easy that way.

Speaker D: Everybody's just got their own. Their own expectation when they come out. This one needs chicken fingers. This one needs, you know, the equipment that has the heat. This one won't operate this shovel. It's always something. Um, but, hey, you got to make them happy, and they do just as good as job.

Speaker B: Yeah. It's funny. The operators. The operators only want coffee. They don't even want egg sandwiches in the morning. They just want coffee and tobacco to get them through. And then the kids are the ones, the sidewalk ninjas. They want all the chicken fingers and fries.

Speaker C: That's that.

Speaker B: They're the chicken fingers guys. But I'm like, man, crazy.

Speaker C: Do you see yourself upgrading any or getting any more new equipment for next year? Staying steady?

Speaker D: Uh, I'm looking at, uh, possibly another skid steer. Um, right. Right now I only own one myself. Uh, the track and the. The rest I've either rented or, you know, um, but I'm looking at probably another skid steer, even if it's like, uh, use something with, uh, you know, not tracked, with wheels that I can, like, run around the different sites. Just, um. I'm always looking to upgrade or change the. The model the way I'm doing things. So it'd be nice to have something I could run around, maybe even another wolf loader.

Speaker C: I don't know.

Speaker D: I do like my wolf loader. I've used a lot.

Speaker B: One sitting at the shop.

Speaker C: Uh, 344 for sale.

Speaker B: Listen, that's too expensive to truck across the country as it is.

Speaker D: Let me make it. Let me see how much I spend on this vacation. We'll go from there.

Speaker B: Uh, yeah. I mean, you definitely. You always have that diness option. If you listen to that episode that, uh, that Lucas did, he laid it all out all the programs, and that's how I got the equipment I have, because I, I couldn't have grown like that with machines if it wasn't for those guys. So that's something I would deck. You're in the same boat I was, you know, seven, eight years ago. So that is something I would definitely recommend you talk to them and see if that works for you financially, because it's a much better option doing their, their snow lease or, or even they rent them too.

Speaker D: Yeah, I do like that. Uh, I, I would say another thing for me is, you know, the reason I probably don't have more equipment is, believe it or not, I have more a problem finding people that can run equipment well and are comfortable running equipment, especially once you go over a skid steer, than I do being able to just find general workers that I could throw in a truck. You know, most of them's driven a truck, plowed for their uncle or something back in the day. But as soon as you say, hey, I got, you know, a skid steer here, it's not hand and foot or I got this new loader, or you think you can, a lot of people start to get a little iffy there.

Speaker B: Oh, dude, if you put me in a hand and foot control skid steer, it's not going to be pretty. Oh, my God. It's been a while. Although the two, the two skid steers we have at work are hand and foot controls. And like, everybody's always telling me like, hey, go, go. Jump in the skid. Go do. I'm like, dude, you do not want me in that machine in either one of those machines. And they're like, you got thousands of hours in skid steers. I'm like, not with farmer controls, dude. Not with farmer controls, man. I got pilot controls.

Speaker C: I, I, I hate the H pattern ones. Have you run H pattern?

Speaker B: Those are terrible. The, the cases all have the ability to switch to, uh, yeah, they can

Speaker C: switch, but yeah, no, that I suck at the H. I'd rather do foot hand to foot than age pattern.

Speaker B: Why would you not want your controls to be intuitive? Like, okay, if I want it to go forward, I push, I push the joystick forward. I want it to go left, push it to the left, right. Then your right hand is your dominant hand. Most people, and that's your bucket and your boom. Like, I, uh, I don't understand why you would want hand and foot controls. But the farmers, they say, love it. They love the hand and foot controls

Speaker C: Bobcat makes, like, the Bobcat brand that's they make a ton of. I know, but still there's some dealership that's pretty much all they get. I'm like, why?

Speaker B: Yeah, the rural places, like they said. That's what I said. Who, who would run these? And they said, you wouldn't believe it. The farmers are. Yeah, they're so hardcore hand and foot. I'm like, wow, good for them. I can't run these things. It's been so long now. I'm so spoiled with the pilot controls. Forget it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, that, that would be tough to put anybody in, uh, in a handed control machine.

Speaker C: Forget it.

Speaker D: It's difficult finding people to run. Run equipment by me. I mean, they're out there, but the, uh, we'll see. We'll see what the next couple years have to bring.

Speaker B: You said you got a lot of competition for snow in the area. Like, what do you, what would you say separates you guys from them?

Speaker D: Uh, well, I would say a lot of the competition in the area that's smaller, probably, uh, equivalent to my size. The biggest thing that sets me apart from them is my quality of service that I'm provided. And you know, my guys, all the pride they have and what they're providing for me because they just know, um, you know, great, great employees, great, um, service, ah, at the level of me. And then other than that, it's just the competition that's larger. They're just on such a larger scale that, I mean, for me right now I can't take as much as they can on because of their, you know, ability to provide. But, um, at my size, definitely quality of service and the pride in the work we're doing and you know, the relationships I build with those people. I try to be as personal as I can with every single owner, uh, employee on the complex, um, you know, maybe even just the family member coming in and out.

Speaker B: But that's how you do it. That's how you get bigger. Definitely. Jay, what do you think you want to do, uh, commercials and hit 5 and 5?

Speaker C: Yeah, let's do that.

Speaker B: All right, let's take a quick commercial break. We'll be back in a minute.

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Speaker B: I just realized that Yeti commercial still on there. Yeti, you owe us some money going when you, when you come back in the winter you owe us some money. We've apparently kept that. Has that been on the whole friggin time?

Speaker C: Yep.

Speaker B: Holy shit. You owe us a lot of money, Yeti. Uh, you're friggin welcome. How did Steve mess that up? Not me, the other Steve.

Speaker F: Crap.

Speaker B: All right, let's keep moving. Five and five. Go ahead, Jake.

Speaker C: All right, Mike, where would you like to see this company go in the next five years? What are you looking forward at?

Speaker D: So I'm still looking to, I uh, would say downsize on the amount of properties I'm servicing. However, um, and maybe you know, as I downsize, add a few uh, larger facilities. Um, I, I would rather have less but larger amount of uh, businesses I'm providing to then continue uh, to grow with a smaller, smaller commercial I've been taking on. Um, I don't think uh, the size of my company overall is going to change much. I think if anything it's just going to be continuing uh, to upgrade, continuing to change the way uh, we are providing services to best fit our needs and uh, larger, like I said, larger contracts for less, less amount of customers.

Speaker C: Uh, yep.

Speaker D: That would just work best for having the a job still.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Listen, I agree with you. That's, that's why we keep it so tight here. Same reasons. Makes sense. Um, what do you think the best decision you've made in the last five years to get you to where you are now is

Speaker D: listening to my peers, um, being, being very open to any wisdom knowledge, um, anything that anybody has to offer that's been in the game, you know, past, present, um, learning from those I worked from in the past and taking a lot of advice, um, from my father who's been doing the similar game for a lot longer than I have and just. Yeah, I mean that would probably sum it up the best.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: Ah, sounds good.

Speaker A: Perfect.

Speaker C: You said your father helps you quite a bit didn't you in the past episode?

Speaker B: Super mechanic.

Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he uh, also just retired Steve. Um, yeah.

Speaker B: You said that that's good for him.

Speaker C: Congrats.

Speaker D: He just retired from my job. 22 and a half years on the fire department with 30 to 30 total to the city of Kingston. So congrats to him. Shout out to him.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's awesome. Congratulations.

Speaker D: And then he continues. Uh, he also owns a business, uh, Fitzgerald Fire Apparatus Repair. He's been doing that for a long time. As long as I can remember, since I was before I was even born. Um, came into doing that while being ah an army engineers. Also retired out of the engineers and uh, he still works on fire trucks pretty much every single day even though he's retired from the fire department. And he also works on everything that I have. Every time it breaks.

Speaker B: There you go.

Speaker D: Obviously not his. As fast as he can do it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Thank God for that.

Speaker C: So uh, that's great.

Speaker D: He's ran probably every piece of equipment I think there is to operate on this earth and every different brand and knows the ins and out of everything. So if it's broke he's uh, more than likely going to be able to get it fixed. So I rely heavily on him.

Speaker B: That's a critical person to have. Absolutely.

Speaker D: Yeah. And then occasionally when you know we are getting that big storm, uh, he gets put in the mix there even though he doesn't want to. That's when it's on his time. He shows up and you know, hopefully it's at least within a half hour of when I asked him to be there.

Speaker B: That's, I'll tell you that's a critical, that's a critical guy to have. When you have that guy that you're, you know, you have a go to guy that just seems to have mechanical knowledge, knows the ins and outs of everything, can figure out how to get you back running again. You can't put a price on that. Like that's so valuable. Especially if he's there during the storm. I could get a machine back up and running.

Speaker C: It's.

Speaker B: That's critical.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: Especially when the loader and the truck goes down in the first two hours of a very large storm.

Speaker B: Yep, yep. Uh, man, that's snow though.

Speaker C: That is.

Speaker B: No, no matter how much you prepare, man, Murphy always has a say and he's a jerk off man. That guy always shows up. Oh uh, Christ. What. So what lessons have you learned in your early stages or as you started to, you know, you started to grow and expand a little bit that you want to pass on to. To guys that may just be starting out?

Speaker D: Uh, I would say don't over. Promise over promise don't over, you know, oversell yourself, but not be able to provide it when the time is due. Um, more is not always the best. So don't answer every call and accept every person that's looking to give you some business. Um, don't. Don't settle into the same way you've been doing things, whether it's been a year or 30 years. I mean, it's a constantly evolving, uh, world we live in that goes for pretty much everything you do day to day. So, uh, every chance you get, be willing to learn, be willing to change it up to better yourself, better your. Your services. And, uh, if the. If you are able to always provide the best quality service you can for every customer, even the ones you really don't feel like dealing with, those ones,

Speaker B: especially most times the ones you don't want to hear from. Oh, man, that I. That was perfect. Uh, I love that. Uh, Jay, you got anything else for him?

Speaker C: No, I don't think so. Sounds like. Oh, yeah, yeah. Let's. Let's hear some. I'm sure Mike's got some good stories being a fireman.

Speaker B: He uses fireman. He's got funny stories. I guarantee it.

Speaker D: Well, uh, we'll start with one from back. Back. I used to work for this company. Very, uh, large company in my area. They do a lot of, uh, construction, excavation jobs, and really good, close family friends. So, you know, anytime that I wasn't working, I'd be in one of their machines or in one of their trucks with an M. No, no, no, no.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker D: No green trucks. Big, big company.

Speaker B: Okay, M. I got you.

Speaker D: So they. They were one of the largest snow, uh, snow guys in the game up here for a while. And for a few years, we took care of the two major hospitals in the city of Kingston. And on, uh, several occasions, they had a deleted 6, 0 power stroke that we would be, uh, teamed up in. Me, another fire department guy. And, you know, throughout the winter, a lot of. A lot of homes like to burn the winter because everybody's always, you know, using multiple ways to heat their house. And I just remember you would know when we were coming because we'd leave the hospital if we could, and that truck would be screaming. I think we blew the muffler off at about three times on the way to the firehouse for a call. Um, on several occasions, you know, we weren't at the hospital. It was always, you know, the same

Speaker C: way we all are.

Speaker D: Hey, uh, I got a. I'm short over here on a guy. Could you come take, uh, care of this?

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker D: So he goes, the one day I need you over at the, uh, couple of the box stores. You know, we're down a loader guy over there. You ever ran a loader? I'm like, I don't know, 15, 16. He's. He's like, you've been doing this with your father. You know, other guys, you know, you could run a loader. I'm like, yeah, no problem. Never ran a loader in my life. Um, let alone. It was one of the first, you know, joystick control loaders at the time. So I get in this thing, and it's a big loader. I mean, probably one of the biggest I've ran. And I'm going through this big box store, pushing down the lanes, and this thing starts slipping, and it just starts spinning, and I'm going completely sideways in this ginormous loader. I'm not even plowing. We are both sideways, and I'm just sliding down this lot, praying I'm gonna stop before I end up in the store. At the bottom, I spun it right around, kept driving, and just parked for a half hour so I could go get a cup of coffee and change my pants after I got done. So at the end, he's like, hey, the manager, you know, he reached out. He said the loader was going completely sideways at one point through the lot. It didn't really look like you were plowing anything. I said, not much got plowed throughout that experience, But I came back after and finished it out for you. Don't worry.

Speaker B: Oh, man.

Speaker C: How do you learn?

Speaker B: Yeah, how you learn?

Speaker D: Uh, after that, you know, I knew exactly how to run it, but that's every time. He said, hey, you think you can run this? You ever ran? Yep, last week, actually. I just ran it. So, uh. And then I'll. I'll end, uh. I got one. One last good one. Hopefully he doesn't listen to this. So my father, he. His, uh, truck that he mainly uses to plow the one storm, we were doing a couple different things. We'd swap trucks and everything. This is, I say, two years ago. So I'm out, you know, one of them nights. Of course, I'm the last one out, Going through every single site, salt a couple areas that I feel like need it, you know? Going over the sites that the guys did. It's got to be 3:00am um, I'm shot. It's been a long day. I'm in his truck. I got the music blaring in the middle of this commercial parking lot. And I get the idea I'm going to start doing donuts and trying to video it. Well, guys, I'm leaving a lot and I'm doing. I'm doing donuts in his truck and I'm videoing at the same time. We're all, you know, a couple of us joking around with each other. The steering gets real stiff as I start to come out of the turn and I'm driving back and I pull up to his house and I'm like, I don't know what happened, but the power steering shot in this truck. Uh, and he's like, he's like, what do you mean it was fine when you left? I said, uh, you know, I don't know. I was plowing a lot. I hit something. Power steering's completely gone in this truck. Just let me know whatever it needs, we'll get it fixed. We'll get fixed before the next storm. So, uh, unfortunately, when he hears this, he is going to hear it's from the donuts that I happen to be doing at that time. Having the time of my life at 3:00am dad, if you're listening to this, just know that it was in good. We had a lot of laughs out of it, whether you were part of it or not. I laughed.

Speaker B: I'm sure it doesn't take them too long to fix it. That's great.

Speaker D: Yeah, you know, it's always something. I'm sure there's plenty more, but that's, you know,

Speaker B: that's plenty, man. Uh, what do you. I got one more for you before we let you go. What do you, you know, from your point of view, what are the biggest issues in the snow management industry for you?

Speaker D: Oh, boy. I mean, insurance is always a big one. You know, it's never going down, it's always going up. Um, and I would say just price of equipment seems like, you know, there are a few people out there obviously trying to get some cheaper equipment in the game that's able to provide just as good a service. But, uh, you know, it's the price point just to get into it. Unless you're staying at your. Your single truck with a one shoveler. It's very, very expensive. It is not cheap to be in the snow game. Um, that goes for everything, like I said, especially the insurance.

Speaker B: It Is not.

Speaker C: Um.

Speaker B: And there's still guys out there fucking taking contracts for, like, $0.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker D: No insurance. You know, one truck.

Speaker B: I mean, that's honestly probably how they're able to do it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: You take away my insurance, I don't have to be half as expensive as I am in New York.

Speaker D: If you got enough guys shoveling salt out of the back bed of the truck, I think you're all right. Shovels?

Speaker B: Yeah, you just have the. Have the wolf pack in the back. I think Sean. I think Sean Divincenzo has a truck like that. Six guys shoveling salt out.

Speaker C: Oh.

Speaker B: Uh, all right, Mike, you got anything for us before we let you go, bud?

Speaker D: Uh, no, thank you very much. Uh, obviously, I'd like to reach out or shout out all my guys, you know, Jeff, Pat, Uncle Joey, my father Max. Uh, all the guys that are unnamed. You guys are really what keeps me going throughout the season. Without them, I'd be literally doing absolutely none of this, because they, uh, they're what keeps me going. Um, even when I'm watching them barely surviving throughout the night. And they're keeping me, uh, surviving. You know, it's. I can't thank them enough, especially my father, for keeping everything going. Um, everybody in between, everything that helps me, you know, learning from you guys. It all. It all makes it work in the end.

Speaker B: Sounds good, brother.

Speaker D: Very cool.

Speaker B: All right, man, well, thanks for the time. We appreciate it.

Speaker D: Thank you.

Speaker B: All right, well, that's gonna do it. We'll wrap it. Jay, you got anything else?

Speaker C: That should do it.

Speaker B: All right, we gotta get on a plane. Yep, we gotta go. We gotta get on a plane here. So, uh, that's gonna do it for episode 176 of the Snow Jobs podcast main show. As we said, thanks again from to Mike for the time. Uh, we wish first. Do all the best in the future, everybody. If you're traveling this week to Saima, be safe out there. Uh, and if you're at Saima, celebrate responsibly. And, uh, don't be afraid to come and say hi. Everybody else, have a great week. We'll see you next week. Keep pushing.