When North Grounds Property Maintenance owner Ryan Van Dyke looked at the local Montana market, he saw a frustrating gap. His company relied on granular salt and sand for ice management, but he knew liquids offered a cleaner, more efficient path forward. The problem? The liquids they wanted were either unavailable locally or required expensive shipping.
Rather than settling for a subpar solution, Van Dyke and Operations Manager Kellan Stevenson, ASM—two “ranch kids” with a knack for tinkering—decided to stop buying and start building.
“We went to some seminars, took some classes, took a trip down to Salt Lake City and talked to a bunch of different brine companies there to kind of learn where they were sourcing their raw products and the different methods they were using, and just kind of started,” Van Dyke says.
The pivot from frustrated consumer to DIY innovator didn’t just solve North Grounds’ supply chain woes; it sparked the creation of Paradigm Services, a venture co-owned by Van Dyke and Stevenson that has grown into Montana’s largest salt distribution business.
Van Dyke says the fact they are snow management contractors that use brine on a regular basis has helped them both from a product development standpoint as well as in being able to knowledgeably talk with customers and get them started with liquids.
“When we were starting our liquids program at North Grounds, 1,500 gallons would last a long time, because we were putting down a very minimal amount,” he says. “Customers would say something like, ‘Can you use it just in front of our store?’ And then, when they saw the results, they’d say, ‘Why don’t we do a few of the other drive lanes?’ And then it turns into, ‘Well, hey, just do our whole parking lot, because we like the way it works.’”
While it’s easy to see granular salt when it’s spread on a parking lot, applying liquids take more of an education, Van Dyke says: “We’ve had people chase our spray trucks down asking why we’re spraying water on the ground.”
As contractors they also keep a close eye on the performance of the brine they make. “We’re using our own products, so if we have any issues, I’m going to be the first one to know what that issue is,” notes Stevenson. “Being contractors also facilitates a lot of R&D. For example, I can do some really cool things as far as experimenting with melting temperatures and monitoring how long it takes the products to work.”
They also build their own spray trucks, which gives Stevenson the opportunity to experiment with how they’re putting down the liquid, testing out which patterns work best, and using geofencing to see exactly how much liquid is getting applied where.
Stevenson says there is still some hesitancy about liquids among contractors in the state, which is why he and Van Dyke are so open about sharing their experiences in the market.
“A lot of guys will say, ‘Well, I’ve used sand for the last 40 years, and it works just fine for me. So why would I switch?’ And they see these liquid sprayer setups that cost $20,000 or $30,000 and they’re very hesitant to spend that much money,” he says.
“It helps being able to show them how much they’re going to save on salt by switching to a liquid. And that you don’t need to go out and buy a $30,000 setup to get into liquids. You can build a very rudimentary spray setup for a fraction of the cost,” Stevenson says.
When Van Dyke and Stevenson started experimenting with making brine, they began with a simple 250-gallon tote. Paradigm now produces over 400,000 gallons a year, but the DIY ethos has remained. “A few years ago, we purchased a big fancy commercial brine maker, but we didn’t get the results we wanted, so Kellan and I spent the last year developing our own brine maker, with help from some good friends who are engineers. It has custom tanks, a custom pump system, digital screens, and is mostly automated,” says Van Dyke.
Stevenson and Van Dyke both say they “geek out” when it comes to all things snow and ice — especially when the topic is brine. Stevenson says that’s why he enjoys the opportunity to talk with other contractors from all parts of the country at SIMA events to learn about how they’re innovating their operations — which is often quite different than how things are done in Montana.
“Being able to engage with them, that’s a huge advantage. Because at the end of the day, we’re in the same business, and they’re going to be doing things that I never thought about trying. And I’m going to have things that I do that they’ve never thought about trying,” he says.
“Whether it’s Paradigm or North Grounds, we want to always be thinking innovation,” Van Dyke emphasizes. “Kellan and I are both very passionate about this industry. We want to help other people be able to provide great service; have cleaner, safer lots; and be more efficient, so they can save their customers money. That’s the way the whole snow industry grows.”
Growing both businesses organically through innovation rather than over-aggressively trying to grow North Grounds or Paradigm for growth’s sake is key: “As soon as quality starts to slip, meaning customers are complaining we’re not getting things done, that’s a really good sign to me that we may be a little bit too big for our britches,” says Stevenson. “When we plow or when we sell a product, I want to know 100% of the time that service or product is going to work. I want to know 100% of the time that the customer will get serviced on time, that they’re taken care of."
Making it Work in Montana
Not surprisingly in a state renowned for its natural beauty, the environment is a major factor in snow and ice operations in Montana. “It’s important to us that we take care of the resources we have here – in part that means paying attention to how much salt we’re using,” says North Grounds Property Maintenance Operations Manager Kellan Stevenson. “What started as a personal mission has grown us to being able to help other snow contractors give their accounts, their properties, the results that they deserve, while also being able to be conscientious about salt usage.”
That has required a lot of experimentation with brine additives, because their customers’ needs can vary dramatically depending on their location. “We get some pretty insane weather here. For example, in Chester, which is in very north Montana near the Canadian border, it might be -5 degrees with snow. But here in Bozeman, on the same day, it can be 45 without a lick of snow on the ground,” says Stevenson.
They make a “base mix” brine with a few performance additives that can then be tailor-blended for specific scenarios. “You know, like when it’s -40 degrees here, which is a very real thing come January and February,” jokes Stevenson.
They also custom-designed their brine maker to operate under a unique constraint in Montana: limited water availability. Municipal water is prohibitively expensive, so they use a well for their brine operation; but the state limits well output to 35 gallons a minute. Most large-scale brine equipment is designed for constant production of, say, 85 gallons a minute. Instead, they designed their equipment to work in batches, while waiting for their water capacity to come back up.
Van Dyke says the state’s isolation is another factor that poses logistical challenges, especially when it comes to getting parts or materials: “Many of the different brine additives come from the East Coast, where they might cost $500 per tote. Well, to get it to Montana is an extra $1,000 in shipping. It’s a challenge to figure out the best materials to use without making things cost prohibitive.”
Even getting salt can be more difficult, adds Stevenson. “If you’re in the Midwest, or you’re on the East Coast, your salt can be brought in 20,000 tons at a time on a barge. But there’s not as many freight options for us here. That’s a challenge with anything we buy at Paradigm or North Grounds,” he explains.
Servicing airports is a different beast
Kellan Stevenson began as a mechanic at North Grounds Property Maintenance and now is one of the company’s operations managers. One of the major accounts he oversees is the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport—a challenging, highly technical, 24/7/365 operation.
One of the biggest hurdles, he notes, is dealing with “insane amounts of foot traffic.” With no covered parking, snow and ice must be managed around cars that might be parked for weeks at a time and people walking through the lots constantly.
“You have to have your head on a swivel at all times – you have to be 100% locked in and focused at all times, which I think leads to a little bit more exhaustion for our crew,” Stevenson says. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been plowing at the airport and somebody just walked out in front of me with their family of four. When you’re in a 35,000-pound machine, there’s no stopping quickly.”
Then there are the ultra-high expectations. “Everything has to be so precise – every single time. There’s no room for misses, because if you do miss, you hear about it. And the expectation is just that much higher, not only from the airport as a customer, but also just from the public,” says Stevenson.
To cope, he falls back on his past experience in the Marines, when he would train his soldiers on the importance of setting and then holding expectations: “The standard for airports is zero tolerance, 24/7. I actually call it a negative tolerance account, because the expectation is that we create a slip/trip-free environment, and that’s how it’s to be kept at all times. And our crew of 15 to 17 guys working there knows that is the standard for them.”
“Kellan keeps that property running like a well-oiled machine,” praises North Grounds owner Ryan Van Dyke. But Stevenson says the credit really goes to the crew. “The guys do the majority of the work; I’m often just the one driving around with a plow making sure everything is done.”
Patrick White has covered the landscape and snow and ice management industries for a variety of magazines for over 25 years. He is based in Vermont. Contact him at pwhite@meadowridgemedia.com.