# Anyone dealt with SMS Assist?



## TPCLandscaping

Just been contacted by them to take care of a local family dollar for the winter. 
They Pay per an event and you call in and punch some numbers in in order to be payed. I'm a little nervous on this but i think i'm going to give it a shot and see how they work out If they dont pay i can always stop plowing.


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## BC Handyman

I have worked for then here in Canada, but the head office was in usa, so I guess its the same, but I always got payed from them. you might have to wait 45 days though


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## TPCLandscaping

BC Handyman;1500805 said:


> I have worked for then here in Canada, but the head office was in usa, so I guess its the same, but I always got payed from them. you might have to wait 45 days though


they told me 30 days, but for anything commercial under 60 days is usually good.


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## Sabsan84

I was recently contacted to take over a contract for several walgreens, anything I should watch out for? Do you think two F350 dumps w straights blades are good enough to tackle 10 stores in a reasonable time? I dont want to spread ourselves to thin, never worked for them prior.


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## Burkartsplow

Sabsan84;1570546 said:


> I was recently contacted to take over a contract for several walgreens, anything I should watch out for? Do you think two F350 dumps w straights blades are good enough to tackle 10 stores in a reasonable time? I dont want to spread ourselves to thin, never worked for them prior.


I would say no, Since they all open at the same time and if the snow starts a couple hours before opening there is no way you can get them all complete. I had a 6 banks that opened at the same time and had 2 trucks trying to open them up all on time. You had to choose who was going to be last and that does not sit well with managers. Take on 4 of them and make sure they are close to one another. My city has 2 in it and another 2 walgreens in the city right next to it. Like you said dont spread yourself thin.


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## stang2244

I think 2 trucks could do 10 Walgreens assuming they are in decent proximity. If you had a shoveler with each driver there would be no problem at all. I currently do 4 of them using a towed skidsteer with 1 guy doing both the plowing/salt and shoveling. They are five minutes apart and it takes about 5.5 hours including load/unload time. If you get a storm right around open time the managers have to understand its going to take a little time to get to everything, that's the nature of the snow business.


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## bluerage94

Good luck with it, but think you'd be over committing...it could be done in a perfect world, but things happen to go wrong in this world...things break and storms happen at the worst times take half at first.


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## Cmbrsum

I do 8 Walgreens and 12 other accounts. I have 2 trucks working these. I also have a separate guy going around doing the walks. Most rounds are under 4 hours. 5 min between properties. That is trainable. After hours Walgreens are as easy as they come. 15 min to plow salt and call in report. All ya gota do is drive around in a circle. Real easy on your transmission too.


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## Northeastsnow

Unsure if your are open 24/7 but we service 8 walgreens in my area and they are open 24/7, first year we serviced all with 2 trucks and 2 shovelers, followed same route every time and manager complained all season long. next year meet with a the managers at lunch and discussed how could please them all... One good idea that came out of the meeting was rotating the route so one strom would start a A location then Z location the next and then in the Middle the 3rd storm... everyone was happy with agreement... Plus got all managers on same page with us... have had this customer for 5 years now one of the best clients we have now

We currenty run 3 trucks for this accounts, and full shoveling crew complete all 8 in about 3 hrs of plowing and shoveling.... SALT will be your best friend in them, they call for salt more than for plowing, 

we started offering liquid this year and has cut our plowing and salting calls in half (liquid melts a good two inches of snow) 

Not expense we build for under 500 dollars works great... highly recommend


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## Cmbrsum

It sounds like you take very good care of you Walgreens. Good for you and them. You must get paid exceptionally also. I have a hard time finding good plow drivers and shovelers that I can trust and count on at any time. This is a part time gig for them. Last season we didn't get much snow and it cost me more then I made. I look forward to my pushes and wouldn't want to lose those because I started using liquid deice.


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## Northeastsnow

Cmbrsum;1593705 said:


> It sounds like you take very good care of you Walgreens. Good for you and them. You must get paid exceptionally also. I have a hard time finding good plow drivers and shovelers that I can trust and count on at any time. This is a part time gig for them. Last season we didn't get much snow and it cost me more then I made. I look forward to my pushes and wouldn't want to lose those because I started using liquid deice.


Liquid does not replace plowing at all it gives us the time to make it to all the accounts, if you get 4 inches liquid will melt it down to 2 inches which means faster plowing times than 4 probably not the best example I'm sure I will get ripped a new ahole for this but hope you get what I'm trying to sat


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## maxwellp

Northeastsnow;1593725 said:


> Liquid does not replace plowing at all it gives us the time to make it to all the accounts, if you get 4 inches liquid will melt it down to 2 inches which means faster plowing times than 4 probably not the best example I'm sure I will get ripped a new ahole for this but hope you get what I'm trying to sat


What is the Liquid you are using? Sounds like a good idea. How do you put it down?


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## Ramairfreak98ss

Any of you guys still do walgreens after USM had them last year? I'm sure they wont use SMS assist anymore, a lot of companies had bad experiences "not just the sub contractors" and wont use SMS, USM or Ferrandino & Sons.


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## Mark Oomkes

Ramairfreak98ss;1827197 said:


> Any of you guys still do walgreens after USM had them last year? I'm sure they wont use SMS assist anymore, a lot of companies had bad experiences "not just the sub contractors" and wont use SMS, USM or Ferrandino & Sons.


Ya don't say.............

So just because Emcor bought out USM, they didn't change?

Stupid customers thinking they can save money by adding a middle man who screws the contractor.


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## mark268

I did a KinderCare site for them last year. No problems what so ever. Would work for them again.


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## TPCLandscaping

I'm still doing work for SMS and haven't had a problem with them the last couple years… I only have one property for them so maybe its easier for them to pay me


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## beanz27

TPCLandscaping;1886161 said:


> I'm still doing work for SMS and haven't had a problem with them the last couple years… I only have one property for them so maybe its easier for them to pay me


It's one of two things from what I see as a general rule here.

1. You did the paperwork, and legwork, and got paid on time or as agreed, or within a reasonable time.

2. Your the lucky one, that they keep as a backup for when the guy they don't pay to plow walmart or other large lots doesn't show up.

Depends who you ask here. If a company other then ferrandino asks me to do something, and for a reasonable price, I'd consider it, but I won't revolve my whole world around it.


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## snowman55

I will never work for a broker. They call all the time. They are all told the same thing "pound sand, buy a plow truck" nothing but leaches who will screw a contractor any chance they get. Seems more guys are figuring this out as the frequency of their panicked phones calls has dramatically increased last couple years. Don't work for nat'l brokers you are selling your self short.


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## TPCLandscaping

well the place i plow is directly between two of my other accounts, they pay me only about $5 less per plowing than i charge for the other two places…so i should drop them why?


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## jerpa

I will listen to the quote but I won't sign a garbage contract no matter the price and most are beyond laughable. They do seem to be having trouble. Fernandino still hasn't found anyone for the Toys R Us around here. Can't imagine the store managers were happy on Black Friday


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## maxwellp

I will not work for them - I do not want to be the monkey in the middle.  
I would however go right to the place needing plow service and see if they are ready to give up on the Service Provider.


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## Ne1

TPCLandscaping;1886561 said:


> well the place i plow is directly between two of my other accounts, they pay me only about $5 less per plowing than i charge for the other two places…so i should drop them why?


We'll, from the dozens of past posts on this site it's just a matter of time before you find out.


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## Ramairfreak98ss

Ne1;1886797 said:


> We'll, from the dozens of past posts on this site it's just a matter of time before you find out.


SMS probably has a dozen new negative posts about them weekly now days.


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## TPCLandscaping

just an update, i've been getting payments in from them. right around 45 days from the time of billing. Same as its been for the previous two years i was working for them.


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## thelettuceman

snowman55;1886458 said:


> I will never work for a broker. They call all the time. They are all told the same thing "pound sand, buy a plow truck" nothing but leaches who will screw a contractor any chance they get. Seems more guys are figuring this out as the frequency of their panicked phones calls has dramatically increased last couple years. Don't work for nat'l brokers you are selling your self short.


Took the words right out of my mouth!!!!


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## Nick B

I haven't had a problem with them, the new app they have came out with makes life a lot easier also. We have been working with them for 4 years on a few family dollar locations.


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## stang2244

I also have had nothing but good experience with SMS now in our 3rd year with them. And I agree, the new app makes things so easy and smooth. We also work with Ferrandino and they are night and day compared to SMS. Although we get paid from Ferrandino, they are slow and generally a pain to deal with. SMS has been great.


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