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S2-78: Clippers Lawn and Landscape, Livonia Michigan
954 Plays3 months ago
The guys welcome Matt McIntosh to the show to talk to us about his family's lawn and snow business, which was started in 1989! Clippers has been a family business doing snow for 35 years and counting, and Matt tells us about their business and the ups and downs, and how to survive the tough times!
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Transcript
00:00:38
snowjobspodcast
All right, here we go. Snow Jobs Nation, Episode 78 of the Snow Jobs Podcast, powered by Top Gun Backblades is off and running. Starting us off with a little rev theory as always. I'm Steve. That's right. You know who's with me, main man, Snow Bully. Chuck Norris. Love Snow. What else? what What are your favorites, brother?
00:01:01
RICK JAMES
i doesn't matter
00:01:04
snowjobspodcast
Ah, the Rick James of Snow Management, Mr.
00:01:05
RICK JAMES
done
00:01:08
snowjobspodcast
Jeremy Ledstrom.
00:01:15
snowjobspodcast
What's up, brother?
00:01:16
RICK JAMES
Oh just another week out here just put some juice down and I don't know Making a date watching days. Goodbye dog days of summer, right?
00:01:24
snowjobspodcast
That's it, brother. Stop texting in the group and and let's do the episode. I see my phone banging away over there with the group.
00:01:29
RICK JAMES
I'm not texting Not texting you.
00:01:31
snowjobspodcast
Somebody with your name is!
00:01:33
RICK JAMES
but That was like five minutes ago.
00:01:33
snowjobspodcast
Oh shit. Oh alright, I haven't answered him. I put that i put the phone away. ah But anyway, yeah you're ah still cleaning up the yard? Moving all the artycs?
00:01:44
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, still working out there. It's not a home stretch. Maybe two more months I'll have her done.
00:01:51
snowjobspodcast
Nice. Well, there you go. It's good to have goals. As Jeremy mentioned, it is the dog days of summer, so Jeremy had a great idea, actually, to get guys thinking snow again. If you go to snowjobsnationstore.com and enter promo code THINKSNOW, it'll get you 20% off this week. All right. So what right up until I think Saturday night, you can get 20% off all items in the store. Get guys thinking snow again. All right. It's 90 degrees out. It sucks. We're all waiting for the winter to come. So, uh, get your snow jobs nation apparel and get 20% off this week. All right. Anything else, Jay?
00:02:27
RICK JAMES
No, that'd be good. Let's get this shit moving.
00:02:29
snowjobspodcast
That'd be good. He'll even throw in some stickers, some free stickers.
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
I'll throw stickers at him.
00:02:32
snowjobspodcast
So don't buy stickers. All right. Jeremy helped throw them in the box for free anyway.
00:02:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah, I will. I will. You gotta get these boxes out of here.
00:02:40
snowjobspodcast
Why do we have them listed for sale if you're just throwing them in every order anyway?
00:02:42
RICK JAMES
You wanted, you wanted to put them for sale? I didn't.
00:02:45
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I know, but it defeats the purpose if you're throwing them in the box for free.
00:02:48
RICK JAMES
No one's gonna buy a sticker.
00:02:52
snowjobspodcast
It's all good. Throw, give them away. Give them to the boys and girls. that's ah That's great. Yeah, I mean, shit, they're out there now. We saw enough cars running around with them at Sima, so that was good.
00:03:00
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:03:02
RICK JAMES
I've got my still has his on his Porsche.
00:03:04
snowjobspodcast
All 17 of them?
00:03:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:07
snowjobspodcast
ah so Oh, shit. I don't know. Well, so what are we doing today? We are heading up to Livonia, Michigan. All right. We're going to talk to Matt McIntosh of Clippers Lawn and Landscape. Matt's a great guy. He's been a huge supporter of what we've been doing with the show for a long time now, um almost since the beginning. And we want to hear all about Clippers and hear how they do what they do. All right, Jay, you got anything else before we, uh, we'll just roll with Top Gun and get back in the week. where We can review is a little bit of stuff. So.
00:03:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah, let's do that.
00:03:35
snowjobspodcast
All right. Let's hear from team Top Gun guys. We'll be right back with the weekend review.
00:04:10
snowjobspodcast
All right, guys, we're back. So, week in review. Do we have to announce any babies this week? No congratulations, right?
00:04:16
RICK JAMES
No, we sell some these onesies that we everybody wanted and no one's bought Slow down, I mean I gave them all who later our buddies before no one's about anything.
00:04:17
snowjobspodcast
No babies?
00:04:21
snowjobspodcast
That's what I was just telling Matt. I was just telling him that before we started. I'm like, we got these onesies and everybody was asking for them. And now, like, ah you know, it's kind of slowed down a little bit. There's more babies.
00:04:35
snowjobspodcast
Well, there were a lot of babies in the group, so.
00:04:37
RICK JAMES
I know I Think I would only have one Mitchell
00:04:38
snowjobspodcast
Oh man. Nope.
00:04:45
snowjobspodcast
Don't make me laugh. I will start coughing. Holy crap. Oh, that's so funny.
00:04:49
RICK JAMES
the
00:04:50
snowjobspodcast
Uh, yeah, though, the onesies are there. Get them 20% off this week, 20% off everything. So have a, have a ball guys go nuts. All right. Uh, but no, no other babies you heard of that we got to announce this week. Congratulations. No.
00:05:03
RICK JAMES
I'll try my way out
00:05:04
snowjobspodcast
All right, good. First week in a while. We don't have to say congratulations for babies. So last week, guys, we had the gang from curbside landscaping and irrigation. They're from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. um That was a great time. we We had a fantastic time talking to Al Justin and presidential press secretary, Matt. ah You could not get a straight answer on that, dude.
00:05:22
RICK JAMES
Yeah. No. He looks like his dad and I were just telling you how it is.
00:05:26
snowjobspodcast
No.
00:05:27
RICK JAMES
yeah I guess he opened up at the end about the...
00:05:29
snowjobspodcast
He did. We found his pressure point. we Yeah, we we found the fuse.
00:05:32
RICK JAMES
He likes national companies.
00:05:35
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, he likes the national brokers. Uh, yeah, we definitely found his fuse though at the end.
00:05:38
RICK JAMES
Nope.
00:05:40
snowjobspodcast
It took a little, I mean, that was like our six try, right? Five or six tries to get him to blow up.
00:05:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah, he's too worried.
00:05:45
snowjobspodcast
He didn't blow.
00:05:46
RICK JAMES
Nope. Nope. I wonder if they lost any contracts.
00:05:50
snowjobspodcast
I was worried about that. Oh, there goes some contracts. Uh, it was perfect. Well, yeah, no those guys were an absolute blast to talk to. It was, it was really, I enjoyed hearing about their culture. Like that's, uh, that's special.
00:06:02
RICK JAMES
No, that was good. Definitely a good company. Yeah.
00:06:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, managing that many dudes, man. I can't imagine it. What did they say? They swelled a 650 for big storms, 500 for normal.
00:06:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's what he was there saying.
00:06:13
snowjobspodcast
That is wild. But yeah, you said guys are driving like an hour, a half hour to an hour to get to them.
00:06:15
RICK JAMES
That's a lot.
00:06:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:06:19
snowjobspodcast
So they're obviously doing something right. Their culture is obviously, they take care of their people. That's why people are driving that far to get to them because it's Minnesota.
00:06:24
RICK JAMES
No.
00:06:27
snowjobspodcast
They can't be the only company around pushing snow.
00:06:30
RICK JAMES
no
00:06:30
snowjobspodcast
There's got to be somebody closer to these guys' houses, and and they're still driving a half hour to an hour to get the curbside, so good for them.
00:06:36
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:06:38
snowjobspodcast
And they're absolutely crushing it up there. it was also you know ah It was also really cool to hear yet again that no matter where we are in the country plowing snow, no matter how big or small our snow business is, ah we all have the same pain points. We all have the same bullshit. like It's just scale is the only difference.
00:06:54
RICK JAMES
yep 100% all
00:06:55
snowjobspodcast
So they were, they were complaining about a lot of the same issues we all face. So it's nice. It's a, it's comforting to hear like nobody's immune from it.
00:07:00
RICK JAMES
the same it's all the same, just different levels
00:07:04
snowjobspodcast
It is all the same shit, all the same shit.
00:07:06
RICK JAMES
It's mostly, everything's a big secret, there's no secrets. We'll put the white stuff in a pile and salt it up, but it's just different.
00:07:12
snowjobspodcast
Literally.
00:07:14
RICK JAMES
Everybody's got a little bit of a different way to do it, so whatever works for you, it works.
00:07:18
snowjobspodcast
Push that stuff till you make a big pile and repeat.
00:07:19
RICK JAMES
And just
00:07:22
snowjobspodcast
That's literally all it is. Take it away from the building and move it away.
00:07:24
RICK JAMES
charge correctly.
00:07:26
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
00:07:28
RICK JAMES
and everybody
00:07:28
snowjobspodcast
Charge correctly is the key. is the I'm sorry, the operation of plowing snow is not a big secret.
00:07:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:07:34
snowjobspodcast
But charging correctly seems to be a ah fucking Rubik's Cube for some guys.
00:07:39
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:07:39
snowjobspodcast
Like you still hear guys out there doing bargain basement and it's just unbelievable. I don't know how they're staying afloat. Like a lot of guys are hurting right now. You know, all the government money's gone. You know, all that, that free COVID money, that shit's drying up. I think a couple of guys had no snow. with I think you're going to see some guys fold and going into this winter.
00:07:56
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah definitely i know there's a few guys that i've heard of so not good but whatever yep
00:08:01
snowjobspodcast
Yup.
00:08:04
snowjobspodcast
It happens. Go listen to Jordan Smith's enduring how to build an enduring snow business episodes. Those, uh, those will help you get there.
00:08:11
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm
00:08:12
snowjobspodcast
But we want to thank Al, Justin, and Matt for giving us the time. And, uh, we're going to see them in a couple months for storm chasing. Hopefully if Minnesota doesn't get the Fargo snow drought this year, they got the one big one.
00:08:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah, ah definitely they had it last year. I don't know but they said they got 30 inches but they got that big storm at the end we didn't get but it still wasn't a big storm that they were saying it was gonna be so I
00:08:31
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:08:35
snowjobspodcast
No, they were like, I think they were calling for like mid twenties for them. And I think they ended up getting like a foot, maybe 14 somewhere in there.
00:08:41
RICK JAMES
yeah i mean if they got that yeah because that's that's an arctic was heading this way to go record some stuff in there and then they were coming coming here yep yep you got it
00:08:43
snowjobspodcast
No.
00:08:48
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Lucas took the big U turn when they updated the weather. All right. All right, well, we can't we can't wait to see those guys. That's going to be awesome. They are one of the one of the companies we have chosen and selected for an episode in the first season of storm chasing. So that'll be a lot of fun to ah see those guys in person and see what we can get Matt to ah say on camera. yeah We can get him the blow on video.
00:09:15
RICK JAMES
but to take two well take him on m msp and maybe that' would get em going
00:09:18
snowjobspodcast
There you go.
00:09:19
RICK JAMES
there
00:09:19
snowjobspodcast
There you go. Take him to the airport. He liked the airport. Oh, man. All right. So some upcoming events, as we said last week. Make sure you guys are out there, if you're in the Minnesota area or willing to travel. I know a lot of us are traveling. ah Make sure you sign up for Storm Equipment's field day. ah That is Thursday, August 22nd. Spots are limited. They're going fast. I think they're there're not there's not many left.
00:09:41
RICK JAMES
We'll take them on MSP and maybe that'll get them gone.
00:09:41
snowjobspodcast
So get on it. You know, maybe 30, 35. Uh, so if you want to attend, you know, it's free, but if you want to attend, you got to get ahold of storm and register now. All right. Don't wait.
00:09:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:09:51
snowjobspodcast
Um, yeah, this is not what three weeks, four weeks away. Not even ah shitstorm the the cyber truck.
00:09:55
RICK JAMES
Hey, is Jordan giving rides in his garbage can? Yeah, that shit store. I mean, you call it the shit, yeah, that's how you call it, right? The shit store.
00:10:04
snowjobspodcast
That's what I call it. Uh, name this truck. Okay. The shit storm is an abomination.
00:10:07
RICK JAMES
You'll probably, you'll have to talk to the dirt. I'll talk to Darcy now. They'll have like pony rides at places. They'll have Shipstorm rides at Storm.
00:10:15
snowjobspodcast
The Cybertruck? They should put a plow on that. See how it plows.
00:10:19
RICK JAMES
yeah know
00:10:21
snowjobspodcast
That's what we should do. Put a snow power on the front. See how it plows. um I don't know how the traction is on those things. Does anybody we know actually have one besides Jordan?
00:10:32
snowjobspodcast
Nope.
00:10:32
RICK JAMES
and
00:10:33
snowjobspodcast
Nope.
00:10:34
RICK JAMES
i and and I'm sure it's pretty heavy, isn't it? Those things are heavy.
00:10:38
snowjobspodcast
Dude, I don't know. I mean, I really, I,
00:10:39
RICK JAMES
Those electric, those batteries and shit, that thing's gotta be heavy.
00:10:43
snowjobspodcast
I don't think I've ever been less interested in a truck before ever than I am in that truck. that would I would never be caught dead buying that or or driving in that. So so now the mission's gonna be to get a picture of me driving.
00:10:51
RICK JAMES
I don't drive it.
00:10:54
snowjobspodcast
Well, yeah, I mean i might try a racket or something, but that's about it.
00:10:54
RICK JAMES
I don't drive it. I drive it.
00:10:58
snowjobspodcast
I would never own one.
00:11:00
RICK JAMES
No, no.
00:11:01
snowjobspodcast
This is not my style, but it's ah hey, it's a good conversation piece. Look, he's got us talking about it.
00:11:06
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:11:07
snowjobspodcast
So there you go. That's probably what the ah probably what the reason was. But moving on, Sanco Equipment has their demo day, the day before Storm's Day. Both of them are in Mankato. So if you're out there for Storm, you might as well stop by Sanco's on August 21st, all right? ah that Again, also it's you know it's also in Mankato, so you're right there. If you are in the area, though, stop by Sanco, check out the product lines they have. I think they do Bobcat. um I know they have XCMG. That's what we're going to check out, all right? we're gonna get
00:11:38
snowjobspodcast
be able to put hands on one of those. And we will be stopping by their day for a while with ah you know our crew that's going out there to Minnesota. ah Moving on to September, we have S&S's field day in Taylor, Pennsylvania. That's on Thursday, September 19th, which is the Scranton Wilkes Bar area for those that don't know Pennsylvania.
00:11:56
RICK JAMES
Nope.
00:11:57
snowjobspodcast
ah Casino's right there.
00:11:59
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, that's the one we were at before, right?
00:12:00
snowjobspodcast
Casino, Ruth Chris, all 10 minutes away. so Tony and his wife and their team put on an outstanding day last year. It was a lot of fun. I went with Matt Young and his brother. um That was a great time. ah we met a lot of We met a lot of good guys. We met Anthony Mann there. We met Pat Salmon for the first time there. A couple other guys, but yeah it was that that was a great day. it was It was a great day of networking They do have vendors there ah They do have their product lines there, which they carry metal plus they carry VSI by boss.
00:12:33
snowjobspodcast
They carry snow way plows I'm not sure what else they have but they had a bunch of stuff there They had a probably five or six additional vendors there.
00:12:35
RICK JAMES
No. Yeah.
00:12:42
snowjobspodcast
So it was ah it was good and I Yeah, you can check out all the product lines they, they carry. And I believe that the the whole storm team will be out there as well. They were last year. So good time.
00:12:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I remember you called me last year, you had a good time with that deal. I was, I think I was on the combine when you were, yeah, I was combining when you were, yeah, yeah.
00:12:56
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. It was a great time.
00:12:59
snowjobspodcast
I think you were, I think you were combining. Yeah. Yeah. And you're going this year, right?
00:13:04
RICK JAMES
Well, that's the plan, we'll see.
00:13:05
snowjobspodcast
That's the plan. So that'll be a good day. And now like I said, they put on a great day. They have a nice facility there. They got a lot of land to do demos outside and stuff. And ah it's it's it's just a good time. And hey, listen, it gets guys together thinking about snow, talking about snow in September. Never a bad thing. It's a great day. um What else do we got here? We'll keep you posted on that day, though, as it gets closer, right? So ah ah you don't got to make decisions right now. One more thing we wanted to tell guys, ah if there are good causes out there, charities, whatever, that that you are doing or you want you know our community of Snow Guys to know about, please never hesitate to let us know so we can mention ah mention them on the show and on the socials. One of these good causes is a charity fundraiser that's being put on by our friends at Phaser Marketing.
00:13:53
snowjobspodcast
ah Luke Egebraten, he's made it like his mission to give back to where he grew up. And for three years now, he he's been putting on a black tie gala to support the Boys and Girls Club of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. ah He just really wants to raise money for for that cause. And he's been doing a phenomenal job. ah Last year, the gala and fundraising effort behind the gala raised $30,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Detroit Lakes. So that's awesome. Um, and this year they want to blow it out of the water. So we wanted to tell all you guys out there, you know, if you want to do something, all proceeds and donations go directly to the boys and girls club.
00:14:30
snowjobspodcast
So if you're interested in attending that gala, it is on August 8th at seven o'clock. You can buy tickets at phaser marketing.com. If you would like to just make a donation, you're not in the, uh, Detroit lakes area there and you don't want to go to the gala and you just want to make a donation.
00:14:39
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:14:46
snowjobspodcast
Every little bit helps. you know You can do that also at phasermarketing dot.com or event eventbrite dot.com under phaser fundraiser. All right. The Snow Community is great about stepping up and helping guys. And that's what makes, I think, our community so special. you know Everybody's always willing to pitch in and help when that's when something's needed or somebody's doing something nice for somebody else. So you know if you can help Luke and the phaser team reach their goal you know with a donation or you want to attend the gala, please do so. I believe Rick James is attending.
00:15:15
RICK JAMES
Yep, I'm probably gonna be there. Yeah, it's
00:15:17
snowjobspodcast
There you go. So that's worth the price of admission right there. You know, meet the legend.
00:15:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it's gonna be at the Detroit mountain if anybody's in the area knows Detroit lakes It's a skills it' called Detroit mountain.
00:15:26
snowjobspodcast
You're going to be where?
00:15:28
RICK JAMES
It's a ski ski lodge kind of hill but it's kind of mountain No, not even close it's what it's called so but They're big podcast.
00:15:32
snowjobspodcast
They have, I was going to say, they have a mountain in Minnesota. I was going to say, Oh, okay. Now.
00:15:40
RICK JAMES
So obviously Luke could be a go back rotten or be there and Luke Payne's gonna be there as well. So yeah Yeah, oh, yeah
00:15:45
snowjobspodcast
Both Luke's in the same place. Oh goodness. All right. That event just went up a notch. There you go.
00:15:53
RICK JAMES
the other they went to school together that's her pain went to school too so yeah yep yep it's like 40 minutes away yeah it's that's where the after everybody goes on weekends it's a big lake area around here so
00:15:53
snowjobspodcast
You got both Luke's in the same spot. That's awesome.
00:15:57
snowjobspodcast
That's how they knew each other, right? They went to school. So, so they both grew up in Detroit lakes. Gotcha. And what made Luke move to Fargo?
00:16:08
snowjobspodcast
Oh, is that all? All right. See that.
00:16:13
snowjobspodcast
All right, that shows how little I know about geography in the Midwest.
00:16:17
RICK JAMES
It's like 45 minutes away.
00:16:17
snowjobspodcast
I apologize.
00:16:20
RICK JAMES
No big deal.
00:16:21
snowjobspodcast
Oh, man. Yeah, if you guys can do anything, if you want to make a donation, every little bit is going to help. And it's something Luke is really passionate about. And he's just like he's he's the type of guy, literally, that would help anybody at any time with anything, you know even if he doesn't know them. So if you can if you can help do so, um like I said, Rick James is going to be there. It should be a great time. It was a lot of fun last year. We saw pictures and videos from ah the gala last year. Looked like everybody was having a blast. So ah you know thank everybody in advance if you do help out. What else, Jay?
00:16:52
RICK JAMES
I Don't know that's just like and subscribe. Oh, obviously we do that all of our social medias and buy some apparel Standard stuff You
00:16:58
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:17:03
snowjobspodcast
All right. All right, cool. All right, gang. Well, then I think that's it. You know, I do wanna say, I think I'm gonna steal something from Al and the curbside guys there. I loved how they talked about the, what?
00:17:14
RICK JAMES
can take your shirt off or what
00:17:17
snowjobspodcast
No, no, no, no.
00:17:18
RICK JAMES
oh
00:17:18
snowjobspodcast
no i will I will be fully clothed doing episodes. but He made history, though. That was the first guy to do ah do an episode shirtless, so good for you, Al. Al was a lot of fun, though. We had a good time with Al. I i think i think we could have a very good time in person, man. He looks like he looks like he knows ah he knows how to party, so I like that. um I really loved how they talked about their subs, though, because they didn't call them subs, partners, partner companies.
00:17:44
RICK JAMES
um Partners partners. I did like that Yeah, that's a great
00:17:47
snowjobspodcast
And I think I'm going to steal that from now on. So let's hear, you know, we're going to do this from now on. Let's hear from our awesome partners and we will be right back to get into this with Matt.
00:19:27
snowjobspodcast
All right, guys, we're back. So we're going to get into this. Let's welcome to the show, Matt McIntosh from Clippers. Matt, how are you, brother?
00:19:36
Matt
Good, guys.
00:19:37
RICK JAMES
Two
00:19:37
Matt
How you doing?
00:19:38
snowjobspodcast
Long time no see.
00:19:39
Matt
You're slow.
00:19:39
snowjobspodcast
Been a couple of weeks.
00:19:40
Matt
Yeah, couple weeks.
00:19:41
RICK JAMES
weeks, yeah.
00:19:43
snowjobspodcast
How is everything?
00:19:45
Matt
Everything's good, man. It's a you know typical summer. Try to get through, stay busy, work on your snow, try to get some new jobs.
00:19:51
snowjobspodcast
Amen. There you go. Busy baseball day today.
00:19:54
Matt
Busy baseball day today. Yeah, six hours of baseball and work.
00:19:56
snowjobspodcast
All right. Wow.
00:19:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:19:59
Matt
Try to fit it all in in one day.
00:20:00
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:20:00
Matt
It's a good time.
00:20:01
snowjobspodcast
Well, thanks for the time. We appreciate it.
00:20:03
RICK JAMES
Definitely appreciate it.
00:20:03
Matt
Yeah, oh no, thank you.
00:20:05
snowjobspodcast
No problem. Jay, you want to take us away, bud?
00:20:07
RICK JAMES
right Yeah, now watch tell us everybody about Clippers when you guys got started and what's your boat?
00:20:12
Matt
Okay, so um my ah father started Clippers in 1989. So my dad worked in the steel mill for a lot of years. His dad kind of managed it and ran it. So he worked there. And then when steel mills started to disappear, he lost his job. So basically like 1986, he started to do a little bit of grass work, you know cutting grass, doing stuff, doing some deck work, stuff like that.
00:20:30
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm. Yep.
00:20:40
Matt
And then by I was like 88 going 89, it just started to catch on. And we just started, you know, basically we were just doing grass, cutting grass, doing all that.
00:20:48
snowjobspodcast
Mm
00:20:49
Matt
And then we got in, got a couple lucky breaks and got into some apartments and doing the maintenance for apartments.
00:20:52
snowjobspodcast
hmm.
00:20:55
Matt
And then the business just kind of took off from there.
00:20:57
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that's, that'll do it.
00:20:58
Matt
So. Yeah.
00:21:01
snowjobspodcast
That'll do it.
00:21:01
Matt
Yeah. So that's, that's what it was. I mean, we went, um, I think we went about eight to 10 years without even doing any landscape. We did light landscaping, you know, mulch bushes, stuff like that, but got into hardscape and then we took off with hardscape to going forward and moved into doing fertilizer and you know, all the good stuff.
00:21:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:21:15
RICK JAMES
but
00:21:21
RICK JAMES
So you do as far as me as far as maintenance you do like like inside maintenance or you just talking like grounds maintenance Okay.
00:21:21
snowjobspodcast
So go ahead.
00:21:26
Matt
Disc ground maintenance. Yeah. Nothing inside.
00:21:28
RICK JAMES
Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha
00:21:30
Matt
Yeah.
00:21:31
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha. So any other services besides you mentioned the lawn fertilizer, you're doing mulch, you're doing hardscaping.
00:21:36
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. We do sprinklers too. Um, a little bit of everything, you know, it's kind of like ah a car dealership.
00:21:39
snowjobspodcast
Oh, you do.
00:21:42
Matt
You got to do a little bit of everything to, you know, make money, pay the bills through doing it. So yeah.
00:21:46
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:21:46
snowjobspodcast
Wow. So that's diverse. All right.
00:21:49
Matt
yeah Yeah.
00:21:50
snowjobspodcast
That's good. Great. And we're, we're about as Livonia in Michigan.
00:21:51
Matt
Yeah.
00:21:53
snowjobspodcast
I'm not familiar.
00:21:54
Matt
So, uh, Livonia is probably about, uh, about five minutes outside of Detroit.
00:22:01
snowjobspodcast
Okay Sure You're close to Billy Moore Are you really no shit, that's awesome Yep, Billy's the best.
00:22:02
Matt
We're really close, because Detroit's so big, like everyone thinks the city do, but Detroit's huge.
00:22:02
RICK JAMES
don
00:22:07
Matt
So there's so many suburbs right on the outside of Detroit. So we sit right outside there.
00:22:14
Matt
Oh, yeah, we're in the same town as Billy Moore.
00:22:16
RICK JAMES
Really?
00:22:17
Matt
Yeah, yeah, we're in the same town.
00:22:17
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:22:18
Matt
Yep. Yeah, and good guy. Good guy.
00:22:22
RICK JAMES
the
00:22:23
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:22:23
Matt
Yeah.
00:22:24
RICK JAMES
i can i can tell I can tell from behind you, you're a big Ohio State fan.
00:22:24
snowjobspodcast
Oh
00:22:28
Matt
No, yeah, not at all. not
00:22:32
RICK JAMES
I had to take a shot.
00:22:32
Matt
I don't
00:22:33
snowjobspodcast
Ah ah oh man, I can't nod.
00:22:37
RICK JAMES
I had to take a shot.
00:22:39
snowjobspodcast
I love the Wolverines. Good for the good for you. That's great.
00:22:47
Matt
know.
00:22:47
RICK JAMES
There you go. There you go.
00:22:50
snowjobspodcast
And now what are you going to do now that Harbaugh is gone?
00:22:54
Matt
It'll be neat to see what happens here um and see how this unrolls, you know, because he was there. i mean He was there for a while and we didn't do good, you know, so we had good years at the end and made it.
00:23:03
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:23:05
Matt
So who knows, you know, football is so different now. It's a different game.
00:23:08
RICK JAMES
That's transfer portals.
00:23:11
snowjobspodcast
I love that area though. like I love the Midwest because I love big time college football and that's like awesome to live in a state that has that kind of rivalry in you know Ohio State, Michigan.
00:23:19
Matt
Yeah.
00:23:21
snowjobspodcast
like Could you really go 0 and 10 but win that one game and your season is still a success?
00:23:27
RICK JAMES
No.
00:23:27
Matt
it's It's a much better since season winning that one game.
00:23:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:23:30
Matt
I can tell you that Or beating all it's Michigan State in Ohio State, right?
00:23:35
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:23:35
Matt
If you can win those two games and lose the rest at least you beat them Yeah Yeah Yeah yeah
00:23:38
RICK JAMES
Yep, Greg.
00:23:39
snowjobspodcast
My wife has family in Ohio and they're obviously huge Buckeye fans, which I can't stand. But you know they've literally said that. like we all you know We could go 0 and 10 as long as we beat Michigan in the last game of the year. you know it's It's a successful season.
00:23:51
RICK JAMES
I think Buck doesn't be tough this year.
00:23:52
snowjobspodcast
I'm like, OK.
00:23:55
RICK JAMES
I think it'll be tough.
00:23:56
snowjobspodcast
Oh, please.
00:23:57
Matt
Yeah, it's going to be, I think it's going to be a great football season and see how it goes.
00:24:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:24:00
Matt
And that transfer out of Harbaugh is neat. How everything, they didn't lose a ton, you know, um, with guys transferring out and they've got some guys that transferred in and some good coaching.
00:24:06
RICK JAMES
yep Yeah.
00:24:08
Matt
So hopefully we can stay where we've been.
00:24:11
snowjobspodcast
How far away are you guys from Ann Arbor?
00:24:13
Matt
I'm about 20 minutes.
00:24:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, yes.
00:24:15
snowjobspodcast
Oh, that ain't bad.
00:24:16
Matt
Yeah. We're right in between. Yeah. My wife actually went there. She graduated ah from Michigan. So I got to watch Michigan in the Heyday, like when Tom Brady and those guys were there.
00:24:25
RICK JAMES
That's cool.
00:24:25
Matt
So it was, it was awesome.
00:24:27
snowjobspodcast
Very cool. You got season tickets?
00:24:29
Matt
ah Well, she did. she I don't know. We don't have time. Like with kids playing sports and everything like that, it's so hard to get to games and stuff. So we buy some here and there, but yeah.
00:24:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:24:39
snowjobspodcast
I hear you.
00:24:40
Matt
Yeah.
00:24:41
snowjobspodcast
So tell us about like, as far as your, your snow, cause that's what we we want to know about.
00:24:45
Matt
yeah
00:24:46
snowjobspodcast
Like your annual, what, what types of storms do you get? And what's your annual snowfall average really?
00:24:52
Matt
So we're, we get about, it's down to about 43 inches now a year. And we get a lot of where you start with some rain ice, go into the snow a little wet, and then come back out rain ice. That's kind of the path we've been on. We used to get some good lake effect snow bands where you'd get like one or two inches of dry snow that would come through, um you know, and nice, easy snow to take care of. But basically, we've been in the we've been in freezing rain and some slushy snow, get you know six inches that compacts down to two.
00:25:25
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah.
00:25:25
Matt
know We're in that a lot right now.
00:25:26
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Welcome to my world.
00:25:28
RICK JAMES
Well,
00:25:29
snowjobspodcast
That's what you got.
00:25:29
Matt
We had a good go, though. like Christmas, you know or not Christmas, January, we had a good go where it got cold. And we actually were staying below 20, getting down to zero at night. And we we had a good run there with some um nice snow to be able to move and get some good saltings in.
00:25:45
snowjobspodcast
What did you end up with last year? How many inches?
00:25:48
Matt
We were, I think I'd i'd have to look at it. I didn't write it down, but I want to say we were about 42 inches. I want to say we're right there, 42 right in the average.
00:25:56
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:25:57
Matt
It was, it was basically an average, but we got um some bigger snows, like eight inch snows, six inch snows, eight inch snows. No, we got that.
00:26:05
RICK JAMES
What's your normal? what what's What's your normal smell like? Is it a like a two to four or something?
00:26:10
Matt
Yeah, we're usually two to four.
00:26:11
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:26:11
Matt
we I would say in the last five years though, we've been getting a lot of like six to eights and sometimes popping 11, you know, stuff like that.
00:26:17
RICK JAMES
no
00:26:18
Matt
um I can, you know, but about 10 years ago, maybe 15 years ago, we were in the path where we'd get a lot of one inch snows, which is awesome. We do a lot of salting here, you know, salt's plentiful.
00:26:27
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:26:30
Matt
So we do a lot of that. We don't scrape at an inch. You know, a lot of guys here don't scrape till inch and a half, a lot of their contracts. So it's a lot of ah getting the salt down when it starts and then just touch it back up.
00:26:40
snowjobspodcast
Really, you guys have like inch and a half triggers there.
00:26:42
Matt
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:44
RICK JAMES
oh
00:26:44
snowjobspodcast
Wow. So if it's if it's only an inch, they're not doing anything.
00:26:44
Matt
ye
00:26:48
Matt
We salted.
00:26:48
RICK JAMES
salt
00:26:49
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
00:26:50
Matt
Yeah, because you get salt so easy here being down you know on the river.
00:26:52
RICK JAMES
Salt it Was like 40 bucks a ton out there
00:26:54
Matt
They're digging it. you know Actually, the the veins of the mines come underneath all the way out past my house. you know They go miles and miles. But yeah, we just get a lot of you know you got a lot of salt. So there's a lot of salting in this area.
00:27:08
Matt
No. ah yeah Well, it depends.
00:27:08
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:27:10
Matt
like Guys buy, so we actually sell it to contractors too, out of our yard.
00:27:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, okay.
00:27:15
Matt
And we sold it for like 95 a ton, is what we were selling it for.
00:27:15
RICK JAMES
Yup. Okay.
00:27:18
Matt
Yeah.
00:27:18
RICK JAMES
So what that is it?
00:27:18
snowjobspodcast
What are you getting it for though? Nah, he won't say what he's getting it for.
00:27:21
RICK JAMES
No, no, no.
00:27:22
Matt
Oh yeah, it's clean.
00:27:23
RICK JAMES
What is a pretty pure, pretty pure white salt?
00:27:27
Matt
It's, yeah, it's good.
00:27:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah. So you make Brian and everything with it and all that.
00:27:28
Matt
Like I see all those, you could, I don't do any brine. I mean, we don't need to do brine when you got salt, like we do.
00:27:32
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:27:35
Matt
So I mean,
00:27:36
RICK JAMES
ah
00:27:37
Matt
Um, it's just, yeah, it's just another step.
00:27:37
snowjobspodcast
ah When it's that cheap.
00:27:41
Matt
Yeah. well Yeah.
00:27:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:27:43
snowjobspodcast
Do you have a problem there? Like you you said, you got a lot of salt in the area. It's easy to get. It's cheaper to get because of the mines. Do you find, is it a problem with guys in your area over salting? Like do they go crazy or?
00:27:53
Matt
oh Um, some guy, I mean, you you'll get somewhere guys want to pre salt the shit out of it and then it doesn't snow. You know what I mean? They jumped again way too early and, uh, do that.
00:28:00
snowjobspodcast
That happens.
00:28:03
Matt
But, um, uh, you know, people will say they're over salting, but it's, I don't know. It's very rare that you see a bunch of salt sitting on there. I mean, anytime you you get, a um, a wet storm, you salt, everything melts down and then it gets cold. Everything looks like it's over salted because it just turns white.
00:28:19
RICK JAMES
white yeah pre-trading pre-trading for next storm
00:28:19
Matt
Yeah.
00:28:19
snowjobspodcast
gotcha
00:28:20
Matt
So people are like, Oh, you guys over salted.
00:28:20
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:28:22
Matt
I'm like, Oh, that's just kind of what happens. Yeah. For the next.
00:28:26
snowjobspodcast
There you go. Yeah. Two weeks in advance or rain.
00:28:27
Matt
hearang but pan was yeah I untreated.
00:28:29
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Oh man. Do you ah use treated or untreated since we're already on salt untreated, just regular how it comes.
00:28:40
Matt
Yeah. We, I'm, we don't sell a lot of treated salt in this area or even get it. I've thought about bringing it in to even sell or use. And it's just kind of.
00:28:47
RICK JAMES
your temps aren't that cold and when you say zero zero maybe yeah yeah that's you don't really need treated them if you're not but getting that cold so wet
00:28:49
Matt
No, no, once in a while we get a good cold run, but it usually lasts about five days. You know, we don't get a long cold run.
00:28:57
snowjobspodcast
That's cool.
00:28:59
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's even like liquid. You know, it's sometimes it would be knows you got some storms that you would like to use liquid, but I would say most of our storms, you can't use it because it's so wet. Yeah.
00:29:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it is a problem. I think you need more what additive, you got to run a higher concentration additive and then.
00:29:17
Matt
Yeah. yeah bit there
00:29:21
snowjobspodcast
And then it doesn't doesn't become cost effective. Yeah, that's that's my biggest thing where I'm just not, I know there's a lot more technology. I know Jordan talks to me about it all the time, but it's still like, like you said, like we have so much moisture before, sometimes during, and then after. It's like, I just don't know if I'm going to have to go like, you know, 80 20 on the, on the blend to get it to tack.
00:29:45
Matt
Yeah, keep it there. Yeah.
00:29:46
snowjobspodcast
Is it worth it at that point? You know, and we're pretty responsible with salt and we're using, you know, the treated IBG magic salt. So we don't really, we don't really have the problem, but, and I just, yeah, ah the Northeast is a different animal. I'm still waiting for Robert from already outdoor. He's, he's doing it and his climate is very similar. So I'm waiting to hear how it goes for him.
00:30:06
Matt
Yeah, I know like Bill uses it like his last year was his first year using it, you know, liquid really going all in on it.
00:30:07
RICK JAMES
Billy?
00:30:12
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:30:13
Matt
And he said he liked it and stuff like that. But, um, I don't know.
00:30:16
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, he said it worked well for him.
00:30:17
Matt
Yeah, he did it.
00:30:18
RICK JAMES
bill
00:30:19
Matt
Um, I don't know.
00:30:19
RICK JAMES
Billy?
00:30:20
Matt
Maybe I'm just too old school and I've been using, you know, regular salt for so long and it's been, you know, success for us.
00:30:22
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:30:26
Matt
So yeah.
00:30:27
snowjobspodcast
I think I think we're all guilty of that in different areas at times, so.
00:30:30
Matt
yeah Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:32
snowjobspodcast
Oh man, what else you got, Jay?
00:30:35
RICK JAMES
but we haven't talked about equipment since we're talking about equipment.
00:30:37
snowjobspodcast
I want to hear about the sites, like what kind of sites Clippers does like first?
00:30:41
Matt
Oh, yeah. So we do a lot of, um, industrial, like large industrial, uh, we do some medical.
00:30:46
snowjobspodcast
Okay. In Detroit, I'm shocked.
00:30:50
Matt
Well, like Livonia's has, you know, residential, but it has a ton of industrial. It's just a bunch of industrial complexes. So, and, um, so we do a lot of that and a lot of that, our industrial is, um, personally owned.
00:30:58
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:31:03
Matt
You're not working for big companies and stuff like that.
00:31:06
snowjobspodcast
Oh, cool.
00:31:06
Matt
So it's kind of nice having that, um, working relationship with people. So.
00:31:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:11
Matt
um Then we do some medical, we have a few medical buildings, some retail, and then we do some office work. We have some bigger office complexes we take care of. One of my buddies, I went to high school. He does some um maintenance work there, and I was able to get in and get some of those, so it's worked out really well.
00:31:29
snowjobspodcast
still doing any apartments, got rid of them as quick as you could.
00:31:31
Matt
None. Not one. quick I can remember.
00:31:35
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:31:37
Matt
I was, I think it was 17 and we had 22 of them to plow every time it snowed.
00:31:43
snowjobspodcast
o
00:31:44
RICK JAMES
oh Yeah.
00:31:44
Matt
And I was like, I hated life. I hated life. And even the summer was worse though, cause we'd cut them, you know, and you have to cut into it and it was just miserable.
00:31:49
snowjobspodcast
ah Yeah.
00:31:52
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:31:53
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:31:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:54
Matt
Totally. and Yeah.
00:31:54
snowjobspodcast
I believe it. I believe it. Uh, so these industrial sites that you're doing, like what, what size are they like square footage wise?
00:32:02
Matt
So we have yeah a lot of my friends
00:32:05
snowjobspodcast
Good mix.
00:32:05
Matt
Yeah, a lot of my bread and butter, you're looking like a one and a half to two acre complex like that.
00:32:10
snowjobspodcast
Okay. Yep.
00:32:11
Matt
um I do have a couple of bigger ones that we do, but um the little ones we can get in and out.
00:32:16
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:32:17
Matt
We kind of use our shop as the, you know, the focus area, and then we just work out. So we, we run loaders and trucks just out of there and start running around town, knocking things out and get them done. And it makes it easy for our salt, our salting routes and stuff like that. Um, I would say 85% of our jobs are within two miles of my headquarters.
00:32:40
RICK JAMES
yeah Mm-hmm So you just you don't you don't leave anything on site then everything leaves your shot
00:32:41
snowjobspodcast
Nice. Perfect.
00:32:41
Matt
So yeah.
00:32:45
Matt
I only have one loader I leave on site in it because it's about seven miles away.
00:32:49
RICK JAMES
ah okay
00:32:49
Matt
Yeah. So that's, ah I have one of there and that's a bigger, that's one of our bigger sites. And I leave it there because you, we just can't drive anywhere. And I, I do that site and then we do two down the road from there with it. And then the spring pack park it there.
00:33:00
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:33:00
Matt
Yeah.
00:33:01
RICK JAMES
Okay How much how much your contracts with all those are they like they contracted or they all really purports what do you guys do
00:33:01
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:33:07
Matt
Yeah. Well, um, we have a pretty good mix. I have about, um, 60% contracts that are, uh, you're basically like they call them here. You're like, you're all inclusive where your salt and all your work and everything's in there. Then I have some of most of the rest are a couple of seasonals where the people want to pay for just their snow pushing. And then they'll go all the card on their salt and stuff like that.
00:33:28
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:33:29
Matt
And then I just have per push after that.
00:33:29
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:33:32
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:33:32
Matt
So, um,
00:33:33
RICK JAMES
Do you have a water?
00:33:34
snowjobspodcast
So you, that's, that I think Billy said that too, where they, they have a thing where they, it's a thing in that area where you'll push and then salt will be extra, like totally, totally separate.
00:33:42
Matt
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:44
snowjobspodcast
Like, yeah, they don't want anything to do with that here. Like I could never sell them separately.
00:33:46
Matt
Oh, really?
00:33:49
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:33:49
Matt
Yeah. That's, I mean, we're all per ton. You know what I mean? Most of mine are a lot of per ton, which is good, you know, cause you're getting paid for the work you're doing all the time. Now, if you don't have a good winner or whatever, you're gonna, it's not as great, but you, I mean, we haven't had a super low winner.
00:34:01
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:34:06
Matt
I mean, I don't, I think it's 20 years. So, um, to be able to make money pretty well.
00:34:09
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:34:09
RICK JAMES
Let's.
00:34:12
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. We get like, we get requests for either seasonal or basically per visit, you know, per push.
00:34:17
Matt
okay Yeah.
00:34:18
snowjobspodcast
Um, but the salt, they don't want to, they don't want to break down. Like they don't want to say, Oh, well, you know, just every time you're here, you're going to plow and you're going to salt. So what, what's it going to be per response basically?
00:34:30
Matt
So like with us, like in this area, you can plan on salting 32 to 35 times in a year and here, and you'll plow five to seven or
00:34:36
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:34:40
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:34:40
snowjobspodcast
Now, is that separate events or like, are you counting like four salts per this event for?
00:34:43
Matt
something. have a couple of events, stuff like that.
00:34:46
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:34:46
Matt
But I mean, I've been, we've been on good winners all the way up to like 58 times out, you know, it's faulting just depending.
00:34:46
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:34:51
snowjobspodcast
Wow, that's a lot.
00:34:54
Matt
Yeah, it's a lot. Our average, like our average night of roll and salt, out we usually do ah about 150 to 175 tons in a night.
00:34:56
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:35:04
snowjobspodcast
No shit, OK.
00:35:05
Matt
but Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:07
RICK JAMES
how
00:35:07
snowjobspodcast
That's a lot.
00:35:08
Matt
Yeah.
00:35:08
snowjobspodcast
All right.
00:35:08
Matt
It's a little bit different market. That's a, you know,
00:35:10
snowjobspodcast
Oh, yeah. it's it's That's what's awesome is hearing all the the different like quirks and stuff from market to market. What works here? What doesn't work there?
00:35:18
Matt
Right.
00:35:18
snowjobspodcast
What isn't even a thing 100 miles away? It's kind of it's kind of funny how like different areas just get their own little niches and and that that's how they do things and they don't change. like Our property managers, they only want seasonals. They don't want to even hear T and&M. They don't want to hear anything ah anything else. They don't want per push. that's ah Just give me your seasonal price. How do they just want to know what they want? The only thing they want to know here is how you came up with the number.
00:35:45
Matt
Right.
00:35:46
snowjobspodcast
Like they want an explanation so they can explain it to obviously to the board or the customer.
00:35:50
Matt
Right.
00:35:51
snowjobspodcast
and That's all you just got to show. and And that's why I i love it because ah you just be transparent, make them part of the process, make them a partner. And boom, they they love it. If you can show, hey, listen, this stuff is expensive. That loader you need there is expensive. That skid is expensive. The two trucks, you know, whatever, yeah whatever it is, just show them what the hourly rate on those things is. And this is the average hours and shit like that. It's awesome.
00:36:15
Matt
So even like on our like our all-inclusive ones, like I limit them. like So my pushing's up to 10 inches. After 10 inches, they start paying me a per-inch rate, because that's where that goes to.
00:36:26
RICK JAMES
Oh, wow.
00:36:28
Matt
And then like my saltings, it's only for 35 events after I...
00:36:32
snowjobspodcast
That's per storm, right? You're taking over 10 inches. They're paying.
00:36:35
Matt
Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:36
snowjobspodcast
OK.
00:36:36
Matt
So if you get a storm that's over 10 inches, it's kind of like, you know, a blizzard or whatever they say, they put a blizzard clause or whatever, but I put it in, I started doing that, I don't know, like 10 years ago, putting it at 10 inches on these, you were going to pay a little bit extra.
00:36:36
snowjobspodcast
Got you.
00:36:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:36:47
snowjobspodcast
Oh.
00:36:50
snowjobspodcast
God, I would love that. I would love if we could do that here.
00:36:52
Matt
Yeah.
00:36:53
RICK JAMES
that's pretty good that's pretty slick though that's slick so you're doing you're doing
00:36:53
snowjobspodcast
But we get monsters that would never fly because everybody would be like, well, when the nor nor easters come, we're going to have to pay this much extra. No, we're not doing that.
00:37:00
Matt
Yeah.
00:37:01
snowjobspodcast
Put it towards the cap.
00:37:02
Matt
Yeah.
00:37:04
snowjobspodcast
That is, that's awesome. I wish I could, um I might try it, but I don't think that would anybody's gonna go for it here.
00:37:07
Matt
you i still doing it because of so what happened is it was I want to think it was it was 98 98 99 where I got the idea we got two snows in a row one was 16 inches one was 14 inches the storms were eight hours apart all right and if you didn't have the right guys doing your stuff I mean you're talking to people went five to seven days around here where
00:37:26
RICK JAMES
yep
00:37:33
Matt
Stuff wasn't done. We were out like, I have jobs still that we rescued out then that I got through that just because we're capable of doing it.
00:37:42
snowjobspodcast
Nice. I love those.
00:37:43
Matt
So we need, we need another event like that because then it just keeps everything going the right way with being able to bid it correctly.
00:37:46
RICK JAMES
Well,
00:37:49
Matt
like Yeah.
00:37:49
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. And people, it thins the herd too. You know that, that shows, uh, you know, who the, who the real dudes are and who the pretenders are.
00:37:55
RICK JAMES
yeah. So who's, when you, when you're talking like 35 salt, something event, that's just 35 something.
00:37:58
Matt
Yeah, well and for sure. Go ahead.
00:38:03
RICK JAMES
That's after that you're charging what per time after that.
00:38:05
Matt
Yeah. We go, you go to per ton after that.
00:38:07
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:38:08
Matt
Yeah.
00:38:08
snowjobspodcast
Nice.
00:38:09
Matt
That doesn't happen very often. It's just there on a safety net.
00:38:12
snowjobspodcast
to protect you.
00:38:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:12
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:38:13
Matt
I watch guys do that when we have good snows and they had to do, you'll hear them talking.
00:38:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:15
snowjobspodcast
100%.
00:38:17
Matt
I have to, you know, we're up to 50, 53 events. They get to about 30, you know, the 25 and they're like, how do I cut the, you know, how do I cut the salt on what I do? I'm going to start losing. Then they got over there at 32 because a lot of guys are doing that. Now they're losing money every time they're out.
00:38:33
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:38:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:38:34
Matt
So.
00:38:35
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I mean, that's yeah I don't know. You got to protect yourself. And nobody's really resistive to that. If you explain it correctly, like that's how we started doing the caps and the floors.
00:38:43
Matt
Yeah.
00:38:46
snowjobspodcast
We just explained to them like we don't think you should pay more if we're not doing the if we're well under the average for the year, we don't think you should pay the full boat. So, you know, we'll give you the 10 percent towards next year, or whatever the hell it is for that specific contract. But when you go with the cap, They ask, well, why are you putting a cap in? Well, why do you want a floor?
00:39:05
Matt
Right.
00:39:05
snowjobspodcast
you know It's the same thing. it It has to work for both of us.
00:39:06
Matt
Yeah.
00:39:08
snowjobspodcast
We have to both feel like this is a good arrangement.
00:39:10
Matt
Yeah.
00:39:11
snowjobspodcast
And it's just to protect us in the in the event that we have a winner that exhausts the contract, basically. And now it's not profitable and we're taking a bath. you know we We just want, at that point, time and material, really.
00:39:25
Matt
Yeah.
00:39:25
snowjobspodcast
thats that's all We don't need profit margin. We just need T and&M to just cover your expense. That's all you need to do.
00:39:31
Matt
Yeah.
00:39:31
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:39:32
Matt
So like here in Michigan, or at least in my area, of Michigan, like loaders weren't a big thing. It's been all pickup trucks, right? So when you get these big storms and these guys that have these big properties, like I, one week over, they were screwed.
00:39:41
snowjobspodcast
Screwed yeah Yeah, I Know well, that's a problem.
00:39:43
Matt
We had to go, they were down for three days, losing millions of dollars a day because they produce milk and do different things and have to get out and milk comes every day. And those guys were stuck back in there in their trucks. And we were able to come in with loaders and move stuff out and you know get it cleaned up. But that's still a problem here because a lot of places don't want to pay for loaders.
00:40:05
RICK JAMES
Mm.
00:40:05
Matt
you know Yeah. and
00:40:07
snowjobspodcast
That's a problem. Yeah. No, that's definitely an issue
00:40:09
RICK JAMES
Until they need them, right? Until they need them.
00:40:11
Matt
Yeah. yeah
00:40:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Well, and then they're going to, but what you got to do is when they, if they don't want to pay for them until they need them, when they do need them, you got to hurt them.
00:40:12
Matt
like
00:40:20
snowjobspodcast
Like, you know, unfortunately you got to teach them like, well, listen, it wouldn't have been this expensive if this was here the whole time.
00:40:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:25
snowjobspodcast
But because I had the special call it in now, you know, this is supply and demand.
00:40:27
Matt
Yeah, it's a, it's a great chance to be able to get some good three year contracts, you know, yeah.
00:40:30
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:40:34
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:40:35
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:40:36
snowjobspodcast
It is every time you have a monster roll through, you'll see guys saying, oh shit, you know, we shouldn't have gone with the, and you'll see the phone light up. We, we had it happen last year. You know, we had that foot dropped in four hours or whatever it was. We had calls the next day like, Hey, uh, you know, can you take on this property? What are you out of your mind?
00:40:54
Matt
Yeah.
00:40:54
snowjobspodcast
No, that's a big property and no, no, we're not touching that.
00:40:54
Matt
Yeah.
00:40:58
Matt
Well, that's how we were this year. Um, April, I had more calls than I ever have in a long time, but we had a, like a 11 day span where we got snow almost every day and guys weren't doing the work, right? You know, they got that great price.
00:41:11
snowjobspodcast
Uh, yeah.
00:41:12
Matt
They got the guys that thought we're going to take care of it and they weren't showing up. So people started shopping and looking for stuff. So, um, even that little bit made things turn a little bit.
00:41:21
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. People are okay with like, if you don't show up to do the lawn, you know, if a guy is a ship bag and doesn't show up to do the lawn for three weeks, nobody cares.
00:41:26
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:41:30
Matt
Yeah.
00:41:30
snowjobspodcast
They're not going to fire them. But if you don't show up to do the snow, that's a major problem.
00:41:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:41:35
Matt
Especially at the right place, you know, the right place.
00:41:35
snowjobspodcast
they That's it. Absolutely.
00:41:37
RICK JAMES
There it is,
00:41:38
Matt
Yeah.
00:41:40
snowjobspodcast
Jeremy, I wanna hear all about this, man. You wanna take them ah to your favorite portion?
00:41:44
RICK JAMES
I got a little jumpy earlier.
00:41:47
snowjobspodcast
It's all good.
00:41:49
RICK JAMES
Let's hear about the equipment you're running. I want to hear it all.
00:41:52
Matt
Okay, so I'll start with the loaders. We have some Volvo loaders. We got an L50, two L45s that we run. And then we have a 906 cat. And then then I just got a 521 case I just got this summer.
00:42:06
RICK JAMES
but that
00:42:08
Matt
So, a little bit of time to get in, I won't lie.
00:42:08
snowjobspodcast
that you ordered, what, two years ago?
00:42:13
Matt
Someone buys them all, you know, there's a couple of companies that buy all those things.
00:42:16
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, yeah, those guys.
00:42:18
Matt
Yeah, those guys.
00:42:20
RICK JAMES
I've got a poor one to start with.
00:42:21
Matt
Yeah, but we're able to get it in. It's a good looking machine, you know, so it should be good from there.
00:42:25
snowjobspodcast
yeah
00:42:26
Matt
But, uh, and then we go like, uh, trucks for running, um, F three fifties, uh, F five fifties, um, for some plow and salt, uh, trucks. Cause we still, like we say, we still run a lot of trucks. So we, you know, we're running about, uh, we have about 16 trucks that roll out and, you know, do plowing and stuff like that.
00:42:39
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
00:42:45
Matt
And then. I do have a couple of, uh, guys that just, uh, partner with us that do, um, actually work around the area and they just need some winter work. So we use them to do some plowing for us on site with us.
00:42:58
Matt
and um there So that works out good. And then, uh, we get into the salt trucks. Uh, we run two F are three F, uh, five fifties with, um, snow X on them. One is a four yard.
00:42:58
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:43:10
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm
00:43:12
Matt
Other one's got a five. Then we got a couple of strikers. that the three yard strikers that go on there, um we do that. And then we have a F750 and then two internationals, a 4300 and 4400 with hydraulic tailgate salters.
00:43:29
RICK JAMES
Okay What
00:43:29
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:43:30
Matt
So, you know, those have the eight yard boxes on them and stuff like that. So.
00:43:33
snowjobspodcast
Nice.
00:43:34
Matt
yeah
00:43:34
RICK JAMES
do you what do you prefer for salt there's are you gonna go political on us like Matt Muller or
00:43:38
Matt
I like, I truly like the hydraulic tailgate salters because when you're in the right place, you just can move a lot of salt out of them really fast, cuts the time down.
00:43:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:43:48
snowjobspodcast
so Yeah.
00:43:48
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:43:49
Matt
I moved to the um Snow Axe. I actually, um it seems like a lot of them are the same now, the way they're built, they all look the same to me. So, um but I went to the old style drag train, the the drag chain on it.
00:43:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:44:02
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:44:02
Matt
Instead of, I tried the other, I hated it. I sold it in a year because it was so slow. Um to getting the salt out great for like after a snow event because you can really keep but like if you're trying To get some salt down on something's about a half inch. It it just takes forever. The time is just way too long.
00:44:17
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:44:18
Matt
Yeah but Also loaders we have uh, we have a couple old school protects with the rubber edges on it, uh, yeah Yeah, we we still have a couple of those right?
00:44:20
RICK JAMES
so what do you What are you pushing with those loaders?
00:44:20
snowjobspodcast
Interesting.
00:44:23
RICK JAMES
What are you on the front?
00:44:29
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Oh, you're the guy.
00:44:34
Matt
Uh, they work great. I mean they're you know
00:44:36
snowjobspodcast
Do they really?
00:44:37
Matt
Yeah, well, when they so when you salt before, right, when you treat, treat, everything's wet underneath.
00:44:39
snowjobspodcast
Okay, yeah, when you pre-treat.
00:44:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's squeegee.
00:44:42
Matt
It cleans really good. Then you come back and you're going to treat after. So everything doesn't freeze up.
00:44:48
Matt
Everything is really good. So it's been good, but i I do have a Snow Wolf. We have that on the ah cat and I run that myself. I love it.
00:44:48
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I get it.
00:44:57
snowjobspodcast
Was that Quattro?
00:44:57
Matt
It's a quad.
00:44:58
RICK JAMES
Clutch your own wall.
00:44:58
Matt
Yeah, I love it. And, um, that, that little loader and that plow does a lot of work for what it is.
00:45:03
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:45:04
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:45:04
Matt
Yeah. And then we just bought a new, uh, metal plus.
00:45:08
RICK JAMES
Oh boy.
00:45:08
Matt
I just, I just bought one of those this summer.
00:45:09
snowjobspodcast
Oh, another guy doesn't like money.
00:45:11
Matt
So I need to be able to change with it.
00:45:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:45:17
snowjobspodcast
ah Yeah, no, I know. ah you you no this listen They're great. They're great.
00:45:22
Matt
So that's why I got it.
00:45:24
snowjobspodcast
What's that? That's going on the 521.
00:45:26
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:45:28
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:45:28
Matt
Yeah.
00:45:28
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:45:29
Matt
and that No, not yet.
00:45:29
snowjobspodcast
You got snow tires on those loaders.
00:45:33
Matt
Not yet. It's i when you only put, you know, if you're lucky 200 hours on it and a winner, if you're lucky in the tires are like brand new.
00:45:34
RICK JAMES
No.
00:45:43
Matt
If we, we haven't I haven't had a great need. Ever since, like we used to rent some loaders and we'd get those Komatsu's.
00:45:47
RICK JAMES
Yup.
00:45:50
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:45:50
Matt
I think it was a 250, whatever they were. Those are terrible.
00:45:53
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:45:53
RICK JAMES
Yup.
00:45:53
snowjobspodcast
W two 50.
00:45:53
Matt
You couldn't move anything with those things, but um the Volvo's have been good with the tires. They don't, they don't slide too bad. The cat's awesome. I mean, ah that little cat grips better than anything I've ever been in, but I could imagine having a snow tire would be a huge advantage.
00:46:09
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:46:09
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:46:10
Matt
Yeah.
00:46:10
snowjobspodcast
Well, I mean, listen, you know what you need and don't need. If you're pushing rubber eb edge protects and you're not having traction pro problems behind there, then you don't need snow tires.
00:46:18
Matt
Yeah, no, it works out good.
00:46:19
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:46:20
Matt
I mean, I could see if everything was frozen. I won't lie when we get a good freeze on something.
00:46:23
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:46:23
RICK JAMES
Mm
00:46:24
Matt
Yeah. You're going to have, you know, you don't get the, the benefit of having that wet ground to get your traction on. So yeah.
00:46:30
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
00:46:30
RICK JAMES
hmm.
00:46:32
snowjobspodcast
Are you doing anything for sidewalks?
00:46:34
Matt
Uh, yeah, we run, um, the boss, uh, snow Raiders.
00:46:38
snowjobspodcast
Nice.
00:46:38
Matt
We run in the, we run those. Those have been, um, originals.
00:46:41
snowjobspodcast
The originals or the mags? Nice.
00:46:45
Matt
originals. Yeah, we we've been running those. Those are a huge help for us. We run this.
00:46:49
snowjobspodcast
They've been great. They've been good, right?
00:46:50
Matt
Awesome.
00:46:51
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:46:51
Matt
A couple little things here, but nothing crazy on them.
00:46:52
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:54
Matt
The drop Salter has been huge for us.
00:46:57
snowjobspodcast
Got the exact path.
00:46:58
Matt
Yes.
00:46:58
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. That thing's a home run.
00:47:00
Matt
Yeah.
00:47:00
snowjobspodcast
Absolute home run.
00:47:01
Matt
Love it it. It saved us so much labor when those machines came out. It was amazing.
00:47:07
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:47:07
RICK JAMES
what's this a blade on those
00:47:08
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Just a blade.
00:47:09
Matt
Yeah, play.
00:47:09
RICK JAMES
okay
00:47:10
Matt
Yeah, we're gonna just lay it on it and go through there.
00:47:10
RICK JAMES
ye
00:47:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:47:12
Matt
And it's it's worked out great for us.
00:47:15
snowjobspodcast
If we didn't have those back-to-back nor'easters, whatever, four five years ago now, that dropped 22 and 30 in four days a apart or whatever it was, I would have never left the Snow Raiders.
00:47:19
Matt
yeah
00:47:25
Matt
Yeah.
00:47:26
snowjobspodcast
like We just literally couldn't win-row any further. We needed we need to have a blow or something, and that's why we switched to the SSVs, but I've said it all the time.
00:47:30
RICK JAMES
So was this a blade on those?
00:47:34
snowjobspodcast
Those Snow Raiders were freaking monsters for us. They were great.
00:47:37
Matt
Yeah, no, and there's some guys that run, um, broom machines and I've thought about going to those because you know we get a lot you can those things are fast they do a really good job it's crazy how fast they are but for us it's been good I mean we don't do we don't have a ton of like long walks and big walks like that so it's been kind of good on the industrial when we're doing that side so with what we've had we've made it through pretty well and
00:47:46
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:47:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:47:47
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Yeah.
00:47:58
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:48:03
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome. Yeah. No, those, the snow Raiders are great. I had no complaints about them. I liked that. The exact path was so cool. Like they they did their homework that if you ever looked at the shoots, how they go, how they're curved. So they go around the frame. So it's not dropping salt on any of the frame.
00:48:18
Matt
Yeah.
00:48:20
snowjobspodcast
That's I thought that was cool.
00:48:20
Matt
Well, that's what the new one I was looking at. I think it's the mag when they put that on there.
00:48:25
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
00:48:26
Matt
It doesn't do that.
00:48:27
snowjobspodcast
It doesn't do that. Nope. It doesn't. I checked that out too.
00:48:30
Matt
I'm like, that's no good.
00:48:31
snowjobspodcast
but the original was perfect.
00:48:31
RICK JAMES
Thank
00:48:32
snowjobspodcast
It had the curved shoots that made the salt go around the frame, not on it. And that was, I thought that was amazing. That was a great idea.
00:48:38
Matt
and With the liquid, because we do run I do run some liquid on there, calcium on my sidewalks. We've been doing that for a couple of years now, and I do like that.
00:48:44
snowjobspodcast
All right.
00:48:47
Matt
that's
00:48:48
snowjobspodcast
Did you have to change the nozzles?
00:48:49
Matt
ah we have two questions that a little
00:48:50
snowjobspodcast
The the stock nozzles? Yeah.
00:48:51
Matt
Yeah.
00:48:52
snowjobspodcast
I was going to say, that's the only thing we did do.
00:48:53
Matt
Yeah.
00:48:54
snowjobspodcast
ah Even testing it, we we couldn't like we couldn't get flow out of the the stock nozzles, so we switched the nozzles out.
00:48:56
RICK JAMES
you.
00:48:58
Matt
yeah
00:49:00
Matt
the Yeah.
00:49:00
snowjobspodcast
But other than that, the machine was great.
00:49:02
RICK JAMES
kind of calcium.
00:49:02
Matt
No, they're great little machines.
00:49:04
RICK JAMES
What kind of calcium you putting just like a 32%?
00:49:07
Matt
This side is just some Kelsey might buy from a guy that they make. You know, we only, I only get about, I don't know, I think, I think it's like about four or 500 gallons we get we use on it because we don't we use that and we use granular you know we're using like a mag kind of calcium mix and with some sodium and stuff like that out of bags too so yeah just um so it just when you get a little bit of blowing and stuff like that when you have that on there it covers you for the hours when you have to get back and stuff like that and that's it's worked out real good so
00:49:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:27
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:49:27
snowjobspodcast
Just to heat it up.
00:49:34
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:49:34
RICK JAMES
yeah Yep.
00:49:38
snowjobspodcast
Amen. Very cool.
00:49:40
RICK JAMES
You got any, you got to relocate so much or like calling or blowing or anything.
00:49:44
Matt
we haven't had to done if We haven't done that in a while. We did. like So when we got that big snowstorm, we moved snow for two weeks.
00:49:48
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:49:50
Matt
It was awesome. you know But we just haven't had snow like that to do it.
00:49:55
RICK JAMES
Oh, wow.
00:49:55
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. How long has it been?
00:49:57
Matt
Just 20 years.
00:49:59
snowjobspodcast
Oh geez.
00:49:59
Matt
Like where you get piled up back to back like that?
00:50:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:02
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
00:50:02
Matt
Yeah. I mean, we've had where we've got a foot. but people won't move it if it's just a foot, you know, you put it in the corners, you do everything like that, and then, you know, it's 50 degrees in four days.
00:50:12
snowjobspodcast
Yup.
00:50:13
Matt
So they won't.
00:50:14
snowjobspodcast
Yup. Yup.
00:50:15
RICK JAMES
Piles of milk.
00:50:16
snowjobspodcast
Fargo doesn't have that, that they, yup.
00:50:17
RICK JAMES
No our files are here in November till April Sure do sure do have to Because
00:50:20
Matt
Yeah. was and Yeah.
00:50:21
snowjobspodcast
But they also haul every half inch fucking out.
00:50:26
Matt
Yeah. yeah
00:50:28
snowjobspodcast
Why do you have to?
00:50:29
RICK JAMES
they want it done like the hospital a lot of hospitals and stuff for They need every they need every spot and a lot of these retails place.
00:50:31
snowjobspodcast
I know, but like all the hospital, I can understand.
00:50:37
RICK JAMES
They they're busy I mean they there's nothing else to do up here and then go shopping I
00:50:38
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. but
00:50:42
snowjobspodcast
You got to send me a video of that hospital during the day, Jeremy, because every time I see, you know, the videos you guys plowing or you do a live stream while you're plowing it, there's nothing but acres and acres of wide open parking lot with nobody in them.
00:50:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:55
RICK JAMES
Oh, at night.
00:50:56
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:50:56
RICK JAMES
It's usually like, Oh, I can do that.
00:50:56
snowjobspodcast
So you got to send me something during the day that shows me all those lots full.
00:51:00
RICK JAMES
I can do that. But yeah, shift changes. Like, I think what is it? Six or seven. And then a lot of people clear up. But yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's full.
00:51:06
Matt
yeah
00:51:06
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:51:08
RICK JAMES
It's, it's a full, uh, the boys have their hands full during the day.
00:51:08
Matt
Yeah.
00:51:09
snowjobspodcast
Interesting.
00:51:11
RICK JAMES
They're pushing. So yeah,
00:51:12
snowjobspodcast
I bet light poles, cars.
00:51:15
Matt
Yeah, light poles.
00:51:17
RICK JAMES
it's
00:51:17
snowjobspodcast
Matt, what are you, what are you running? Truck plows.
00:51:19
Matt
All boss.
00:51:21
snowjobspodcast
All boss.
00:51:22
Matt
Yeah, boss V's.
00:51:22
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:51:23
RICK JAMES
You got it?
00:51:23
snowjobspodcast
Gotcha.
00:51:24
Matt
Yeah, we've had them since the original ones and we've kind of went that, to you know, we've been on that direction.
00:51:29
snowjobspodcast
All good. They've been good for you.
00:51:29
RICK JAMES
Do I... Go ahead, sorry, go ahead.
00:51:32
snowjobspodcast
They've been good for you.
00:51:33
Matt
They've been great.
00:51:34
snowjobspodcast
Good.
00:51:34
Matt
They've been a good plot for us.
00:51:35
snowjobspodcast
Sweet.
00:51:36
Matt
I can't complain. So we run, we run the eight twos and nine twos, and then we put like for the, on the five fifties, we'll put some of the extended wings on there to get us a little bit more, even on a couple of the eight twos or three fifties, we throw those extended wings and we've had good success with them.
00:51:38
snowjobspodcast
That's all that matters.
00:51:44
snowjobspodcast
Mm-hmm.
00:51:52
snowjobspodcast
Here's a question. stock Stock edges or you go winter equipment?
00:51:56
Matt
How are you using stock edges right now, but I'm going to try some winter equipment and see how they go.
00:51:58
snowjobspodcast
OK.
00:52:00
RICK JAMES
Yeah, try winter.
00:52:00
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:52:02
Matt
Yeah. Yeah.
00:52:02
snowjobspodcast
I was not sold. Jeremy was trying to sell me on it, like these are game changers. Then Brandon Riley was saying these are game changers. I'm like, how good can they be? Dude, it's night and day.
00:52:13
Matt
Yeah.
00:52:13
snowjobspodcast
The winter equipments, are the you put those edges on there when your when your plow needs it.
00:52:18
Matt
Yeah.
00:52:18
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:52:18
snowjobspodcast
When it needs it, switch one plow out with those and you're going to be like, holy shit, dude.
00:52:23
Matt
Yeah, we're actually gonna order.
00:52:24
snowjobspodcast
like
00:52:25
Matt
So I have two plows that need edges. So we're gonna put them on it and we're goingnna see we're gonna see how they go.
00:52:30
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, there it you'll you'll like how it goes.
00:52:30
RICK JAMES
That reminds of Brandon just text me like a couple days ago.
00:52:33
Matt
Yeah.
00:52:33
snowjobspodcast
You'll definitely like it.
00:52:36
RICK JAMES
That's my one. He's preseason order of shit. I have to look at that.
00:52:39
snowjobspodcast
B. Riley, trying to move move product.
00:52:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. we just try Yeah.
00:52:43
snowjobspodcast
He's a pusher man.
00:52:44
Matt
yeah
00:52:46
RICK JAMES
How about a snow power?
00:52:46
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah, but you'll be you'll be real happy with him.
00:52:47
RICK JAMES
You should, you should try one of those.
00:52:49
snowjobspodcast
You'll be telling me, holy crap, man, I can't believe it.
00:52:52
RICK JAMES
How about a snow power?
00:52:52
Matt
Oh,
00:52:52
snowjobspodcast
And they didn't wear.
00:52:53
RICK JAMES
You gonna put a snow power on as I was jumping on you, but I was like,
00:52:54
snowjobspodcast
They didn't wear. What's that?
00:52:58
snowjobspodcast
Go ahead.
00:52:58
Matt
good.
00:52:58
RICK JAMES
I still managed to try a snow power on one of those boss modes.
00:53:01
Matt
Well, so I, I think I'm going to get one here. I, I, I actually wanted to sell them. I'm still trying to see if I want to do it. I just don't know. I'm ready to jump in and, uh, be a plow dealer again. Um, since we sell salt and we have a supply yard, I get a lot of guys through and it makes, and I have a mechanic on hand all the time and it would be probably a good thing to do.
00:53:17
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it makes sense.
00:53:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:23
Matt
It's just. just a lot of moving parts and trying to make sure it's, you know, makes sense for me, but I will, uh, I'm going to be getting a newer truck towards, um, fall here and I'm thinking I'm going to put one on and see what I like.
00:53:26
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
00:53:27
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:53:35
snowjobspodcast
Nice. Where are you going to go with like an F12, F14 or the V?
00:53:37
Matt
I think I'll put an F 14 on actually.
00:53:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I think, well, he's got great prices on him right now, so.
00:53:40
Matt
Yeah.
00:53:40
snowjobspodcast
Interesting.
00:53:42
Matt
Yeah. Yeah. So I do have a, ah I have a back blade, too. I run one of the ah old short irons.
00:53:47
snowjobspodcast
Do ya? Okay.
00:53:49
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:53:49
Matt
So now, yeah.
00:53:50
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:53:50
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:53:50
Matt
So i and I run that on back of one of my 550s.
00:53:50
RICK JAMES
Top drum.
00:53:54
Matt
I love it. like Some of my guys hate it.
00:53:56
snowjobspodcast
You have a back blade on a 550?
00:53:58
Matt
Yeah, 20 footer.
00:54:00
RICK JAMES
20th motor?
00:54:01
snowjobspodcast
You gotta to send me a video of that.
00:54:02
RICK JAMES
Oh, Jesus. ah
00:54:03
Matt
I will. That thing's awesome.
00:54:04
snowjobspodcast
We'll post it.
00:54:06
Matt
when you
00:54:06
snowjobspodcast
I've never seen that. Usually, yeah right Jeremy? You ever seen something on a dually?
00:54:10
RICK JAMES
Not a five, not a...
00:54:11
snowjobspodcast
Normally it's just on a 25 or a 35, right?
00:54:14
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, I've never seen that.
00:54:14
snowjobspodcast
Single rear?
00:54:15
Matt
It's on a dually flatbed and it's awesome. Like you get into big parking, like it can eat snow.
00:54:21
RICK JAMES
Hmm, that's cool.
00:54:21
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
00:54:22
Matt
Yeah. I, when he says you can out plow a loader in the right thing, you can out plow a loader. Cause we were, it was two years ago, Christmas and I was trying to get home and I was in that truck and other guys was in loader. And it was only like, it was, uh, just fluffy snow, like four inches. And I was just carrying snow and I would just carry it down and make the piles and then he could push it, but I could just zip around so fast and turn.
00:54:42
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:54:44
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:54:44
Matt
It was a game changer.
00:54:45
snowjobspodcast
How old is it, Matt?
00:54:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:47
Matt
Uh, that is three years old.
00:54:50
snowjobspodcast
So you've seen the new top guns, right?
00:54:53
Matt
Yeah.
00:54:53
snowjobspodcast
So how different is it? Like, have they made substantial improvements to the one you have?
00:54:58
Matt
So they've made, in private like the build of it's the same. It's still really, cause that thing is built like a tank, truly is.
00:55:03
snowjobspodcast
It is.
00:55:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's it.
00:55:04
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:55:04
Matt
And, um, I've had guys rough it up a little bit and it's still been good. So what I've seen, the difference is, is the pump reaction, how fast the wings are paired up now.
00:55:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:55:14
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah.
00:55:14
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:55:15
Matt
And then the controller, the controllers went from the sides of
00:55:18
snowjobspodcast
yeah ah
00:55:21
Matt
a shoe box to be in like, you can get it in your hand.
00:55:22
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:55:22
RICK JAMES
ah
00:55:24
Matt
But we built like, I had my mechanic build like a holding station for that controller and the front plow controller.
00:55:24
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:55:24
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:55:32
Matt
So it just made it easy. And we built it right to sit right next to you. So it was, it was not a problem, but I do like, I don't know.
00:55:37
snowjobspodcast
I wonder is that new controller? I wonder if that's transferable. I wonder if they can put the new style controller on the old class.
00:55:42
Matt
I would think it would be.
00:55:46
snowjobspodcast
That'd be interesting.
00:55:47
Matt
Yeah.
00:55:47
RICK JAMES
I'm sure Ravel had us now.
00:55:49
Matt
Yeah.
00:55:49
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:55:50
Matt
Yeah, for sure. But doy can't um doing ah all the um truck wells and stuff like that with it, that's that's awesome too.
00:55:51
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Let me know, TiVo. Let us know.
00:56:02
Matt
It's huge.
00:56:02
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:56:03
Matt
It's huge.
00:56:04
snowjobspodcast
What? Now, since you've had it for a number of years, you could answer these questions like like the most common thing we hear is like those things are no good for over two or three inches. Like you.
00:56:14
Matt
No, I used it myself just in the last 8-inch one, um and it worked fine. ah I have a problem. Some people say it'll lift the the ass end of the truck up with a dually. I haven't had that problem. I don't know if it's because I'm riding on a 550, but I haven't had that problem at all.
00:56:31
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I mean, it'll lift the back end of the truck off the ground.
00:56:33
RICK JAMES
ah
00:56:36
Matt
yeah i mean one Yeah, but I mean, when if you start gathering snow, they say it.
00:56:36
snowjobspodcast
You could change your tires if you want.
00:56:40
RICK JAMES
When he when he got a bunch of smoke you lose traction yeah, do you have a do you have a salter in that on that 550 to okay?
00:56:41
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I got you.
00:56:42
Matt
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, but I, not that one, that one just says front plow back blade truck and we run it through a lot of the industrials.
00:56:45
snowjobspodcast
Interesting. interesting
00:56:53
snowjobspodcast
Interesting.
00:56:53
RICK JAMES
So on your what 16 pickups or so you said he had run it all did a lot of them do a lot of them have Salters on them too or just the ones you said okay?
00:56:57
Matt
Yeah. Now. Just the one, that the salt trucks are just salt trucks. We do have some plows for a couple of salt trucks that we'll throw on just so if they're out, certain places that we know we need to catch up or sidewalk guys got stuff out, those trucks will run those blades just to be able to do that while they're out.
00:57:03
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:57:08
RICK JAMES
Touch up. Yep.
00:57:13
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:57:14
snowjobspodcast
Cool.
00:57:15
Matt
no Yeah.
00:57:15
RICK JAMES
Yep. That's good.
00:57:16
snowjobspodcast
All right, sweet.
00:57:16
Matt
Yeah.
00:57:17
snowjobspodcast
ah You guys use a contracted weather forecast service?
00:57:20
Matt
I do. I do.
00:57:22
snowjobspodcast
What do you got? Who are we beating up?
00:57:24
Matt
So last year I tried the weather pros.
00:57:26
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:57:27
snowjobspodcast
OK, how are they?
00:57:28
Matt
So I, um,
00:57:30
snowjobspodcast
You can tell the truth. Tell the truth. There's no like we call it how it is here.
00:57:33
RICK JAMES
Nick can take it, don't worry, don't worry Nick and nick and Rob can take it.
00:57:36
Matt
Um,
00:57:36
snowjobspodcast
Nick and Rob can take it. If they, if they messed up, they'll own it.
00:57:39
Matt
yeah, I don't think they were the best in this area, but I like, I like their maps and how they do some things on there.
00:57:42
snowjobspodcast
ah Okay.
00:57:46
snowjobspodcast
and go Okay.
00:57:46
Matt
I'll truly do it because I have another one that's called TDS. So I'm a, I'm a guy that has two of them and and go from there.
00:57:51
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:57:53
Matt
And, um, TDS just seemed to be really good with our area. Like it was like they were locked in, you know?
00:57:57
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
00:57:59
RICK JAMES
Never heard of it.
00:58:00
Matt
Yeah.
00:58:00
snowjobspodcast
Are they are they local?
00:58:02
Matt
Um, I think they're out of Ohio. I think that's where they're at.
00:58:05
snowjobspodcast
Okay, so semi-local Okay What they missed they missed a couple storms or they yeah, all right I It's tough.
00:58:06
Matt
Yeah, semi-local stuff like that. But TDS has done well for me.
00:58:09
RICK JAMES
but But guys Yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna have to this year.
00:58:11
Matt
I like a lot of the stuff the weather pros has, though.
00:58:12
RICK JAMES
I got I got I'm hooked up with the weather pearls and Shoe weather this year. So we'll see Yeah, yeah, Jennifer
00:58:13
Matt
I mean, it has some good things.
00:58:17
Matt
Yeah, they miss the cold storms. But I mean, who doesn't anymore?
00:58:22
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:58:24
snowjobspodcast
It's definitely getting tougher
00:58:24
RICK JAMES
um'm go i'm gonna have two this here i got i got i'm hooked up with the weather prolls and
00:58:27
Matt
Oh, you're going through weather?
00:58:29
RICK JAMES
sure weather this year so we'll see
00:58:31
snowjobspodcast
red or We're gonna put him head-to-head. We both have both, so we're gonna put him head-to-head.
00:58:33
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah jennifer
00:58:35
Matt
He's going to be looking for your accounts there.
00:58:38
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, right?
00:58:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's all right.
00:58:39
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, yeah, Gomez is coming from my half-acre post office. He's coming. but I'm so scared.
00:58:47
RICK JAMES
God, listen, he'd never come to North Dakota.
00:58:50
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, no, he did say that.
00:58:51
RICK JAMES
There's nothing here for her.
00:58:51
snowjobspodcast
I don't care how much money they throw at me.
00:58:53
Matt
Yeah.
00:58:53
snowjobspodcast
but No Dakota.
00:58:56
Matt
was
00:58:56
snowjobspodcast
ah Oh, shit. All right, well, that's good. um We went over a contract structure basically, right?
00:59:04
Matt
yeah
00:59:04
snowjobspodcast
Jeremy, we got a percentage.
00:59:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, we did. Yep. Yep.
00:59:07
snowjobspodcast
What else you got, Jay?
00:59:09
RICK JAMES
ah competition area besides big Billy Moore what do you got yeah
00:59:13
Matt
it's ah It's just fierce. There's a lot of guys and the pricing you know the pricing goes all over here. like I know I've talked to ah Steve and you know per acre, you know you guys will be 12 to 14,000 here. i mean You're lucky to get eight to 10 when you're fighting you know a different fight here.
00:59:29
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
00:59:31
Matt
and i mean It's even less sometimes. I go in and bid stuff and And they're like, well, you're way off. And then you, I'm like, this is where it's at. If we're, you know, for the service you're going to get from us and what we're going to bring to do your, you know, place, you gotta, you know, we gotta to try to make some money on it too. So yeah.
00:59:50
snowjobspodcast
That's everywhere though, Matt.
00:59:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:59:51
snowjobspodcast
That's literally everywhere. like You have guys around here that'll still like go like sub five an acre.
00:59:56
Matt
yeah
00:59:56
snowjobspodcast
you know and They just don't know. like ah Either they're overhead, they don't know what their true numbers are as far as their expenses, or they're just banking on no snow. But theyre you're all over the place here. the The good thing about here is you get those monster storms every year, and the property managers usually throw out the lowest bid.
01:00:12
Matt
Yeah.
01:00:16
Matt
Right.
01:00:16
snowjobspodcast
like if you got you know two guys in the 20s, one guy that's at 18, and then one guy that's at 9,500. 9,500 is getting thrown out right off the bat, and then they're going to make the 18 guy explain himself.
01:00:24
Matt
Right.
01:00:29
Matt
right
01:00:30
snowjobspodcast
Like, how are you 5 to 10 grand less than these other two guys?
01:00:33
Matt
Yeah. So, I mean, Oh yeah.
01:00:34
snowjobspodcast
So there's guys that don't know their prices and are underbidden by a lot.
01:00:38
Matt
You always got Chuck in the truck out there trying to,
01:00:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:00:41
Matt
you know, beat the world and so.
01:00:43
snowjobspodcast
I think, listen, I think even established companies this year, you know I think you're going to see them lowering their prices for various reasons, which now is not the time to do that, but I think there they're starving a little bit.
01:00:50
Matt
ah
01:00:55
snowjobspodcast
I think they're hurting.
01:00:56
Matt
Yeah, I won't name names, but guys that get awards for being the best snow guy, you know, from curb to curb and they do all this stuff and, you know, get these nice awards and put it by their name. There's guys so cheap. It's amazing. And they're not, they have to pay someone to get the award. I mean, that's just their service.
01:01:12
snowjobspodcast
Oh, well, I mean, that's, uh, is it a Simon award?
01:01:15
Matt
Yeah. You know what I mean?
01:01:15
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:01:16
Matt
Snow fighter of the year and their stuff isn't done in 24 hours after a snow.
01:01:18
snowjobspodcast
yeah Yeah.
01:01:18
RICK JAMES
ay
01:01:21
Matt
I mean, yeah.
01:01:22
snowjobspodcast
Oh, I mean that, I think those, yeah, the awards are bullshit.
01:01:27
Matt
i
01:01:27
snowjobspodcast
I mean, it's like, they're all bullshit.
01:01:27
RICK JAMES
Let's get the job done.
01:01:29
Matt
Yeah.
01:01:30
snowjobspodcast
That's it. Get it done.
01:01:31
Matt
Yeah. That's what it's all about. You know, if it, if it it looks like black top, when the customer rolls in, that's what you want. I mean, and then you look next door and it's got a, you know, six inches on it. So it's, ah yeah.
01:01:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:01:41
snowjobspodcast
100%. Yeah. If they get to work and and they see us still working that we failed, you know, it should already be black and melted.
01:01:46
Matt
Yeah. Yeah.
01:01:49
snowjobspodcast
You know, if it's not still actively snowing when they're coming in, you know, we failed. If we like, that's how we see it anyway, with all hands, we want black pavement, wet pavement by the time the first person pulls in.
01:02:01
Matt
So we try to get it, so our thing is to try to get it done before the city or county has the main roads done.
01:02:07
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:02:07
Matt
So usually what happens is our customer drives in on a bad road and walks into drives onto the parking line. It's perfect.
01:02:12
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:02:12
Matt
We've run enough equipment, enough guys to get it.
01:02:12
RICK JAMES
yeah that's great yep
01:02:15
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:02:15
Matt
done and so Yeah.
01:02:15
snowjobspodcast
We're all doing that. Yeah. That's us.
01:02:18
Matt
Yeah.
01:02:18
snowjobspodcast
The only problem is when the, when the state comes through on the main road and then they bench back the sidewalk and now you you got a foot and a half of snow on the sidewalk again, that was nicely cleared.
01:02:22
Matt
Yeah.
01:02:30
snowjobspodcast
And then you're getting calls.
01:02:30
Matt
yeah
01:02:31
snowjobspodcast
You guys never did the the sidewalk on main street. Oh, really? No. The, the state plow came through six minutes ago. Check your camera.
01:02:36
Matt
We get that on the approaches. The approach wasn't done. I'm like, we actually plowed the approach out farther than so the city wouldn't put as much on there for you.
01:02:39
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:02:44
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, exactly.
01:02:44
RICK JAMES
yeah yep
01:02:45
Matt
Well, we always go back because we always go back and do touch ups. You know, the next night you can get there.
01:02:48
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:02:49
RICK JAMES
same
01:02:50
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, the only I'll tell you, the only guy that we never seem to be able to beat because he almost takes it like a competition is the postal the postal facility gets tractor trailers at between three and four a.m.
01:03:02
Matt
Yeah.
01:03:03
snowjobspodcast
So we know like, listen, we got to be three a.m. That that back lot has to be the loading docks have to be cleared. We have to make a pass through there around two thirty. You know, and this guy just keeps getting earlier and earlier, like he's trying to get there before it's cleared.
01:03:14
Matt
Yeah.
01:03:16
snowjobspodcast
Like, I'm like, is this guy like looking to maybe fall down or something when he gets out of the truck?
01:03:17
Matt
Yeah.
01:03:21
snowjobspodcast
You know, but we keep having to race them.
01:03:22
Matt
yeah
01:03:23
snowjobspodcast
But other than that, you're right, man. It's, uh, get it done before they roll in. They should be rolling into wet pavement.
01:03:29
Matt
yeah
01:03:29
snowjobspodcast
It's awesome. Uh, you want to take a break real quick, let Matt get something to drink.
01:03:34
RICK JAMES
Sure.
01:03:35
snowjobspodcast
All right. We'll be right back, guys. We're going to hear more from our partners.
01:04:42
snowjobspodcast
All right, guys, we're back. Jeremy, what else you got for him?
01:04:46
RICK JAMES
Well, it's, I thought we'd just go to five and five. let So you got anything else?
01:04:49
snowjobspodcast
OK. Hammer it.
01:04:51
RICK JAMES
Okay. Where do you see yourself in five years, Matt, or where would you like to be at?
01:04:56
Matt
hopefully downsized five years yeah well Yeah, no, that's, I want to be into a ah little bit smaller situation, good contracts, but smaller.
01:04:58
RICK JAMES
Downsize?
01:04:59
snowjobspodcast
All right. um See, I don't know if anybody said that.
01:05:02
RICK JAMES
No, no, one's I've never heard that. Yeah.
01:05:12
Matt
I, you know, um, with Clippers, I have a lot of guys that have worked for me for a lot of years, right?
01:05:12
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:05:16
Matt
And I want to be able to take care of my core guys, keep everything going and just kind of keep it.
01:05:16
snowjobspodcast
Mm hmm.
01:05:21
Matt
So it's not so crazy. Um, and we know we have a couple of other things like plow, right? That's part of, you know, Clippers. And that's another thing that avenue we're trying to take. To kind of help deal with you know, the rest of the chaos.
01:05:30
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
01:05:32
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:05:33
Matt
So yeah Yeah Yeah,
01:05:34
snowjobspodcast
Yep. Cool.
01:05:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:05:36
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I don't think we've heard that one time.
01:05:38
RICK JAMES
No, that's it's great.
01:05:40
snowjobspodcast
i I say it, but I don't think we've ever heard that on the show.
01:05:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah. ye Yeah. Yeah. No, that's what you got to be.
01:05:45
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
01:05:45
RICK JAMES
You got to be comfortable.
01:05:45
snowjobspodcast
Good for you, brother. You know what you want.
01:05:47
Matt
yeah no, I just wanted to you know
01:05:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:05:50
Matt
I've chased so much work for so long and you you you know you just keep going and going. I want to get to where you can kind of have it. mean we're We've downsized over the last five years totally in everything and we just keep going that way because we know our number now. right I don't have to have the most trucks, the most loaders.
01:06:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:06:08
Matt
I just need to make the money I need to make.
01:06:11
snowjobspodcast
Most profit. Yeah.
01:06:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
01:06:12
snowjobspodcast
Yes.
01:06:13
Matt
Yeah, for sure.
01:06:14
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:06:14
Matt
so
01:06:15
snowjobspodcast
What is my expenditure that will allow me, what dollar amount in expenditure will allow me to maximize profit for that level?
01:06:21
Matt
100%.
01:06:22
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
01:06:22
RICK JAMES
You have great, you have all the great contracts and you don't need all the other ones that help supplement some money here and there.
01:06:22
snowjobspodcast
I agree.
01:06:23
Matt
That's it.
01:06:23
snowjobspodcast
I agree completely, bro.
01:06:29
Matt
Yeah.
01:06:30
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:06:31
RICK JAMES
so
01:06:31
Matt
Yeah.
01:06:32
snowjobspodcast
You know, my only, my only hang up with that Matt is like, what properties do you keep?
01:06:32
RICK JAMES
just
01:06:36
snowjobspodcast
Where do you draw the line? Like there are properties I have that literally They're, they're profitable, but I keep them just out of loyalty because they helped me get to where I am now. They've been with us since the beginning, you know, since we started first year, 12 years ago, they are, you know, they are still here. They, they're my biggest pains in the ass to do. They don't fit with the rest of the route, but I keep them. Like, how do you, how are you going to go about doing that? Making the decision.
01:07:04
Matt
So snow's not as hard because snow, we've kind of whittled it to that way. And i and like we've been in business for a long time.
01:07:10
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
01:07:12
Matt
I have customers that have been with us for 30 years.
01:07:15
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
01:07:16
Matt
right So the big thing for me is like location.
01:07:16
RICK JAMES
Thank
01:07:19
Matt
If they're close to where we are centrally located and I can just work around my shop,
01:07:21
RICK JAMES
you.
01:07:25
Matt
We keep those because it's easier. It's faster to get the salt runs done.
01:07:28
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, sure.
01:07:29
Matt
It's fast. The snow runs done because everything's right there. So we work out of that. um So for that, it's just for me, it'd be the stuff that's a little bit farther away, just kind of whittling that away and going from there.
01:07:41
snowjobspodcast
Cool. All right.
01:07:44
Matt
Yeah.
01:07:44
snowjobspodcast
What has been, I mean, this probably goes hand in hand that what's been your best business decision in the last five years that's gotten you to where you are today?
01:07:53
Matt
So I would say,
01:07:54
snowjobspodcast
Downsizing.
01:07:55
Matt
um
01:07:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:56
Matt
Yeah. ah so like In 2008, 2009, the economy you know kind of collapsed. We were booming then. and in In our area, there was lots of new homes being built, everything going on. We were doing tons of work, tons of guys, and it almost ruined us. and Luckily, at that time, my father was smart enough and saved a bunch of money and started spending a lot of money and was able to put back into the business. We sold a bunch, you know, some trucks and some equipment, and we made it through. Did we ever truly have to sell everything?
01:08:27
Matt
No, but just to be responsible, we did. And then we started to downsize from there. We started to figure things out a little bit better um where we needed to be.
01:08:35
snowjobspodcast
I got you.
01:08:36
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:08:37
Matt
Instead of trying to be the biggest guy to be seen, we was trying to make the most money, the most profit.
01:08:39
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:08:42
RICK JAMES
Most profit.
01:08:42
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:08:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:43
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:08:44
RICK JAMES
Cool.
01:08:44
snowjobspodcast
Cool. What else you got, Jay? Got anything else for him?
01:08:47
RICK JAMES
Well, Matt, you got any good plowing stories you want to tell?
01:08:50
Matt
I mean, I can tell you that we've knocked down the same pole in the same park and not three times.
01:08:51
RICK JAMES
Anything?
01:08:58
Matt
We've done that in different equipment, one with a loader, one with the back of a salt truck and one with a plow truck. So that's happened.
01:09:04
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
01:09:05
Matt
I've three different guys, different times, you know, all spread out in about a four year period.
01:09:06
snowjobspodcast
Three different guys are the same guy driving three different pieces. All right.
01:09:14
RICK JAMES
nice
01:09:14
Matt
I've replaced that pole with the lights.
01:09:15
snowjobspodcast
Wow.
01:09:17
Matt
And it's at a, ah yeah, yeah, it's never fun.
01:09:19
RICK JAMES
Nice Oh, yeah It's definitely the you definitely ah You see them crazy stuff at night and you do the crazy shit at night.
01:09:20
Matt
So, I mean, and i' it's just one of those things, you know, out plowing, you deal with all kinds of stuff.
01:09:26
snowjobspodcast
That's crazy.
01:09:26
Matt
Yeah.
01:09:35
Matt
Yeah.
01:09:36
snowjobspodcast
Oh, you definitely, definitely.
01:09:37
Matt
My best is when you have a windrow with a loader going and it's about four or five feet high and it's long and these cars think they're gonna go through it.
01:09:39
RICK JAMES
I
01:09:45
Matt
next thing you need
01:09:45
RICK JAMES
oh Those are the best those are the best Yeah, like it's your It's like it's your fault that they're dumb enough to try to go through it.
01:09:46
Matt
And they're stuck on it. And they want you to get them out.
01:09:48
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:09:49
Matt
And you can plow everything away from a them. And you just keep moving until the record comes and gets them out of there.
01:09:52
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:09:57
Matt
Yeah. Yeah.
01:09:57
snowjobspodcast
Didn't you, didn't you put up a video of that last year, Jeremy?
01:09:57
Matt
I'm like, what do you think?
01:09:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah cars ah Me I don't think so.
01:10:03
snowjobspodcast
Didn't I thought you did thought I got like we put it up. It got a lot of hits Fargo the guy trying to drive through the the windrow and got stuck like like it was like a Kia or something Hey, I could have sworn Okay
01:10:07
RICK JAMES
I Don't know maybe with What would have been here last year is don't window
01:10:14
Matt
yeah Yeah.
01:10:17
RICK JAMES
they have enough smoke
01:10:17
Matt
mean that's one movement snow too We were in a um medical facility that had like, uh, housing around it for elderly people.
01:10:20
RICK JAMES
oh
01:10:25
Matt
And we had to move snow piles and the guy was running the loader and he picked up the transformer, took it right out of the ground and shut the whole power down in the site.
01:10:34
snowjobspodcast
Oh, that's costly.
01:10:34
RICK JAMES
boy transformer that's uh
01:10:37
Matt
Costly.
01:10:38
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, that happened.
01:10:38
Matt
Yeah.
01:10:39
snowjobspodcast
That happened in our town to an apartment complex. But in their defense, there is literally nowhere to stack snow in this entire complex.
01:10:45
Matt
yeah
01:10:46
snowjobspodcast
Like, where is this Floridian, this Florida fucking architect that designed this complex?
01:10:47
Matt
always
01:10:51
snowjobspodcast
Because there is zero places.
01:10:51
Matt
yeah
01:10:53
snowjobspodcast
So they were stacking and then they were moving it. And same thing, they ripped the entire box out.
01:10:58
Matt
That's how this one was. It was two driveways. So it was like a triangle between the driveways, you know, and it went it started to get bigger and that thing sat up there about five feet and there was snow packed up against it because there's nowhere to put it.
01:11:02
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. yeah
01:11:09
Matt
And it's not Mark. He took that thing right out of the ground.
01:11:12
snowjobspodcast
Oh, lucky he didn't catch the loader on fire.
01:11:13
Matt
Yeah.
01:11:15
snowjobspodcast
The one around here caught the 926, burned up the cat.
01:11:17
Matt
all right yeah at that time it would have been lucky that was an old one so
01:11:22
RICK JAMES
Ha
01:11:22
snowjobspodcast
ah but Oh man.
01:11:25
Matt
i he got out of it but so
01:11:26
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. What do you, uh, what do you feel are the biggest issues facing us today in snow management?
01:11:33
Matt
um for me i mean everyone talks about it you you have your nationals you're always competing against you' national guys that's a that's a huge thing if you're trying to get.
01:11:40
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:11:45
Matt
decent work, right? If you want to get the better work and stuff like that, you got to compete against guys.
01:11:48
RICK JAMES
ha
01:11:49
Matt
You truly don't have a chance. and nice I don't anymore.
01:11:51
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Do you battle in your area with them?
01:11:52
RICK JAMES
ha!
01:11:54
Matt
I stopped.
01:11:55
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
01:11:56
Matt
So I don't do any work.
01:11:56
snowjobspodcast
But they're still there. They're still there.
01:11:58
Matt
Oh, yeah, they're still here.
01:11:59
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:11:59
Matt
Yeah. So yeah, I just I really stopped working with management companies and stuff. So a lot of my stuff is privately owned.
01:12:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:12:07
Matt
um And we go, you know, we do that because you it's just hard to compete.
01:12:07
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:12:11
Matt
I can't compete in the price. So and then labor.
01:12:13
snowjobspodcast
Amen. I hear you.
01:12:14
RICK JAMES
Nor should you. nor should you
01:12:16
Matt
yeah Labor's huge. Labor's a big problem in this industry.
01:12:17
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:12:20
Matt
It seems like we're starting to get a little bit of push of the younger generation that's starting to get in the snow and they seem to um enjoy it a little bit.
01:12:28
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:12:29
Matt
So hopefully that can help, but I mean, um probably 15 years ago is our best time where I had guys that would work construction and stuff and they wanted to make extra money and they come run loaders and run the salt trucks and and it worked awesome. But now it's a tough grind. And as older I get, you run out of the guys that, you know, want to make work with you and you know, make that extra money as they get families and stuff like that.
01:12:49
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:12:51
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:12:54
Matt
And so that's been, that's been a tough go.
01:12:54
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:12:57
snowjobspodcast
You got to get one good young kid that's got a lot of friends, and then, man, he can make you swell up.
01:13:00
Matt
Yeah.
01:13:02
snowjobspodcast
Like, they he can definitely bring them with him.
01:13:02
Matt
Yeah.
01:13:04
Matt
Yeah, so that's ah that's a struggle always.
01:13:08
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, well, labor is definitely a problem. Oh, what else you got, Jay? Anything else for Maddie?
01:13:14
RICK JAMES
I'm out.
01:13:16
snowjobspodcast
You're out?
01:13:16
RICK JAMES
I'm out.
01:13:17
snowjobspodcast
Got nothing left?
01:13:17
RICK JAMES
What do you got?
01:13:18
Matt
Look at that example.
01:13:19
snowjobspodcast
and he like Any lessons, Matt, that you learned in your early stages you know growing up or or that you learned from your dad when he was running it that you want to pass on to other guys?
01:13:30
Matt
The biggest thing is, All that equipment looks beautiful and it's pretty, but if it doesn't make a dime, it just costs you everything you made. I tell every one guy I see, I watch these guys buying these $100,000 trucks, $200,000 loaders, and I look at the work they have and they don't have the work to support it.
01:13:38
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:13:49
Matt
And you're just, you're just, it's a slow death.
01:13:52
snowjobspodcast
100% 100%
01:13:53
Matt
You're coming, it's going to come to an end. And then my dad always said to me is like, if the best thing we can do is buy a piece of property with a building that you own. So if something goes wrong, you get it paid off, you have something as an asset for yourself later. Besides your business, your company, now you have a building, either you're going to sell it or you're going to lease it out for the space and do, you can do that.
01:14:10
snowjobspodcast
Yep.
01:14:17
Matt
And we've been fortunate enough to be able to do that. So it was a good thing.
01:14:20
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:14:20
RICK JAMES
no
01:14:21
snowjobspodcast
That's a home run.
01:14:22
Matt
Yeah.
01:14:22
RICK JAMES
yes you must have a
01:14:23
snowjobspodcast
I say that all the time when it comes to leasing versus buying the equipment. like the To buy it outright is not that much more money for not that many more months.
01:14:30
Matt
Yeah.
01:14:31
snowjobspodcast
and At least if everything goes to shit, at least I got something to sell.
01:14:34
RICK JAMES
You have some.
01:14:36
snowjobspodcast
I got equity. you know i can I can get something back.
01:14:37
Matt
Yeah.
01:14:38
snowjobspodcast
At least they just repo it.
01:14:40
Matt
Well, that's why I talk to guys when they buy stuff, too.
01:14:40
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
01:14:41
Matt
I'm like, yeah, you can buy it. And you know, because a lot of guys say you can't buy it unless you can pay for it upfront. And I'll tell you guys, well, a lot of you don't have that capital to do unless you're a really big company. So you buy it, but you need to be able to pay that thing down fast. You can't go.
01:14:54
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:14:54
Matt
You need to really because in three years, if you have the wrong guy in a loader,
01:14:54
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah.
01:14:59
Matt
That thing can you know doesn look the same, everything like that.
01:15:01
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah.
01:15:02
Matt
And youre you start to lose money. So you've got to start justifying what you're buying and in as fast as you can pay it off.
01:15:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:15:10
RICK JAMES
Right.
01:15:11
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, absolutely.
01:15:12
Matt
Yeah.
01:15:12
snowjobspodcast
Like 36 months is the max, like absolute max 24 months is ideal.
01:15:14
Matt
Yeah.
01:15:18
snowjobspodcast
You know, they even do a lot of thirties now I'm seeing like nice in between 24 and 36.
01:15:20
Matt
yeah it's tough Well, Case just ran 36% 0%. So I mean, right there, that's a good incentive for people to do it.
01:15:27
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:15:27
Matt
But I mean, it's a little bit not.
01:15:28
snowjobspodcast
That's phenomenal. Nobody's doing 0%.
01:15:30
RICK JAMES
No, no, I haven't seen that for a while.
01:15:30
snowjobspodcast
Are they, Jay?
01:15:31
Matt
Yeah. I think I just saw a case popping.
01:15:33
snowjobspodcast
I didn't even see Case doing that.
01:15:35
RICK JAMES
No, they doing they doing it now.
01:15:35
Matt
I just thought today, because I almost sent a message.
01:15:35
snowjobspodcast
That's that's big.
01:15:37
Matt
Where was that?
01:15:40
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Well, I mean, here here's the thing. Are they going to be able to get you what you need? If you're if you're buying a loader right now between you know two people, we know.
01:15:47
RICK JAMES
They're probably just doing that because they don't have any loaders left.
01:15:47
Matt
and
01:15:51
snowjobspodcast
That's it. Oh, you want 0%?
01:15:52
RICK JAMES
ah
01:15:53
snowjobspodcast
No problem. Oh, you want a loader?
01:15:54
RICK JAMES
oh
01:15:54
snowjobspodcast
No, we don't have those.
01:15:54
RICK JAMES
oh yeah yeah
01:15:56
Matt
well
01:15:56
snowjobspodcast
Sorry, they're all sold.
01:15:58
Matt
Yeah, no, it's true.
01:15:59
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:16:00
Matt
I mean, but, uh, no, I think that's just the big thing. It's just knowing where you're putting your money. Don't spend it too fast. Don't grow too fast because in the next year you can lose 50% of it in the snap of a finger, you know, because no one's local.
01:16:07
snowjobspodcast
Amen.
01:16:11
snowjobspodcast
Amen. what What's your opinion on on growth?
01:16:13
Matt
So, um,
01:16:15
snowjobspodcast
Like what's the percentage per year? What do you think? You guys have been doing it a long, long time.
01:16:20
Matt
Oh, I don't know. We haven't tried to grow. And so, uh, truly I'm,
01:16:26
snowjobspodcast
but curbside was saying last year, they try and grow 10% a year, 10 to 15.
01:16:30
RICK JAMES
10 to 15.
01:16:31
Matt
That's what I would say. I would say 10 to 15. I mean, 20, if it's the right job, but don't count on that job to be there the next year, you can't.
01:16:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:16:40
Matt
And that's the problem when you go buy a loader, you're like, I i just got this great job that I need this loader for.
01:16:40
snowjobspodcast
hu
01:16:44
Matt
But if you don't have a multi-year contract, that loader can be worthless in a year.
01:16:46
RICK JAMES
You're right. Mm-hmm.
01:16:50
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. And what, what are the deals out there in your area? Are they usually one, one shot, one year deals or they multi-years?
01:16:56
Matt
I have ah a few multi, but a lot of them are one year.
01:16:59
snowjobspodcast
Really?
01:16:59
Matt
on year over, even guys I've had forever.
01:17:00
snowjobspodcast
Okay.
01:17:01
Matt
I'm talking 30 year customers are still old school one year, but they sign it every year.
01:17:04
RICK JAMES
No one here, but they're loyal.
01:17:05
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah, I don't do that.
01:17:07
Matt
I mean, you know, we've had such a good rapport with them.
01:17:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:17:10
RICK JAMES
That's good.
01:17:10
Matt
Yeah.
01:17:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Huh.
01:17:12
Matt
um
01:17:13
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, the only ones that are on one year for me are the ones I really don't care if I lose, but any of the ones that I know I want long-term that we can crush this and it's it's it's fair for them, it's good for us, it works for everybody, and I want it long-term, that's gonna be a multi-year deal.
01:17:24
Matt
Yeah.
01:17:28
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
01:17:28
Matt
It's something that could be that, We're too old school. I mean, technology is not always on our side at Clippers.
01:17:32
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:17:35
Matt
We, you know, we still do a lot of things old school like that, but I, I have older customers that it's always been the handshake, sign the paper, go, I go meet them in their office, you know, that kind of thing.
01:17:44
snowjobspodcast
Awesome.
01:17:45
Matt
So yeah,
01:17:46
snowjobspodcast
That's great, man.
01:17:48
RICK JAMES
No, let's just know that you said that I know you said you got a metal plus coming.
01:17:48
snowjobspodcast
I like that.
01:17:51
RICK JAMES
Are you getting a storm vision with it or and nice?
01:17:54
Matt
yeah I got storm vision.
01:17:55
snowjobspodcast
You did.
01:17:55
RICK JAMES
ski Yeah.
01:17:56
Matt
Yes, I did.
01:17:57
snowjobspodcast
You weren't the guy that won it at the show, are you?
01:17:59
Matt
No, no, not me.
01:18:00
snowjobspodcast
No.
01:18:01
Matt
I wish.
01:18:02
snowjobspodcast
That shit's rigged.
01:18:02
Matt
It'll save me some money.
01:18:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:18:03
snowjobspodcast
How did I not win it?
01:18:04
snowjobspodcast
That shit's rigged.
01:18:05
Matt
No, I saw that.
01:18:05
snowjobspodcast
I'm just kidding. They said the guy that wanted is colorblind.
01:18:10
Matt
Yeah, I heard that.
01:18:10
snowjobspodcast
like Can't see the red and green.
01:18:10
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:18:12
snowjobspodcast
That's great.
01:18:12
Matt
Yeah, that's crazy.
01:18:13
snowjobspodcast
ah
01:18:14
Matt
No, I'm actually waiting to see how it goes. They probably thought it was crazy because I'm like, I want storm vision, but I think I also want the wire harness too, because I don't trust it. You know what I mean?
01:18:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:18:25
Matt
And Steve's like, no, it's going to work just fine.
01:18:27
RICK JAMES
It's going to work.
01:18:28
Matt
I'm like, I'll do it.
01:18:28
RICK JAMES
It's going to work.
01:18:28
Matt
but
01:18:29
RICK JAMES
It's going to work.
01:18:30
Matt
Yeah.
01:18:30
snowjobspodcast
yeah they're Yeah, I don't think they're releasing anything that those guys aren't 100% positive.
01:18:34
Matt
Yeah. No, it's amazing.
01:18:35
RICK JAMES
It's going to work. It's going to work.
01:18:37
Matt
That thing's amazing.
01:18:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:18:39
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, it's crazy.
01:18:40
Matt
Yeah.
01:18:40
snowjobspodcast
Crazy it good.
01:18:41
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:18:41
snowjobspodcast
And the direction it can go, like with the app of tracking the plow and the productivity and stuff, that's that's pretty exciting, actually.
01:18:46
RICK JAMES
yeah ye
01:18:48
Matt
Yeah. And you know, the funny thing that got me was just having the red, uh, yellow and green.
01:18:53
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:18:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:18:53
Matt
That thing's awesome because you now you take an operator that he's just got to look at that and he doesn't, you know, you don't have to be a magician to get that thing flat.
01:18:53
snowjobspodcast
Yes.
01:18:57
snowjobspodcast
Mm-hmm.
01:19:02
snowjobspodcast
That was my biggest problem when I reviewed it after last year.
01:19:04
Matt
Yeah.
01:19:05
snowjobspodcast
That was my biggest problem was was the resets, and that'll eliminate a lot of that time.
01:19:10
Matt
yeah know
01:19:10
snowjobspodcast
Okay, put it down, it's green good, push.
01:19:12
Matt
Yep. It'll be amazing.
01:19:13
snowjobspodcast
Done.
01:19:13
Matt
I think so.
01:19:14
snowjobspodcast
But I mean, think about like, like since you're talking about it the technology with that app to track the productivity, that will help guys.
01:19:20
Matt
Yeah.
01:19:21
snowjobspodcast
Like we're always saying guys don't know their numbers.
01:19:23
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
01:19:23
snowjobspodcast
They don't know how productive they are with each machine. They don't know what to charge per hour. That will boil it down. Like you will have real time knowing exactly how many how many acres or square feet your machine is doing in an hour.
01:19:36
Matt
So that's part of the reason I got it too is cause that machine is going to go replace two pickup trucks. All right.
01:19:42
snowjobspodcast
OK.
01:19:43
Matt
And on the jobs and I want to see, you know, the time will tell, you know, getting it done, but just how much we can make up with that loader with that piece of, with that pusher on it and see the difference.
01:19:51
snowjobspodcast
Sure.
01:19:55
Matt
Cause I think it's going to, it's going to be a game changer for us in that situation.
01:20:00
snowjobspodcast
100% it will be.
01:20:01
Matt
Yeah.
01:20:02
snowjobspodcast
What's uh, what, what, what plus did you get?
01:20:02
RICK JAMES
two pick-ups, it'll probably replace all your pick-ups.
01:20:06
Matt
What was it?
01:20:06
snowjobspodcast
What happened?
01:20:06
RICK JAMES
I said two pick-ups, that thing will probably replace every pick-up you have. It's a little plus.
01:20:09
snowjobspodcast
The metal plus.
01:20:10
Matt
well
01:20:10
RICK JAMES
Oh God, it'll replace everything.
01:20:11
snowjobspodcast
Oh yeah. metalless ah oh What, what plus did you go with?
01:20:12
Matt
ah all over there
01:20:14
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
01:20:14
Matt
i' good
01:20:18
Matt
It's the 22, I think it is 10 foot 22.
01:20:21
snowjobspodcast
Oh, okay. Big one.
01:20:22
Matt
So let's get the six foot wings on it. Yeah. Yeah.
01:20:25
snowjobspodcast
Big one. Okay.
01:20:26
Matt
Well, cause it was one of their old, the ones from last year.
01:20:28
snowjobspodcast
Yeah.
01:20:28
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:20:29
Matt
So I, you know, they were running the discounts on it and I'm like, bingo.
01:20:32
snowjobspodcast
There you go.
01:20:33
Matt
Yeah.
01:20:33
snowjobspodcast
Pick it up.
01:20:34
Matt
Yeah.
01:20:35
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, I don't care about current model year. If it's a good deal, give you can give me a three year old plow painted hot pink.
01:20:37
Matt
Yeah.
01:20:40
snowjobspodcast
I really don't give a shit.
01:20:42
Matt
Yeah.
01:20:42
snowjobspodcast
If it's a good deal, I'll take it.
01:20:43
Matt
It was a good deal.
01:20:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:20:44
Matt
They're running a great deal on that. If they, you know, for that, I was really surprised.
01:20:47
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. Amen. All right, Matt, you got anything for us? I think we're good.
01:20:52
Matt
No, man, just appreciate this, uh, show. yeah I won't lie. I was, uh, I I've always done snow, but I've never, I've never went to Simon. I never talked to a lot of people. I've networked and talked to more people since listening to your show and, uh, just kind of seeing who's out there than I ever have.
01:21:08
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:21:11
snowjobspodcast
That's awesome.
01:21:12
Matt
Yeah. And without this thing, without that podcast, I probably would never do it. I always stayed to myself and just did my own thing.
01:21:18
snowjobspodcast
I think a lot of people are saying that. I mean, shit, I was doing that. That was it. I talked to Jeremy. That was about it. Everybody else came with the podcast, basically.
01:21:26
Matt
Yeah. No, it's just amazing the people you can meet and opportunities you can, you know, get out of it.
01:21:27
snowjobspodcast
well
01:21:30
Matt
So it's great.
01:21:31
snowjobspodcast
Yeah, there's strength there's definitely strength in numbers.
01:21:32
Matt
It's a great.
01:21:34
snowjobspodcast
And the more familiar we get with each other, you know the the more we can push in the same direction.
01:21:34
Matt
Yeah.
01:21:38
snowjobspodcast
So it's awesome.
01:21:39
Matt
For sure. For sure.
01:21:40
snowjobspodcast
ah that's great man we appreciate it definitely and uh yeah it was good seeing you at sima it was uh it was a good time definitely a good time it was great to see eric that was uh that was let him live bro let him live it up man
01:21:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely.
01:21:46
Matt
Yeah, he had a good time.
01:21:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
01:21:50
Matt
I had to keep him under control.
01:21:51
RICK JAMES
but yeah That's awesome.
01:21:54
Matt
I feel bad for those young ladies out there.
01:21:57
snowjobspodcast
ah
01:21:59
Matt
You know, you get to the home like, come on.
01:22:00
RICK JAMES
Oh,
01:22:02
snowjobspodcast
oh was Well, we definitely appreciate the time brother and coming on and ah we'll see you soon.
01:22:04
Matt
Yeah.
01:22:09
snowjobspodcast
Are you going to storms day?
01:22:09
RICK JAMES
nice.
01:22:10
Matt
Yeah, I'll be there.
01:22:12
snowjobspodcast
All right, so we'll see you in a couple weeks then and all right
01:22:13
Matt
We'll be there.
01:22:14
RICK JAMES
Awesome.
01:22:16
Matt
We'll see here everyone.
01:22:17
snowjobspodcast
All right, boys and girls, that's it. That's going to do it. Episode 78. The Snowjaws podcast is in the books. You know, as always, thanks to Matt for coming on, giving us the time. It was a great conversation. It was great hearing about Clippers. And that's it. We wish them all the continued success of going forward. You know, success is not always growing.
01:22:36
Matt
Yep.
01:22:37
snowjobspodcast
You know, that it's awesome.
01:22:37
RICK JAMES
No, no.
01:22:38
snowjobspodcast
So success can be downsizing successfully and making max profit.
01:22:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:22:42
snowjobspodcast
So I'm all about that.
01:22:43
Matt
Yeah, that's ah ah is the profit part of it.
01:22:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it is.
01:22:45
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
01:22:46
Matt
Yeah.
01:22:46
snowjobspodcast
That's it.
01:22:48
Matt
and Yeah.
01:22:48
snowjobspodcast
You know, bigger is not always more profitable or better.
01:22:52
Matt
Yeah.
01:22:52
snowjobspodcast
More headache.
01:22:53
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:22:53
Matt
Well, sometimes you get to that bigger part, you got to get real big to get that.
01:22:56
snowjobspodcast
That's it. Yeah. that And where we have a couple of friends that are dealing with that right now. They're hitting the plateau and they're like, well, what do we do?
01:23:00
Matt
Yeah.
01:23:02
snowjobspodcast
We got to push all in or we got to pull out a little bit.
01:23:05
Matt
yeah
01:23:05
snowjobspodcast
Yeah. So I don't envy you guys, you know?
01:23:06
Matt
And then when you get, yeah, you get real big, you got to get real big to get over that plateau. And that's, that's the scary part.
01:23:11
snowjobspodcast
a Amen. i'm ah I'm good with it, and it's good to hear that I'm not alone, so that's awesome. Good luck with that, and that's it. We'll see everybody next week, guys. Have a great week, all right? Enjoy the hot weather. Enjoy whatever you do in the summer with the family. Make sure the kids are home. You know, just ah spend time with them because, you know, what the white shit's gonna be here before we know it, all right? So i'll be safe. Keep pushing.