When you grow up in a farm family, you learn strong work ethic and the value of a hardearned dollar. Those lessons tend to stick with you. They have for Rick Whittle and Pierce Hall, who joined forces 37 years ago to build a successful Connecticut-based snow and ice company.

They started plowing during high school to earn money during the winter when farming shut down. "I had about two accounts and Pierce had about two accounts, and we decided to pool our resources and work together," Whittle recalls. The result was Allied Snow Removal, the name drawn from their partnership and inspired by the terminology of partner nations fighting together in World War II.

Now in its fourth decade, the company manages nearly 300 accounts with some 200 winter employees and another 70-100 subcontractors. Yet the company remains true to its founders’ principles.

They started small, servicing a local self-storage facility, a hairdressing shop and a factory. Whittle’s first plow vehicle was an old Ford tractor from his grandfather’s farm, equipped with a back blade. That tractor has long since been retired from snow duty but is still used for cultivation on the farm.

The duo say they have been fortunate to always have had other pursuits to generate income during down periods in their snow work. Whittle now runs the family farm, and Hall owns a development/excavation company.

An evolving business

Back when they started, the snow management industry was different, Whittle says. For starters, work typically didn’t begin until an event ended. "Clients were patient – they would wait for you," he states. "Nobody would call screaming about where you were."

Allied Snow was an early local leader in revolutionizing storm response. Hall remembers working all night to get clients’ sites cleared and heading home in the early morning only to see another contractor just starting to plow. As Allied began to develop a reputation for getting out in the storm and keeping things clear, other contractors began to follow suit.

Allied was also a regional leader in adopting seasonal pricing. "The most important thing for our survival has been balancing our accounts," Whittle says. "We try to have half of our accounts paying per-storm and half per-season." In the early years, per-storm pricing was standard, which could be stressful. "Sixty percent of our business expenses occur whether it snows or not – the equipment, the maintenance, the insurance, stockpiling salt – so there’s a lot of exposure," he states.

While seasonal pricing was new to the market, clients began to understand its value when Whittle compared snow services to firefighting, where you need to pay for the equipment and the personnel to be ready when it’s needed. A lot of clients now prefer seasonal contracts because everything is allocated before the season and they know they are protected, he explains.

At the same time, Allied prefers to maintain an equal share of per-storm contracts to protect themselves in the event of a heavy snow year. They also recently added hybrid seasonal accounts with caps. "We have one large corporate account where we have a 20-inch cap. If we get over 20 inches of snow, they start paying us again. We were able to give them a lower seasonal rate because that cap is in place," Hall says.

After nearly 40 years in the industry, Whittle and Hall are struck by how little the price of snow services has increased in relation to how costs have skyrocketed. "Back then, a new truck might have cost $20,000; now it’s $80,000. And fuel costs have gone up dramatically too," notes Hall.

How have they made this imbalance work? "My partner is a miser, and he keeps costs under control," says Hall, half-jokingly. "We try to not spend any money," Whittle agrees, still only half joking.

There is one area where Allied doesn’t pinch pennies: "We pay our employees and our subcontractors immediately," Hall emphasizes. "We recognize that we are basically the economic lifeline for hundreds of people during the winter, so we pay quickly. Some companies don’t do that, and they’ll argue and haggle through the whole process; and that’s why people want to work with us."

Selective about tech

Whittle recalls vividly what snow removal logistics were like in the 1980s. "When we started this business, there were no cell phones, no pagers, no sanders in the backs of trucks. So we would plow, and then go back and you’d have guys riding in the back of the truck just flinging sand out with shovels. Salt wasn’t even utilized much then," he notes.

He says the company evolved with the technology. Cell phones allow for instantaneous communication throughout the company and GPS in trucks allows for recordkeeping accuracy.

But Hall says the company has always guarded against adopting technology for technology’s sake. With a seemingly endless array of apps on the market promoting efficiency, they are cautious about investing in extensive tech without a clear rationale for how it will help Allied’s snow operations. "There is a use for some of those apps. But I think what’s happening today is that companies are developing and adopting all this technology to birddog all their employees: where they’re at, what they’re doing," says Whittle. "But then you need layers of management just to run this technology. Our philosophy has been to control our costs, and that makes us profitable."

Allied services a sizable number of properties for large corporations, some of which have their own apps that need to be used to document service. Data entry can be time consuming or problematic in areas where internet service is poor. While there’s no getting around client mandated apps, when possible, Allied prefers to keep its documentation simple. Its drivers use a free photo documentation app called Timestamp along with basic paper documentation of services provided. "We need our guys to plow, not to be accountants," says Deb Mattson, CSP, who is the third member of the Allied leadership team.

The same approach is taken in the office. "We don’t have a wall of monitors in a high-tech warroom," Hall says. "We’re not a fancy company like that." What they do have is a wall of clipboards – roughly 40 of them hanging in Mattson’s office with every important detail about clients and properties organized in a way that’s easily accessible. It’s an oldschool but effective (and cost-effective) solution. Combining old-school with new technology, when it’s helpful, is the best approach, says Hall.

Each of the Allied leaders oversees a portion of the company’s sites, which includes getting out in storms to plow and review the work being done. Eighty-hour weeks are not at all unusual. "None of us counts hours," says Hall, who feels that this presence, involvement and work ethic has been key to the company’s success.

Expanding reach

As the company and its competition grew, there weren’t enough commercial accounts in their market, which was still largely undeveloped. "We started going into different markets to continue growing our business, or at least maintaining the level of business," explains Hall. Today, Allied services clients in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

In cases where an account is far from the company’s headquarters, Allied opts not to purchase or rent an additional shop. Instead, it hires either a crew of local employees or a local subcontractor. In either case, an Allied manager and any needed support equipment are also always dedicated to the site to be sure that the company’s standards are being upheld.

"After all the years we’ve been in business, we have a network of guys that we can call that we know we can rely on," Hall explains. "There are a lot of good people out there."

Hall says that Allied will continue to grow by staying committed to its old-school principles: "I think we’ll just keep building off our foundation and continue bringing in quality work."

Shower clients with service, even while you're in labor

The books that have been written about business strategy could fill an entire library. But Rick Whittle, Pierce Hall and Deb Mattson, the senior leaders of Allied Snow Removal, say that if there’s one secret to their success it’s simply answering the phone—anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances.

"We got a contract extension a few years ago because I answered the phone even though I was in the shower," Whittle recounts. "The person who called was a woman who has about 10 different properties. She called a bunch of other companies about servicing those properties but couldn’t get ahold of anyone. She asked what all the noise was in the background and I told her I was in the shower. She said, ‘Well, you’ve got a two-year contract extension because the other people won’t even answer their phone.’"

Mattson has an even more memorable tale of the value of being available for clients. "Fourteen years ago, I went into labor in the middle of a snowstorm. I called this one client because he was a bit of a nervous Nellie and they knew I was pregnant. I told him about our backup plan and who to call if he needed something because I was in labor. He said ‘Alright, good luck.’ Then I got to the hospital and he called me back! He said, ‘I know you’re in labor, but I’m so used to dealing with you when there’s a storm.’ I told him I was powering my phone off! He still laughs about that, and we’ve had that account for 25 years."

Whittle says: "Sometimes people just want somebody to yell at. And then the next year when it’s time for your contract renewal, they remember that they called you and 20 minutes later a guy was here shoveling something that got missed. They remember, and then you get the job back."

Making a mark in a male-dominated industry

Since joining the Allied Snow Removal team almost 20 years ago, Deb Mattson, CSP, has been a driving force both in the company and the snow and ice industry.

Mattson, who is Allied co-founder Rick Whittle’s cousin and who also grew up on the Whittle farm, was working as an insurance adjuster when he struck up a conversation about the company’s liability insurance woes. He asked Mattson if she could review some of the company’s slip and fall claims. From there, her role in the company progressed.

"Rick asked me if I wanted to drive. I told him I’d never driven a plow truck, but he said he’d teach me. He must have been desperate!" she recalls. Soon she was not only driving trucks but loading them and learning how to maintain the equipment. "I didn’t want to be one of those people that had to come into the shop for every little thing," she says.

As Mattson learned different aspects of the job, she became eager to expand her knowledge of the industry. "I heard about SIMA and talked to Rick and Pierce about going to the annual show – they were all for it," she recalls. At first, she was intimidated by the fact there were so few women in attendance, but a chance conversation with then SIMA Board Chair Alan Steiman gave her confidence. "He advised me: ‘Get your CSP and make your voice heard,’" she recounts. So, she did. Mattson earned her Certified Snow Professional designation in 2005 and eventually became the first woman to serve on the SIMA Board of Directors.

Today, Mattson oversees 38 sites, plows, handles dispatching, answers client calls and runs the entire office operation, including billing. It means long hours (Mattson has a bed in a loft above her office for when the snow keeps coming and a quick nap is needed), but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Snow is her passion, and she uses that passion to help drive the company forward.

"For a couple of years, I got pulled out of the truck," she says. "It was a business decision because of all the paperwork that had to be done for us to get paid; but eventually I went back to Rick and Pierce and said, ‘Please put me back out in a plow truck – that’s my favorite part of this job. It gives me a peace of mind, and I need that break from the office work.’"

Her truck was upgraded with technology that allows her to handle dispatch calls while she’s plowing and she returned to plowing. "People will say, ‘After plowing all night, don’t you need a break?’ But I think I speak for all three of us when I say, we love snow…it’s in our blood. It’s what we do."

Mattson says driving a plow and operating equipment gives her greater credibility when dispatching employees or talking through a customer service issue: "I’ve maintained the accounts; I know our standard; I know our rules – I think they recognize that." But given her level of experience and expertise, she doesn’t lose sleep if she feels someone might be dismissive because she’s a woman working in a male-dominated industry.

"I had one new driver say to me this year, ‘Well, you need to understand what it’s like out there…’ and I just kind of chuckled," she says. "Years ago, I would defend myself and make sure they knew that I probably have plowed more snow than they have seen. But over the years, I realized I just don’t need that validation from that person."

Patrick White has covered the landscape and snow and ice management industries for a variety of magazines for 25 years. He is based in Vermont. Contact him at pwhite@meadowridgemedia.com.