The storm that was supposed to drop four inches ended up dumping nine. Your most reliable crew leader's truck died in a Home Depot parking lot. Two clients are texting, asking why their lots aren't clear yet—even though you serviced them an hour ago and have absolutely no way to prove it.
Except your own foggy memory. This is how a $20.8 billion industry operates—on hope, hustle, and whatever organizational system you jury-rigged back when you thought winters followed patterns.
Philadelphia just went two years without measurable snowfall. Two years. Meanwhile, Minneapolis had its third-highest snowfall on record last year—right after having basically nothing the year before.
Martin Tirado, CEO of the Snow & Ice Management Association, puts it plainly: "It just makes it even more challenging for the private businesses that are in snow and ice, just the volatility and planning for a year where you could get very little snow and a different year where you have a crazy, record-breaking storm."
This isn't your dad's snow business anymore. You can't just buy some trucks, hire some guys, and wait for winter. You're essentially running a logistics company that only operates when the weather decides to cooperate—or doesn't.
And if you're still managing all this with the same tools you used five years ago? Good luck.
Brian Maurer, president of Brian-Kyles Landscapes of Distinction in Ohio, nails the real problem: "I think the biggest thing you hear in our industry is that clients always complain about not knowing what's going on."
That's the thing that'll kill your contract renewals faster than a mild winter. Your clients aren't sitting around wondering if you're having a hard time coordinating crews. They're wondering why their parking lot still has ice at 7 am, when employees are showing up.
They want answers. Updates. Proof of service. And they want it without having to call you 17 times.
Aspire isn't selling transformation. It's solving the actual problem: all your critical information is scattered across notes, texts, and three spreadsheets that you can never find when you need them.
Scheduling and routing? Drag and drop onto a schedule board that displays everything at once—no more playing telephone with your crew about who's going where.
Estimating? Based on your actual costs, not whatever number you pulled out of thin air while standing in a parking lot trying to look confident.
Client communication? Your crews can capture photos and notes in the mobile app. Clients can log in to the customer portal and see pics and videos of completed services.
TJ Rau spent years selling snow removal contracts before joining Aspire as a customer success manager. He knows exactly what happens when you're trying to manage a major storm event with inadequate tools.
"As we get into the storm, the ability to mass schedule an event, send information to crews, and process as many as 500 records at a time with minimal processing time—that's what matters," he says.
Five hundred records—during a storm.
Justin Mangold, who runs Mangold Horticulture in Minnesota, explains how PropertyIntel (Aspire's integrated measurement and mapping tool) changed his snow operation: "We do all of our snow mapping in PropertyIntel, so we have notes for the snow-specific season. We use base maps, and then you can go in and add your own notes to make it very specific to what that service or work order needs."
Translation: Your crews know exactly where to pile the snow, where the fire hydrants are, and which entrance the property manager obsesses over. Before they even leave the shop.
What keeps snow contractors up at night? (Besides actual snow?)
It's not the weather. It's not even finding good employees—though that's a close second.
It's not knowing if you're making money until the season's over.
You're out there pushing snow, spreading salt, managing crews, and dealing with equipment breakdowns. And somewhere in the back of your mind is this nagging question: "Am I even profitable right now?"
Aspire's cloud-based platform gives snow and landscape contractors the tools to schedule efficiently, estimate accurately, track crews in real-time, and most importantly, prove their work and protect their margins when it matters most. Because in the middle of a storm, you shouldn't be wondering if your business will survive the season. You should just be managing the snow.
Click here to learn more about how Aspire can help your company become more efficient.