# GA de-icing help!



## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

Hey, I recently got a call from a company subbing out work for some Target stores in Georgia. It's basically de-icing because we don't get much snow here, at least not enough to plow.
*I have a few questions:*

*Is it possible to rent a Salt/sand spreader* that mounts to the tow hitch on the back of my truck?

*How much does a job like de-icing pay?* What's a good price to ask for if I'm doing the first 30 feet from the entrance of the store with magnesium chloride, the rest of the parking area (max of 100 parking spots in a storm) with sand or salt?
*
Where can I get magnesium chloride in bulk?* Like a front loader scoop (if it even comes like that), or enough bags to do maybe 4 or 5 of these Target stores? How much would I need to do the parking lot(up to 100 parking spaces) & sidewalks for 4 stores?

Attached is a pic of the truck truck I'll be using.


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

Usm? ............


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

What are you asking?

What is Usm?


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## dfdsuperduty (Dec 12, 2006)

we need measurements of the walks width's length you can buy a tail gate spreader for that truck and run baged material threw it. Who is the contract threw what national company


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

How much am I looking at paying for a tailgate spreader? I'm just getting into this, don't know prices. I'm googling like crazy, but I don't even see a place where I can buy one locally, everything is way up north.

Is bagged material the route to go when dealing with something this size?
Where can I buy bagged material in bulk at the best prices?


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

dfdsuperduty;1155673 said:


> we need measurements of the walks width's length you can buy a tail gate spreader for that truck and run baged material threw it. Who is the contract threw what national company


not sure I should share the name of the national company


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## paponte (Oct 28, 2003)

The reason they are asking because if it's US Maintenance (USM) you should stick to lawns.


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

oh, no it's mirror lawn


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## paponte (Oct 28, 2003)

You'd have to purchase a spreader, find a bulk salt supplier in your area and start pricing de-icing material.You typically have to buy mag or cal in 50lb bags. As far as amounts you would need a sqft, and pricing would be your cost, overhead and profit margin.


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## Burkartsplow (Nov 1, 2007)

paponte;1155779 said:


> You'd have to purchase a spreader, find a bulk salt supplier in your area and start pricing de-icing material.You typically have to buy mag or cal in 50lb bags. As far as amounts you would need a sqft, and pricing would be your cost, overhead and profit margin.


What he said


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## Rc2505 (Feb 5, 2007)

I don't want to rain on your parade by any means but, Bagged is not the way to go. Unfortunatley I doubt very much your going to find bulk on any kind of short notice. As far as a spreader, a tailgate spreader would work, but your going to be loading constantly. About the biggest tailgat spreader I know of is 800 pound capacity. I don't know the size of the lots, but I guessing each one is going to be 3 to 5 acres. You can count on using about 500 to 800 pounds per acre depending on how much ice there is.


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## BeastMaster (Nov 19, 2005)

Bagged isn't for the big boys,but,if you don't have the place to store bulk, you have no choice. You must think about just how many ice storms a season you'll avg. It may not be enough to justify all the equipment HASSLE etc. etc. I am in IN. and my little are just doesn't get much snow, so it's barely worth my effort. I got stuck today,couldn't move, pole to close, had to call tow truck. Transfer case about to go. Lots or breakage in the snow biz.


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## paponte (Oct 28, 2003)

So where are you guys getting your bulk calcium and magnesium from? Are you getting it in 35 ton tri axles like you get your salt? Do you just dump it in the bed of your trucks then scoop it into walk behind spreaders to do your walks? Sounds like a real pita to deal with. I'd hate to have either get moisture in it from being exposed to the elements and not in bags.


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

Rc2505;1155792 said:


> I don't want to rain on your parade by any means but, Bagged is not the way to go. Unfortunatley I doubt very much your going to find bulk on any kind of short notice. As far as a spreader, a tailgate spreader would work, but your going to be loading constantly. About the biggest tailgat spreader I know of is 800 pound capacity. I don't know the size of the lots, but I guessing each one is going to be 3 to 5 acres. You can count on using about 500 to 800 pounds per acre depending on how much ice there is.


How much will an 800 lb. capacity tailgate spreader cost me?
I've called Northside Tool rental, Sunbelt, and United and none of them have spreaders for rent. I need something that won't break the bank since I'm in Atlanta and we will only have probably 2 storms a year AT MOST.

Also, what's a good price for a Target parking lot? It's about 600 parking spaces and I need to the front length of the store from one side to the other, and the back of the store where the big trucks deliver.
$400 each store? $800 each store? $1200 each store?


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

paponte;1155779 said:


> You'd have to purchase a spreader, find a bulk salt supplier in your area and start pricing de-icing material.You typically have to buy mag or cal in 50lb bags. As far as amounts you would need a sqft, and pricing would be your cost, overhead and profit margin.


If I have to buy a spreader, what's the most efficient kind to get considering my truck application and the fact that I may only use it for one storm a year?

I still haven't found a place to get the MAG stuff. Who should carry it? What national chain store would have it? I've never seen it at Home Depot, but I may be wrong.


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

Is it possible to use a seed spreader to spread MAG or salt? I'm looking at a Herd sure-feed 3-pt. broadcaster

Also, would I be able to modify a 3-pt broadcaster to mount on this kind of truck?


Fresh_Cut;1155625 said:


>


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## leon (Nov 18, 2008)

*georgia salt n sand*



Fresh_Cut;1155625 said:


> Hey, I recently got a call from a company subbing out work for some Target stores in Georgia. It's basically de-icing because we don't get much snow here, at least not enough to plow.
> *I have a few questions:*
> 
> *Is it possible to rent a Salt/sand spreader* that mounts to the tow hitch on the back of my truck?
> ...


You will have to do a lot of work to use a 3 point spreader for your truck and it will have to be removed each time; I can help you if you want to contact me off the board, BUT it will be better to purchase a tail gate spreader or 2 from Northern as you can get them overnight if desired.
That way you can buy the hitch adapters and attach it to the lift gate, load it, spread the deicier and then remove it from the lift gate and put it back in the truck.

Look at NorthernTool.com and decide how quickly you want one.

You will have to make a frame to secure it to the lift gate and

then slide it back in the truck as it will not be road legal to leave it.

You will need to have more wire added to control the spreader

or have someone sitting in back to turn it on and off with a jumper

from the battery using the wired controller from the spreader maker

which wil be easy to do as long as you or someone can do the wiring.

NO a separate battery will not last long enough for you.

You will have to contact Dow chemical or Honeywell to find

a distributor and pick up a a few pallets with the truck or

hire it hauled to you.
.

Morton salt in Cape Canaveral is the closest for salt and the solar

salt in the bag will have little dust.

You will probably have to buy 6-10 pallets of solar salt at the terminal

to save time and money as a softener salt seller will charge you more money.

You can use a seed spreader to spread magnesium chloride and sand with few issues other than

having to leave the spreader wide open for solar salt as it is uniform in size where rock salt is not.

You can buy software to do price estimates but you will probably be further ahead charging by the hour and the cost

of your materials plus a reasonable mark up to cover your expenses.

:waving:


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

leon;1156426 said:


> You will have to do a lot of work to use a 3 point spreader for your truck and it wil have to be removed each time; I can help you if you want to contact me off the board, BUT it will be better to purchase a tail gate spreader or 2 from Northern as you can get them overnight if desired.
> That way you can buy the hitch adapters and attach it to the lift gate, load it, spread the deicier and then remove it from the lift gate and put it back in the truck.
> 
> Look at NorthernTool.com and decide how quickly you want one.
> ...


Where are you located?

I'm not in the market to buy anything new because of the infrequency of use for my area. I ca................

Ok, I'm on NorthernTool.com now and I didn't think they had anything that would fit my application under $400. I'm still looking, will come back and reply in a few.

Oh, and the Herd spreader I was talking about is something I found on Craigslist for sale for $350. It holds 750 lbs.


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

Ok, I'm back. NorthernTool.com doesn't have anything reasonable in my price range.

Again, I will probably only use this equipment once or twice a year. I'd rather buy used at a low price and modify rather than buy new and not get my money's worth. The Herd spreader is listed for $350 so I can probably talk him down to $200 (wishful thinking).

I would be spreading magnesium chloride and rock salt, where can I get it in bulk?


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## bristolturf (Dec 20, 2008)

Honestly man, I would walk away. Good spreaders with 750lb cap (snowex, buyers, etc) arent cheap (1500-2000) and often break down. I cant imagine running a $400 spreader on that big of a lot. Secondly like the others said thats about a 5 acre property probably and if your putting down salt at around 650lbs per acre thats going to add up to 3250lbs per lot (1.5 pallets since youll be running bagged) Mag is applied heavier than salt, its like 1lb per 10 sqft. And your talking about doing the first 30 feet wide of the store, and its length probably 200-300 ft. Thats going to come up to like 600lbs of mag or so, a fairly decent amount. I wouldnt take this job on unless I had a big 2 yd spreader or a large dump truck. You probably have about 1 hour maybe even more of just loading bags into the spreader for the lot. As far as pricing goes, Id probably be around $1000 with a 2 yard spreader or dump truck. Bagged id probably be a little more (1100-1200) just because it costs more and that added labor for loading. To me if you dont have the proper equipment it dosent make sense to go for it. If you go and buy a good 2yd spreader even though you wont get much use out of it, you can go after bigger lots like those. Just my personal opinion.

For the salt itself, talk to your local supply companies like lesco see if they can get you like 18 pallets of rock salt and 10 pallets of mag. If you only do it twice per year thats what you would need, to do all 5 stores.


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## Fresh_Cut (Dec 16, 2010)

bristolturf;1156568 said:


> Honestly man, I would walk away. Good spreaders with 750lb cap (snowex, buyers, etc) arent cheap (1500-2000) and often break down. I cant imagine running a $400 spreader on that big of a lot. Secondly like the others said thats about a 5 acre property probably and if your putting down salt at around 650lbs per acre thats going to add up to 3250lbs per lot (1.5 pallets since youll be running bagged) Mag is applied heavier than salt, its like 1lb per 10 sqft. And your talking about doing the first 30 feet wide of the store, and its length probably 200-300 ft. Thats going to come up to like 600lbs of mag or so, a fairly decent amount. I wouldnt take this job on unless I had a big 2 yd spreader or a large dump truck. You probably have about 1 hour maybe even more of just loading bags into the spreader for the lot. As far as pricing goes, Id probably be around $1000 with a 2 yard spreader or dump truck. Bagged id probably be a little more (1100-1200) just because it costs more and that added labor for loading. To me if you dont have the proper equipment it dosent make sense to go for it. If you go and buy a good 2yd spreader even though you wont get much use out of it, you can go after bigger lots like those. Just my personal opinion.
> 
> For the salt itself, talk to your local supply companies like lesco see if they can get you like 18 pallets of rock salt and 10 pallets of mag. If you only do it twice per year thats what you would need, to do all 5 stores.


First off, thanks for your input man, it's appreciated.

You mean $1000 per store?

And the spreader I'm looking at for sale on craigslist is a Herd seed spreader, you think it would break down on me? Is it not worth looking into for spreading rock salt & mag?


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## bristolturf (Dec 20, 2008)

yes i mean 1k per store with my pricing, but in order to give a definate answer as far as price, we need more information about the lots. Your pricing might be different based on cost of materials since its not as high of demand by you. I dont know about the breakdown. I would assume it would as its primary use is for seed not salt, as a salt spreader is built. Honestly dude with the equipment you have I would just walk away, or invest in an ex dot truck with a salt spreader, you can find 1 ton dump trucks online in decent conditions with spreaders and plows for about 6-8k with medium miles on them. Then you get a small dump truck for the business too. Do that, you can get bulk salt and then handle the job very easily. But a tailgate salter it self no. Id use that for maybe the mag but not a 5 acre lot.


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