# 1st yr doing snow on my own.



## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

Hi this is my first year looking for and bidding snow removal on my own. up until now I just worked for other people, shoveling, snow blowing, and plowing in both skid steers and 3/4 and 1 ton pick up trucks. I'm only 23 so doing what may seem like very physical work to most isn't bad to me. I have a property maintenance business and, so i'm all legit and pay taxes have a commercial auto policy, and 1 million and general liability but want to step up to 5 million next year so I can step up to the big leagues and go after accounts that bring in $$$,$$$, but that's next year. so far this year I have 15 driveways to plow and a few who will only allow me to do them if I snow blow them. seeing as how they are 1 car width and only 40ft long I agreed to. I have a 1 f350 with an 8ft fisher mm and plan to buy another that dumps as a back up truck and that comes with a 9ft mm plow, and something I can use the rest of the year that way it makes me money year round.










there's my truck. that i've put 10,000 miles on since I started driving it in april and i got it with 238,000 and it hasn't missed a beat since, starts up everyday and works great. It was used for plowing and towing a landscape trailer/skid steer and boat since it was brand new.


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

2wd dump truck 


















winter jacket.










wind breaker/rain coat.

polo tucked in everyday for a professional look










also im expecting to have around 30 driveways and maybe 3 smaller commercial lots to plow this year. which should be a decent amount of work per storm. and right now as things are going, I'm getting 3-5 driveways per week. I already got 2 yesterday and most are 45 dollar driveways which should take about 5-10 mins each. some are 55 dollar driveways that will take 15 mins, and there's even a 65 dollar driveway that with walks could take me about 15 mins as well. but most are simple 8-9ft wide, and 40-60ft long. nothing too crazy yet. I do have two that are up hill and turn but they are still only 20 min driveways tops with no shoveling except in front of the garage door.


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

this would be a 65 dollar driveway for me with no sidewalks and it would have to be under 6"


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## cold_and_tired (Dec 18, 2008)

Lookin good! My only advise is to start out slowly. It's a big leap to go from driveways and small lots to doing something like a Home Depot or Wal-Mart in only a year. I'm going into my sixth season and am just now to the point where I am comfortable, and equipped, to do lots that large.


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## djlunchbox (Jan 13, 2011)

I've seen you around man, we have the black chevy dump with the diamond plate inserts on the bed. Our plow truck is a red 2000 chevy 3500. fyi, fast freddies diesel sucks, try the shell station by big Y or sunoco over by the fire station on the corner of tolland tpk. you should see better milage getting fuel there, at least my duramax does. This is our first year plowing as well, should be fun! EDIT: never mind fast freddies, that looks like oakland st, lol


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

Nope that's Mobil in Bolton, I go there hartford rd. Sunoco, the Exxon in Bolton and a sunoco in Tolland on hartford tpk. This are the stations in my mowing rt. That have diesel.


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## wolfmobile8 (Oct 18, 2009)

Nice 97 obs stroker. you have any pics of your other 97 f350.


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

No I didn't buy the other truck yet. My buddy is supposed to be holding it for me. I gave him a deposit so it should be there.


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## wolfmobile8 (Oct 18, 2009)

Ryank;1332977 said:


> No I didn't buy the other truck yet. My buddy is supposed to be holding it for me. I gave him a deposit so it should be there.


Oh nice what color is it. I plan on buying my 97 f350 xlt reg cab obs powerstroke in black to have as a second plow truck eventually. It's been my dream truck forever haha. I had must have looked at a dozen of them berfore I bought my duramax.


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## Blades Away (Oct 29, 2011)

Sounds like your off to a good start. Just be careful not to spread yourself to thin so that you dont lose customers. Commercial customers require a lot of attention during a storm, espcially retail.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

cold_and_tired;1331318 said:


> Lookin good! My only advise is to start out slowly. It's a big leap to go from driveways and small lots to doing something like a Home Depot or Wal-Mart in only a year. I'm going into my sixth season and am just now to the point where I am comfortable, and equipped, to do lots that large.


Like cold and tired said. I've been doing this since 2003 and last year was our first for big places and trust me they aren't all they're cracked up to be. I was confident I could do it but when you need to start relying on other people....that changes everything. In fact my Wife and I just got done with a long discussion if we should scale back to just me and 1 or 2 people or keep plugging along in hopes that next year may be a little brighter. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but this week has been full of second guesses if we should have gotten any bigger than we were a couple years ago. Sorry for the rant,lol Good luck!!!!!!!


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

I've heard that from many people with this business you only want to have yourself and 1 maybe 2 other people working for you full time otherwise its more of a headache. And that's where I want to get to right now. My buddy did 55 driveways 1 truck and one helper


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

wolfmobile8;1332988 said:


> Oh nice what color is it. I plan on buying my 97 f350 xlt reg cab obs powerstroke in black to have as a second plow truck eventually. It's been my dream truck forever haha. I had must have looked at a dozen of them berfore I bought my duramax.


The truck is currently red and it will be sent to maaco to get painted white and then to get lettered and that way it matches my other truck


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## djlunchbox (Jan 13, 2011)

Ryank;1332863 said:


> Nope that's Mobil in Bolton, I go there hartford rd. Sunoco, the Exxon in Bolton and a sunoco in Tolland on hartford tpk. This are the stations in my mowing rt. That have diesel.


yeah, I realized that after i edited my post. Just passed you again on broad st. No plow on yet?


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

Yah im around Manchester many times everyday, no plow yet, still gotta get that headlight harness on working on it now. I was just moving the skid steer to the pavilions for my dad to use, and truck works great tho, and I got another driveway while I was out there and a call for two more in Manchester, so if I get those other 2 ill be up to 20 driveways 19 im getting paid for and few others that haven't made a decision yet.


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## greatdanenick (Oct 17, 2011)

Looks good,goodluck keep up the good work.


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

Plow is on everything is in good working order and im taking a nap before I have to go open one drive up and then im goin to sleep for 5-6 hrs and starting my route which I figured would take around 7-8hrs


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

there's the plow not the newest or freshest looking plow, but mechanically its fine. worked great for the whole storm.

some lettering I had done yesterday!










and some pics of some roads after the storm


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)




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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

djlunchbox;1333341 said:


> yeah, I realized that after i edited my post. Just passed you again on broad st. No plow on yet?


do you live 5 mins from rt.83 I think I've seen your dump truck parked on that street off of prospect, can't think of the name of the road right now. but 5 mins from manchester country club. Your definetly gonna notice my truck with the lettering on the tailgate, should work good.


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

well a year later, still here, already picked up 6 new accounts, and have 6 more pending, and i turned down 2 condo complexes and an ethan allen furniture store, one condo complex was has 12 short driveways, and a main driveway, which is easy to plow, but i don't have a sander so i declined them, then the other was 54 units with parking lots to do not hard to plow, but it would require alot of attention and with only 1 truck still i declined them as well. i made plenty of money this spring, summer and fall but didn't really think about snow until 2 weeks ago, but i'm still gearing up for fall. but 98% of my calls are for snow plowing, so i'm getting a 4 accounts a week if i continue this or even get a normal amount of calls i'll be getting very selective with what types of accounts i take on. should hit my target of 50 pretty quick, i need about 25 more maybe even only 20 or 18 more i may have gotten a private driveway with 2 houses on it.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Back up plans?


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

I plan to buy another truck with a fisher mm plow before we get snow if possible and another toro single stage snow blower. If i hit 50 driveways, or close to it anyways.


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## Glenn Lawn Care (Sep 28, 2009)

That is a clean truck!


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

thanks, i can't wait to push some snow with it, i'm changing the hydro fluid on the old plow tomorrow, and also the original chain is halfway worn through one of the links, so i'm going to swap that out as well. might pick up another shovel tomorrow too, those pusher shovels are sweet for powder even up to 7-8" i can do most front walks to the house faster by hand then i can using one of those toro single stage snowblowers which i unload by hand, alone. my snow blower sits in the truck most of my route unless i'm doing an account with long town side walks then i take the toro out and go to town. really can't wait to make over 2000 per storm on the small storms 6" or less.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

might be nice to find a good helper to ride with you ....get it done qiucker and be able to hadle on call only jobs


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## Ryank (Oct 26, 2011)

That's the issue, everyone i've had help me with snow removal is too slow, so instead of waste 15-20hr i just hustle and do it myself, if we got a big storm around 1' or more i would bring help but for small stuff i dont save much time


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