We’ve grown the square footage that Grunder Landscaping Co. services for snow and ice tremendously in the past four years. From next to nothing to 15 million square feet under contract this year. I hate to admit that it took us many years in business before we truly embraced snow removal services as a key part of our business when today it’s become a profit center for us and a service that my team actually enjoys offering, too.
Do you know what it took to make that change? Of course, it took investments and sales, and all the things that come to mind first. But the real difference maker was a little less visible: a change of mindset.
The change of mindset didn’t happen spontaneously. It came from seeing other companies that were doing it and loving it; from our President and COO Seth Pflum coming to me and pointing out all the ways that getting into the snow business could benefit our team and the company. To ensure we were setting ourselves up for success, we began our first big snow season with a few ideas we R&D’d (robbed and duplicated) from other successful companies:
Snow hour incentives
We pay our team 30% on top of their usual wages for any hours worked on snow or ice. This makes snow hours more lucrative for them, and we factored these wages into our costs when setting our pricing. We knew the extra money would make the unpredictable hours and long shifts more palatable for our team.
That’s proved true: our team genuinely gets excited when snow or ice are in the forecast, largely because they know their personal earning potential increases if we have a great snow season. This pay strategy has aligned our team’s best interests with the company’s; it ensures we’re all working towards a common goal.
The whole team is involved
Snow needs to be central to the company culture in order for it to be successful. Many companies talk about their team as snow warriors, and we feel like this couldn’t be truer. Our team goes into battle together against the elements when snow rolls in and we’re a unified front against it.
Every team member has a role to play. We have salespeople who work with sidewalk crews; our administrative team stocks the shop with grab-and-go snacks and energy drinks for crews; I drive around to check in on our crews; and Seth is often running a loader on one of our clients’ properties. From the top of the organization to the entry-level team member, each person has a role in the success of our snow operation.
We prepare early
Our friends at RJ Lawn & Landscape, who hosted our annual event GROW! in 2024, hold an annual snow rodeo where they train their team on any new equipment for the upcoming season and review best practices. They do it early to ensure that no matter when the first snow hits, their crews are ready.
We don’t do snow training quite as elaborately as they do, but we adapted their mentality and approach to training on snow equipment with our regularly scheduled trainings and prepare properties well before the first snow is in the forecast.
We don’t have it all figured out at Grunder Landscaping Co., far from it. We’re still constantly learning from other companies and finding ways we can get better in all aspects of landscaping and snow removal. It’s why visiting other companies to tour their operations, learn from their teams, and get fresh ideas is so important to me. It’s also why we host our GROW! Annual Conference: to gather pros together to learn and to put the spotlight on a well-run company that others can learn from. This year, we’ll head to Hidden Creek Landscaping in Columbus, OH on February 24-26. Will I see you there?
Marty Grunder is founder of Grunder Landscaping Co. and The Grow Group coaching firm. Learn more about GROW! at www.growgroupinc.com/grow-2025.
