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S3-142: The Bruce Company, Middleton Wisconsin
616 Plays3 days ago
The guys sit down with Jeremy Johnson, Joe Newport, and Erik Dyba to hear all about The Bruce Company's Snow operation that has been going for 73 YEARS!! Jeremy is the Snow Operations Manager, Joe is the Shop Manager, and Erik is the Specialty Services Manager, and between the three of them they were able to give us the full scope and picture of The Bruce Company's massive snow operation!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:00:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go, Snow Jobs Nation back again bringing you episode 142 of the now imitated but never duplicated Snow Jobs podcast main show powered by Top Gun Backblades. As you know, this is the highest rated show in snow.
00:00:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
And as always, I'm Steve. And you know who's with me?
Weekly Recap and Equipment Updates
00:01:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Chuck Norris of Snow, Jeremy Lindstrom. What is up, Jay? How are we?
00:01:08
RICK JAMES
Hey, Stevo, what's shaking tonight?
00:01:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ah, nothing. Getting our rest. We're ah equipped free this week, so we're just chilling and recording.
00:01:17
RICK JAMES
I don't know. I'm missing the quip.
00:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm definitely, I'm kind of kicking myself.
00:01:19
RICK JAMES
I'm missing quip.
00:01:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
I saw the Top Gun Jim Beam event pictures going on.
00:01:25
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:01:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm like, crap, we should be there right now.
00:01:26
RICK JAMES
yeah I know. Same. I'm thinking, shit, we should be there.
00:01:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Well, see if you can get yourself a flight in the morning and go to the PBR tomorrow night.
00:01:31
RICK JAMES
should be there.
00:01:36
RICK JAMES
I'd love to, yeah.
00:01:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:01:38
RICK JAMES
Johnny said should do that, but no, that ain't going to happen. Ain't going happen. It's
00:01:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, it is what it is. You know, we can't make everything. We're ah busy boys, busy boys. How's your week going?
00:01:49
RICK JAMES
going pretty good. It's going pretty good. Getting some of our Dines leasing ah loaders showing up this week. So just unloaded another one here by an hour ago.
00:01:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, cool.
00:01:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah. so
00:01:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
How many did you get?
00:01:59
RICK JAMES
So yeah, um we just got three. So they're nice.
00:02:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
right. Only three.
00:02:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Three, three, six, 21s. Yeah. They got some, a lot of hours. i don't know. A lot of hours.
00:02:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
lot of what ah Like all of 90?
00:02:11
RICK JAMES
The last one, I think the highest was like one 13 and one 30.
00:02:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
00:02:17
RICK JAMES
And the one I just unloaded, I had a whole 38 hours on them. So yeah.
00:02:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh my God. They're antiques. Get rid of those things right away.
00:02:22
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:02:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are you guys adding to the fleet are you rotating?
00:02:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:26
RICK JAMES
All right. We're just adding, adding on. So,
00:02:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Wow. Taking over the world. There you go.
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you bet.
Pricing Challenges in the Snow Industry
00:02:34
RICK JAMES
Now with pricing around here, the way these guys are dropping their pants this year is ridiculous.
00:02:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Honestly, dude, I think it's pricing everywhere. I mean, it is, I'm hearing it every day. I'm i'm seeing it in my own area. We got some young kid going around underbidden by 50%.
00:02:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, i don't I don't think he has any clue what he's ah what he's doing.
00:02:51
RICK JAMES
They have no clue.
00:02:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, I don't think he has any clue.
00:02:53
RICK JAMES
The guys that we're losing some bids to are established companies that are like, what are you doing? You want to work for free? Like 10 cents a square foot. Are you fucking kidding me?
00:03:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
00:03:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:06
RICK JAMES
Just so you can get the account. or like it's It's under, it's ridiculous. I'm like, go ahead take it. Have it.
00:03:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:03:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I mean, good news is they won't be competing with you next year.
00:03:15
RICK JAMES
I mean. Yeah.
00:03:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
They'll be talking.
00:03:19
RICK JAMES
They'll just start another name company like they normally do.
00:03:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God. Yeah, it's ah it's getting bad out there. i got you know where our Send us your ah your best um national property management companies, the Clown Show Prices.
00:03:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
I've been getting a bunch of those.
00:03:34
RICK JAMES
yeah.
00:03:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my gosh. Like plowing at Cumberland Farms for $65 for a two-inch trigger.
00:03:37
RICK JAMES
good Oh
00:03:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know Salt is another $40 for a grand. And shoveling is $10 for a grand total of like $110 for plowing at Cumberland Farms.
00:03:47
RICK JAMES
yeah We gotta have, we gotta do that every week, to do our, like we used to do. We gotta do the, do the.
00:03:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, absolutely. Call out the... ah call it clock yeah I can't talk to tonight. Call out the clown show prices.
00:03:58
RICK JAMES
Clone Club of the Week?
00:04:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:04:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, was pretty bad, man. It was pretty bad. That one, those were sent by ah Rhode Island. They were up in Rhode Island. They got sent down, but... Yeah, I was like, I mean, are you kidding me?
00:04:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
$110 for plowing off two inches?
00:04:13
RICK JAMES
Some idiot will do it. Some idiot will do
00:04:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Somebody's going to do it. Somebody's going to do it. The funny part was they they negotiated and they said they sent back their price.
00:04:17
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:21
RICK JAMES
negotiated?
00:04:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I think they said, well, they said they said for fun, they were sending back, like, I'll do it for double that.
00:04:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
And they were like, oh, i think we can work that out.
00:04:28
RICK JAMES
Oh,
00:04:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that just shows you how much how much money those companies are marking it down over what they're actually getting.
00:04:31
RICK JAMES
yeah.
00:04:34
RICK JAMES
Oh, God.
00:04:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's ridiculous.
00:04:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yep. Yep.
00:04:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just say no, boys. Just say no.
00:04:40
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:04:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
If they're offering you a price, you know it ain't good. Not for you anyway.
00:04:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
00:04:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Anyway. But, yeah, that's all, man. Everything that can go wrong did go wrong this week. I mean, you would think we didn't put anything away you.
00:04:52
RICK JAMES
Oh, you're at the DMV. You're at the DMV.
00:04:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't even get me started on New York State DMV dude I don't even want to go into that but like just you would think we did not put anything away in the spring properly like I got two machines that all of a sudden decided to wet themselves and are leaking everywhere out of a ah a block a hydraulic block a valve block and i'm like What the hell?
00:05:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
But good news on that one call to big daddy. I'm like, Hey, those 2022 SV two eighties, you ever have a leak out of the valve block? He goes, Oh yeah. Under the cab. Yep. That we got it.
00:05:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
I got the valve blocks. I'll, ah I'll get them out to you. I'm like, all right, good. At least it's not a new thing, but yeah.
00:05:32
RICK JAMES
yeah that's good
00:05:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like you would think that, uh, that we don't go over these things or anything. I'm like, you gotta to be kidding me. Like we're having these issues now that we got to get caught up on. um is what it is man the life of a snow guy right but anyway that's it all right so moving into it today guys we are heading back to the state that runs on cheese curds and beer wisconsin right we're heading to middleton we're going to talk to the bruce company representing them today we have jeremy johnson he's the snow operations manager eric dibo he's the specialty services operations manager and joe newport who makes them all go is the shop manager
00:05:42
RICK JAMES
yeah oh yeah yeah no just plugging away getting her done we always do
00:06:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so we should have all our bases covered with all our questions today ah between those
Introducing Bruce Company Guests
00:06:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
three guys. If you haven't heard of the Bruce Company, you should head over to StormEQ.com and check out their hysterical audition video that they put together for Storm Chase in Season 2, their episode contest.
00:06:24
RICK JAMES
That was a good one.
00:06:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was great.
00:06:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that was a good one.
00:06:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was great. I love the car corral part. That was awesome.
00:06:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love love love that.
00:06:32
RICK JAMES
That was good.
00:06:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure that was not a dig at all. and It was just coincidence. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. But I love that video, though.
00:06:43
RICK JAMES
all good.
00:06:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was great.
00:06:44
RICK JAMES
It's all good.
00:06:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
I thought it was seriously funny as hell.
00:06:45
RICK JAMES
They really put it together, though.
00:06:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was genius. They did, man.
00:06:47
RICK JAMES
but
00:06:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
They were genius.
00:06:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that was, yeah.
00:06:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was great.
00:06:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:06:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, that that's what it's all about. Have fun with it.
00:06:52
RICK JAMES
We'll have fun.
00:06:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, show your company, show your personnel.
00:06:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:06:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
And that's what it was supposed to be all about. It's great. You know, they're not offering World Series tickets or anything. they You know. ah
00:07:04
RICK JAMES
It's Wisconsin.
00:07:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're not blowing up my phone.
00:07:05
RICK JAMES
I guess they get off for Packers.
00:07:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Packers. Oh, yeah. There you go. Packers and cheese curds.
00:07:10
RICK JAMES
Gross.
00:07:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
There we go. But, yeah, so that's what we're going to do.
00:07:12
RICK JAMES
Gross.
00:07:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
We wanted to get these guys on. If if you put together a video like that, know, we definitely want to talk to you. We we want to hear what you're all about. So that's what we got for you today. We got the Bruce Company. ah But before we do that, as always, we're going hear from Team Top Gun. We're going come back. We got a very abbreviated week in review, a couple announcements, and then we're going to get into it with the boys.
00:07:39
Joe Newport
Thank you.
00:08:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So a quick week review. We got one announcement. We mentioned it last week. We're going to mention it again for guys that may not have heard that yet. ah If you do have one of those new rate controllers from Douglas Dynamics, all right they would like you to get it back to your dealer ASAP.
00:08:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah That's so it can be sent out back to them to get updated. It needs a
Industry Updates and Listener Engagement
00:08:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
firmware update. Douglas you know never stops testing. Good for them. uh they they started manufacturing these things and they keep testing them as they go and they actually found a small issue in the firmware with the programming that in certain situations it will not calibrate some materials properly properly so they wanted to uh they wanted to be perfect obviously so they're bringing them all back in and uh they're going to update the firmware and then they're going to ship them back out in time for winter uh they said by the end of november they'll be shipping them back out so Hats off to Douglas for finding the issue before we all got rolling with him this winter.
00:08:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
and If you guys have one, get it back to your dealer so they can get it updated and back to you guys. right Keep hitting like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us, even on the website. All right.
00:09:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Give us the reviews. You know, let us let us hear from you. It's it's always good. and It increases our contact list. And we love having conversations with snow guys. So if you got any comments for us, let us have it. And if you have any questions, you know, send them in and we'll get to them.
00:09:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. That kind of stuff helps us greatly do what we do and keep doing it for you guys. So keep doing that for us. ah Voting for storm chasing season two is still going on for another week, right? The first of November it's over.
00:09:37
RICK JAMES
Yep, yep. yep
00:09:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. So if you haven't already done so, head over to storm EQ.com, get your vote in for who you want to see on season two. All right. The two episodes are going to be determined purely by your votes. All right. So that a lot of great submissions. We want to thank all the companies out there who did take the time and submit great videos.
00:09:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
It means a lot to us. You guys are taking the time to, to get involved and yeah, go out and vote. It's that's the American way, right? Vote who you want to see in there.
00:10:06
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
So,
00:10:07
RICK JAMES
Once we've got a king.
00:10:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Jesus, here we go. ah So, yeah, go to StormEQ.com.
00:10:14
RICK JAMES
I'm kidding.
00:10:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Get your vote in for another couple days. Get it done. Snow Jobs Nation store stocked and still ready before the ah short sleeve or long sleeve shortage this winter.
00:10:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Get your car hearts.
00:10:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Get your long sleeve shirts. your ah Your girl is on my plow list T-shirts. Get them all before they are gone. Anything else, Jay?
00:10:35
RICK JAMES
We should shipped a bunch of those to Louisville with Steve or or Johnny and have them sell them at the PBR.
00:10:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did I miss anything?
00:10:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:10:41
RICK JAMES
Remember last year everybody wanted them?
00:10:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Those were a huge hit last year. Absolutely.
00:10:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I know. God damn it.
00:10:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, the Your Girl is on My Plow List shirts were a huge hit at the PBR bar at Equip last year.
00:10:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Damn.
00:10:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man, we weren't thinking.
00:10:53
RICK JAMES
Nope.
00:10:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just shows us we should have been there. Oh, well.
00:10:55
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:10:56
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:10:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hindsight's 20-20.
00:10:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got anything else, buddy?
00:10:59
RICK JAMES
I don't think so. Let's let her rip.
00:11:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so let's hear from our partners, and then we'll get back and get into it with the boys back in two minutes.
00:13:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we are back. Thanks to Yeti. Welcome back. Yeti software back in the fold.
00:13:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:13:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everything. ah
00:13:30
RICK JAMES
It's good to...
00:13:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
And then we ah we got we got a new commercial from Plowright. Well, new old commercial.
00:13:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah, he forgot the... He's got another color on there, too. you thatd He told me about what he's doing.
00:13:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Purple, right? He's doing purple?
00:13:43
RICK JAMES
He's got purple.
00:13:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Or is that special order for the Vikings?
00:13:44
RICK JAMES
on len I think it's special order, but i obviously you can get it.
00:13:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
What other color?
00:13:49
RICK JAMES
and i think Did he say black on there?
00:13:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
black steaks
00:13:53
RICK JAMES
He said black. Plus he's got... Plus he's got... Candy cane ones now too this year.
00:14:00
RICK JAMES
You told me. Yeah. Red and white. i don't not like i I don't think it's like a candy, but it's red and white. So, yeah.
00:14:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
really oh i gotta see those those man that's interesting all right all right well welcome back to yeti software glad to have you back in the fold so uh let's not waste any more time here so let's welcome in jeremy eric and joe of the bruce company guys welcome to the snow jobs how are we doing
00:14:22
RICK JAMES
Hey, guys.
00:14:22
Joe Newport
Pretty good.
00:14:23
Jeremy Johnson
Great.
00:14:23
Joe Newport
Thanks for having us.
00:14:23
Jeremy Johnson
Great to be here.
00:14:24
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, I'm doing well.
00:14:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
No problem.
00:14:25
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
00:14:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
No problem. You guys put on a great video there. Thank you very much for that submission. That was freaking hysterical.
00:14:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that was really good.
00:14:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
We enjoyed it thoroughly.
00:14:35
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:14:35
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we got to shout out Lingo.
00:14:35
Joe Newport
If you thought it was funny, you should have seen us making it.
00:14:38
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:14:40
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
right
00:14:40
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:14:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
We did. we You guys had like a 40-second blooper reel at the end.
00:14:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:14:43
Joe Newport
Yeah, there were some good outtakes on there. That's right. Yeah, I forgot about that.
00:14:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
but That was great.
00:14:46
RICK JAMES
ye Yeah.
00:14:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was awesome. It was a great job, man.
00:14:50
RICK JAMES
That was...
00:14:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Thank you very much for doing it. It was great.
00:14:53
RICK JAMES
How long did that take you to make?
00:14:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:14:55
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, we put it together pretty quick actually.
00:14:56
Jeremy Johnson
Uh, probably the better part of a week for, for our marketing department. They're kind of we't working on it here and there. So yeah, Linda was behind the camera and Tom, our VP sales was kind of in front of the camera most of the time.
00:15:08
Jeremy Johnson
So, um, yeah, they were kind of, yeah.
00:15:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well.
00:15:09
Joe Newport
Perfect guy to have do it, too. I mean, perfect guy.
00:15:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:15:13
Joe Newport
what What you saw there is completely reality. That's how he is in real life all the time. Got a ah great energy, tons of laughs.
00:15:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:15:20
Joe Newport
It's a good time.
00:15:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I actually thought that when I was watching it, I'm like, this guy is just being 100% him.
00:15:22
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:15:22
RICK JAMES
Look like it.
00:15:25
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:15:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, I guarantee you, this is this dude.
00:15:29
Joe Newport
Yep, that's exactly right.
00:15:30
RICK JAMES
Look like he could be a game show host or something, that guy.
00:15:30
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, 100%. hundred percent
00:15:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, that's exactly. Oh God. So, uh, it was really good.
00:15:37
RICK JAMES
It was really good. It was really good.
00:15:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was really good. So best of luck to you guys on that. Um, so, uh, the Bruce company, uh, we're glad to have you guys on and, uh, yeah We want to hear all about this, so we'll let Jeremy start us off. Rick James start us off there.
00:15:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
So take us away, Rick.
00:15:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you guys, whoever whoever wants to take this, we always start off with, why don't you tell us a little bit, oh, it's your company, and the Bruce company, and when you guys got started and what you're all about.
00:16:03
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, I guess I can kind of start with that.
00:16:03
RICK JAMES
so wow.
00:16:05
Jeremy Johnson
So um we have been around a long time. The company predates me. So we were founded in 1952.
00:16:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wow.
00:16:16
Jeremy Johnson
ah Unofficially in the 1956, we were actually incorporated. So we've been around over 70 years.
00:16:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow
00:16:22
Jeremy Johnson
We were started by Lee Bruce. ah He was 12 when he started the company and just started kind of uh, plowing, um, gardens, uh, when he was young and he just kind of kept at it and grew the thing, and, ended up selling the business a few years back to, one of his longtime employees, bliss Nicholson, who's now, um, he's, he's still around with us and active in the business, but his son is now the chief executive officer, Seth.
00:16:51
Jeremy Johnson
So still a family business, uh, here all these years later.
00:16:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:16:57
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, it's ah it's a really cool story and environment to work in.
00:16:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:17:00
Jeremy Johnson
And we kind of have all these different facets of what we do. So snow is a part of it, but then we obviously we're a full service landscape design, ah build and install company.
00:17:10
Jeremy Johnson
we may We do a lot of maintenance, irrigation, aquatics, lighting, fence, interior scapes.
00:17:15
Joe Newport
Thank you.
00:17:17
Jeremy Johnson
We have a 300 acre nursery. um so we wholesale, we do a lot maintenance,
00:17:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:17:21
Jeremy Johnson
landscape stuff and then snow is ah is a part of what we've we do and has been since ah I guess the 1960s. I had to do a little research today. we i talked to so Bliss a little bit and found and kind of got that story. It's really interesting to to see kind of where that came from and started off as sort of a side thing and and now is a key piece of what we do.
Bruce Company's History and Strategy
00:17:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
So 1956 founded by Mr.
00:17:42
RICK JAMES
Wow. Yeah.
00:17:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Bruce. And then when did he sell to one of his employees? Was it?
00:17:50
Jeremy Johnson
uh in 2008 2012 somewhere in that range yeah we still see lee around yeah he actually he sold to start another venture called purple car organics so we buy all our mulch from from his new company um and so he we we still see him in the office very occasionally not as much anymore but yeah he's still around and uh
00:17:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. So very recently in the, in the very recent past.
00:17:55
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:18:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. Wow.
00:18:10
RICK JAMES
well
00:18:10
Joe Newport
I'm pretty sure we still plow his driveway too.
00:18:12
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we so we still do.
00:18:13
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
We do.
00:18:14
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. his His house sits up on the top of our of our nursery facility. So we, ah yeah, we it's right nearby. And yeah, so it's still very much family and family.
00:18:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love that he's, I, I love that. I love that he sold to a long time employee and he didn't sell to private equity or something like that.
00:18:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yup.
00:18:30
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:18:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like that's that to me, that's, that's what it's all about.
00:18:31
RICK JAMES
ye
00:18:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. So, you know, kudos to him for, for going that route and keeping it in the family, so to speak. That's really.
00:18:38
Joe Newport
Yeah, something else that's actually pretty fascinating is that both Bliss and Seth have actually worked in just about all the different facets of the company. So they have a really thorough understanding of of what's actually going on and when something's going on, what but what we're trying to accomplish.
00:18:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:18:56
Joe Newport
And when problems arise, it's it's a lot quicker to solve.
00:18:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's phenomenal. So because they're boot they've been boots on the ground in every, every, you know, inch of the company.
00:19:00
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
00:19:05
Joe Newport
Yep.
00:19:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:19:06
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, Bliss is still essentially running our our nurse our nursery now. I think there was a ah gap there, and and he he filled that gap this year, so he's still like in the nursery pretty regularly.
00:19:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's phenomenal. Good for you guys.
00:19:19
RICK JAMES
You guys sound really like you're slow a lot.
00:19:19
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:19:20
RICK JAMES
I mean, it doesn't seem like you got enough going on there. Jesus.
00:19:23
Joe Newport
Yeah.
00:19:23
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:19:24
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:19:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:19:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:19:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
but ah ah Is there anything you guys don't do?
00:19:28
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah.
00:19:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
You rambled off quite a list.
00:19:30
RICK JAMES
she Yeah.
00:19:33
Jeremy Johnson
trying to think if we don't, we should probably figure out how to do it.
00:19:36
Joe Newport
yeah
00:19:37
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, I think we've gotten better at at saying no, because I think over the years, though that we they were in golf course, they built golf courses.
00:19:37
RICK JAMES
yeah Holy cow.
00:19:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
00:19:44
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I think one time there was, yeah, I think they tried to get into installation one time, maybe i heard that.
00:19:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah wow.
00:19:45
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:19:46
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. That's where a lot of our snow started was
00:19:51
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
um So yeah, installation.
00:19:51
Jeremy Johnson
in what, Oh and yeah. Insulation. Yep.
00:19:53
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah. So I think the yeah that's been kind of the goal lately is to to do what we do best is landscaping and and snow.
00:19:54
Jeremy Johnson
Yep.
00:20:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:20:01
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we actually used to build golf courses around around the nation.
00:20:02
RICK JAMES
Oh,
00:20:04
Jeremy Johnson
So a lot of our early snow equipment, I found this out today too in the conversation, lot of our early snow equipment was actually like big, ah like earth-moving dump trucks that were were used to to kind of build those golf courses in the summer around the country.
00:20:05
RICK JAMES
wow.
00:20:20
Jeremy Johnson
We'd bring them back to Middleton.
00:20:20
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
like haul trucks.
00:20:22
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, use them as plow trucks. they fabric The shop fabricated, i guess, plows to put onto those things.
00:20:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow
00:20:28
RICK JAMES
wow That's impressive.
00:20:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's crazy.
00:20:28
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we're pushing snow with that, so...
00:20:31
RICK JAMES
That's lot.
00:20:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really cool. Now, where is actually, where is Middleton in Wisconsin? Where's it close to?
00:20:37
Joe Newport
Just west of Madison.
00:20:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. All right. So not too far from Madison.
00:20:40
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:20:41
RICK JAMES
So do you have to be a Green Bay Packer fan that work there and then, or what?
00:20:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:20:45
Jeremy Johnson
No, no, no.
00:20:45
Joe Newport
I mean.
00:20:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh, Vikings.
00:20:47
RICK JAMES
I bet you get your – I bet you get in trouble there a lot.
00:20:48
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Oh,
00:20:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:20:50
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Oh, yeah, we got some we got some Bears fans too rolling around in the office.
00:20:50
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, it's it's um there's some uncomfortable days.
00:20:51
RICK JAMES
um of likeking I'm a Viking fan too, and they suck.
00:20:52
Joe Newport
Yeah.
00:20:54
RICK JAMES
do
00:20:54
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, I know.
00:20:55
Jeremy Johnson
it's Yeah, actually, lot of Bears fans.
00:20:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
really
00:20:58
RICK JAMES
no
00:20:58
Joe Newport
Jeremy. He's getting an invite to HR tomorrow. That's what's going on.
00:21:01
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, right?
00:21:02
Joe Newport
Yeah.
00:21:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:21:03
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:21:04
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Terrible.
00:21:04
RICK JAMES
yeah It's all right.
00:21:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. So what, as far as the winter in Middleton in the area, actually, how, how big is your snow coverage area around Middleton?
00:21:07
RICK JAMES
It's good to be there.
00:21:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like how far do you guys travel?
00:21:17
Jeremy Johnson
So the core of everything is in the Madison area. where We probably travel like a half an hour from our main location for the most part.
00:21:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:21:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:21:24
Jeremy Johnson
We do have some sites in Milwaukee ah also. And so with ah with a partner that we work with in the Madison area, they have some locations in Milwaukee. So we service those through service partners.
00:21:36
Jeremy Johnson
So we don't that kind of handles itself out there.
00:21:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:21:38
Jeremy Johnson
We have really good service partners. And there's another large customer that we have that has some satellite locations like 30 or 40 miles north of town, west of town, like, and and those are also handled.
00:21:50
Jeremy Johnson
We go out to those areas and ah find good service partners that are well-established nearby those locations and find partners that can kind of, we trust to handle those and it's and it works out really well.
00:21:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:22:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. But your your core area, you'd say, is like Madison area?
00:22:06
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, yeah. So we basically are Sun Prairie to Middleton to Fitchburg, if that means anything to you.
00:22:07
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, Dan Conner.
00:22:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:22:12
Jeremy Johnson
But yeah, it's basically, yeah, just, yeah, dan it's, yeah, it's mostly like core Madison.
00:22:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. I've been to Madison. Yep.
00:22:14
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Dan Conner.
00:22:19
Jeremy Johnson
So we don't we don't go more than like a half hour from our shop.
00:22:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay, cool.
00:22:23
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:22:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
So as far as your winters, what's your what's your annual snowfall? You know, what do you guys get in inches and what what types of storms do you guys get out there?
00:22:34
Joe Newport
Yeah, we're actually just talking about that before the meeting, because the general rule is, you know, when talk about it, like operations meeting and stuff, we try to shoot to get, we plan around that 50 Jeremy, you was 53 inch mark.
00:22:34
Jeremy Johnson
yes no
00:22:48
Jeremy Johnson
53 is sort of what we planned for. it's Yeah, yup exactly.
00:22:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:22:52
Jeremy Johnson
um It's trending more smaller events, more salting events. So kind of the the scope of what we're dealing with running isthmus too, which is a little bit weird. So we got lakes kind of all around us. So we have um like the west side of Madison or the isthmus might have very different weather than the east side of Madison. So
00:23:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:23:12
Jeremy Johnson
um But generally, yeah we're seeing a lot more smaller salting type type events, free freezing rain type events than we have in the past. And we haven't hit 50 inches in three, four years, something like that.
00:23:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh okay
00:23:25
Jeremy Johnson
um
00:23:26
RICK JAMES
Okay. Mm-hmm.
00:23:26
Jeremy Johnson
But we do have years where, you know, previous to that, we've had some 70s going back to, think, 08 2012. We had 100 inch years. So can vary quite bit. Yeah.
00:23:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow no that's why it's that's why it's an average you know you get some hundreds and some 40s and you know you're in the 55 inch range there you know it's
00:23:35
Jeremy Johnson
um it can vary quite a bit
00:23:41
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:23:46
Joe Newport
Well, that's also why we kind of try to look at it rather than, you know, total inches, but number of times we deploy.
00:23:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
of events yeah
00:23:54
Joe Newport
Because, you know, it's not necessarily less important to a customer that, you know, that their parking lot was cleared of snow or of ice. They just, they want it done. So when you look at it by number of deployments, it's it's right about the same, honestly.
00:24:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
honestly the number of deployments is probably more important than the inches because you know the the deployments is what's costing you the money to do the work once you're out it really doesn't matter much if you're plowing two inches or six inches you know as far as time goes
00:24:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah. That's great. Inches don't mean, yeah.
00:24:20
Joe Newport
Mm-hmm.
00:24:21
RICK JAMES
I think we heard that. I think we heard that when we were at one of the S&S one of the shows, the guys are doing bids more on per times or out and inches and stuff like that.
00:24:28
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
it for.
00:24:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, on the average events, yeah, average responses.
00:24:31
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:24:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:24:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I've heard that more this year than I've ever heard before, honestly.
00:24:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think it's getting more and more important with like what these guys are saying, and we've all experienced.
00:24:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:24:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure everybody in the country is experiencing it, and maybe not you, Jay. You don't get a lot of freezing rain and shit, right, do you?
00:24:46
RICK JAMES
Not a ton. Maybe one or two events a year.
00:24:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
But like on those on those threshold borderlines, you know, where it's where it's like that, we're getting a lot more mixing, you know, in most places.
00:24:49
RICK JAMES
I don't know.
00:24:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:24:57
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:24:57
RICK JAMES
I would assume your guys' the snow is pretty dry snow there too, right? or
00:25:00
Jeremy Johnson
it
00:25:00
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:25:00
Jeremy Johnson
It used to be, but it's actually, it can be pretty heavy at times. that We've had some super heavy events the last few years.
00:25:04
RICK JAMES
okay Yeah, concrete.
00:25:07
Jeremy Johnson
We're getting those shoulder seasons where you'll get, you know, we had ah eight inches, I think, on Halloween three years ago. And then we had an April snowfall and some of those. Yeah, it's that it's that concrete.
00:25:20
Jeremy Johnson
No different.
00:25:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it.
00:25:21
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. And, and a lot of it too, I think has to do with our lakes.
00:25:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
un
00:25:25
Jeremy Johnson
ah So we're surrounded by a ton of water here and our lakes haven't, they're freezing later and thawing earlier. And, and when we get that, it just seems like we're, we get more wetter, wetter events or I just don't cool down as much.
00:25:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Yeah. Your moisture content still high.
00:25:39
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. Yeah. and And with that too, one thing that we've really focused on, on this on the sales side is
00:25:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:25:45
Jeremy Johnson
is going through and looking at our seasonal contracts and making sure the right, you know, kind of mix of events is being figured in to figure out those, those contracts.
00:25:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:25:57
Jeremy Johnson
We're doing that, you know, annually almost now where we're not something we ever used to really have to think about, but now those event types are changing so quickly that we have to kind of really focus on that.
00:26:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. That's definitely important. So what do you got? You got something for him Rick?
00:26:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah. No, no,
00:26:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't want to confuse Jeremy and Jeremy, so he's going to call you Rick for the night.
00:26:18
RICK JAMES
no, that's fine. So how many, well, you said events, how many times you guys averaging going out there since we're still talking about that here?
00:26:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, responses.
00:26:28
RICK JAMES
you
00:26:29
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, so um we basically have two service levels that we sort of call for. Internally, we call Code Blue is our like highest level of service. um We kind of plan for 32 events on that level of service and more like 20 if it's an inch trigger type account.
00:26:47
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:26:48
Jeremy Johnson
So um that's sort of how we break it out and kind of where we're seeing it right now.
00:26:53
RICK JAMES
What do you what are you servicing most is all commercial you do some residential or is or what do you guys what are you guys doing.
00:26:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, what type of sites is your bread and butter?
00:27:01
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, it's almost almost all commercial now. we What we've done is we've really focused on trying to build year year-round relationships with recurring customers using all of our services.
00:27:13
Jeremy Johnson
So when we can, you know if we get a new commercial build, we're trying to get in there and be the first ones to plow it and the only ones to ever plow it and really focusing on those types of customers. And we've sort of phased out all of our residential over the last...
00:27:28
Jeremy Johnson
Really 10 years. There's still occasionally, if there's a good tie to some commercial work, we'll do some residential. But um yeah, mostly commercial, a lot of hospital like so we do hospitals and clinics, ah big, you know, corporate campuses, some warehouse facilities, things like that.
00:27:40
RICK JAMES
Yes.
00:27:48
RICK JAMES
it's
00:27:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. Very cool. So you're obviously ah ah on the larger side as a company here. How many guys are you running during a storm? Does it vary with your code blue versus your others? ah like what, what are you guys putting on the street across the board?
00:28:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Fan power wise.
00:28:07
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, so it it's that's kind of hard to say. So we use a lot of service partners. Now, one thing that we've kind of grown to to the level where we thought the best way to continue to grow is to get year round service partners.
00:28:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:28:20
Jeremy Johnson
We've had ah we have partners. that have been plowing for us for 20, 25 years. And so we try to grow them. I'd say, you know, 200 to 250 pieces of equipment and people and, and stuff per event.
00:28:35
Jeremy Johnson
Typically those cold blues, like if we're just going out and doing something, that'll, that'll be significantly lower, maybe half of that or something like that.
00:28:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:28:42
Jeremy Johnson
um But yeah.
00:28:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a lot of dudes.
00:28:47
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:28:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a lot of people. That's pretty cool.
00:28:50
RICK JAMES
ah So it going back to your service providers, if I may hear you said you you try to help grow them too. That's kind of what we do. You know, we always try to help them grow with them. You know, if they want to add more pieces every year, that's how we do it. Or always try to keep them busy before we add any more. Is that how you guys kind of structured or you guys always adding or?
00:29:08
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. So we're always looking for new service partners to kind of come on board. Um, but we also try to grow with them and let them grow with us. So, uh, we've had service partners that come on and and they have no equipment and they're just shovel shoveling.
00:29:22
Jeremy Johnson
And I've seen, um, one of our, one of our service partners, not, they're now like a full scale landscape company that helps us on landscape projects and they have skid steers and trucks and that they could cut and help us plow too.
00:29:23
RICK JAMES
no
00:29:37
Jeremy Johnson
So yeah, we're, we always, so we kind of evaluate our subs every year. Our route managers are kind of, kind of score our subcontractors every year and then they kind of do some self-evaluation. And then we, we're in kind of constant contact with them to see like, what are you looking for? Are you looking to grow? Are you looking, are you looking to hold steady? Do you like what you got?
00:29:57
Jeremy Johnson
We try to work really closely with them, keep them happy, make it easy for them.
00:30:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
so
00:30:00
Jeremy Johnson
And, and if they're, If they're good to us, we try to grow with them and and and um and obviously using them before we try to add someone new.
00:30:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
very cool i got a question for eric what does a specialty services operations manager do what what i don't know what well yes but obviously special stuff but okay i like that
00:30:13
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
All right. Um, yeah, yeah.
00:30:18
RICK JAMES
Special stuff.
00:30:19
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:30:21
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
The stuff other people can't do. No, um, no.
00:30:24
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:30:26
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So, um, in the summertime, I, we, I work with the irrigation lighting and aquatics department and then, yeah.
00:30:28
Joe Newport
Thank you.
00:30:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:30:33
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
And then, uh, over the winter with the snow department.
00:30:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:30:37
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So, yeah.
00:30:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. And you've been over you've been in the industry a long time.
00:30:40
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I have been in the industry too long. When I say it, it kind of reminds me of how old I am.
00:30:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Too long. Wow.
00:30:45
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So yeah, just going on a little over three decades and I am new to the Bruce company.
00:30:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:30:52
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So I moved, I made a move from Wisconsin, I'm sorry, from Milwaukee up to to Madison last year and started with with the Bruce company this April. So I'm excited to be a part of the team.
00:31:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:31:05
RICK JAMES
this
00:31:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. It sounds like it's a great team. It really, I i love the family company aspect. that That's really, that's still got me kind of hooked that the founder sold it to a longtime employee.
00:31:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
that There's not much cooler than that, you know, to keep it in the family, so.
00:31:20
RICK JAMES
No, that's that's legit right there.
00:31:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yeah, that sets the tone, honestly. I mean, that keeps the whatever was there, it keeps that instilled in the in the company. It doesn't lose its place. You know, it doesn't go undergo a name change.
00:31:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, it doesn't none of that stuff.
00:31:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah. So,
00:31:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, I love it.
00:31:36
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, just it work it feels the same as it if you that working here during that transition.
00:31:37
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:31:40
Jeremy Johnson
it feel It feels the same as it did before. And I was i was ah maybe not ah exactly where it was going on because i was early in that transition.
00:31:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's awesome.
00:31:47
Jeremy Johnson
I had just started the Bruce company, but never really felt like anything changed. I wouldn't have known.
00:31:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's the way to do it. You know, you end up selling out the private equity and then they change the name of the company. You sound like a ah ah infomercial drug name, you know, like Cialis or something.
00:32:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's horrible.
00:32:03
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. yeah
00:32:05
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
yeah
00:32:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
i love I love that you, I love that.
00:32:08
RICK JAMES
I know where you're going on that.
00:32:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I know you do. I love that you guys, ah that that's how the company is.
00:32:14
RICK JAMES
Really?
00:32:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
And and I mean, that's awesome. It's really cool.
00:32:17
Joe Newport
Well, yeah, and like another you know relative point there is you walk in the front door of our corporate office, you look right at a wall that is full of people's names who have been there
00:32:18
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
yeah
00:32:26
Joe Newport
40, 50, 30, 20 years. um You know, it's there's there's so much time that these people have in the company.
00:32:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. That's so cool.
00:32:33
Joe Newport
And and then, you know, then you start to face some of the other problems of, well, all right, these people have been here so long. They have so much knowledge. Eventually, they're not going to be here anymore. How do we transition that? And, you know, they they take a good approach to that, too, is get more people involved in everything that you're doing so that we can we can maintain this.
00:32:43
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
but
00:32:49
Joe Newport
Just like Jeremy said, where it changed and I didn't even notice. That's that's what you want to go for.
00:32:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, I love it. It's good for you guys.
00:32:56
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, succession planning is a really good problem to have. That means you have longevity and tenure in your staff that, you know, they're with you for their entire career. um We just recently had a crew leader huddle where we had probably 25 of the landscape construction team members in there that do different types of leadership. And we had some new technicians in irrigation and they were introducing each other and we around ah went around the room and I mean, the average was 20, 20, 22 years.
00:33:28
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
And it was it was just really powerful to see 25 or 30 guys just be like 26 years.
00:33:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's phenomenal.
00:33:33
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
My name is Eric Diver.
00:33:34
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:33:34
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I've been here for 27 years. Next guy's like 45 years. Next guy's 36 years.
00:33:38
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:33:39
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
It's just, it was it was powerful.
00:33:40
RICK JAMES
That's great.
00:33:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, that's two things.
00:33:41
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
It shows a lot to what the company is.
00:33:41
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:33:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
but that That's two things right there. If you don't know anything else about a company, you can ask how long has the company been around and how long has their and have their employees all been employed there? Like if you're seeing across the board, like there's a lot of dudes with 20, 25 years in that place.
00:33:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, they're obviously they got it. They got it done right. They got it built right. And ah people want to stay there for their like you said, for their entire career.
00:34:05
RICK JAMES
me
00:34:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's awesome. I ah um' I'm really excited to talk to you guys.
00:34:07
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:34:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's cool.
00:34:10
Jeremy Johnson
I don't like, I just want to, I'll, I'll shout out right out. ah Wayne might. He's the guy, he's the guy that makes our snow operation really run. Like he's a snow operation in event manager guy, managing it from front end to back end. um And he's been here 45 years since he was in high school.
00:34:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
45?
00:34:24
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. so ah So, I was kind of chatting with him today to get some history on it.
00:34:24
Joe Newport
Mm-hmm.
00:34:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:34:25
RICK JAMES
ah jesus
00:34:29
Jeremy Johnson
and And it's like, Holy cow. You like, you don't realize like how much, how long that is.
00:34:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
what who I'm sorry.
00:34:36
Jeremy Johnson
So you're talking to a guy.
00:34:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
i miss What was his name again?
00:34:38
Jeremy Johnson
Wayne might.
00:34:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wayne Might. Dude, 45 years at the same company?
00:34:42
RICK JAMES
He's probably never missed a storm. He's probably never missed a storm either.
00:34:45
Jeremy Johnson
yeah no never miss No, never missed a storm at all, I don't think.
00:34:48
Joe Newport
Uh, he's the, he's the man when it starts to snow. Like if, if you see it in coming or if they they talk about it on, on the weather channel, he already knows that it's coming. He already knows what he's going to do. He's got it all dialed in his phone, probably overheats from people calling him, texting him, checking weather, checking all these things. He's got to check in on.
00:35:08
Joe Newport
He's, he's just got it dialed too.
00:35:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
45 years.
00:35:10
RICK JAMES
ah That's awesome.
00:35:12
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, and for and for a lot of it, he was the only one, like, he was the he was, like, the only guy, and so we're obviously not, like, we're trying to plan for what that looks like now. We're trying to get some responsibility off of him, and now there's, like like, me and ah two or three other people that are trying to, like, take some of that responsibility in. It's like how did you even...
00:35:30
Jeremy Johnson
manage this when you were out like you're out managing construction or landscape construction jobs. He also manages the largest landscape construction jobs that we do all summer. ah And then like in his free time, he's like preparing for the winter.
00:35:43
Jeremy Johnson
It's like what it's really incredible.
00:35:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, please, ah I'm going to say this. i know I know Rick James will agree with me on this. If he will come on with us and do his own episode, 45 years in snow, i like I would like to just hear that man's story.
00:35:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
like Give him his own episode. 45 years. Holy shit.
00:36:01
Jeremy Johnson
i Yeah, he's he's a little shy about it.
00:36:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:36:04
Jeremy Johnson
I did try to get him to come on, so I'll keep trying to convince him.
00:36:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yeah, tell them how easy it is.
00:36:07
Jeremy Johnson
But, yeah.
00:36:08
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:36:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's There's nothing to it.
00:36:09
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:36:10
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:36:10
Jeremy Johnson
40? 40?
00:36:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're just talking snow with with two idiots. you know It's no big deal.
00:36:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:36:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:36:16
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:36:16
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I
00:36:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's incredible, though.
00:36:17
RICK JAMES
That's great.
00:36:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
45 years. Wow. So you guys, how many people would you say in the company have 20-plus there? Ballpark.
00:36:28
Joe Newport
probably 40.
00:36:29
Jeremy Johnson
forty
00:36:29
Joe Newport
forty Yeah.
00:36:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
00:36:31
RICK JAMES
Holy shit.
00:36:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. Yeah.
00:36:32
Joe Newport
There's, there's, I can probably come up with five people that have been there longer than I've been alive.
00:36:33
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
00:36:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. That's awesome.
00:36:40
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:36:40
RICK JAMES
That's great.
00:36:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy crap.
00:36:41
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:36:42
RICK JAMES
That's the company to work for right there.
00:36:42
Jeremy Johnson
And that I mean, we had three people retire this year who had 55 plus years.
00:36:47
Joe Newport
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:36:48
Jeremy Johnson
We had a 60 and 255 plus that retired this year.
00:36:51
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:36:51
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:36:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
60 Holy crap.
00:36:55
RICK JAMES
Wow. That's wow.
00:36:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
God, I'm not going to make it to 60. That's incredible.
00:37:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:37:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
60 years. That's awesome.
00:37:03
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:37:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy shit.
00:37:04
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
00:37:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. Dude, I'm so excited for you guys. Like this is definitely, this is the type of company you really, if you're in business and you're trying to start a company, this has got to be your dream to do that.
00:37:16
RICK JAMES
You want to emulate them.
00:37:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know what you guys have. So good for you.
00:37:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah,
00:37:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotta be cool i mean you guys all you guys all seem very happy to work there you got that many dudes with 20 plus years got people with 45 years 60 years it's got to be a great culture it really just must be a great place to work good for you guys that's awesome well we want to hear some more about this so i mean who does jeremy uh rick james jeremy uh who does rick james talk to about equipment who can run us through what you guys use to get your job done
00:37:21
RICK JAMES
awesome.
00:37:22
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
thank you
00:37:35
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Hands down.
00:37:35
Jeremy Johnson
it
00:37:36
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:37:36
Jeremy Johnson
It really is. Yeah. and
00:37:38
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
00:37:50
Joe Newport
Yeah, that'll probably fall on my shoulders.
00:37:51
Jeremy Johnson
That's real.
00:37:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so Jeremy Lindstrom equipment segment brought to you by Dinesse Leasing.
00:37:53
RICK JAMES
All right, Joe.
00:37:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead take it away, Rick James.
00:38:00
RICK JAMES
All right, Joe, let's hear about all your equipment, what you guys are using out there in the snow industry from pushers to loaders to sidewalks, everything.
00:38:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ballpark it.
00:38:10
Joe Newport
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's vast.
00:38:11
RICK JAMES
I'm here all night.
00:38:12
Joe Newport
and We've got a lot of different lot of different stuff.
00:38:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's fast.
00:38:15
Joe Newport
But, you know, ah it' surprisingly, you know, you think, oh, Midwest Plow Company, they must have a ton of you know, trucks with plows on them, which all of our pickups that we have are equipped for plows, you know, V plows on them.
00:38:26
Joe Newport
But we don't, honestly, they don't get used as much because um we've been, you know working with some of our partner companies and they have taken over a lot of the plowing, not all of it. um we do have a lot of pushers we have a few large size wheel loaders so like 544 size 624 size wheel loaders every one of those has a bucket and a pusher for it so you can switch between them depending on what the site is is requiring uh anything smaller than that we have a lot of cage pushers so in fact we have a john deere 6150 m tractor that has a pusher on the front of it and a snowblower on the back of it so you can kind of
00:38:44
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:39:04
Joe Newport
do it all uh it get everything out of the way so that's that's one we have a small this tiny little orchard tractor that we're putting a cage together for too uh because you know anything that we have we try to make sure we can use it year round you know why why have all this snow equipment that sits all summer so how can we how can we make sure that everything's usable um we have a lot of you know lot of skid loaders out there you know i've got probably 45 skid loaders and i'm gonna say you know
00:39:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Sure.
00:39:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:39:33
Joe Newport
30 of them are out on sites all the time. We even started using our track machines more just to have them on site because they're not they're not the best depending on the site. You got a big side hill or something. You don't want a track machine there, obviously. But we have cage pushers for those. We have some eight footers, some 10 footers, depending on the machine it goes on.
00:39:52
Joe Newport
We actually up fit the tires on those to larger size because when you put those large tires on a machine with a two speed, I mean, i don't want to say it does 35, but it feels like it does 35.
00:40:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah. yeah yeah
00:40:03
Joe Newport
Like they, yeah, they cruise, but that that makes a huge difference.
00:40:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah yeah
00:40:03
RICK JAMES
You're doing 14 instead of 12. Oh, yep.
00:40:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:40:10
Joe Newport
um We have a monumental amount of sidewalk to clear. And the best thing that we can ever come up with to clear sidewalks is a lawnmower.
00:40:21
Joe Newport
And so we use John Deere front decks. We're actually all on the 15 series now, fifteen seventy five s or fifteen fifty s
00:40:26
RICK JAMES
ah yeah
00:40:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
the
00:40:28
Joe Newport
And every one of those has its own blower, its own broom, and is equipped with a drop salter. And that is a major key to efficiency on sidewalks because the only other way that you can do it is with people.
00:40:43
Joe Newport
And people are hard to come by. And this machine, i don't want to say it replaces people because you still need people to run it, but it's
00:40:46
RICK JAMES
you know
00:40:50
Joe Newport
the efficiency that you can get and and be able to fine tune it for what the site needs. You know, some some sites, they remain open. There's never more than three quarters of an inch on the ground. And that broom just never stops running.
00:41:03
Joe Newport
And we keep the right kind of bristles on it and it and it goes.
00:41:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:41:06
RICK JAMES
ye
00:41:07
Joe Newport
We got a lot of trucks set up for snow hauling. I have four of our 14 foot bed, 26,000 gross vehicle weight trucks set up for hauling snow. When we have to do that, to move it from one site to the other,
00:41:20
Joe Newport
Uh, we do have a couple of quad axles that we can use for that if we need to as well. And so that's lot of the, lot of the big stuff. And then we start to get into our, you know, our liquid de-icing, our brine operations, which, um,
00:41:34
Joe Newport
you know, we've kind of grown into, which we can, we can put that in its own segment if we want to. But um Jeremy and I, when I started with the company, I've i've been here six years now. And ah that was probably one of our first projects that we put together all right, this brine, how does it work? And I i dove into it. yeah,
00:41:52
Joe Newport
Because I haven't been in the landscape construction industry, you know, more than than six years. But everywhere else that I've been, I've seen they get involved in snow because I used to, I was a mechanic working for car dealerships. And I would watch, they'd have a lot of tendons plowing. And I'd go out there and get out of the truck. You don't know what you're doing.
00:42:09
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
00:42:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
you know
00:42:10
Joe Newport
Let me do it.
00:42:10
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:42:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:42:11
Joe Newport
And, you know, so I always end up in snow removal somewhere.
00:42:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
wow.
00:42:14
Joe Newport
And and then even previous to that, my dad was in charge of snow removal for the entire Miller Valley. So Miller Brewing in Milwaukee. um
00:42:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
all
00:42:22
Joe Newport
And so I used to ride around in the truck with him and we'd go to sites and I'd write down, you know, all the, like the snow removal operations for where you push the snow, what equipment hauls in a way.
00:42:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
00:42:33
Joe Newport
And then I'd go type it for him because he couldn't type, you know, hunt, hunt and pack. So I feel like I've been doing it my whole life anyways.
00:42:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:42:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's cool.
00:42:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really cool.
00:42:43
RICK JAMES
So you guys strictly all Brian or do you do salt there too?
00:42:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:42:45
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:42:46
Joe Newport
ah We do both. wait We actually have some of our equipment that'll do both. So we have pre-wet on it and it really helps extend the, you know, the amount of distance that you can cover with what's in the hopper.
00:42:52
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:42:58
Joe Newport
And so we have some equipment that's both. And then, you know, the old we have seven ah six yard salt trucks that go out. I got one three yard, two yard and a half. and this cute little one yard that I put together ah to do these ramps.
00:43:13
Joe Newport
We have these these parking ramps that have a weight restriction.
00:43:15
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:43:16
Joe Newport
So I had to take this truck and i had to gut as much weight off of it as I possibly could to get it to fit the ramp once we put a yard of salt in it.
00:43:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
And
00:43:24
Joe Newport
And it the one yard salter will do all three ramps. So that was the goal is to get it. So I took this shit old Chevy truck that was our old shop truck and I stripped the bed off of it.
00:43:31
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:43:34
Joe Newport
I put a plastic fuel tank on it. I put tiny little trailer fenders, at like everything I could do to get the weight down. And i was... You have to be fully loaded.
00:43:42
RICK JAMES
oh
00:43:44
Joe Newport
You have to be 8,000 pounds and you can be 4,000 on each axle. And was 3,080 pounds the rear axle or 3,980 pounds on the rear axle. And they were like, could like lighter? said, no. said 4,000? 4,000 is 4,000. I am And that's with driver it. So.
00:43:59
Joe Newport
no
00:43:59
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Right.
00:44:00
RICK JAMES
ah got
00:44:00
Joe Newport
but
00:44:00
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:44:00
Joe Newport
i said you said four thousand
00:44:01
RICK JAMES
and I mentioned requirements.
00:44:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
took out the passenger seat.
00:44:03
Joe Newport
four thousand is four thousand i am in and that's with a driver in it so
00:44:08
Jeremy Johnson
Not me.
00:44:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God.
00:44:10
RICK JAMES
That's funny.
00:44:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
They got the radio, you got the passenger seat, the carpet.
00:44:12
Joe Newport
Yeah, I, well, yeah, the the customer even wanted, they wanted a picture of the thing on the scale.
00:44:12
RICK JAMES
hip ah
00:44:15
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we sent our smallest driver to... Yeah. andle
00:44:22
Joe Newport
So I put my my lightest shop guy in there and I said, here, you're the one.
00:44:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:44:29
RICK JAMES
that's funny
00:44:29
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
to
00:44:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really funny. Oh my God. Oh boy. So, so you guys, you guys actually have like brine trucks though with just tanks.
00:44:38
Joe Newport
Yeah, yeah.
00:44:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:44:39
Joe Newport
We've got, so we're actually increasing that. I'm doing a new build this year on one, but in the past we've run with 2,000 gallon tanker trucks and then we had one 305 gallon and one 300 gallon.
00:44:53
Joe Newport
So just kind of depending on the site, you know, whichever one they get routed to. And then this year we've actually ramped it up and I'm putting together a 2,600 gallon brine truck and that'll actually be able to apply as well as tanker
00:45:07
RICK JAMES
PB, Harmon Zuckerman, what's.
00:45:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. So you guys are you guys are building, you're you're doing the build outs on your brine spraying stuff yourself or are you buying from a manufacturer?
00:45:14
Joe Newport
So, yeah, we we run VSI, the legacy series. um ah They're called Automated Power Unit. And so we run those, but we we do all the assembly and all the plumbing and all that stuff.
00:45:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:45:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
You do the build out. Gotcha. Cool.
00:45:28
RICK JAMES
What's your experience with Brian?
00:45:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all.
00:45:29
RICK JAMES
You been happy with it?
00:45:31
Joe Newport
I think it's really cool. And I think it's, I think you have to be using it right now. and And we were not necessarily on the cutting edge of it. We were just behind so we could kind of watch what others were doing so that we didn't go too in, but also didn't fall behind.
00:45:48
Joe Newport
And I feel like we were just in the right spot.
00:45:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:45:50
Joe Newport
and And now that we've got a little more experience and we've got a little more control with it, we're we're ramping up appropriately. And we've put the right pieces of equipment in place so that we can, know, we can,
00:46:02
Joe Newport
Meet the demand as well as meet customer expectations with it so that we don't want to... You don't want to tell all your your commercial accounts, oh, yeah, we we do anti-icing with liquid.
00:46:13
Joe Newport
And then everyone's like, well, we want it. And then you can't because you'd have to run one 1,000-gallon truck around the clock to do it. And with Brian, you get such a such a limited window to go out and apply that you can't over-promise on it.
00:46:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah Oh, absolutely.
00:46:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yep.
00:46:25
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:46:28
Joe Newport
So it's been... I think it's it's been really cool, and and I think you have to be on that end of it because it can affect the way that you go out to remove snow. So if you get out there and you do a really good pre-treat, your're you re ah your you're plowing and your your clearing of that snow can go so much quicker.
00:46:47
Joe Newport
And VSI had has has a really cool video. They have a horseshoe-shaped parking lot for one of their customers, and they pre-treated one side, and they didn't pre-treat the other side, and they put a drone over it the whole time while they were clearing it.
00:46:58
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:47:00
Joe Newport
and the other side was cleared and done before the other side was even halfway. Then they did a post street and it was 100% cleared. And the other side is still had ice chunks and and things, you know, like, like you've seen from a traditionally plowed lot.
00:47:14
Joe Newport
So you're going to get a better quality product in the end in that your customers have a better cleared lot. It buys you time before a snowstorm before you have to deploy. And it buys you time afterwards in case you have one of those, those repeat storms of the twin storms,
00:47:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:47:29
Joe Newport
So it I don't know how you could really be doing things efficiently without it at this point. Like you're going to have to have it be part of your operation somewhere, whether you're having someone do it for you or whether you're taking it on and doing it yourself, even if it's small scale.
00:47:35
RICK JAMES
right
00:47:43
Joe Newport
i mean, Jeremy one year did our whole lot for the Bruce company out of our 305 gallon in a pickup truck just so we could learn. All right. If this is the case, if this is the weather we have, what what does it do?
00:47:55
Joe Newport
So you've got to be a part of it at this point, I think.
00:47:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:47:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, it's definitely becoming more common.
00:47:59
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:48:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's for sure. People are making the investment.
00:48:02
RICK JAMES
no
00:48:02
Jeremy Johnson
And, and so specifically in our area too, just on that note, we, so we live in a, in an area that had that, um, where our ah aquifers are being affected or wells are being affected by, chloride infiltration.
Wisconsin's Salt Reduction Initiatives
00:48:17
Jeremy Johnson
And so,
00:48:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:19
Jeremy Johnson
There's been some grant programs and we've worked really closely for the last, since probably 2016 with ah our Sewerage District and the Capillary Planning Commission. And ah that's turned into Wisconsin Salt-Wise on some different grant programs. And just because our, so our local Sewerage District is working under a variance.
00:48:38
Jeremy Johnson
So when they're like dumping, their clean water into two creeks south of town and the chlorides being accepted into those two creeks are above what the EPA will allow.
00:48:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:48:52
Jeremy Johnson
and So the EPA is trying to get them to um essentially lower that chloride outtake number. So they've been working you know with the snow industry and a lot with water softeners, too, but to try to come up with creative ideas ah to fix that problem.
00:49:08
Jeremy Johnson
um And so we're we try to help with that where we can and ah try to be a seat at the table for the contractors. When those decisions are being made, we want to be there to help make those decisions and make sure that we have a voice at that in that conversation.
00:49:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. No, it's smart.
00:49:23
Jeremy Johnson
and And it's actually worked really, really well for us and for our customers and and i and I think for the governing bodies too. So
00:49:31
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I think you guys you guys said a key piece of information there, which would definitely help liquid's acceptance across the board. ah As soon as the state governments all offer some kind of rebate or incentive or your in non-interest bearing loan, basically from the state, some kind of incentive for guys to go to liquids. Because let's face it, for a small to medium sized company,
00:49:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
There are guys that would love to get into it. It's just the the cost of entry, the barrier is too great.
00:49:59
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:49:59
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:50:02
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:50:02
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:50:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
it It doesn't make sense for a smaller company.
00:50:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
They would take too long to get their ah ROI out. But, you know, if the state starts doing some, if more states buy in and start having some kind of rebate program, I think you're going to see ah set acceptance across the board. I think, guys, like you said, i think if you're not doing it, it's costing you efficiency at this point.
00:50:22
Jeremy Johnson
And that's exactly how it happened for us. So back in 2016, I had went and seen um this program. They had bought it brought in some consultants and and heard about this issue. But at the end of it, they're like, well, we have a grant program available.
00:50:35
Jeremy Johnson
And basically based on that grant program, they were willing to pay it. It was either 50 or 75% of the cost. to to get know So that's where we got our very first brine unit was based on like, hey, this makes it very easy ah for us to get into this.
00:50:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:49
Jeremy Johnson
So we did.
00:50:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:51
Jeremy Johnson
and So some of the old, there was some older school guys. i was obviously, I'm kind of this newer guy. I was kind of new into the snow operations there. And I had this crazy idea that we would start spraying liquids and it wasn't well received necessarily at first.
00:51:05
Jeremy Johnson
So was sort of out on an Island for a while. um But now, and even it actually happened pretty quickly within two or three years, you know, some of those old school guys would be like, well, why didn't you spray brine before this event? Like, what are you doing?
00:51:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:51:19
Jeremy Johnson
I had to go out and take care this dust stain.
00:51:19
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:51:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's funny how that happens.
00:51:22
Jeremy Johnson
And it's like, yeah, so ah it is nice to have that. and i one And then it's basically proof of concept then.
00:51:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:51:29
Jeremy Johnson
And you can...
00:51:30
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:51:30
Jeremy Johnson
Like, hey, prove that we can do this and we can make money doing it. It's a sold service. I know some snow contractors will try to like, oh, we we do this to kind of ah make things easier for our guys or or try to reduce our salt use. But it's a it's a sellable service. And that's kind of how we treat it.
00:51:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I think everything everything with salt and cutting chlorides and stuff, that's all got to start with the state level. You want contractors to lose to use less salt? Offer them some kind of lesser liability. Offer them protection from frivolous lawsuits for slipfalls.
00:52:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, something's got to happen because guys are putting down salt because Snow Guy's biggest fear, number one, that keeps us up every night during the winter from November to April, has got to be slipfalls and getting the frivolous lawsuits.
00:52:16
Jeremy Johnson
Yep. yep
00:52:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
So,
00:52:18
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:52:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
if the states want to have less salt used offer like new hampshire is doing where they're giving you credits that are protecting you they they offer limited liability for green contractors up there
00:52:30
Jeremy Johnson
We actually, so we've worked really closely, Allison Madison too, she runs Wisconsin salt wise.
00:52:31
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
yeah
00:52:36
Jeremy Johnson
And so she is basically charged with a governmental body to try to help like reduce salt that's getting accepted into the lakes and into the um and and so she's worked really closely with us and and given us a seat at that table.
00:52:38
Joe Newport
Thank
00:52:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's awesome
00:52:52
Jeremy Johnson
And she pushed
00:52:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
What was her name?
00:52:54
Jeremy Johnson
Allison Madison in Wisconsin salt wise is, is, is her group.
00:52:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:52:58
Jeremy Johnson
And she pushed really hard. Like she, she took those conversations to heart early on and heard what we were saying about like, Hey, if you want contractors to reduce salt, what you have to do is, is push through some legislation. And she got, she, so she ended up, she's not an attorney by, by trade.
00:53:16
Jeremy Johnson
She became, i think she had to register as a, as a,
00:53:22
Jeremy Johnson
I can't remember what it is, but basically to go and be able to like talk to lawmakers and and push things. And she got through, passed through um both sides of our, of the Senate and the assembly here in Wisconsin, got it to the governor's desk.
00:53:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Lobbyist.
00:53:28
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:53:35
Jeremy Johnson
And at the very last minute, um it was, it was vetoed because the trial lawyers got involved and, and didn't.
00:53:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure.
00:53:44
Jeremy Johnson
um oh she couldn't.
00:53:44
RICK JAMES
oh
00:53:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure. Whoa, wait a minute.
00:53:46
Jeremy Johnson
Right.
00:53:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're cutting into my ambulance chasing ability.
00:53:49
Jeremy Johnson
Right.
00:53:49
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:53:50
Jeremy Johnson
So, and we hope, you know, we're going to to push for that. And I know she is and, and, and they're using New Hampshire as a model for that.
00:53:59
Joe Newport
Okay.
00:53:59
Jeremy Johnson
ah But again, it's critical that we as contractors have a seat at that table ah to say like, okay, well, if you're going to develop a program for limited liability, a set of best practices, we want to be in that conversation.
00:53:59
RICK JAMES
oh yeah
00:54:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I'm all for it.
00:54:13
RICK JAMES
Yep. hundred percent.
00:54:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Listen, if New York State tells me you can use no more than 100 pounds per acre of salt, no problem. I'll start doing that tomorrow. Just sign on this little dotted line here saying that if somebody sues, that it's not my ass.
00:54:26
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
00:54:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right?
00:54:27
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:54:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
because that that i mean And then the other problem is you got the state DOT trucks. going down the highway, getting off at the exit ramp, sitting at yeah at a red light with its conveyor belt still going, just dropping a giant pile that some poor schmuck 30 seconds later comes down at 20 miles an hour with a green light, hits that pile of salt and goes airborne.
00:54:37
RICK JAMES
Dropping the.
00:54:38
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:54:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, like it's you can't have it.
00:54:47
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
00:54:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, it's got to start at the state level. It's got to start with the state state government, state DOTs. So I think like not to get too crazy off track, but I think you're right. If you guys have a nice sweet spot there where where that got you in the brine. And i think more people will do that if the states offer something like that. But so far, we don't have anything like that here in New York.
00:55:10
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, and Wisconsin's been good about that. I think Allison with Salt Wise has reached, I think there's like, i want to say almost every municipality in the state of Wisconsin has some kind of brine county has some kind of brine operation now.
00:55:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
well Well, if if she's listening, I want to talk to her.
00:55:24
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
and And that's a lot from her going around and doing educational pieces and doing what's called salt wise certification or training, I guess, um to to to educate and bring awareness to it.
00:55:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's huge. Yeah, that's huge.
00:55:36
Joe Newport
Yeah, you should see the county highway brine operations.
00:55:36
RICK JAMES
She's going to come up.
00:55:40
Joe Newport
These rigs are insane.
00:55:40
RICK JAMES
yep
00:55:41
Joe Newport
So it's like ah it's a tandem axle with a tag truck, and it's got probably a 2,000-gallon tank in the bed of it.
00:55:42
RICK JAMES
good
00:55:49
Joe Newport
It's got a big 14-foot plow off the front of it. Then it tows a trailer that has steering, and the the trailer has two 1,500-gallon tanks on it.
00:55:54
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:55:58
Joe Newport
And the trailer swings out behind the truck and drives next to it.
00:56:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah We have those.
00:56:03
Joe Newport
So it does all three.
00:56:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. We have those here.
00:56:04
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
00:56:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's crazy.
00:56:05
Joe Newport
And I'm in the shop, so I'm just looking, I'm like, how many miles of hydraulic hose are on that thing?
00:56:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're crazy.
00:56:10
Joe Newport
And, you know, how do you, do you, do you got two guys running it?
00:56:11
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:56:11
RICK JAMES
Oh, it's a lot.
00:56:13
Joe Newport
Like one guy drives the trailer? i don't know how it goes, but they they are a ah masterpiece of engineering.
00:56:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. When they work, I hear there are issues with them.
00:56:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I talked to them. I've been in the shop where they build them in town here. And the other, I can't remember how many miles of wiring they have on there and stuff. It's just crazy.
00:56:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go Eric.
00:56:31
RICK JAMES
So.
00:56:32
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, and I was just gonna give a shout out. So there is, a Wisconsin Salt Wise does hold a Winter Salt Week, which is coming up next January twenty sixth through the 30th of 2026. And it'd be winter salt week.org.
00:56:46
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
um And it's a pretty cool week of inform informational ah webinars.
00:56:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:56:52
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Phil Sexton is gonna be on there and and a bunch of other industry people for, for I think Jordan's gonna be on there and some other people.
00:57:00
Jeremy Johnson
Is Erin Rodman going to be on that too?
00:57:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool
00:57:01
Jeremy Johnson
is that I thought I'd seen her post something Erin.
00:57:03
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, I think he's got a spot.
00:57:05
Joe Newport
Thank
00:57:05
Jeremy Johnson
Okay, so that's that's from ah over at West Bend.
00:57:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, if any of if any of you talk to Allison Madison, we would definitely like that to talk to her.
00:57:09
Jeremy Johnson
Extra mile.
00:57:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'd like to have her on.
00:57:14
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Oh, she'd love to come on.
00:57:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
if she and if she needs a challenge, if she's up for a challenge, I challenge her to go to New York and get something done.
00:57:16
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we talk to her pretty regularly.
00:57:16
RICK JAMES
i would
00:57:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:57:22
Jeremy Johnson
yeah She is going all over the country now, it seems like.
00:57:24
RICK JAMES
We'll get robbed even Benzo on here.
00:57:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, New York or New Jersey, that's that's your calling card. If you can get something done with those two governments.
00:57:31
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Right.
00:57:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:57:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah. New York screwed.
00:57:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:57:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
But yeah, we would definitely talk to her. Absolutely. If she's been able to get stuff done, I mean, that's, that's great for salt guys. And if it got as far as the governor's desk, I got to believe it'll get, it'll get all the way eventually.
00:57:47
Jeremy Johnson
We hope so.
00:57:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, I mean, it's.
00:57:49
RICK JAMES
I don't know trial lawyer is involved. They're not going to let their money Those guys.
00:57:51
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:57:54
RICK JAMES
those guys
00:57:55
Jeremy Johnson
no Yeah.
00:57:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Listen, switch to malpractice.
00:57:56
Jeremy Johnson
it's
00:57:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:57:57
Jeremy Johnson
It was kind of funny having, yeah, we have Allison who's like, she's she's been doing this.
00:57:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:58:01
Jeremy Johnson
I think before that she was a middle school teacher against the trial lawyer lobbyists down at the Capitol. I was like, uh-oh.
00:58:08
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
00:58:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
crazy though it's crazy the ambly ambulance chasers can get something shut down at the governor's level it's crazy but
00:58:08
RICK JAMES
ah first
00:58:09
Jeremy Johnson
but
00:58:15
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:58:15
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
That's actually how I got to work at the Bruce company. I met Jeremy through through salt wise and ended up coming in.
00:58:20
RICK JAMES
Awesome.
00:58:21
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I came into the Bruce company to talk to him about salt wise and we got into a conversation and he started, we started going back and forth. He said, well, let let me introduce to you a few people. And, you know, three months later, I was part of the team.
00:58:34
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So it's a good story.
00:58:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:58:35
RICK JAMES
awesome
00:58:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I mean, that's great the to have the states that have these kind of salt wise programs like, you know, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Wisconsin. That's just a few that we know of. that That's awesome because no contractor wants to damage the environment. You know, nobody's doing it knowingly or willingly.
00:58:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're doing it because you have to basically, you know, you're you're putting down salt to protect yourself from liability.
00:58:57
RICK JAMES
Salt comes from Mother Earth. It's just going back.
00:59:00
RICK JAMES
It's going back to Mother
00:59:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:59:00
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, you know,
00:59:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah but Oh, Jesus. ah
00:59:04
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
think the other piece too is –
00:59:05
RICK JAMES
Earth. That was Sean in me coming up.
00:59:10
RICK JAMES
That was Sean. That was the Sean in me coming up. I was protecting Sean there.
00:59:13
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
00:59:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah That's it. Standing up for Sean.
00:59:17
RICK JAMES
ah
00:59:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
my God. That's funny.
00:59:19
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
No, I was going to say the other thing about about that no that said the other thing about that is um educating the stakeholders and people who are property managers or property owners on the amount of money that could be saved for long-term damage.
00:59:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead, Eric.
00:59:20
RICK JAMES
And he...
00:59:34
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
The mullions, the railings, all the the concrete, all the things that um that that get damaged from excessive chloride.
00:59:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
00:59:35
RICK JAMES
Yep. Yep.
00:59:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:59:43
RICK JAMES
who
00:59:43
Jeremy Johnson
and And any contractor who's worried, like, so from my point of view, if you're worried about losing, you shouldn't worry about losing money by by putting down less salt.
00:59:44
RICK JAMES
ye
00:59:51
Jeremy Johnson
It's always been a pretty easy conversation. It's like, you're not paying us to put down a product. You're not, it's not like you're collecting it. You don't own it at the end of the day. you're looking for is a clear lot. And if-
01:00:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:00:01
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
performance-based.
01:00:02
Jeremy Johnson
that with less product because of how we're doing it. Or I just, I know what the weather conditions are so I can put down less. Like you still owe me the same amount of money at the end of the day. I did what I what I asked you asked me to do.
01:00:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:00:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Right.
01:00:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, absolutely.
01:00:14
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:00:14
Jeremy Johnson
ah
01:00:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would love to do. I would absolutely love to do liquids. If somebody gave me a 50% off voucher to get into liquids, like, cause that's where it would have to be.
01:00:21
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
01:00:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's just, I went through the whole song and dance. I, die ah you know, I put the whole study together with, with ah Adam Hansen and he was going to set us up to, to run a couple of trucks with Brian.
01:00:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
And it was just too much for, for the acreage we do is like the the barrier of entry was ridiculous. I'm like, all right, this ain't, this ain't happening.
01:00:41
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. I mean, I think what we bought what? I think we bought two more automated power units this year. And it's it's a painful check to write. Yeah.
01:00:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, absolutely it is.
01:00:48
RICK JAMES
oh yeah
01:00:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
And it's getting worse every year.
01:00:49
RICK JAMES
so
01:00:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's not getting better.
01:00:51
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:00:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're not even staying the same. like It's going up astronomically.
01:00:53
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:55
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:00:55
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Right.
Operational Practices and Innovations
01:00:56
Joe Newport
The only saving grace with that is that those trucks are water trucks all summer. So we do a ton of watering and, you know, I've i've got six water trucks in the fleet. So we do get to use them year round.
01:01:07
Joe Newport
So there's there's a little bit of ah ROI gathered right there.
01:01:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
01:01:10
Joe Newport
But if you're not doing a ton of watering, you know, off season or out of snow season, and it doesn't actually calculate much r ROI.
01:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's tough.
01:01:20
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:01:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's definitely tough. Well, that's cool. I mean, it's it's good that you guys are doing it. And do you guys, when you when you're using granular, are you guys using straight salt? You use treated salt? What are guys using? and
01:01:30
Jeremy Johnson
It's all straight. It's straight. So we'll treat it at the spinner.
01:01:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Straight salt. Okay.
01:01:33
Jeremy Johnson
Uh, we have the ability to treat it at the spinner with most of our trucks ourselves, but we're not like, uh, yeah, it's, it's dry, rock salt that we're putting down generally.
01:01:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. All right. Here's the good one. What do you got, Jeremy? Go ahead.
01:01:47
RICK JAMES
was just going to ask you guys, do you guys use a weather service out there?
01:01:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, you took it.
01:01:50
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:01:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:01:53
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we do. we use True Weather. um
01:01:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
01:01:57
Jeremy Johnson
We like it. But really, so forever, we've used a system. we We just call it Weather Watch. And essentially, what we have set up is we have a pretty good office staff, pretty good size office staff, and they take a week.
01:02:08
RICK JAMES
A rock.
01:02:13
Jeremy Johnson
where they're up every night and they're just driving around town and taking phone calls. So ah those guys are out there. We don't, we, we don't put all of our eggs in any weather service basket. um So, and we're lucky too.
01:02:26
Jeremy Johnson
We have, we have enough big, big campuses that have their own security. And so if something pops up, like we have ah a 24 hour a day hotline that's answered by
01:02:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:02:37
Jeremy Johnson
one of our office staff, whoever's on WeatherWatch. And so that can help us if there is something weird that comes through. But yeah, we do use true weather mo mostly, not really for the forecasting, mostly for the weather, for the snow certification and the, yeah, exactly.
01:02:51
RICK JAMES
Certified.
01:02:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, certified totals.
01:02:51
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Stone, stone, stone.
01:02:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Well, make sure you ask true weather. You want your weekly doc lock of the week. All right.
01:02:59
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:59
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:02:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
You they got that.
01:03:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah, Mark, give us the doc lock.
01:03:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it.
01:03:06
RICK JAMES
He hasn't called us since then.
01:03:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, no. Doc lock of the week, though. it's That's that's that's a real thing.
01:03:12
Jeremy Johnson
When are they going to tell us how much we're getting this year? I thought that was coming up.
01:03:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah, that's whether pros will be on one of the I got to look at my calendar here.
01:03:15
RICK JAMES
Oh.
01:03:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's in the next two weeks. They're going to we're going to be recording that.
01:03:21
Jeremy Johnson
i I need to know how much we're going to get so we can plan for it and stuff.
01:03:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:03:26
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:03:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
yes
01:03:27
RICK JAMES
You start setting bills, all right?
01:03:28
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
01:03:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
01:03:28
RICK JAMES
Start pre-invoicing?
01:03:29
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:03:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
So we can set it in stone.
01:03:31
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:03:32
RICK JAMES
so
01:03:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh God. It's always so funny. Oh,
01:03:35
RICK JAMES
How do you guys structure your contracts? or you got you your contract Are they per push, seasonals? What are you guys doing all really?
01:03:41
RICK JAMES
Everything?
01:03:41
Jeremy Johnson
We do.
01:03:42
Jeremy Johnson
It's either tiered by event or or seasonal. So we do have one customer who requires us to do time material.
01:03:47
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:03:52
Jeremy Johnson
um It's not our preference. It's ah kind of a nightmare. So that's just one one customer.
01:03:56
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:03:58
Jeremy Johnson
And yeah everybody else, kind of on the larger stuff, we try to do seasonal to make sure it's a kind of a good mix of seasonal or push.
01:03:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:04:04
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:04:07
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:04:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
goal
01:04:09
Jeremy Johnson
um And then we try to, and something that's maybe a little bit different about us is we try to mirror whatever our contract is. When we use a service partner, we try to mirror that back to them. So ah we offer seasonal and per event pricing to our contractors and not to the family.
01:04:23
RICK JAMES
Oh, to your contractor.
01:04:26
Jeremy Johnson
Yes.
01:04:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
and okay
01:04:26
Jeremy Johnson
we We want to make sure that they're they're benefiting from any increased speed that they can have.
01:04:27
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:04:33
Jeremy Johnson
And we think that's the best way. And it it seems to have worked out really well. It's change that we've made in the last five years.
01:04:37
RICK JAMES
That makes sense.
01:04:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love that. Love that. You know Let's hit some.
01:04:41
RICK JAMES
you doing any, are you doing any minimal minimums or overages on your
01:04:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
01:04:45
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. So we, we do over it after 50.
01:04:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Floors and ceilings.
01:04:47
Jeremy Johnson
So they basically, we get paid for 50, 53 inches. And then after that we bill per inch, there's a set per price per inch price over that.
01:04:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:04:57
Jeremy Johnson
um We, we don't have any floors.
01:04:57
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:04:59
Jeremy Johnson
We used to get rid of them.
01:04:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got you.
01:04:59
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:05:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
01:05:02
RICK JAMES
Good call.
01:05:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Customers are okay with it. Then why not, you know, get rid of them.
01:05:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:05:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
If they're okay, having a ceiling, but not a floor.
01:05:06
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:05:06
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:05:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool. I'll take that too.
01:05:09
Jeremy Johnson
They asked every once in a while and ah we haven't, we haven't had too much of a problem. If you, if, if you do what you do really, really well, like generally they're going to okay.
01:05:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent. They don't ask any questions at that point.
01:05:20
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:05:21
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:21
RICK JAMES
Just get it done.
01:05:23
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:05:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, you know Let's hit some commercials real quick. We'll be back in a minute.
01:06:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. ah So what else do we have for these boys, Rick?
01:06:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah You're muted still. Oh, no, you're not. Why am I not hearing
01:06:46
RICK JAMES
Still muted. I was muted.
01:06:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you are. All right, now you
01:06:47
RICK JAMES
but speak There I am. Yeah.
01:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Only 142 episodes in.
01:06:50
RICK JAMES
So what you guys through? I'll ask you question here. How do you guys go through like storm prep? What are guys' procedures for if you got a storm coming in with all these subcontractors or vendor partners you guys have and stuff?
01:07:03
Jeremy Johnson
Wayne just handles all that.
01:07:04
Joe Newport
Yeah, we just ah just
01:07:05
RICK JAMES
wayne just wayne Wayne, just do it.
01:07:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, there you go.
01:07:06
RICK JAMES
Take care of it.
01:07:07
Jeremy Johnson
No.
01:07:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got to talk to Wayne.
01:07:08
RICK JAMES
It's been working 45 years. Might as well keep it going, right?
01:07:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we got to talk to Wayne.
01:07:10
Joe Newport
text message Wayne and it's all handled.
01:07:10
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, so... Yeah.
01:07:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got to talk to Wayne, the snow guru.
01:07:14
Jeremy Johnson
ah No, so we...
01:07:15
RICK JAMES
I love I love it.
01:07:17
Jeremy Johnson
we do We have text chains and like we try to we try to give everybody an idea of like what we're thinking, what we're planning for. Wayne's heavily involved in that. We got a number of other people that are in our Snow Ops management team ah that are kind of looking at forecasts, coming up with plans. and Then we send out e-blasts and um, to all of our route managers and subcontractors.
01:07:41
Jeremy Johnson
And then we generally also try to make sure that we're calling and making contact. So from the route manager level down, they're kind of making contact with all their employees and making sure everybody's ready to go.
01:07:53
Jeremy Johnson
And when we can, we use, uh, ah True Weathers forecast to set a start time as early as possible.
01:07:59
RICK JAMES
What?
01:08:02
Jeremy Johnson
Like we do try to give people five, six hours of notice. We try not to have those, those like, Oh, we're going right now type deals. But obviously that happens.
01:08:11
RICK JAMES
You think a weatherman's wrong sometimes?
01:08:12
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. Usually.
01:08:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't have the clip. I took it out tonight.
01:08:17
RICK JAMES
You took it out?
01:08:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
I took it out.
01:08:17
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:08:18
RICK JAMES
Oh man.
01:08:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
right there
01:08:19
RICK JAMES
Oh, Shannenberger, you locked out.
01:08:22
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:08:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
I took it out. I had a new one I put in.
01:08:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hold on.
01:08:26
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
01:08:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
You'll know what this is about.
01:08:28
RICK JAMES
Well.
01:08:32
RICK JAMES
I'll leave this in one hand.
01:08:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
The inside one. Oh, man. ah So do you guys, speaking of the storm prep and stuff, do are you guys using any snow management software?
01:08:47
Jeremy Johnson
So we actually have an internal IT t department that has, they, we have some developers that have developed our coding software, our scheduling software.
01:08:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
I figured that. You're doing your own thing.
01:08:59
Jeremy Johnson
So it's all kind of our own internal um programs that we use.
01:09:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:09:04
Jeremy Johnson
um It's a blessing and a curse at times, but that that's how we handle all of that.
01:09:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got nobody to yell at when something happens, when something goes wrong. got to yell at yourselves.
01:09:13
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, no, well, we got someone to yell at.
01:09:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah Exactly.
01:09:15
Jeremy Johnson
Unfortunately, they work downstairs instead of...
01:09:17
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
01:09:17
RICK JAMES
ah
01:09:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
01:09:19
Joe Newport
Thank
01:09:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh man Oh, absolutely.
01:09:21
Jeremy Johnson
they do They do a really good job for...
01:09:21
RICK JAMES
Yes.
01:09:23
Jeremy Johnson
I mean, i can't fathom. I've been in... So over the years, I've kind of helped them in the development part of um some of that software.
01:09:33
Jeremy Johnson
And it's amazing what it takes to to do what they're doing. The coding that they're doing is...
01:09:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:09:39
Jeremy Johnson
It like we had some people that sat next to the next to that group for a while. and They're like, I think they're building the Mars Rover over there. i don't know what they're doing. It's like, oh, that's according to OK, that's who knew.
01:09:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's ah It's insane what the tech guys can do.
01:09:52
RICK JAMES
how
01:09:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's crazy.
01:09:55
RICK JAMES
and how's How's employment over there? I mean, how's your health? Is it hard to get guys for the, you get a lot of seasonal guys or you just use a lot of your full timers or how do you guys do it?
Adapting Post-COVID and Team Support
01:10:05
Jeremy Johnson
Mostly we use our full timers. We do recruit, we haven't lately. So during COVID, yeah.
01:10:11
Joe Newport
See, it's been less the last couple of years.
01:10:14
Jeremy Johnson
So during COVID, we really struggled to find help. And what we found is we had really good service partners who, and so we've kind of grown that angle. We'll still recruit some, you know, operators and some sidewalks for, there are certain sites, there's a certain level of services site that we kind of handle internally with our own staff.
01:10:33
Jeremy Johnson
um And so we do we do staff those up and it is tough. It's tough to find anyone, but we haven't really needed to to do as much of that the last few years.
01:10:46
Joe Newport
Yeah, we've actually made a couple of really good full-time hires from snow help too.
01:10:46
Jeremy Johnson
We also...
01:10:51
Joe Newport
Like we've had them come in for snow help just seasonally. And but we've been able to retain a couple of really good people from that too, because, you know, again, it's all culture. So they're there and they're like, man, my so my summer job sucks compared to this.
01:11:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:11:01
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:11:03
Joe Newport
I'm going to stay here. And, you know, we find a home for them ah in long-term. I've had ah've had a few people that way.
01:11:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's great.
01:11:10
Jeremy Johnson
That's actually how I started.
01:11:11
RICK JAMES
years later.
01:11:11
Jeremy Johnson
I started as a seasonal, I showed up one night and almost quit the the first night. ah
01:11:17
RICK JAMES
right.
01:11:18
Jeremy Johnson
i made through that i made it through that season.
01:11:19
Joe Newport
Well, yeah, because wasn't the story that your feet were frozen because you showed up in tennis shoes or something?
01:11:24
Jeremy Johnson
No, that's Matt Remy.
01:11:25
Joe Newport
Oh, yeah, that's Matt.
01:11:25
Jeremy Johnson
That's Matt Remy.
01:11:26
Joe Newport
That's right.
01:11:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
01:11:26
Joe Newport
That's right.
01:11:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Right under the bus.
01:11:27
Jeremy Johnson
No, I did.
01:11:28
Joe Newport
ha, ha, ha.
01:11:28
RICK JAMES
and
01:11:28
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
That's great.
01:11:29
Jeremy Johnson
I almost got hit by an icicle. i almost got hit by like a 10 foot icicle on that first night.
01:11:31
Joe Newport
Oh.
01:11:33
Jeremy Johnson
And I was like, I don't know if this is for me.
01:11:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
01:11:35
Jeremy Johnson
ah
01:11:35
RICK JAMES
hu
01:11:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
01:11:36
Jeremy Johnson
It was like a two foot wizard.
01:11:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that would have done damage.
01:11:37
Jeremy Johnson
I'm shoveling these stairs. I'm the only one out there. I'm like, what is, what am I doing here? and And yeah.
01:11:42
RICK JAMES
yeah Why?
01:11:43
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:11:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
01:11:44
Joe Newport
Still ask that every day, don't you, though?
01:11:44
RICK JAMES
am I here?
01:11:44
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
01:11:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, we always ask that.
01:11:47
Joe Newport
Ha, ha, ha.
01:11:48
RICK JAMES
What are we, why are we this dumb?
01:11:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
so Yeah, why are we doing this?
01:11:50
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:11:50
Joe Newport
Yep.
01:11:51
Joe Newport
yep
01:11:51
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:11:52
Jeremy Johnson
ah
01:11:52
RICK JAMES
and
01:11:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Huh?
01:11:53
RICK JAMES
So you got, a you guys get some big storms there too, I would assume, like we do out here North Dakota. How do you guys keep your morale up like at 3 a.m. in the morning, keep the guys going? Anything you guys, especially you guys do to your guys or just ball breaking or what?
01:12:08
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, kind of that. A lot of it. So, so we really empower our, our route managers to make things as simple as possible for their crews. So we have about a dozen what we call route managers. They're basically area managers in charge of quality control. And they each have an assistant route manager to to kind of help them out.
01:12:28
Jeremy Johnson
And they all have crews underneath them. And so we like to let them have the power to like, yeah, if you need to Buy someone breakfast. If we're a long event, take someone to dinner. If they need a hotel, grab, them you know, whatever, whatever you can do to kind of keep everybody happy and around and, and going is kind of what you got to do.
01:12:39
RICK JAMES
No.
01:12:45
Jeremy Johnson
It's not like a set thing necessarily, but ah we, let we kind let our route managers handle that.
01:12:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
and sane
01:12:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
and that's awesome that's really cool so you guys have a lot of competition for snow in your area wisconsin's got to have a ton of companies if so how do you how do you guys like how do you separate yourselves i mean obviously you got the longevity reputation name that that's gonna help yeah
01:12:52
RICK JAMES
nice
01:13:00
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. Yeah. There's a,
01:13:08
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, name name reputation is a lot of it. um We also, like like I said, we have these year-round relationships. There's a um an insurance company in town that we've been the only contractor to cut it.
01:13:24
Jeremy Johnson
In the 70s, we did their landscape and we started maintaining it and we started plowing and we've been the only one on it ever since. So that's sort of...
01:13:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
01:13:34
Jeremy Johnson
defend our territory kind of thing. Like if if you're doing a good job and you're fair with pricing, like obviously everybody goes to bid occasionally to check your pricing and stuff like that. But um that that's sort of what we do is we try to just build long term relationships.
01:13:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
01:13:48
Jeremy Johnson
um And, you know, we're also trying to build relationships. So through a lot of the salt wise stuff, we're trying to build relationships with the other contractors who we are competitive with because
01:13:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:14:00
Jeremy Johnson
we think kind of like a rising tide raises all boats. Right. So like if, if we can get them on board to do, to do Brian and to have the right level of service and to understand their pricing.
01:14:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:14:04
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:14:07
RICK JAMES
you
01:14:11
Jeremy Johnson
And, i honestly, earlier this summer, I went out to, there's, there's an up and coming company in town here that, uh, it's two young brothers and are that are, that are, running this landscape company.
01:14:21
RICK JAMES
okay
01:14:25
Jeremy Johnson
I went out and just kind of hung out with them and said like, Hey, here's, They had questions about salt about salt reduction and how it might work for them. It's like, I'm happy to to go out and talk to anybody about about that kind of stuff and ah try to make sure we're all doing doing well.
01:14:40
Jeremy Johnson
Because, yeah, you can be competitive and and try to help each other out too.
01:14:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:14:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
So i got I got one for you. A company your guys' size, and and all three you guys, you know, you could have you could have your own takes on this, so I'd like to hear from all three on it. What do you guys see as the biggest issues facing your company right now in snow management?
01:15:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
What are the biggest problems out there in the industry for you guys?
01:15:06
Jeremy Johnson
For me, I'll so i'll start. ah ah So for me, I've been trying to deal with this problem of like liquid logistics and how do you go to direct liquid application at this size and
01:15:07
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Bye.
01:15:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:15:16
Jeremy Johnson
and have ah the ability to put down enough liquid in enough, spot you know, have your storage in enough places. That's for me, that's the one thing that I've been grappling with. I think labor is obviously one too.
01:15:28
Jeremy Johnson
But for me, it's like really trying to figure out the logistics of how, when you're spread out, I mean, our footprint isn't huge, but it's not easy to get around Madison. It's just built weird.
01:15:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure Yeah it is
01:15:38
Jeremy Johnson
um And so like, how do you, how do you make sure that, Because filling loading up a salt truck and hitting, you know, 20 sites is easy, but with liquids, it's not as easy.
01:15:52
Jeremy Johnson
So for me, that's that's my big one that I'm trying to figure out.
01:15:52
RICK JAMES
All right.
01:15:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha What about you Joe
01:15:57
Joe Newport
ah For me, it's it's ah trained, knowledgeable, and willing individuals. um I deal with that in my staff in the shop as well, and I've done really well at taking some individuals who have the willingness.
01:16:13
Joe Newport
And, you know, I would say if you have the willingness and and a good attitude, I can show you how to do anything.
01:16:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:16:19
Joe Newport
but um And I think some of this goes back to, and I don't want to get on too tall of a soapbox here, but it's it's in the schools at the school level.
01:16:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%.
01:16:19
RICK JAMES
right
01:16:28
Joe Newport
um you know they they took shop class out of everything and that's where you kind of learn like how to all right this thing doesn't run well how is it supposed to work like that's my first question is if it doesn't work how is it supposed to work and no one's asking that question anymore because they just google it or they chat gpt it and chat gpt can't show you how to run a piece of equipment it can't show you how to how to do that so it's it's difficult to to get people who are willing to learn who who
01:16:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah never percent
01:16:32
RICK JAMES
Yep. yep
01:16:51
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Thank you.
01:16:56
Joe Newport
often don't realize that there's an entire career, a very, ah very bountiful career in this industry. and And we're a mix of industries as the Bruce company has, as you can see, we do so much different stuff.
Employee Development and Risk Management
01:17:08
Joe Newport
And,
01:17:09
RICK JAMES
Great.
01:17:09
Joe Newport
How great is it that you could show somebody they could work for a company that, you know, oh, I'm so sick of digging ponds. I can't dig another pond. All right, well, why don't you go over and work at hardscapes and why don't you some?
01:17:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:17:20
Joe Newport
It's like, oh, oh, that's great.
01:17:21
RICK JAMES
right
01:17:22
Joe Newport
I can do that. and And what if there were more companies like that where you could do that and you could cross train? And that's something that we do huge. So for me, the biggest problem is is finding these individuals, because when we do find them,
01:17:34
Joe Newport
It's great. And we bring them in, we take them under the wing and and we get them in and everybody's successful. But to find the individuals who want to do i mean, I've had an ad out for a tech for six months and yeah it's it's tough.
01:17:48
Joe Newport
It's tough to get those people in. We do a really good job at retaining them. ah that's That's the second hoop you got to jump through is once you get them, you got to retain them. But
01:17:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
01:17:56
RICK JAMES
Right. right
01:17:57
Joe Newport
You know, so that that to me is a huge challenge. I mean, that's a global challenge, I guess. But for our industry where you need to be hands on, you need to not be afraid of equipment. um You need to understand that you're going to get dirty. All those things is we' it's a waning few that still want to do it.
01:18:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, you're definitely right about that. And it's getting less and less. And it seems like the kids today, too, like they're not forced to do any manual labor like the parents.
01:18:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Both parents are usually work and they have they have the guy, you know, they have the lawn guy.
01:18:32
Joe Newport
yeah
01:18:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
They have the the driveway guy. Kids are not shoveling anymore. Kids are not mowing the lawn at 10, 11 years old. Like when when I was a kid and I'm sure when you guys were kids, they're not doing it.
01:18:40
Joe Newport
oh
01:18:43
Joe Newport
You know who my dad's guy was?
01:18:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're.
01:18:45
Joe Newport
It was him.
01:18:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Exactly.
01:18:46
Joe Newport
He was the guy.
01:18:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:18:47
RICK JAMES
see
01:18:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Exactly.
01:18:47
Joe Newport
So I do everything kind of the same way.
01:18:48
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:18:50
Joe Newport
It's like, I'm i'm the guy, so we got to figure out how to do it. And i've I've screwed up a bunch of stuff, and I've learned a bunch of stuff.
01:18:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. I mean, but that's how it was when I was a kid. From the time I was 10 years old, I was out there with a push mower mowing the lawn. That was one of my weekly chores, and that's what I had to do.
01:19:05
Joe Newport
Heck yeah.
01:19:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
But kids today don't do that. You know, my kid doesn't do that. my My kid wants to know, when is our crew coming to mow the lawn? Because it's getting a little high, you know, out here to play baseball on the lawn.
01:19:18
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:19:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
and like Yeah.
01:19:18
Joe Newport
My baseball doesn't roll far enough, right?
01:19:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Exactly.
01:19:21
RICK JAMES
The fifth.
01:19:21
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:19:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like you just want to backhand them across the room, but, but he will do it. You know, that's the thing. he He actually thinks it's fun, but yeah, a lot of kids, they, like you said, they have no exposure to tools.
01:19:30
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:19:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
They have no exposure to banging nails. Shop classes are not in the schools anymore. And you're right. I don't think people realize how big a deal those kinds of classes are.
01:19:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
and and were in the schools. They still have BOCES programs around here, you know, for like you can go for mechanic and stuff. If high school's not for you and you want to go as an auto mechanic, that you can go to BOCES and finish out there.
01:20:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, yeah, it's important, and it's not getting done enough, and we're losing. Like, look at all the trades. All the trades are, like, starving for people.
01:20:06
RICK JAMES
Guys nowadays don't even know how to guysday don't even know how to unplug a toilet.
01:20:08
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Well, they're doing better though.
01:20:11
RICK JAMES
They don't even know how to use a plunger.
01:20:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:20:13
RICK JAMES
I'm serious.
01:20:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:20:13
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:20:14
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
there There was just an article in NELP about the landscape, you know, um about, I think the trades were up 15, 18% and landscaping, you know, as a trade just has not caught on like that. And I think that was the challenge that they called the call to action of how can we get people to realize that landscaping and snow removal is is a career path.
01:20:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, is it as profitable a career path as electrician or HVAC or stuff? No.
01:20:43
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
01:20:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
like I mean, I know HVAC guys that are making $2,000 a day, you know, profit, like, for their work.
01:20:44
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
yeah
01:20:47
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah. yeah yeah yeah
01:20:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know anybody mowing lawns that's making $2,000 a day after expenses.
01:20:53
RICK JAMES
Ha ha.
01:20:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
And if if there is a guy out there doing that, then call us because you're the guy we want to talk to.
01:20:59
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah. Well, i irrigation is closer to a trade, but yeah.
01:21:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Irrigation's got money. Absolutely.
01:21:04
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah. Yeah.
01:21:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's got That's got money in it. Yeah. No, but that's cool. um What about you, Eric? what are you What are your biggest problems with the snow industry?
01:21:14
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
um I guess probably risk management and liability, just, you know, working through contracts, language, working from discovery questions through documentation.
01:21:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:21:26
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
um I've been involved in several slip and fall, like experts being an expert witness and just understanding that whole, the closing the loop on the whole thing and just understanding um and then trying to be aware of I think it's really easy to understand what needs to be done, but then to execute it throughout the throughout the the process of an event or a sequence is is is what we challenge, you know the challenge.
01:21:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Cool.
01:21:54
RICK JAMES
I'm going to five and five.
01:21:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Rick, what else you got for these guys? Sure.
01:21:58
RICK JAMES
Where do you guys see the Bruce company, which is a great company in the next five years?
01:21:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hit it off.
01:22:04
RICK JAMES
I'm guessing it's going to be the same old Bruce company. Just keep climbing.
01:22:09
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah. ah So, so we're, our biggest goal is just to continue to grow our services when it makes sense ah with customers that we have. So trying to, you know, do these commercial builds, grow year round relationships with, with our customers. And yeah, it's actually a requirement in the last five years. We've,
01:22:29
Jeremy Johnson
gone to a requirement that we will not give you, we will not give you a snow contract to sign until you are a maintenance customer of ours. Um, we won't quote it unless you're a maintenance customer.
01:22:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
smart.
01:22:38
RICK JAMES
Oh.
01:22:40
Jeremy Johnson
Um, and, uh, so, yeah, just, just really growing these deep relationships with, with customers and continuing. We are looking to grow, but we're trying to do it, um,
01:22:51
Jeremy Johnson
smart and not trying to tip bite off more than we can chew and just making sure that that everyone involved is we're able to provide the level of service that we've been providing so so
01:23:02
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, and and I would say, too, I think a big initiative is getting making it to 100 years.
Long-Term Vision and Industry Reflections
01:23:08
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
So we're at 73, and that that's the current management is, you know, the planning to get to 100 years and be successful and so sustainable growth.
01:23:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
That'd be awesome.
01:23:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're definitely, I believe they are definitely the oldest company we've talked to yet, right?
01:23:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:23:25
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:23:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Rick?
01:23:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:23:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think they have that, definitely, that title.
01:23:26
RICK JAMES
Yep. Oh, yeah, they're in the Arctic.
01:23:28
Jeremy Johnson
it I actually talked to bliss today. I called bliss, uh, who is our current owner and, and asked him about like, what why did snow removal, how did it start here? Cause I didn't know.
01:23:39
Jeremy Johnson
And, uh, and he's like, yeah, in the sixties, the city called and like wanted fire hydrants cleared out. So they started out clearing fire hydrants and then, uh, and then turned into some residential stuff, but he was talking about like,
01:23:51
Jeremy Johnson
It's like, yeah, all the trucks were manual and we were driving around these Bobcat. They didn't have. So we put canvas canvas shields on, but we didn't have cover. We didn't have any tops. So like, you know, it was miserable. And was like, holy, it's like a whole nother.
01:24:05
Jeremy Johnson
He's like, yeah, I see you guys leaving. And it's like luxury. Like, why wouldn't you want to plow? Yeah.
01:24:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
01:24:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
uh you know oh man so has there been something that stands out to you guys um in the last five years as being a key decision to get to you to where you are now this this question usually makes more sense when the company's not 70 years old but you know
01:24:28
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:24:28
RICK JAMES
Right.
01:24:28
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:24:29
Jeremy Johnson
No, it...
01:24:30
Joe Newport
Well, the the thing that I can kind of chime in on here is it, um and i don't know, I got to decide how deep in I want to go on this, but it is it has been a dedication to improving our fleet.
01:24:43
Joe Newport
And I have been, you know, I don't want to say integral, but I've been a huge part of of helping facilitate improving our fleet.
01:24:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:24:51
Joe Newport
And that means pickup trucks with new plows um and and, you know, regoing or going through all the pickup trucks that we had to make them right, the ones that we couldn't replacing.
01:25:02
Joe Newport
Same thing with our skid loaders. um Also making sure that we have, you know, those the John Deere front deck machines with the right attachments. And every year, you know, we're going through and I work, you know, really closely with our CFO and ah we know we have a whole snow committee team and all of the different operations team to make sure that, you know, what we're doing, here's here's what we're going to need to do. Do we have the finances to do it? If we don't, is there a plan B where we can still get, you know halfway there?
01:25:30
Joe Newport
And because without without the right equipment, you're you're asking a lot of your ah your employees. And that is, you know, the the Bruce company, we have the Bruce company triangle, and it is these these three points, and and this is what hits home, and and this is what's been the foundation for all of it.
01:25:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:25:48
Joe Newport
And one of the points is building an outstanding employee environment, which they do, you know, yeah the culture speaks for itself. So we want to maintain that every decision we make has to be, it has to keep that in mind. The other one is just, you know, financial sustainability. So what we're doing is, you know, is it, is it the right decision financially? So we're not going too far one way or the other.
01:26:11
Joe Newport
um And the other one is outstanding customer service. So if you don't have all three of those things, you're not you're not doing something right You need to change the action that you're about to take because it's it's not going to give you long-term results.
01:26:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:26:23
Joe Newport
And um I think that is is probably one of the the biggest foundations for where we've come. I've been you know here six years and where we've come from, even just from then to now,
01:26:36
Joe Newport
It's that focus on all three of those things to make sure that we keep progressing on in the right way so that we don't have too many eggs in one basket. um We have seen unprecedented things through COVID and had to pivot for those things and then had to pivot after when I was traveling all over the country to buy trucks, to buy attachments, to buy equipment, to get good deals on things.
01:26:58
Joe Newport
who had it. And, you know, to see that industry flip from like, when I started purchasing things, I could turn the screws to them and say, I want it for less, or I'm not buying it to then all of a sudden they're like, I don't care how much you're going to pay for it. I don't have it. I can't get it.
01:27:11
Joe Newport
um
01:27:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:27:12
Joe Newport
It's like, well, hold on.
01:27:12
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:27:13
Joe Newport
I got to change my whole negotiation skills here. um But yeah, keep keeping our, our fleet ah in good working order and always progressing towards being even better to me is paramount and making sure you're ready for the snow.
01:27:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. Absolutely. Anything else?
01:27:35
RICK JAMES
Um, yeah, I got one. I can ask each of guys one question.
01:27:37
Joe Newport
challenging.
01:27:38
RICK JAMES
Uh, describe the snow industry in one word. Each of you.
01:27:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh. ah
01:27:45
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
and
01:27:45
Jeremy Johnson
chaotic.
01:27:46
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Wow.
01:27:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
i
01:27:47
RICK JAMES
Chaotic. Yep.
01:27:49
Joe Newport
challenging
01:27:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah stuff like yeah Yeah, definitely all of them.
01:27:52
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
I'd say exciting.
01:27:54
RICK JAMES
Exciting. Yeah. I'd say all them. Yeah, for sure.
01:27:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. Frustrating.
01:28:00
RICK JAMES
Circus.
01:28:02
RICK JAMES
Circus.
01:28:02
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:28:03
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:28:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man.
01:28:05
RICK JAMES
Uh,
01:28:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. You guys have, ah before we let you go, you got anything else you want to add? You got any funny plowing stories you want to tell us from leaving?
01:28:14
Joe Newport
Yeah, I got one for you.
01:28:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
01:28:17
Joe Newport
So Jodier Front Deck doing a very long sidewalk, and the sidewalk is recently put in. It's got, you know, the usual city apron on the one side, the other side's got a whole bunch of grass before it gets up to a building.
01:28:31
Joe Newport
So there's plow stakes along the way, marking the sidewalk, as you would do, pretty standard.
01:28:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:28:37
RICK JAMES
Plow right? Plow stakes, right?
01:28:39
Joe Newport
And, well, sure, yeah.
01:28:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:28:42
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:28:43
Joe Newport
um Well, the machine comes back because it has the drive shaft for the attachment blown out of it.
01:28:45
RICK JAMES
That's for Matt.
01:28:51
Joe Newport
Like it just grenaded the shaft on the splines. So we bring it in and, all right, quick, grab another shaft. We grab it on another machine, put it in there, and you go to turn it, and it just it just locks up tight.
01:29:05
Joe Newport
Well, then we start to look at the at the brushes on it, and we're like, what is all that in there? It had every snow stake from the entire site in the brushes.
01:29:14
RICK JAMES
thats
01:29:14
Joe Newport
Because he thought they were like Pac-Man.
01:29:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
01:29:18
Joe Newport
Like you you eat the dots as you plow.
01:29:19
RICK JAMES
so
01:29:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Come on
01:29:21
RICK JAMES
that
01:29:22
Joe Newport
So i'm not I'm not kidding.
01:29:23
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
01:29:23
Joe Newport
We pulled 25 plow stakes out of that thing.
01:29:24
Jeremy Johnson
but
01:29:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Come
01:29:28
Joe Newport
And it was like, yeah just by the time you thought you were done, there was another one. And... So we ended up having to blow the whole machine apart to get all the politics out of it.
01:29:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
on!
01:29:37
Joe Newport
And it was like, oh, it's not like Pac-Man. you're yeah I'm not supposed to hit those.
01:29:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:29:41
Joe Newport
I thought it was but was kind of funny that it was half on the grass.
01:29:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
01:29:41
Jeremy Johnson
but
01:29:44
Joe Newport
I'm like, yeah, dude. I don't know how you got it to go through there.
01:29:46
RICK JAMES
really funny. Really funny for you, i bet.
01:29:47
Jeremy Johnson
the
01:29:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, geez.
01:29:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:29:48
Jeremy Johnson
Oh my gosh.
01:29:49
RICK JAMES
ah
01:29:50
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:29:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's definitely funny.
01:29:52
RICK JAMES
That's a good one.
01:29:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
haven't heard that one before.
01:29:53
RICK JAMES
That's a good one.
01:29:53
Joe Newport
Yeah. we I mean, in the shop where you repair everything, you see everything like, how did this, how did we even get here? How did this happen? All the time. All the time.
01:30:01
RICK JAMES
you know yeah.
01:30:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure.
01:30:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:30:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm sure.
01:30:02
RICK JAMES
you know
01:30:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
01:30:04
Jeremy Johnson
I had a, I had a time I was plowing, about eight years ago. I was plowing the site downtown kind of around bar time near, uh, not really around any bars though.
01:30:15
Jeremy Johnson
And a, and probably college age girl is near campus. She comes walking through no coat, like dress, like she just came out of the bar or whatever.
01:30:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:30:24
Jeremy Johnson
and it was like, it's cold. I'm like, Oh, that's kind of weird. And she's kind of stumbling around and she starts walking towards me and I'm running the skid steer and like, this is kind of weird. So shut everything down I thought, I guess I thought I shut everything down.
01:30:36
Jeremy Johnson
Um, And kind of come up to her and she walks, she steps in her high heels, steps into the snow bucket and just eats it. Right. You know, she falls.
01:30:45
Joe Newport
Oh,
01:30:45
Jeremy Johnson
it I couldn't see her anymore.
01:30:46
RICK JAMES
Oh.
01:30:46
Jeremy Johnson
She's in the bucket. I'm like, like, oh, shoot.
01:30:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
just
01:30:50
Jeremy Johnson
So I jump. So i I don't turn the machine off. I just I jump out of the machine, check check on her.
01:30:54
RICK JAMES
Got one.
01:30:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
01:30:56
Jeremy Johnson
She jumps into the machine. she She gets up and gets into the machine and she puts the roll bar down.
01:30:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
what
01:31:02
Jeremy Johnson
She didn't know. And she throttled it up. I don't know. and and And we're on like ah yeah i'm like, does she know how to run that?
01:31:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh she's an operator in heels yeah
01:31:10
Jeremy Johnson
Like, is she going to steal this from me?
01:31:11
RICK JAMES
You're hired. I'd hire her.
01:31:13
Jeremy Johnson
I'm like, what is happening? And so I tried to like, I was yelling to her and like, hey, stop, stop. And she wouldn't listen. And I'm like, well, I had to call. I just called the cops. like, I don't know. have to call the cops. And they they are they're like, so they came and they got her. They pulled her out of there.
01:31:28
Jeremy Johnson
ah Luckily, she never she never hit the ah the green button, but if she would have done that, she was about six inches away from a big glass building, and and it might have been might have been way worse, but that was one of the craziest things that's ever happened to me.
01:31:29
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
but
01:31:39
RICK JAMES
What better story.
01:31:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
That would have been a much better story, though.
01:31:43
Joe Newport
and there I want to ride the roller coaster. Put the bar down.
01:31:46
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:31:47
RICK JAMES
then
01:31:47
Joe Newport
oh man.
01:31:47
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:31:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Oh, my God.
01:31:48
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:31:48
Jeremy Johnson
oh
01:31:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Drunk girls. Yeah. Those are always funny stories. Jeremy, don't you, like, have to drive them home all the time? You find them wandering through the parking lot with, like, T-shirt and shorts on and 10 below?
01:31:58
RICK JAMES
Usually, yeah. Yeah.
01:32:02
RICK JAMES
Yep. You know me.
01:32:03
RICK JAMES
I'll pick them all up. Just a nice guy.
01:32:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
01:32:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Usually around Walmart, three in the morning.
01:32:08
RICK JAMES
Gets me in. Oh, yeah.
01:32:10
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
01:32:11
RICK JAMES
it's I have too many stories about all that crap.
01:32:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:32:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:32:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Eric, any funny plowing stories for you?
01:32:14
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:32:17
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, I don't know. I guess I don't have any ones that are coming off the top of my head right now.
01:32:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all right. No problem.
01:32:24
RICK JAMES
All got to say is if you guys don't make the storm chasing this year, I blame it on Arctic Steve for being in your video.
01:32:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
What?
01:32:30
RICK JAMES
so
01:32:32
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, what it but a cameo.
01:32:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:32:33
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, we couldn't I couldn't believe we we caught him.
01:32:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:32:36
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:32:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. Well, yeah, that's definitely why.
01:32:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah,
01:32:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
if If you don't make it, it's definitely the Arctic Steve curse.
01:32:43
RICK JAMES
I would. Yep.
01:32:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, there's always next year, too, though.
01:32:49
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:32:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
We ain't slowing down.
01:32:51
RICK JAMES
Nope.
01:32:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, you boys got anything else for us before we let you go? This has been awesome. You guys are you guys are great company. We love talking to you. We definitely might have you guys back on and do something. And like I said, if you can get Wayne to come on,
01:33:03
Joe Newport
I was just going to say, I'm going to steal Wayne's phone and put your podcast on his favorite so he can listen.
01:33:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, definitely do that.
01:33:09
Jeremy Johnson
Yes. No.
01:33:09
RICK JAMES
There you go.
01:33:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let him hear us. Let him hear that this is like totally just chill and just talking snow. It's not some big stuffy suit and tie, you know, pre-recorded, pre-rehearsed shit. This is right off the cuff.
01:33:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
We just want to hear his story, man.
01:33:24
RICK JAMES
Nothing's scripted.
01:33:26
Jeremy Johnson
and
01:33:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
45 years in snow. Like, yeah, that we need to talk to that dude. He's got some stories.
01:33:30
RICK JAMES
Well, hopefully they win storm chasing and we get to go out there and see them. All right.
01:33:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:33:33
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, if you come here and you're in a, yeah, you'll definitely meet him then. He won't have he won't have a choice.
01:33:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, I...
01:33:38
Jeremy Johnson
i don't know if he knows that that's what that's all about yet. but
01:33:41
RICK JAMES
ah camera out
01:33:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's going to have he's gonna have a camera glued to him.
01:33:43
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:33:44
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, he knows. I office next to him, so he knows.
01:33:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
but yeah
01:33:45
Jeremy Johnson
Oh, does he?
01:33:46
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:33:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's not happy about it.
01:33:48
Jeremy Johnson
Okay.
01:33:48
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, no, he keeps asking me, why do you keep doing this shit, Eric?
01:33:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
These bastards.
01:33:49
RICK JAMES
of it.
01:33:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:33:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:33:52
Joe Newport
Well, he,
01:33:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's the one that told J. He's the one that told the told Triple J to offer World Series tickets.
01:33:59
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah, he prays.
01:33:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
you Listen, get us out of this.
01:33:59
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:34:00
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, yeah.
01:34:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm not doing this.
01:34:01
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
You probably paid for him.
01:34:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Yeah, exactly.
01:34:03
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:34:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. yeah
01:34:06
Jeremy Johnson
Oh
01:34:06
RICK JAMES
ah
01:34:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, yeah, tell Wayne in all seriousness. We would love to have him on 45 Years in Snow. I will definitely hear that story.
01:34:13
Joe Newport
Yeah, he lives down the street from me.
01:34:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%.
01:34:15
Joe Newport
I'll just set up a podcast. I'll just go knock on the door and say, hey, you're doing this.
01:34:18
Jeremy Johnson
yeah.
01:34:18
Joe Newport
Yeah.
01:34:18
RICK JAMES
There you go.
01:34:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
01:34:19
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:34:19
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:34:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's super chill. does he Does he like – does he have a favorite beverage?
01:34:22
RICK JAMES
Give them a couple. them some, what, spotted cows? Is that what you guys drink there?
01:34:25
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, right?
01:34:26
RICK JAMES
Spotted cows?
01:34:27
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:34:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:34:27
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah.
01:34:27
RICK JAMES
Bring a piece of those and sit down and go.
01:34:27
Joe Newport
yeah
01:34:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. Ha, ha, ha. Well, we appreciate the time, guys. We've loved talking to you. You got anything else for us before we let you go?
01:34:36
RICK JAMES
Thank you so much.
01:34:38
Jeremy Johnson
No, ill just appreciate everything that you guys that you guys do too. It's ah it's been kind cool following the podcast and and finally getting to be on it and ah going to some of these events that you guys are are involved with too.
01:34:52
Jeremy Johnson
It's all really good for the industry. We appreciate it.
01:34:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's no problem.
01:34:55
RICK JAMES
Thank you guys.
01:34:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Our pleasure.
01:34:56
Joe Newport
We should do a year-end wrap-up one and see how our views change from then.
01:34:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Our pleasure.
01:35:01
Jeremy Johnson
yeah
01:35:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
absolutely but do we'll have you back on absolutely so yeah but work on wayne definitely work on wayne and uh and allison if if allison's listening and reach out because we want to talk to you too ah that was what i was thinking i was thinking put wayne and randy was it 45 years and 40 years wow that's pretty crazy
01:35:01
RICK JAMES
There you go. yeah
01:35:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. Always.
01:35:13
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Yeah, we'll get Allison.
01:35:15
RICK JAMES
Get Wayne and Randy on a show. We'll just let her go. Yeah. Something like that.
01:35:23
Jeremy Johnson
Actually, Wayne, so he's been with the Bruce company for 45, but he he was telling me today but back in the day, there was a wait list. Like, they had more people that wanted to do snow back then than they had sites to do.
01:35:36
Jeremy Johnson
So he had to wait like a few years to get ah get into it because they were just like, that's just sort of how it operated and everybody wanted to work.
01:35:38
RICK JAMES
Oh wow.
01:35:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
01:35:39
Joe Newport
Wow.
01:35:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
See, we need to hear this. Like, this is why we need Wayne on.
01:35:45
RICK JAMES
Where those days?
01:35:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
We need to have him on.
01:35:46
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:35:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:35:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
The Wayne might hour.
01:35:48
RICK JAMES
Thanks.
01:35:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
We will make that happen. like Let's do it.
01:35:51
Erik Dyba - CSP, ASM
Oh, that's awesome.
01:35:52
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:35:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
01:35:52
Joe Newport
He's a celebrity already.
01:35:52
RICK JAMES
you yeah
01:35:54
Jeremy Johnson
Yeah.
01:35:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh Oh, guys, thank you so much, man.
01:35:57
RICK JAMES
thanks
01:35:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
we We loved having you guys. We loved hearing about the Bruce company. We wish you guys all the best in the future. And we'll ah we'll wrap it there. So, guys, that's going to do it for this episode. One, four, two, one forty two of the Snow Jobs podcast main show.
01:36:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
We want to thank the boys for the time. All the best, as we said, to the Bruce company in the future. I don't think they're to any problem making it to 100 years. ah Twenty. What are they? Twenty seven to go.
01:36:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that that's going to be a drop in the bucket compared to 73 already done. So yeah congratulations on that. It sounds like an awesome company. It's staggering how long the the employees have been with that company. The culture must be fantastic. So we appreciate the time.
01:36:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Everybody, that is it. Hope everybody got home safe from equip. Everybody have a safe week. Have a great week and keep pushing.