# COMPUTITION in this PLOWING Business



## Ole Tower (Jan 29, 2007)

I Dono? If I*M in the Right? Forum? but as I See more & more 4X4s w/ Plows on the Highways & Sales lots Common scense Dictates Plowing is getting more Competitive! as more People are Buying 4X4 Trucks w/ Plows as Daily drivers all though most? seem to be just Plowing thier Own Business & personal drives! as We all realize most New 4X4s equipped w/Plows the Cost prohibits Paying for Itself in just Plowing Snow! & usually is a Multi Job work Truck! which works out pretty Good for All the Plowers in the Plowing Business as their Out there! but Not in Computition? but Sooner or later? the More 4X4s w/Plows! Available the More Computition will become an Issue!-- My Opinion-- Ole Tower


----------



## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

I don't necessarily agree that more trucks & guys out there mean more long-term competition. You have lowballers & wingnuts who have no clue about business, dealing with people, and pushing snow. Short term, these get-rich-quick yahoos take some of our business, but many can't last because they don't know how to do it. Then you have the guys who decide they can plow snow because everyone else does. They go buy a $40,000 truck & plow thinking they'll pay for it in a year. Good luck doing that THIS year in the northeast! It's a crapshoot; parts of New York or the midwest have gotten hammered late into this snow season, but others around here are having it tough. I don't like the guys who buy a lawnmower & call themselves a landscaper, or buy a truck & think they've earned their spot in business next to me or the other great professionals here on Plowsite. It's all part of the big picture, kinda like with stocks.


----------



## Ole Tower (Jan 29, 2007)

*Compution in this Plowing Business*



YardMedic;382391 said:


> I don't necessarily agree that more trucks & guys out there mean more long-term competition. You have lowballers & wingnuts who have no clue about business, dealing with people, and pushing snow. Short term, these get-rich-quick yahoos take some of our business, but many can't last because they don't know how to do it. Then you have the guys who decide they can plow snow because everyone else does. They go buy a $40,000 truck & plow thinking they'll pay for it in a year. Good luck doing that THIS year in the northeast! It's a crapshoot; parts of New York or the midwest have gotten hammered late into this snow season, but others around here are having it tough. I don't like the guys who buy a lawnmower & call themselves a landscaper, or buy a truck & think they've earned their spot in business next to me or the other great professionals here on Plowsite. It's all part of the big picture, kinda like with stocks.


 Yard Nedic Common Scenes dictates the More Plows equals Less business for evry ONE! YES! any thing depending on Natue is Risky! I*D like a detailed Explanation? on YOU & the OTHER [Great Professionls] any Where? I really liked You Compairing other great Professonals Plowers I assume? to Kinda like STOCKS! again I assume? YOU are Refering to the Stock Market? a very Risky Business! thats for SURE! I have been Plowing longer than Most on this Site Have Lived! & I Do attempt to throw Some Light on some? of the Pit Falls in this Business & there are Many! as the Majority of the Basics have Disapeared in the Past Decade as I See a lot of this Site members that Waste a lot of Money! I refer to {IT} as the need to KNOW? I especially get a Kick out of the TERM-LOW--BALLERS? as in any Business the Bottom Line Is! to Be SUCCESFUL in any Business! 1--YOU have to DO a Quaiity JOB 
2--YOU have to DO that Quailty JOB-Less Expensive than Your Computition! 3--or Its BYE BYE Time!--PERIOD! So In My Mind any ONE that Attempts to Under BID! their Computition Falls into the Class! of LOW--BALLER! Professional & Novice! as Computition is the American WAY--Right? & WE all Know! & WE don*t like IT but the LOW BALLER Can & often Does! Take Away a Customer Here & There! & that HURTS! No Doubt about That! & as I mentioned! as the Newness wears Off of the Daily Driver 4X4s w/ Plows because of a few Scratches & a Dent or Two? More & More 4X4s will be Plowing! a Neighbr or Two? Equals LESS! for the 
YOU & all the Other Great Professionals! & thats a FACT! & Now Where Were Geting Less & Less Snow Falls Plus More & more 4x4s w/Plows! I thought? I mention the Above Facts! as I See Them! OH! Have YOU Looked at the Stock Market Latley? or Checked the Production Numbers? in Referance to 4x4s built in the past few Years?--STAGGERING! Check it Out! --Ole Tower--


----------



## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

I know you have a lot of good things to say Ole Tower, but reading your typing gives me a headache!

I'm just saying we might lose business to lowballers & get-rich-quick schemers, but good customers are either (1) faithful to us or (2) not willing to sacrifice good service very long before coming back to us. We all pick up new accounts as quickly as we lose them, so if a new guy comes in all high & mighty thinking he's gonna plow 25 driveways for $10 each, who cares? He's not gonna be able to provide sustained quality while operating under the false pretenses he won the account. Short story: big discount haircut company pulls into town & sets up near a longtime barber. Sign for the big company says, "Haircuts $6." Pretty soon, the old time barber puts up his own sign, "We fix $6 haircuts." We fix the work that others can't/won't/don't know how to do. Sure as we know there will always be snow, there will always be plow operators who don't provide good service to people. Many customers won't take a chance on new guys for that very reason. When WE provide quality service at reasonable costs, the customer has no reason to look elsewhere. If the customer DOES look somewhere else, we have to ask the questions 'was something deficient in my work?' or 'was I charging too much?' or more likely, 'is this person being cheap & not worth worrying about?'


----------



## Ole Tower (Jan 29, 2007)

YardMedic;383392 said:


> I know you have a lot of good things to say Ole Tower, but reading your typing gives me a headache!
> 
> I'm just saying we might lose business to lowballers & get-rich-quick schemers, but good customers are either (1) faithful to us or (2) not willing to sacrifice good service very long before coming back to us. We all pick up new accounts as quickly as we lose them, so if a new guy comes in all high & mighty thinking he's gonna plow 25 driveways for $10 each, who cares? He's not gonna be able to provide sustained quality while operating under the false pretenses he won the account. Short story: big discount haircut company pulls into town & sets up near a longtime barber. Sign for the big company says, "Haircuts $6." Pretty soon, the old time barber puts up his own sign, "We fix $6 haircuts." We fix the work that others can't/won't/don't know how to do. Sure as we know there will always be snow, there will always be plow operators who don't provide good service to people. Many customers won't take a chance on new guys for that very reason. When WE provide quality service at reasonable costs, the customer has no reason to look elsewhere. If the customer DOES look somewhere else, we have to ask the questions 'was something deficient in my work?' or 'was I charging too much?' or more likely, 'is this person being cheap & not worth worrying about?'


 Yes! I agree w/ most of what You said! but Plowing is like any Business & most people today are looking at PRICE! as I have seen a lot of Not so Great plowing Jobs done by guys that have been plowing for a long Time! as I think? they are Hurrying to much? I have allways taken Pride in any Work I DO! Especially My Plowing My Wife Kids ME when SHE sees a Shabby Plowing JOB well Dear I know! You didn*t Plow that One! I have Two Elderly Customers that are handicapped due to medical problems & I*M older than they are! I Do their Driveways & I shovel OFF their door steeps & usually Get a Wave from a Window as I leave but Every XMAS I get a XMAS Card w/ Money in It! & a Thank You Note as I shovel because their Not able Too! & the amount is Not Important just their Way of Saying Thank YOU! Here there seems to be More & more 4X4s w/plows on them & we have a New Local just Pick Up trucks Dealer All Brand New every make I chatted w/ Him an Oder Man that Will ADD Used as He gets trade ins but I Hear Hes Very Fussy? to Deal with! I looked at One used 3/4 ton 4X4 He had & asked? what He was Asking? & He Surprised Me?? YOU don*t what That! as it has a Broken Frame & He showed Me! I took it In to Save some ones Life! I*LL SELL it to a Salvage Yard an HONEST Truck Dealer? whats Next? --Ole Tower--


----------



## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

Back in the early/mid 90's when I first got into plowing, the "norm" for families seemed to be the new extended cab pickups, whether 1/2 or 3/4 ton, not necessarily for work but rather as the new station wagon. Same holds true for the SUV's. People don't have wagons anymore, as it's just as easy with today's incomes to buy a 4x4 SUV or pickup for soccer moms to drive around in (and let's face it, people live so far outside their means today that it's nothing for them to come home in a new H2, Landrover, or Escalade). Then people get the idea they can do their own driveways, their neighbors' or others. I know it's how some guys in the biz get started. Friendly competition is not a bad thing. Sure, we'd all like to be the only plow guys in our towns doing accounts, but that's never going to be the case. Competition keeps us striving to provide that service just above what others are doing. Competition is what keeps us from charging $100 per push on driveways! If shoveling the walk on that account you spoke of sets you apart from others, or doing the neater job plowing as your wife knows, then you have just sailed past the half-assed plow guy who charges the same amount because you're giving great service for a reasonable price.


----------



## Ruanolik (Nov 22, 2005)

My head hurts after reading this post.


----------



## Yaz (Apr 13, 2005)

I need a Excedrin.
It all makes sense, just a little hard on the eyes. lol


----------



## gslam88 (Feb 19, 2002)

All I have is Advil.. will that do??


----------



## X-LOWBALLER (Jan 16, 2007)

I always wondered why people read a post then complain that they couldnt read it cuz there are thouands of OTHER posts to read but DAMN ol tower, I give credit to anyone who can actually make heads or tails of that post. I think if you arent doing well in the stock market, it might be due to your inability to make heads or tails of those funny acronyms used.


----------



## mcwlandscaping (Sep 8, 2005)

There will always be the group of new plowing "companies" that you see, then most of them crash and burn, then the next year a new group fills their spots. The way i look at it, the potential customers they get are tightwads with money and/or don't give a sh** how their driveways look or the timeliness of completion. The potential customers that are left are ones that are willing to pay the cash because they except a good true "professional" job to be done.

I am in no way saying that i like them, but, since they are always going to be here, you might as well look at a brighter side of the situation. 

Yardmedic mentioned portions of NY in his first post in this thread, i'll bet that there will be a HUGE crowd of people going out and getting plows as they will expect another 10ft storm for next year to rake in the $$$ on.


----------



## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

It's all good for the economy. Guys out of work or others looking to make millions by plowing will purchase a new plow and maybe a new truck, giving business to dealerships & plow suppliers. They fold in a year or two or decide they don't like being up all night, so they create more inventory for dealerships, and they give plow suppliers a stock of used (though probably not very much!) plows for resale. Competition is healthy for an economy, and I hold my position that you don't have to have high prices to make money in this business.


----------



## Dogbonz (Aug 11, 2005)

Look on the bottom, right side before you hit the submit post button,,,, it says SPELL CHECK. Lets all support this function!

Don't pick on old tower for missing one of the 3 r's LOL

:salute: Heck man I salute him for Working! :salute: payup


----------

