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S3-141: North Grounds Property Maintenance, Bozeman Montana
362 Plays11 hours ago
The guys welcome Ryan VanDyke, Owner, and Kellan Stevenson, Chief of Operations for North Grounds Property Maintenance to the show to hear how they tackle snow in Montana where temps can reach -46 degrees!
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Transcript
Introduction and Recent Activities
00:00:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let's get it, Snow Jobs Nation. We are back again bringing you episode 141 of the Snow Jobs Podcast main show powered by Top Gun Backblades. As always, I'm Steve. You know who's here with me?
00:00:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Jeremy Lindstrom in the house as always. What is up, bud?
00:01:01
RICK JAMES
Hey, Steve-O. Not a whole lot.
00:01:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
How we doing?
00:01:03
RICK JAMES
How about
00:01:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
and not much not much getting uh yeah we're yeah two episodes done in two nights this week this is crazy although we're still not ahead of the game we're still not ahead of the game because this is the this is the weekly so you know the other one was the special which is blowing up
00:01:06
RICK JAMES
Really getting after it this week.
00:01:10
RICK JAMES
Holy shit. Not even Sunday. it's not even Sunday.
00:01:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we we got to get... Yeah.
00:01:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:01:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
we dropped We recorded Yeti yesterday, and we dropped that this morning, and it is ah it is really, really doing and well. a lot of guys apparently wanted to hear about Yeti, so that's good news.
00:01:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:01:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it was a good one. i
00:01:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, Bart's good, man.
00:01:37
RICK JAMES
Good explanation. Bart was good.
00:01:39
RICK JAMES
So yeah, everybody likes Yeti that we know. So yeah, well, Sean can use it.
00:01:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Bart's very good.
00:01:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely, even Sean, and Sean will tell you if you don't like it.
00:01:47
RICK JAMES
That's that's the big thing. That was how easy it is.
00:01:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
simple enough for sean oh it's great uh how's your how's your week been
00:01:53
RICK JAMES
That should be our slogan.
Permit Issues and Regulations in Fargo
00:01:56
RICK JAMES
I've been good. and good then I've been doing the old standard, start giving the city of Fargo money, doing permits this week.
00:02:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
hermits and don't they stop you anyway regardless ah i'm sure that'll make him friends with you if he listens to the show that's good good job
00:02:03
RICK JAMES
so i
00:02:07
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah, we got the jackass of a DOT officer that'll stop us. oh yeah
00:02:15
RICK JAMES
He's not friends with anybody. it doesn't matter. None of the cops even like him. They told me that. Nobody likes him.
00:02:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
all right i don't want to have to edit oh my god didn't they pull you oh didn't they pull one of your loaders over because the permit was expired by like six hours or something you were plowing an event the event went over stupid is that
00:02:27
RICK JAMES
It's a true story.
00:02:33
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:02:36
RICK JAMES
Yep, sure did. That's, ah yeah, that's ah we got to get some more money out of us.
00:02:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
welcome to fargo my god
00:02:43
RICK JAMES
Yep. Only place you got to buy permits, apparently, that I know of for the most part.
00:02:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, i don't I don't know. I mean, New York is the most overregulated state in the country, and i don't think anybody does. The one thing we do have to do, and you make sure you do, is if you have a plow on a truck that's over 8'6", you get an oversized plow permit for it because they will they will get you, and they will they want their money for for the ticket.
00:03:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
think it's a $75 permit per plow, and then if they hit you with it, I think it's a minimum $250. so And they will get you because they want you to buy that permit.
00:03:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:19
RICK JAMES
Oh, they'll, they'll pull over. Yeah. They'll pull over and check your, even they give you a little placard to put in the back window and you put it and they'll still pull you over and have you look look at it. So it's like, why?
00:03:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ridiculous.
00:03:29
RICK JAMES
mean, I don't know.
00:03:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Ridiculous.
00:03:31
RICK JAMES
It's, I mean, we got better things to do than work. If we're complying, which we are, just leave us alone.
00:03:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
You would think, right?
00:03:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Man.
00:03:41
RICK JAMES
Oh, well, here's what it is.
00:03:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Fargo. Who knew Fargo? Over-regulated Fargo, North Dakota.
00:03:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
All
Interview with North Grounds Property Maintenance
00:03:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
right. So what are we doing tonight? We are taking our first ever trip to the state of Montana. I am correct, right? Because Todd Dickerson got mad at me that I said we we haven't visited Maryland before.
00:03:59
RICK JAMES
Yep. Yep.
00:03:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
he says, I do work in Maryland. I'm like, you have an airport in Maryland i don't know about?
00:04:01
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
You do Baltimore? And he's like, we have melters there. I'm like, all right, I'll give it to you.
00:04:07
RICK JAMES
There you go
00:04:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
So i have to I have to say a retraction for Todd Dickerson because I think when Sterling was on, I said he was the first.
00:04:11
RICK JAMES
go. TD.
00:04:14
RICK JAMES
We'll just call him TD for now.
00:04:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
TD.
00:04:17
RICK JAMES
TD. He's in um Dallas.
00:04:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:04:19
RICK JAMES
I just talked to him. He's Dallas tonight.
00:04:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
The snow belt.
00:04:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, the snow belt of Dallas.
00:04:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's ah he's at the at the airport.
00:04:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah. He's going to Redskins game this weekend. Redskins.
00:04:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, is that why he's there? He's not there doing snow airport stuff.
00:04:33
RICK JAMES
No, I think it's a pleasure. Pleasure trip.
00:04:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh,
00:04:37
RICK JAMES
He said so he had like 16 buddies that getting a suite or something at the Jerry Dome.
00:04:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's going to sit down with Jerry. Yeah. He's going to sit down with Jerry.
00:04:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:04:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hang out.
00:04:43
RICK JAMES
i Apparently we lost our invite. I didn't see it.
00:04:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:04:46
RICK JAMES
so i was
00:04:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
How about them Cowboys? Oh my God.
00:04:49
RICK JAMES
I'd go down to that. It'd be fun.
00:04:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's funny. But we are we are we are definitely positive this is our first trip to the state of Montana, right? And tonight we're going to talk to Ryan Van Dyke.
00:04:57
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:04:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's the owner and Kellen Stevenson, who is the operations manager of North Grounds Property Maintenance. ah You might have been seeing North Grounds recently. They are one of the contestants, one of the ah the finalists there for the Storm Chasing Season 2 vote-in episodes.
00:05:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I think they're doing pretty well. i think they made top five, right?
00:05:18
RICK JAMES
I think so. Yeah.
00:05:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, so there we go.
00:05:19
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:05:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
So we might be going to Bozeman because they're out of Bozeman, Montana. So that's who we're talking.
00:05:24
RICK JAMES
It's very nice out there.
00:05:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah it's nice, right? That's a Yellowstone country, right?
00:05:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah, i've been out there.
00:05:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
John Dutton. Yeah, there we go.
00:05:31
RICK JAMES
ah yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll see. Yeah.
00:05:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:05:35
RICK JAMES
Hopefully we'll go out there and see Beth.
00:05:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
There
00:05:38
RICK JAMES
think Beth should come around a couple of snow companies the way she is.
00:05:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
you go.
00:05:42
RICK JAMES
Fuck.
00:05:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
That'd be great.
00:05:44
RICK JAMES
Make our guys cry.
00:05:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
But yeah. But that's who we got tonight. We're looking forward to talking to these guys and seeing how they do it out in Bozeman. But as always before that, guys, we got to hear from Team Top Gun. We're going to come back.
00:05:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
We got and one announcement, um and then we're going do a quick week in review, and we will get into it with the boys.
00:06:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So couple of announcements here. As we've said the last two weeks, if you're going to equip this, actually, it's this week, right? Is it the end of this week?
00:06:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, it's this week.
00:06:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
Top Gun Backblades Event Promotion
00:06:44
RICK JAMES
Oh,
00:06:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
So if you guys are going to equip this week and you're listening to this on your way down, Top Gun Backblades is again going to be hosting that snow guy event at the gym de Jim Beam Distillery. ah It's a top-notch event.
00:06:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a lot of... if you're If you're at Equip Expo in October, you it's not really a snow show, so you probably are a hardcore snow guy. So you want...
00:07:05
RICK JAMES
there's no stuff there.
00:07:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, there's like, what is it, 80-20? Yeah.
00:07:09
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah. That's definitely not – I mean, but there's – no, but, I mean, I'm going to have some FOMO when not being there, so, yeah.
00:07:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah It's not a snow event, you know?
00:07:16
RICK JAMES
I'm going to have some – if I don't – FOMO?
00:07:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're what?
00:07:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, what the hell is FOMO, dude?
00:07:23
RICK JAMES
I like fear of missing out.
00:07:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, okay. I don't speak 16-year-old girl.
00:07:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah, because we'll – oh, God. It's a good time down there. We always have fun down there.
00:07:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
we We always have fun. But aren't you tired, dude? Like, I've done enough events this year. I'm good not doing this.
00:07:41
RICK JAMES
I want to go rodeo. I want to go DVR. Yeah.
00:07:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, so get on a plane. Go ahead. i'm just I'm not making it.
00:07:46
RICK JAMES
We're going miss the Arctic party.
00:07:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
um i'm
00:07:48
RICK JAMES
We're going to miss Top Gun.
00:07:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
i Trust me, that those would be the only two reasons I would go. Because if you've been to equip, it seems to be the same every year. um Same people are there. Same booths are where they are.
00:08:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's It's pretty.
00:08:01
RICK JAMES
so
00:08:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, they had the puppies last year. That was the only thing I saw different last year, that they had the dog pound.
00:08:07
RICK JAMES
I like watching.
00:08:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was about it.
00:08:08
RICK JAMES
i like going to demo area and messing around up there. That's fun.
00:08:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
getting kicked out. That's what do you like. You like pushing the, you like pushing the limits for them to yell at you.
00:08:13
RICK JAMES
I did not get kicked out. No. We pushed the limits, but we don't get kicked out.
00:08:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
But listen, back on track.
00:08:19
RICK JAMES
We definitely pushed limits.
00:08:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you are going to equip this week, go to Top Gun. Go to their website, topgunblades.com, and fill out the fill out the contact form. Leave the comment, Equip Expo, and also watch for the link Rob posts on the Top Gun Insta and Facebook pages if you want to go to that event. It's a great event, great time, great food.
00:08:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
up I think you can buy, like, 100-year-old shots of... ah of all sorts of stuff or or at least they tell you it's 100 years old and they sucker robert and sean into buying a shot of it for 150 each and it's it's literally last week's batch that they just poured into an old bottle there you go yeah they kicked the bottle and they wanted to keep the bottle and there's no no you can't keep the bottle we got to use that next week we got to fill it with uh last week's batch
00:08:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:08:59
RICK JAMES
And then they poured and then they refill the bottle. Yeah.
00:09:09
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:09:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
But the yeah, so definitely go to that. if you are If you are hitting a little Louisville, if you are hitting Louisville for Equip, you definitely want to make that event.
00:09:16
RICK JAMES
Louisville. Louisville.
00:09:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
What else do we have? we have We have to say, so Douglas Dynamics, the new rate controller that's coming out.
Douglas Dynamics Recall and Podcast Engagement
00:09:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you've received one from a dealer already, get it back to the dealer. There is a tech issue that needs reprogramming, so they are they are pulling them all back into the dealers.
00:09:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're going to reprogram them They're going to get them shipped out no later than the end of November. Apparently, there was a calibration issue they found in certain circumstances that it would not calibrate certain materials properly, so...
00:09:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
They are heading off a problem before it happens. Good for good for Douglas for being on top of that. ah They're bringing them all back. So if you do have one, get it back to your dealer so it can get shipped back and get reprogrammed and updated with the the firmware.
00:10:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
um So not good for them, man. They caught it before they were out there.
00:10:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I don't even have one.
00:10:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
And they will have them out there by the end of November. And thank goodness it's not a big deal because it's about a six-minute install for the new controller over the old controller. So that's not a big deal.
00:10:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Nah.
00:10:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
um no
00:10:19
RICK JAMES
Easy.
00:10:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah keep hitting the like and subscribe on apple podcast spotify or wherever you listen to the show definitely helps us out and ah don't be afraid to leave reviews and comments we love that kind of stuff it's uh it's fun for us to read keep voting keep voting for storm chasing season two those episodes that's going to be listener picked so whichever two episodes you want to see the most whichever two companies you want in them vote for those companies get them in when is the when is it over when is the voting done november 1st all right so you got a couple more weeks to get it in then uh head on over to storm eq.com get your vote in for who you want to see in season two of storm chasing looks like we're going north of the border
00:10:49
RICK JAMES
I thought they said November 1. thought they said. ah thought that's what.
00:10:55
RICK JAMES
It could be wrong.
00:11:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
Storm Chasing Season 2 Voting and Custom Apparel Requests
00:11:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
really i mean triple j is still blowing my fucking phone up it's it's ridiculous bing bing bing bing bing it's really annoying
00:11:05
RICK JAMES
Looks like it.
00:11:09
RICK JAMES
Oh, God. Yeah. Phone goes nonstop.
00:11:14
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm. Yeah. but Well, they could at least follow us if they're going to click on it. Yeah.
00:11:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's what i that's what i told dave i said you know make these guys follow everything if they're gonna do it you know just don't just annoy me binging away
00:11:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah. At least make it works and worth something.
00:11:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
But no, it's great. it's It's really cool to have as much interest in in storm chasing as there is. ah The voting has been great. it's It's really been a lot of buy-in from snow guys and apparently a lot of snow guys, friends and family and whoever else they can get to vote and bribe with tickets and shit.
00:11:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's ah yeah whatever it takes.
00:11:52
RICK JAMES
Whatever it takes, whatever it takes.
00:11:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Canada wants one bad. so good for you guys. And we're looking forward to seeing who comes out on top. And as we said last week, you know, to everybody that submitted videos, even if you are not one of the two episodes that are picked to be on Storm Chasing Season 2, there is always Season 3.
00:12:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
And as a consolation prize, you will all get an episode on snow jobs. What else we got? you got anything else? How's the star doing?
00:12:21
RICK JAMES
The store is pretty slow, pretty slow.
00:12:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pretty slow.
00:12:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah, which we do.
00:12:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, do we want to shout out that Joel, ah with his request there? See if anybody else is interested in doing that.
00:12:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you bet.
00:12:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
So guys, we had a request from a company owner that he wanted to know if it was possible, if our our apparel shop could put their logo on on our stuff, like a Carhartt, you know, have their logo on a sleeve or our logo on the sleeve and their logo on the front, something like that. And if anybody else is interested in doing that for their company, having the Snow Jobs Nation logo on their stuff, just reach out.
00:12:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, we'll definitely ah we'll definitely make that work. All right. Um, I think that's it, buddy. You got anything else?
00:13:03
RICK JAMES
no
00:13:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, cool. Then let's do what we came here for. Let's hear from our partners real quick. We'll be right back and we will get into it with the Bozeman boys.
Growth of North Grounds Property Maintenance
00:14:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we're back. So let's not waste any more time here. Let's welcome in Ryan and Kellen. Guys, welcome to the Snowjobs. How are you?
00:14:22
Kellan Stevenson
very good glad to be here doing awesome yeah got snow in the mountains
00:14:24
RICK JAMES
Good.
00:14:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
How's it going out there?
00:14:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:14:31
RICK JAMES
Haha.
00:14:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's coming. It's definitely coming. We had a hard frost again here this morning, too.
00:14:32
RICK JAMES
It's coming. Yep. Yeah, definitely.
00:14:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
So it was a little crisp. Love it.
00:14:37
Kellan Stevenson
it's trying here about well helena which is about an hour and a half from here got 10 inches last sunday yeah well they're probably
00:14:38
RICK JAMES
and definitely
00:14:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really? What else? What elevation are they? Is that elevation based or? Oh, you don't got it. You don't got to look it up. It's all good.
00:14:53
Kellan Stevenson
They're probably around 5,000, 5,500 there.
00:14:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:14:55
Kellan Stevenson
4,000, never mind. Yeah.
00:14:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. So it's slowly creeping down. That's cool.
00:14:59
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:14:59
RICK JAMES
you know
00:15:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's coming. It'll be here before we all know it.
00:15:03
Kellan Stevenson
yeah we
00:15:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Definitely coming. 4,000.
00:15:04
Kellan Stevenson
four thousand on the money thousand never moon
00:15:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
four thousand Wow. All right. it's It's coming.
00:15:11
RICK JAMES
you guys and did you get all the cattle moved down from the mountains before the snow got ripped up there?
00:15:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's coming lower and lower.
00:15:17
RICK JAMES
is he Is he taking care of it? John Dutton.
00:15:22
Kellan Stevenson
You know, we plow the airport.
00:15:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you guys hate that show?
00:15:25
Kellan Stevenson
yeah Yes.
00:15:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you hate that show?
00:15:28
RICK JAMES
It's a great show.
00:15:29
Kellan Stevenson
We plow the airport here in Bozeman. I think they do like a million or two million people a year. And the amount of Yellowstone outfits that come off, that's that's one of the best parts.
00:15:38
RICK JAMES
but
00:15:43
Kellan Stevenson
There's a lot of boots or pants tucked into cowboy boots and and brand new cowboy hats. That are on backwards.
00:15:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
I said.
00:15:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
00:15:50
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. yeah
00:15:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
On all flights from California.
00:15:56
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:15:57
RICK JAMES
well
00:16:00
RICK JAMES
Majority.
00:16:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh my God. Yeah. I was wondering that myself. Like all, a lot of times the shows about New York, I can't stand them because they're just BS. So I was like, I got to ask them if they hate Yellowstone.
00:16:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
bet you they do. Oh, Jay, you want to take us away? Let's hear all about these guys.
00:16:18
RICK JAMES
All right, guys, why don't you tell us a little about Northgrounds, when you guys got started and what you're all about.
00:16:24
Kellan Stevenson
Um, my wife and I started North grounds in 2007 uh, just, uh, just the two of us, you know, just mowing grass or actually in 2007, we were just doing organic like lawn fertilizer and that kind of morphed into people kept asking for lawn care. So we bought some lawn mowers, um, sold my fancy pickup and my dirt bikes and snowmobile and bought a, bought a clapped out 95, six, five diesel Chevy with a plow on it that had like half a culvert cut. It has like a culvert cut in half as like the snow guard. Awesome.
00:17:06
Kellan Stevenson
Um, got us into lawn care and snow and you know, that kind of just grew, got a couple pickup, couple newer pickups, some newer plows.
00:17:17
Kellan Stevenson
Um, more mowers, the the mowing really took off before the plowing did. We weren't doing a whole lot of plowing, just a lot of mowing. Did it by ourselves for a few years and then got some employees, got some more, got some more.
00:17:32
Kellan Stevenson
And then the plowing kind of took off too. But we've always been strictly commercial on plowing. With mowing, we did residential as well.
00:17:40
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
00:17:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:17:43
Kellan Stevenson
Three years ago, We moved in, we sold the residential side of our our company to a guy who had worked for us for eight years um and then just went strict commercial mowing, commercial plowing, and commercial spraying and fertilizing.
00:18:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Smart, and smart man.
00:18:01
Kellan Stevenson
And we do we do bed maintenance and sprinkler maintenance and whole nine yards.
00:18:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:18:07
Kellan Stevenson
So...
00:18:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
So guys are, you said 2007 you started, so you're coming up on 20 years in a couple years. That's that's awesome. Good for you guys.
00:18:15
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, it's been kind of the idea of like, we're not going to be very big, you know not very big, but we don't want to grow too fast. Took it real slow. you know when Made some extra money, bought some new equipment, made some extra money, bought some new equipment, and then in Um, in 2020, 22, I believe we, uh, one of my really good friends, I bought out his maintenance company, um, and then doubled the size of North grounds with that.
00:18:46
Kellan Stevenson
And that's when we kind of decided to really go all in and, you know, get a, get a whole bunch of loader, you know, a whole bunch, get a bunch of loaders and skid steers and tool cats and all the fun stuff.
00:18:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:18:58
Kellan Stevenson
So, and then.
00:18:59
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:19:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
How has that been doubling in size? Like you did that pretty much overnight. You doubled in size. Yeah.
00:19:05
Kellan Stevenson
Um, yeah, yeah. and And we, when we did it, and we we made the deal happen on, in on January 1st of 22, I believe. And we had about three days of, okay, we got to get ready and it unleashed and just snowed and snowed and snowed and, and, and luckily, you know, North grounds, you know, we had a really good kind of base of what we were doing and, and kind of did things and, and, and my buddy,
00:19:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:19:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet.
00:19:35
Kellan Stevenson
that I bought the company from, he had a, he had a good crew and good people and, and, uh, we, we made it happen, but it was the the first, I guess the half of the winter that we were combining them was, uh, was all a little dicey, but you know, you take it on, you know, you're doubling your amount of employees, doubling amount of maintenance and, and, uh, but it was fun.
00:19:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
i bet
00:19:50
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:19:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Would you do it if you had to do it again? Would you do it in June? Takeover.
00:20:07
Kellan Stevenson
After that slow period before you start cutting grass and doing all that and you get that little bit of downtime where you can kind of get your head into it.
00:20:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
In March.
00:20:16
Kellan Stevenson
But no, it it was great.
00:20:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:20:17
Kellan Stevenson
And we had a good, you know, the process of how we did things worked out really well.
00:20:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great. Good for you guys.
00:20:23
RICK JAMES
and
00:20:23
Kellan Stevenson
And had good.
00:20:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you obviously made it work, so good for you. that That's not easy to do, with doubling in size overnight.
00:20:32
RICK JAMES
so you So you guys are saying you're all commercial now, but you did say alluded to earlier, you do an airport too?
00:20:39
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, so that's kind of my my baby.
Snow Maintenance Challenges in Bozeman
00:20:43
Kellan Stevenson
i started on that thing six years ago, doing all the sidewalks and everything on a four-wheeler and plowing in a loader. And we've grown it now. we have probably about 17 to 18 guys there now per storm.
00:20:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, nice.
00:21:01
Kellan Stevenson
And I mean, the growth in Bozeman has been substantial. COVID really propagated that.
00:21:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet.
00:21:09
Kellan Stevenson
And so we've had massive influx and massive infrastructure kind of upgrades here. So yeah, it's there.
00:21:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are you guys, you guys air side or land side at that airport?
00:21:21
Kellan Stevenson
ah We're land side.
00:21:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:21:23
Kellan Stevenson
You know, this year we're looking probably to get into more air side. So, and that, and that gets in with the expansion as well as the airports running out of room.
00:21:34
Kellan Stevenson
And when they run out of room on air side, they run out of room for snow storage.
00:21:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:21:40
Kellan Stevenson
So we do a lot of snow haul offs at that, at that account. And we're probably going to do a lot of that on air side this year.
00:21:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you guys. That's a nice spot to be in when the city's growing.
00:21:50
Kellan Stevenson
It's great.
00:21:50
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:21:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's it's really good.
00:21:54
Kellan Stevenson
It's well, in the airport's about five minutes from our shop.
00:21:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:21:56
Kellan Stevenson
So it's it's really nice, you know, to have the home base so close to the, you know, our biggest account. We plow in Belgrade, we plow that. And then Belgrade's about 20 minutes from Bozeman. And so we have a whole separate crew that runs in Bozeman.
00:22:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:22:15
Kellan Stevenson
Another guy named Mike, he he manages the Bozeman side of things. And Same thing. Lots of guys, more shovelers in town. Um, at the airport, we can do everything pretty much with tractors and brooms.
00:22:30
Kellan Stevenson
Um, little bit of shovel cleanup, but for the majority tractors and brooms, get the sidewalks.
00:22:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
very cool
00:22:37
RICK JAMES
So what do you guys, what's what's your yearly snowfall there? What are you guys getting into there?
00:22:42
Kellan Stevenson
It differs. I mean, last January and February we had 77 inches. Yeah.
00:22:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just in January, February.
00:22:49
Kellan Stevenson
yeah
00:22:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:22:51
RICK JAMES
holy shit.
00:22:51
Kellan Stevenson
We plowed 31 out of 28 days in February. Yeah,
00:22:56
RICK JAMES
Ha ha.
00:22:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. That's pretty good. That's crazy.
00:22:59
Kellan Stevenson
yeah it depends on the year. I mean, 2022, 2023 winter, it was pretty heavy. We had a three-footer in March. Yeah. That was pretty miserable because it was so wet.
00:23:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, I bet.
00:23:13
Kellan Stevenson
the following year it was a little bit less. I don't know. Yeah. it You know, like the historical averages, Oh, I think always look a little lower than what it actually is.
00:23:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:23:24
Kellan Stevenson
Um, I think the historical average is going to say around 50 a year, but it also, you know, you'll have a couple of big years and a couple of small years, um, kind of seems like every year, January and February will beat you up pretty good.
00:23:33
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:23:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
sure
00:23:39
Kellan Stevenson
Um, Last year, November, December was pretty, pretty slow. We, we have a lot of zero tolerance accounts, so we still were out able to get out there and keep the guys busy and get everybody, you know, kind of, kind of on track so that when January and February hit,
00:23:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:24:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Game time.
00:24:00
Kellan Stevenson
like
00:24:00
RICK JAMES
ah Yes. Yeah.
00:24:01
Kellan Stevenson
yeah, exactly.
00:24:02
RICK JAMES
was going to, was going to ask you about that. A lot of, a lot of guys in the mountain area and stuff like that, they seem to tolerate some snow a little bit more. Is there like a, sound like you do have some like zero tolerance as we want to call it, or, or sorry some like, I've heard some up but to four or six inches. They don't want you to plow. Is that, is that a thing out there?
00:24:20
Kellan Stevenson
So in the valley, it's not really. In the valley, you'll get guys every now and then wanting a two-inch trigger. um If you get up towards Big Sky, you know, it's a resort town. It's kind of funny. It's, you know, the land of the rich and famous up there.
00:24:35
Kellan Stevenson
But you can go up there and there will be three, four inches of of snow on the sidewalks before they ever start doing anything.
00:24:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Bougie.
00:24:41
Kellan Stevenson
Whereas down here, most of the stuff is zero to one.
00:24:42
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:24:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:24:47
RICK JAMES
Oh, nice. Good.
00:24:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. So you were talking about zero tolerance and stuff and your triggers. What type of sites are your bread and butter? Like what kind of sites are you guys servicing?
00:24:57
Kellan Stevenson
So the airport, obviously, and then storefronts, grocery stores, strip malls, ah condo associations, home associations.
00:25:10
Kellan Stevenson
The big one, you know, in Bozeman where we're at, they've introduced this thing called luxury condo living. It's kind of counterintuitive, but that that really in Bozeman is kind of where our focus is at.
00:25:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yep.
00:25:27
Kellan Stevenson
But yeah, mainly just those storefronts, COAs, airport, et cetera, business complexes.
00:25:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:25:32
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. The one that
00:25:33
RICK JAMES
Thank you.
00:25:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we have the luxury condo concept here, too, and I've never understood it why you're paying twice as much for a condo than you could for a house. you know it's It doesn't make any sense to me, but I guess some people just they want everything done for them and they don't want to worry about it.
00:25:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Maybe it's a second home or something, but yeah, we're here.
00:25:52
Kellan Stevenson
one that The one that makes me laugh is they put a pool outside here and that pool gets used for three months out of the year and then they have to drain.
00:26:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
ye
00:26:02
Kellan Stevenson
They don't. They don't? No, they keep them things heated all winter. They're cool.
00:26:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my goodness.
00:26:07
Kellan Stevenson
I mean, you know, and there there're they're great customers.
00:26:07
RICK JAMES
oh Jesus.
00:26:11
Kellan Stevenson
They, you know, they're, they understand they have nice properties and they've been taken care of.
00:26:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:26:17
Kellan Stevenson
And I think that one thing,
00:26:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
They don't mind paying for it.
00:26:21
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, and one thing we've done really well is when you know when they ask for something, we make sure it happens. you know If we miss something or put a pile somewhere we're not supposed to or you know whatever it is, you know they call us and we get taken care of right away.
00:26:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:26:34
Kellan Stevenson
and So when they keep building more, they just they keep calling us, which is great. We have but awesome relationship with them. And think part of here is too, houses are so expensive here.
00:26:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. Yep.
00:26:41
RICK JAMES
Good. Mm-hmm.
00:26:44
Kellan Stevenson
And, you know, ah think a lot of people are like, well, I can go live in this condo. You know, it has a gym, it has a golf simulator, it's got a pool, it's got all the things.
00:26:55
Kellan Stevenson
And then they don't have to mow their own lawn or plow their own snow. And they get the the benefits of these, you know, pretty cool places with a lot of amenities.
00:26:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
00:27:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you guys are in a great sweet spot right now. You said there's major expansion going on, major building infrastructure, the whole nine. And you guys are, you you're just going to grow with it.
00:27:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are you planning on just continuing to to eat it up?
00:27:19
Kellan Stevenson
Sustainably. Yeah, sustainably.
00:27:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
Sustainable Growth and Business Strategy of North Grounds
00:27:21
Kellan Stevenson
You know, Ryan and I are also business partners in Paradigm Services, and we we manufacture a lot of the brine that the snow contractors are using around here.
00:27:34
Kellan Stevenson
And one of the things we talk about there, too, is just sustainability, right? And how how we can grow that holistically. And I think North Grounds is the same way. You know, we we don't want to be the biggest guy in town.
00:27:46
Kellan Stevenson
um We want to make sure that the quality of work that we're providing um never falters and never slips.
00:27:53
Kellan Stevenson
And that's where we're at with that.
00:27:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
and Absolutely.
00:27:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not good for you guys. That's awesome.
00:27:59
RICK JAMES
So you're, ah I'm going to jump in since you talked about paradig Paradigm, right?
00:28:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead, Jay. Yeah.
00:28:04
RICK JAMES
here other companies
00:28:05
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:28:05
RICK JAMES
So it's a brine, it's strictly a brine company? one
00:28:09
Kellan Stevenson
we we have a We do some trucking in the summer.
00:28:10
RICK JAMES
How much?
00:28:12
Kellan Stevenson
We've got a side dump that we keep on the road. It's kind of nice. Then we we can have somebody trucking in the winter, hauling brine, and keep them busy all summer hauling gravel.
00:28:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:28:23
Kellan Stevenson
Not as cool as Jeremy's truck. Not as cool as Jeremy's truck. But our stacks
00:28:28
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah, I don't have that. I bet your horn's better in mine, too. Mine's a curly-ass horn.
00:28:31
Kellan Stevenson
are here. I did put a train horn on there. Yeah, she does have that.
00:28:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I need to do that. I'm like, i'm like if this thing's going to be in a parade, I need to put a big horn on it or something.
00:28:41
Kellan Stevenson
worth every every dollar you spend on
00:28:41
RICK JAMES
so
00:28:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:28:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
So we talked about your annual snow.
00:28:47
RICK JAMES
But...
00:28:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
The one thing we didn't talk about is what what usually do you guys get as far as storms? Are you guys like a one-to-three deal? Are you a lot of big boys, everything in between? What what are you guys doing?
00:28:58
Kellan Stevenson
You know, last winter was, even though it was a big winter, especially January and February, we never, last year, we never had that monster storm. I think the biggest storm we had last year was probably, you know, eight to 12 inches.
00:29:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:29:12
Kellan Stevenson
And it was just like constant over like a 24 hour period. We just, you just couldn't pick your plow up.
00:29:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:29:17
Kellan Stevenson
Right. um most of what we see is that one to three inch storms um you get that you know six you know seven inch one thrown in there every now and then and i think last year was difficult because we had a lot of storms that just they didn't come in when they said they were gonna or they didn't quit when they said they were gonna and then you just ended up you know the forecast said it was clear out and we plowed for you know 12 14 hours straight and
00:29:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whoa, whoa. You're saying the weather guys were wrong.
00:29:45
RICK JAMES
sure
00:29:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
The weathermen were wrong.
00:29:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Unheard of
00:29:57
RICK JAMES
We still got to do that Doc Lock of the week.
00:29:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Unheard of.
00:29:59
RICK JAMES
could we be able to get
00:29:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, the Doc Lock of the week.
00:30:01
RICK JAMES
We got to talk to Mark about that.
00:30:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, my God.
00:30:04
RICK JAMES
He'll just pick San Diego every week probably.
00:30:07
Kellan Stevenson
The forecasting here is is quite terrible. we
00:30:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:30:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:30:11
Kellan Stevenson
Bozeman's in a bowl, right? So you have the Bridgers on one side, got the Tobacco Roots on the other side. And where they have the radars are at, one's in Billings, which is two hours away, and the other one's in Great Falls, two hours away.
00:30:25
Kellan Stevenson
So where they intersect, it's just as good a guess as anybody else's, quite honestly.
00:30:30
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, it definitely doesn't make their job easy.
00:30:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
she
00:30:31
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
00:30:33
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:34
RICK JAMES
Well, we could sell you a weather rock. Right, Steve?
00:30:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, the weather rocks. We still have them We have plenty of them.
00:30:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you guys, since we're talking about it, do you guys use a contractor weather service? We'll jump in all over the place, but we'll keep going with it.
00:30:48
Kellan Stevenson
we We, well, we this year we're using one. um We've got like a ah ah camera, two different cameras that have like the forecasting and whatnot on.
00:30:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
huh
00:31:00
Kellan Stevenson
and And that's been helpful. Again,
00:31:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Which cameras are you using? and Do you mind me asking what cameras you guys are using?
00:31:06
Kellan Stevenson
we have a Vue Robotics and we actually have a Frost Solutions too.
00:31:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:31:11
Kellan Stevenson
We're kind going do both.
00:31:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
00:31:12
RICK JAMES
Oh, competition.
00:31:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, let me know. Let us know which one's better at the end of the year.
00:31:18
Kellan Stevenson
We've had robotics for two years and we really like it.
00:31:18
RICK JAMES
I think I know.
00:31:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:31:21
Kellan Stevenson
And when we were at Simon this year, we we talked with the Frost guys and the the weather between Bozeman and Belgrade could not be more different.
00:31:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Views are great.
00:31:29
Kellan Stevenson
It's funny, it's 20 minutes, but you know you can get eight inches of snow in belgrade or in Bozeman and nothing in Belgrade and then vice versa.
00:31:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:31:37
Kellan Stevenson
um
00:31:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:31:37
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:31:38
Kellan Stevenson
So we thought, well, we'll put this camera in town and this one in Belgrade and that way we can kind of see which one we you know which one
00:31:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:31:47
Kellan Stevenson
right
00:31:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:31:49
RICK JAMES
Makes sense.
00:31:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, try everything and figure out which one works the best and go with it. I love it.
00:31:55
RICK JAMES
But but no weather no weather service, like a weather man like a true weather or weather pros or anything like that?
00:31:55
Kellan Stevenson
and
00:31:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love it.
00:32:02
RICK JAMES
Nothing?
00:32:02
Kellan Stevenson
we We've tried them. they're They're just about as good as the the weather service here. They all get their data from the same spot.
00:32:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:32:08
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:11
Kellan Stevenson
and and
00:32:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
That is true.
00:32:12
RICK JAMES
Whoa. Whoa. don't know.
00:32:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well... Don't worry. AI weather is coming. So you'll be, uh, you'll be good though.
00:32:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:32:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
That'll never be wrong.
00:32:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. You got it.
00:32:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh man. Jay, you want to, uh, you want to take them into your favorite portion with the next leasing Jeremy Lindstrom equipment segment?
Equipment and Innovation in Snow Removal
00:32:31
RICK JAMES
Let's do it. Hey guys. Once you tell me about all your equipment, you got loaders, sidewalk equipment, brine equipment, whatever you're doing, let it rip.
00:32:39
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, so we just picked up two more metal pluses, um Storm.
00:32:48
Kellan Stevenson
we We run quite the quite the different Whitney of equipment. We yeah we have some HLAs. We have some metal pluses. We have some sectionals.
00:32:59
Kellan Stevenson
We have one cage left, hopefully, for not allowing.
00:33:04
RICK JAMES
Environmentalist lets you run Metal Plus out there?
00:33:10
Kellan Stevenson
ah Yeah, yeah.
00:33:10
RICK JAMES
you Gotta take the shot.
00:33:13
RICK JAMES
ah
00:33:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
a
00:33:13
RICK JAMES
I love to get my hate mail every week.
00:33:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:33:16
Kellan Stevenson
yeah And then as far as sidewalk equipment goes, we're running 1025R deers with camion brine sprayers on the back, snow raiders um for some other stuff, and then obviously the good old manual labor for shoveling.
00:33:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh
00:33:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:33:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:33:35
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:33:35
Kellan Stevenson
And then snow
00:33:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
How cold does it get there?
00:33:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:33:38
Kellan Stevenson
Last winter, coldest day was negative 47.
00:33:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy shit. All right.
00:33:42
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:33:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's cold. And your guys will still be out on snow Raiders. Oh, all right.
00:33:45
Kellan Stevenson
No. now No. No.
00:33:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Hmm.
00:33:49
Kellan Stevenson
When it's that cold, what we what we find is like that's where the 1025s are such a little weapon because you get a couple of guys running around in those, and then you know they can keep the majority.
00:33:49
RICK JAMES
Told you.
00:33:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
hu
00:34:00
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:34:01
Kellan Stevenson
of and At that point, people aren't moving around too much.
00:34:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
sure
00:34:05
Kellan Stevenson
enough when it was that cold we were still getting snow which was just the worst so we're you know the 1025s can keep stuff open and then you'll have guys running around and pick up and shovels and they'll go clean like right in front of a door get what they can so it's like safe for people to get in and out keep the sidewalks as you know as open as we can and then as soon as the temperatures come back up then we can come in and do a full full clean properties it doesn't matter you have to do that full clean no matter what but
00:34:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotcha
00:34:34
Kellan Stevenson
but Usually when it's that cold, we're not dealing with too much snow.
00:34:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah so you guys got 10 25s you got snow raiders uh you got metal you got metal plus you got pretty much everything right you got metal plus you got artyx you got hlas what's your favorite
00:34:41
Kellan Stevenson
and that
00:34:54
Kellan Stevenson
Oh, man. a Every piece of equipment depends, like... on on the task at hand, right?
00:35:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yep.
00:35:02
Kellan Stevenson
um
00:35:03
RICK JAMES
yep
00:35:04
Kellan Stevenson
i would put anything up against an Arctic in a parking lot where I don't have to link snow. Whereas a lot of our other accounts, we need wings, right? And but that metal plus is just an absolute animal.
00:35:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
ye
00:35:15
RICK JAMES
who
00:35:19
Kellan Stevenson
um especially with some of the bigger accounts we're doing having that moldboard go from you know a 10 to a 20 or a 12 to 24 that's just absolutely awesome um and then as far as like you know brine equipment spray equipment we build all of our own spray trucks um so that would be that would be my favorite there as far as liquids co um
00:35:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, no shit.
00:35:38
RICK JAMES
Oh, wow.
00:35:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
00:35:44
Kellan Stevenson
But yeah, metal plus Arctic, it all depends on the task, right?
00:35:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:35:48
Kellan Stevenson
Sidewalk equipment, the deers are sweet. um And really for us, it's about the relationship with the dealer too.
00:35:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:35:55
Kellan Stevenson
Being in Montana and not super close to the Midwest where all these distribution centers are, you know parts can be pretty hard to get. yeah. You know, just for example, Storm last year, we we bought a Storm Vision and put it on one of our bigger metal pluses.
00:36:14
Kellan Stevenson
And we found out that it doesn't like the cold that we get here at all.
00:36:18
RICK JAMES
The cold. you
00:36:21
Kellan Stevenson
And so little plug to Christian, but I called Christian and the next day I had a battery sitting outside the shop to
00:36:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
They do answer the phone. They definitely do answer the phone.
00:36:33
Kellan Stevenson
the dealer The dealer supports a big thing for us on top of what the equipment will do itself. so ah Three, potentially four now.
00:36:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:36:38
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:36:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%. So what do you see? How many metal places are you running?
00:36:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay, cool.
00:36:47
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:36:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
How have they been for you?
00:36:49
Kellan Stevenson
but I love it. I mean, i I'm kind of greedy and I take them all at the airport with me.
00:36:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:36:57
Kellan Stevenson
And oh for what I'm doing and and the task at hand, they're awesome. I couldn't use a sectional for what I'm doing.
00:37:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:37:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Cool.
00:37:08
Kellan Stevenson
So, yeah. they and
00:37:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
That works.
00:37:10
Kellan Stevenson
The one thing is, you know in town, we do more park parking lots, very little growing.
00:37:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:37:16
RICK JAMES
yeah know
00:37:17
Kellan Stevenson
Oddly enough, we run, we have two pickup plows. One is on Kellan's manager truck and one is on the manager, the town manager truck. We just have a back blade on it so he can do a little cleanup here and there, whatever.
00:37:30
Kellan Stevenson
um You know, whereas we used to run a whole bunch of plow trucks. Now we just run loaders.
00:37:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I was just going ask that.
00:37:36
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:37:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are you running any trucks or you mostly equipment? So that answers that question. Good.
00:37:41
Kellan Stevenson
most, I mean besides those two, and we have one backup truck in case, you know, something happens, but, and then other than that, it's, we've got, we've been buying quite a few case loaders the last two years, couple of years, three years, I guess the, the case dealer has been so great to us and, you know, getting us what we need when we need it.
00:37:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool.
00:38:02
Kellan Stevenson
But we run, it's kind of funny with, with equipment, we've kind of got to, We've got some case. We've got some cat. We've got New Holland. We've got a couple tool cats.
00:38:14
Kellan Stevenson
Well, the tool cats are funny, too, because those ones, there they've got a ah Jenkins plow on them. So it's just like, what, an eight-foot straight plow?
00:38:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:38:24
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, it's probably the cheapest plow you can buy. Yeah, think they're like three grand tops. But what we use them for, they so they're strictly for back dragging parking space in a busy parking lot.
00:38:29
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:38:34
Kellan Stevenson
And they are absolute weapons.
00:38:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go
00:38:37
Kellan Stevenson
and And I think that just goes to, you know, you can have a super expensive metal plus and it does exactly what it needs to do. And then, you know, you can go buy this honestly great little plow. We we do, they take no maintenance. They're just bulletproof.
00:38:53
Kellan Stevenson
And all they do is on they're sitting on Toolcat's back back dragging parking spaces all day.
00:38:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's awesome you said you got a really good case dealer and they take good care of you we always like to let the dealers get a shout out if they're doing the right thing so who's your case dealer out there okay very cool nice job tortoises very cool what you so you you just you were running cats before you're running case
00:38:58
RICK JAMES
nice
00:39:07
Kellan Stevenson
Torgersen's equipment.
00:39:15
RICK JAMES
so
00:39:21
Kellan Stevenson
yeah Yeah, a couple.
00:39:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
00:39:23
Kellan Stevenson
You know, we had some older ones and some newer ones and it's kind of whatever we could get a good deal on when we were trying to grow this. You know, you find a good deal.
00:39:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:39:32
Kellan Stevenson
You know, we had an IT24.
00:39:32
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:39:35
Kellan Stevenson
It was old, uh, you know, pushed a lot of snow, but it was a headache. It had always had something wrong. The hydraulics weren't good. The, the, you know, I don't think it had a vent left inside of It it was pretty, it was it it was a good deal and it pushed a lot, you know, it pushed a lot of snow.
00:39:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
All that matters.
00:39:52
Kellan Stevenson
Uh, and honestly, you know, it ran, you know, you had to make sure was plugged in, but if was plugged in, you can take it out plowing every night.
00:39:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:39:58
Kellan Stevenson
You, you know, it was going to make the same money as the brand new one was going to make.
00:40:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:40:02
Kellan Stevenson
Um,
00:40:02
RICK JAMES
so
00:40:03
Kellan Stevenson
so But no, we've been trying to update the fleet over the last couple of years, just kind of you know try to buy one or two loaders every year if we can and just kind of update it
00:40:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. How have the cases been for you?
00:40:14
RICK JAMES
What loaders do you like?
00:40:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, go ahead, Jake.
00:40:16
RICK JAMES
Sorry. what What size loaders have you been to the liking that you like to use out there?
00:40:20
Kellan Stevenson
it. The 221, that is – I'm curious to try a 421.
00:40:24
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:40:26
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. Right. And I wish I wish we had one this year.
00:40:28
RICK JAMES
Very nice.
00:40:32
Kellan Stevenson
We tried real hard. We tried really, really hard to get one, but I guess they only made a couple of them. and And the 221 for what you're doing is is pretty sweet.
00:40:39
RICK JAMES
There's a couple.
00:40:42
Kellan Stevenson
Back in the day, you know, we used to, well, we still have it. We have a Fent tractor we run, too. And that thing was like an absolute animal because these loaders would road at 15 and that sent roads at like 34, 35 miles an hour.
00:40:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:40:57
Kellan Stevenson
So you could really whip around town in that thing. And that's, that that's our one machine with a, with a cage on it.
00:41:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:41:06
Kellan Stevenson
And it's, you know, it's,
00:41:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:41:07
RICK JAMES
okay
00:41:08
Kellan Stevenson
you've got roads and you got ah you know, at the airport, for instance, we do a bunch of stuff right in front of the, the, the terminal obviously. And then we have to go down the road to the other side of the airport.
00:41:18
Kellan Stevenson
That thing's great.
00:41:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:41:19
Kellan Stevenson
Cause you can just mob it down the road. and And, it's, it's kind of a fun one.
00:41:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:41:25
Kellan Stevenson
I liked it. I always, my kid, it's got a, like the little buddy seat. So my kids would always want to jump there and go plow with me.
00:41:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:41:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
know
00:41:31
Kellan Stevenson
So that was kind of fun.
00:41:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
i almost I almost bought a tractor for my fleet just for that reason, actually.
00:41:34
RICK JAMES
They're nice tractors.
00:41:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
For the buddy seed.
00:41:40
Kellan Stevenson
I know I miss it in the loaders.
00:41:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
That
00:41:41
Kellan Stevenson
Like my son would come plow with me every now and then in the loader. And I was like okay, just sit on the floor right there. Don't touch anything.
00:41:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep absolutely so the 221 is uh is what you like i mean that's a that's a great machine brandon riley swears by the 221s too he's always telling you know you don't necessarily need to go with 321 for snow yeah it's just counterweight it's the same machine so yeah that's pretty cool and what do you
00:42:02
RICK JAMES
just wait. Let's just wait. Everything else is the same. The 421, though, you' you'll like that if you can try it.
00:42:11
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, we're just waiting for one to show up here.
00:42:11
RICK JAMES
So that's...
00:42:15
Kellan Stevenson
i Well, they.
00:42:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
do you guys
00:42:15
RICK JAMES
Actually, they my dealer said they brought one here from Montana like for the for the egg show last month. they're like They're getting one out of Montana to bring here. I think it's here.
00:42:27
Kellan Stevenson
Oh, really?
00:42:27
RICK JAMES
but yeah some you ah trade it la I tried it out last winter for one night or a couple nights. I think it's a fun – it's a good loader, good price on it. It's got the big tires.
00:42:39
RICK JAMES
It's definitely going to be a –
00:42:41
Kellan Stevenson
what's like What size, what size.
00:42:43
RICK JAMES
It runs 22, 20, 25, yeah, 25.2, that what I'm saying? It runs big loader tire on it. Yeah. Yeah, did. I know where you're going. Well.
00:42:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
to
00:42:53
RICK JAMES
so
00:42:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you just say it's got big tires?
00:42:53
Kellan Stevenson
Oh.
00:42:56
RICK JAMES
yeah yeah i did
00:42:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's an inside joke. not allowed to say. ah
00:43:01
Kellan Stevenson
What size cloud did you have on that Jeremy?
00:43:01
RICK JAMES
i know where you're going
00:43:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
i
00:43:05
RICK JAMES
well
00:43:08
RICK JAMES
We have, we yeah, no, I can, but we had a 19 foot Arctic on it.
00:43:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
we're not allowed to say
00:43:14
Kellan Stevenson
but
00:43:15
RICK JAMES
We who had some light snow. It worked fine. I mean, but I'd honestly put a 14 foot HD on it. No problem for the night.
00:43:22
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:43:23
RICK JAMES
So, but yeah, it's fast.
00:43:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a nice looking machine. I like that it's got doors on both sides. Yeah, it is fast.
00:43:29
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:43:29
RICK JAMES
It's fast. Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
About 221s? See?
00:43:32
RICK JAMES
It's pretty much got a, it's like a 321 or 221 cab to it, you know, just on steroids.
00:43:37
Kellan Stevenson
They sneeze a left side armrest. That is my only complaint.
00:43:42
RICK JAMES
See, you can get that from Storm.
00:43:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
about the two twenty ones see
00:43:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:43:45
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:43:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, yeah, i don't I don't know.
00:43:45
RICK JAMES
Storm will give it to you.
00:43:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, the R321s, I've never – I've run those for hours and hours. I've never felt the need because of how you sit in the seat with the plastic on the sides. I like i don't know.
00:43:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
I guess I rest my arm there. I've never had a problem.
00:44:00
RICK JAMES
You need it.
00:44:01
Kellan Stevenson
You do.
00:44:02
RICK JAMES
It's necessary.
00:44:03
Kellan Stevenson
Being a farm kid, you know, you always had the left on the track. Yeah. yeah
00:44:07
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:44:07
Kellan Stevenson
the
00:44:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, don't get them started.
00:44:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't get them.
00:44:09
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:44:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'll be all back in into armrest unrest again.
00:44:10
RICK JAMES
Yep. We'll go back. Yes. Hey, ah we got to get back.
00:44:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh, man.
00:44:15
RICK JAMES
We've we let that lay lay for too long. It's got to come back. Some people probably to.
00:44:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you guys, you're right. Do you guys run snow tires out there?
00:44:23
Kellan Stevenson
We have one loader with snow tires. Everything else is whatever they came with.
00:44:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Gotcha.
00:44:29
Kellan Stevenson
and they're like the i don't know what kind of pattern you would call that we have one we have a 906 cat that's just got some like chief bar tread tires on it and it runs a sectional a 13 ld and it's never had an issue it just goes um yeah you know we do we have a lot of dry snow like you get the wet snow in the beginning of the season and the wet and the in the spring but
00:44:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:44:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool
00:44:55
Kellan Stevenson
We never, you know, you'll have your, your nights where it's slippery, but for the most part, we've never had too much issue with it to where I want to bite the bullet and go buy a bunch of them.
00:45:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
i got you i got you how many guys are you running oh sorry ahead jay i was gonna say how many guys are they running during a storm sounds like they got a decent size operation
00:45:08
RICK JAMES
So Brian wise, quite Corey worry I wasn't going to burn. Corey
00:45:17
Kellan Stevenson
Um, it can, it can fluctuate because of the shovelers, but on a big night, if everyone actually shows up, we're, we're right in like 45 people.
00:45:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:45:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Cool. It's good size.
00:45:28
Kellan Stevenson
We, we, you know, in town, we, we need to run about 14 to 20 shovelers. Um, cause there's just a lot of stuff that the snow Raider, you know, snow Raiders are great. You know, when I was, you know,
00:45:28
RICK JAMES
no
00:45:40
Kellan Stevenson
We went from no snow, you know, just a shovel. And then you got a four-wheeler with a plow, and that was the greatest thing ever. And then, then you know, then Boss came out with a Boss plow for it and that was even better.
00:45:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely it was.
00:45:49
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:45:53
Kellan Stevenson
um And then, you know, the Snow Raiders, you know, when those first – I guess when Boss actually bought Snow Raider, we got a couple of them right off the bat. And they're good. You know, they have their drawbacks.
00:46:07
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. but they sure save a lot of backbreaking work, you know, to where you can, you know, some projects, you can have two guys ripping around on those.
00:46:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred of percent they do
00:46:17
Kellan Stevenson
And then, you know, two guys ripping around with shovels, just doing the cleanup work. And so we'll send out like four separate crews with shovelers and snow Raiders. Um, but those are, you know, they're all part-time on call positions. So, you know, you tell 25 guys to come out and you might get 12 15,
00:46:35
Kellan Stevenson
twelve or fifteen
00:46:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:46:38
RICK JAMES
Chris Steininger, How is Labor out there. Chris
00:46:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:40
Kellan Stevenson
It's tough. It's a lot. It was really tough like two years ago, which I think it kind of was everywhere.
00:46:47
Kellan Stevenson
Um, this summer, as far as like summer work, I mean, it was, we had people coming into the office asking if we were hiring, which we've never had before. Um, going into winter, it's a little slower getting guys on board.
00:46:47
RICK JAMES
Steininger, yeah.
00:47:02
Kellan Stevenson
Um, you know, lots of guys want to run equipment, of course, because he doesn't want to sit in a cab.
00:47:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:47:09
Kellan Stevenson
Um, But then we get a lot of people too. They're like, yeah, we had a guy come in this morning and interviewed and interview he's got a bunch of experience in loaders, but he wants to be part time. And so he's more than happy just to jump on a shovel or a snow Raider and help that side of the thing out. So
00:47:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
No shit. he Looking forward to the shoveling in the negative 46. Good for him.
00:47:28
Kellan Stevenson
yeah, right.
00:47:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love it. Yeah.
00:47:31
Kellan Stevenson
You know, normally I would say we're in that on a normal plow night, it's that zero to 10 degrees.
00:47:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
all right it's not too bad it's like far that's like fargo weather i'm talking for you that's far i said that's fargo weather that there you go oh if it drops below 34 when i'm plowing i'm not happy
00:47:40
Kellan Stevenson
Not too much.
00:47:41
RICK JAMES
Are you kidding Steve? You'd cry about that. You'd be crying if was that cold. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh that's not too bad. You're like oh that's cold every time I talk to you.
00:47:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Are you ever happy?
00:47:59
RICK JAMES
ah
00:47:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah You know how much less salt we have to use if it stays like 34-ish and still snowing?
00:48:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:48:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yeah, it's heavy and wet, but it's great.
00:48:04
RICK JAMES
I honestly do. Yeah.
00:48:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:09
RICK JAMES
How about Brian, I heard you say you use Cameon sprayers then you also make your own sprayers, you said, for your pickups or trucks?
00:48:16
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. The 1025Rs we put camions on. They're just a pretty straightforward setup. And then as far as truck trucks go, Ryan and I are on our version three now of truck sprayers.
00:48:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:32
Kellan Stevenson
um You know, it's it's pretty sweet to be able just to sit there and and build something and and then go out in the field and use it and know what the product is.
00:48:44
Kellan Stevenson
And then I also don't have to call a dealer when it breaks down because I'm the idiot who built it. So.
00:48:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. It's your fault.
00:48:50
RICK JAMES
There you go. Your fault.
00:48:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
You go in the bathroom, look in the mirror and yell at yourself.
00:48:52
RICK JAMES
He swears.
00:48:55
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
00:48:55
RICK JAMES
Where are the pictures? I looked on your Instagram. I haven't seen any pictures of these. Have I? Are they on there?
00:49:00
Kellan Stevenson
Well, so they're nice trucks, but I bought them from a guy who'd used them for several years spraying mag chloride and the flatbeds were definitely rough and
00:49:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:13
Kellan Stevenson
They weren't the real crown jewel. They ran great and they go down the road great, but the the beds were pretty ugly. um And so my brother-in-law has a little fab shop that he's kind of been getting going. And so the last last year and then this year, he built us new flatbeds for the trucks.
00:49:30
Kellan Stevenson
Just super stout, great flatbed.
00:49:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. Sure.
00:49:33
Kellan Stevenson
And then they're ah like a 950-gallon tank and they're pretty...
00:49:38
RICK JAMES
Oh, nice.
00:49:38
Kellan Stevenson
forward, one valve, we don't run like a triple valve or ah like a triple electric valve.
00:49:43
RICK JAMES
Three lane.
00:49:44
Kellan Stevenson
It's just most of what we do, it works. Like at the airport, it's easy just to you know do one lane at a time as you're making your loop around.
00:49:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
sure
00:49:53
Kellan Stevenson
um couple different iterations of spray bars and just a gas motor and a switch in the cab they work phenomenal yeah pacer pacer fertilizer pump you know and everything's on catwalk that's that's the other thing we just did you know it's two minutes to rip a pump off if it blows up in the middle of a storm and throw one in and
00:50:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:50:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:50:16
Kellan Stevenson
It's simple. so and
00:50:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great, guys.
00:50:18
Kellan Stevenson
Just a simple on-off T-jet valve for a sprayer. That's your on-off switch in the cab.
00:50:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
So for your de-icing anti-ice, are you guys 100% brine or you guys use some granular too? Okay.
00:50:33
Kellan Stevenson
simple. Like 95% brine.
00:50:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:50:35
Kellan Stevenson
You have one account that requires salt sand and a lot of it, like 10 tons a night type of thing.
00:50:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:50:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, okay.
00:50:46
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, we keep the quarry here in business in the winter.
00:50:46
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:50:50
Kellan Stevenson
It's really nice. They're like literally across the street from our shop. So it's like if we call for a load of sand, it's usually here within about 20 minutes. And then we...
00:50:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you guys have a sweeper truck?
00:51:00
Kellan Stevenson
No. No.
00:51:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Get a sweeper truck so you can charge them to sweep it all up.
00:51:02
Kellan Stevenson
have
00:51:05
RICK JAMES
And use it again.
00:51:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah There you go.
00:51:07
Kellan Stevenson
Because we have, you know, all these employees in the wintertime love to put the sand down and put it down real heavy and Then when they all leave in April, I'm the guy that gets to sit in the Toolcat for mindless hours doing circles.
00:51:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:51:25
RICK JAMES
Ah, nice.
00:51:25
Kellan Stevenson
It's a little rough. Yeah. Kellen does a good job of it though.
00:51:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:51:30
Kellan Stevenson
His favorite machine is the Toolcat with a broom bucket. Absolutely not. It's hard because it's a busy parking lot. So you might go in and sleep for a couple hours and you're just finding anything that's open.
00:51:41
Kellan Stevenson
And then you come back the next day and sleep for a couple hours. And you're just, it takes about a month to cover the parking lots because it's, you know, it fluctuates.
00:51:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotcha
00:51:50
RICK JAMES
Why do they want the salt sand? Just because they do?
00:51:53
Kellan Stevenson
Traction for parked vehicles. You know, it, it,
00:51:57
RICK JAMES
Are you on like a hill or something or or mountain?
00:51:59
Kellan Stevenson
No, it's, it's at the airport. And so we want to make sure, you know, you got a lot of people who were there for a short amount of time or a long amount of time. And, you know, we can't do anything between the cars, obviously, so you know, and we've,
00:52:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
I gotcha.
00:52:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:52:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
and It's in the parking areas.
00:52:15
Kellan Stevenson
yeah So we've done straight salt, like a treated salt, which is awesome.
00:52:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
you.
00:52:16
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:52:20
Kellan Stevenson
But unfortunately, if you get, you know, you dilute a bunch of it and then you, you know, you get that thaw freeze and the car.
00:52:27
RICK JAMES
Refrain. Yep.
00:52:28
Kellan Stevenson
So by putting sand down, we can get some traction under the cars. So that way, if someone's gone for a month and they come back and the snow is falling on their car and slid off and falling on, slid off, there is some sort of traction there.
00:52:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:52:44
RICK JAMES
Yep. But you guys, I'm going back into your guys make your own Brian, if you mind. so how much Brian do you guys make a year out there? Any idea?
00:52:52
Kellan Stevenson
About 300 between Northgrounds and Paradigm or like 350 to 400,000 gallons.
00:52:53
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:52:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:53:00
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:53:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. Did you build your own brine maker or you bought that?
00:53:03
Kellan Stevenson
So the brine maker thing is funny. So the guy I had bought the business from a couple years ago, him and I were buying brine from another guy. And it was just one of those things, is you know, you call for a delivery and he's busy and you're constantly waiting.
00:53:17
Kellan Stevenson
And, and and it was, like the product was great, but there was always that we didn't buy that much. We were buying 1500 gallons at a time. So we decided to I'm a redneck farm kid.
00:53:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:53:27
Kellan Stevenson
He's a redneck farm kid. We can, we can build a brine maker. I went to a, I went to a Pacific Northwest snow fighters conference and talked with a bunch of guys there and. Went down to Utah, met with some guys, and we so we built a brine maker, and it worked great. you know We were making 30,000, 40,000 gallons a year, and then did that, re you know did it again, built it better, and then a couple years ago, bought a super fancy, supposed to be awesome.
00:53:58
Kellan Stevenson
won't say the name of it, but bought a brine maker, didn't work out for us. And to the point where we ended up bringing in the old one, we resurrected the old one about halfway through the winter last year.
00:54:10
Kellan Stevenson
And it would outproduce the one I spent a or we spent a ton of money on.
00:54:14
Kellan Stevenson
And so I've been this you know, my little thing I was cooking up in my brain for years of this brine maker.
00:54:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
No shit.
00:54:14
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:54:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:54:22
Kellan Stevenson
And so this year, Kellen and I decided to just kind of build our own. And I have a buddy who's a mechanical engineer another buddy who's an electrical engineer. So they stepped in and helped us.
00:54:33
Kellan Stevenson
And he, my buddy who's a mechanical engineer, he does, he he works with like pumps. That's what he does for a living. So he built us a phenomenal pump valve system.
00:54:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
who
00:54:44
Kellan Stevenson
And my buddy, electrician got all the wiring parts figured out. And then Kellen found a guy or a company in Texas to build us custom tanks.
00:54:55
Kellan Stevenson
on stands and so it's it's a it's going to be a really cool machine i think it's it'll be with uh trusty rusty outback we probably do three thousand four thousand gallons um the one that we bought in its heyday we were doing 1500 gallons but when we started having issues it was more like 30 gallons yeah
00:54:57
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:55:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Guys got it covered. Nice.
00:55:03
RICK JAMES
How much can you make at a time?
00:55:24
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:55:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:55:25
Kellan Stevenson
reach we're We're really, our water, we're limited because of water. Yeah. So if you come in early in the morning and you work a good long day, you can make anywhere from 10 to 15,000 gallons a day with our our homemade gas pump brine maker.
00:55:30
RICK JAMES
Water. ye
00:55:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
so and
00:55:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:55:43
Kellan Stevenson
With our new one, we'll easily be able to do 15,000 a day, but that's kind of our limit with our water. Yeah.
00:55:51
RICK JAMES
Water.
00:55:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:55:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:55:52
Kellan Stevenson
right And we've we've got a holding tank inside our shop so that we can have like supply as it's being made.
00:55:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:55:59
Kellan Stevenson
it's It's fun. I always laugh. I was real bad at science in school, but I have a lot of fun sitting there figuring out how to make the brine. And our our new brine maker, too, it's all it's got a screen on it.
00:56:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Awesome.
00:56:12
Kellan Stevenson
All those salinity readings and everything is on an LCD screen.
00:56:16
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:56:17
Kellan Stevenson
It's all...
00:56:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Damn. Are we going to see this for sale soon? A couple years or what?
00:56:22
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:56:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:56:23
Kellan Stevenson
the so Yeah, yeah.
00:56:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah That's awesome, guys.
00:56:26
Kellan Stevenson
i like
00:56:27
RICK JAMES
ah
00:56:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's really cool, man. That's a that's definitely a fucking first. we're First time in man Montana and first time anybody we've heard.
00:56:31
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:56:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you heard of anybody building his own brine maker, Jay?
00:56:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I've heard that before. but
00:56:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
I have not.
00:56:40
RICK JAMES
so
00:56:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
I have not. and with With their own screen and stuff?
00:56:43
RICK JAMES
No, not that not that sophisticated.
00:56:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. It sounds like they got everything covered here.
00:56:45
RICK JAMES
No. Yeah.
00:56:47
Kellan Stevenson
It'll be fully automated,
00:56:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:56:49
Kellan Stevenson
so with With how we run our current brine maker and how we fill our surge tank in the shop, it's very easy to plow for 20 hours, come make brine for 10 and then leave a valve on.
00:57:02
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:57:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:03
RICK JAMES
ye
00:57:03
Kellan Stevenson
yeah ah And you come to come to work the next morning and you open the garage door and it's like Niagara Falls like out the door.
00:57:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:57:10
Kellan Stevenson
The forest stays really clean here at North Grounds.
00:57:12
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:57:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man, that's awesome.
00:57:17
RICK JAMES
And is it spiked, you said? Spike, Brian?
00:57:19
Kellan Stevenson
i and we so We use a salt that already has additive on it. and then
00:57:25
RICK JAMES
OK.
00:57:25
Kellan Stevenson
we It's a spiked product. We have some other additives that we can add to it here and there too.
00:57:29
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:57:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. Cool.
00:57:34
Kellan Stevenson
Again, it's a fun thing. um when i started When me and my buddy started it, you know was just kind of it would made it easier to get brine and then Kellen came on as a partner two years ago, two and a half years ago, so but three years ago.
00:57:50
Kellan Stevenson
So Kellen owns a good portion of the company now too. So it is fun.
00:57:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
like also
00:57:55
Kellan Stevenson
He can manage, you know, the snow operations and the shop operations. And then we get to work together a lot, you know, with the brine and the all of that, which is fun.
00:58:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome, guys.
00:58:06
RICK JAMES
Did you guys like buy a tanker then or something? Did you ship it around? Yep.
00:58:11
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, yeah our first our first delivery truck was a 96, 94 Topkick that had worked for a local nursery and then had been taken up to the woods to haul logs out of the forest.
00:58:12
RICK JAMES
ye
00:58:27
Kellan Stevenson
And then we bought it.
00:58:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
in good shape oh
00:58:29
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, $3,000 truck? $2,000 truck, yeah. $2,000 truck with 1,500-gallon tank on it. DOT was the office. Yeah, the DOT was the office.
00:58:38
Kellan Stevenson
d o t yeah the d o t
00:58:41
RICK JAMES
She might have paid for the truck.
00:58:42
Kellan Stevenson
loves me.
00:58:44
Kellan Stevenson
So yeah, we deliver, I don't know, I probably delivered half a million. That truck, like the numbers probably moved close to half a million gallons of brine. Yeah.
00:58:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
so it paid for itself a couple times over
00:58:55
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:58:57
Kellan Stevenson
And we bought a, we bought a semi, like a legit semi and a tanker. um And it was kind of our first experience with tankers. So we bought an old milk tanker that's unbaffled.
00:59:09
Kellan Stevenson
And that was, that was, that was the pain of my existence for a winter, uh, driving down 19th here in Bozeman.
00:59:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh Jesus.
00:59:09
RICK JAMES
Oh, been there. Been there.
00:59:16
Kellan Stevenson
That's got a stoplight every 50 feet. Um, yeah, yeah.
00:59:20
RICK JAMES
Boom.
00:59:22
Kellan Stevenson
So, and now we, yeah, now we got uh, baffled straight truck.
00:59:24
RICK JAMES
Push it through this.
00:59:29
Kellan Stevenson
That's, that's a lot more safe and enjoyable to drive. I was tempted to go grab a C-collar from the fire department because like every time I would stop, I'd dang near break my neck.
00:59:34
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:59:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah but
00:59:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
i bet so do you guys do you guys pre-treat as well as post-treat with the brine or not so much i don't every area is different
00:59:41
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, been there.
00:59:48
Kellan Stevenson
A little bit. We have a few customers that that will ask for free treat every now and then. Some of them, they give it you know our discretion, but that's a little bit harder sale around here.
00:59:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
01:00:00
Kellan Stevenson
the The post treat, I mean, when we started out, we i started when I started out using liquids, you know, we were doing less than 200 gallons a night. Now we're doing closer to 4,000 gallons a night on North ground side.
01:00:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
and Okay.
01:00:13
RICK JAMES
Nice. Yep.
01:00:15
Kellan Stevenson
And so we're putting enough out after the storm that we don't necessarily have to do too much pre-treat. We get a nice layer of salt built up, which is great. And then every now and then,
01:00:27
Kellan Stevenson
you know, we'll get like that negative 40 where we're not going to put Brian. So we'll go put some straight granule down in certain spots if we have to.
01:00:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that makes sense.
01:00:35
RICK JAMES
ye
01:00:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I forgot you guys said like, you know you're January February. You could be plowing every day, you know, for it. Yeah, you got to have some residual there after that.
01:00:45
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
01:00:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's pretty cool. um Do you guys what what a what are the contract structures like out there? Like, are you guys seasonal per push hourly? What are you guys doing mostly out there?
01:00:55
Kellan Stevenson
So we're probably, and i was going to try to think of this beforehand, but got too busy blowing out sprinklers.
01:01:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
All good.
01:01:04
Kellan Stevenson
the We're probably 75% to 80% monthly contract. like monthly contract
01:01:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:01:11
Kellan Stevenson
And then we have a decent amount, enough per times. So that way, if we have a slow month, you know the monthlies take care of it.
01:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:01:21
Kellan Stevenson
Whereas then you know like last year, January, February, some of those monthlies got eaten up real fast, plowing every single day.
01:01:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
01:01:28
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:01:31
Kellan Stevenson
so then But then the nice part about that is then you got your you per times that kind of make up the difference.
01:01:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
01:01:37
Kellan Stevenson
and then a little bit of hourly and and that those ones are kind of specific accounts but
01:01:40
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:01:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
01:01:45
RICK JAMES
here
01:01:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:01:46
RICK JAMES
How about the competition out there? Is there quite a bit of competition around your area?
01:01:50
Kellan Stevenson
yeah that you know and there's there's some some you know there's guys in town that run more equipment than us and and plow you know probably definitely more than us um But we have, you know, and then there's some smaller guys, you know, it's, I think it's standard.
01:02:05
Kellan Stevenson
You have a lot of guys running around with a pickup in the, on the front and the blower on the back, you know, for doing driveways and small stuff.
01:02:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:02:11
Kellan Stevenson
And that's great. You know, I mean, that's where I started just doing small little things. Um, and then there's, you know, a couple of big guys in town and then you've got that middle of the road for the most part, we've got pretty good working relationships with all of them.
01:02:27
Kellan Stevenson
None of us want to step on anybody's toes. You know, we've all been doing it for long enough that, you know, you kind of know who's doing what, you know, there there's, there's, there's guys in town that I'm not going to bid against and they're not going to bid against us.
01:02:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:02:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:39
Kellan Stevenson
And, and, and I think that's a nice way to do it. And then with the small side,
01:02:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:45
Kellan Stevenson
you know, shoot, Callum and I sell salt to two thirds of our competitors. um But like, even with that, like one of the guys that we sell salt to, he's got a decent sized plow company, his salt truck went down last winter in the middle of a storm.
01:03:00
Kellan Stevenson
you know, he called us and he's like, Hey, is there any way you could come just run drive lanes for me real quick? um And yeah, absolutely. You know, and then, you know, I know i can ask him that same favor if something, you know, happened on our end.
01:03:12
Kellan Stevenson
I've borrowed plows from people when we broke a plow in half, and I've had people borrow plows from me. so The hard thing with competition is that if you lose a contract, right whether that's due to a competitor getting it or something else, there's usually only one of that type of account here.
01:03:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's always the best way to do business.
01:03:21
RICK JAMES
Good. Good.
01:03:36
Kellan Stevenson
right
01:03:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:03:36
Kellan Stevenson
Like the hospital here, for example, we don't have... another hospital 10 minutes down the street, 10 minutes down the street.
01:03:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
01:03:44
Kellan Stevenson
It's the only one. So there is a little, you know, protective nature here over what we have and and trying to keep it. But like Ryan was saying, you know, we all get along pretty well.
01:03:55
Kellan Stevenson
We're all in the same business and it's not the wild wild west out here.
01:03:58
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:03:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great. 100%.
01:04:00
Kellan Stevenson
We're not gunning each other down by any means. but it
01:04:05
RICK JAMES
oh
01:04:06
Kellan Stevenson
It's a lot easier. when you know you can have those relationships with the other guys and instead of going out there and having every account be a fight.
01:04:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
01:04:15
Kellan Stevenson
you know And and i think for us too, you know we're just gonna go out there and do the best job we can and make sure that we can keep our accounts. And that doesn't mean we never hit anything or break anything or whatever, but one thing you know we've we've really worked on is the communication.
01:04:29
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:04:34
Kellan Stevenson
so if we want to set ourselves apart from these other guys who are running, you know, a lot of the same equipment we're
Operational Protocols and Software Utilization
01:04:40
Kellan Stevenson
running. So we know like their equipment can do the same work, but you know, if we hit, if we hit a car or we hit a fence or whatever, you know, it goes straight to the office. The office can get ahold of that, you know, property manager, that business owner say, Hey, this is what happened. We've already contacted this guy who can come in and do a bid to fix it. We're going get this fixed as soon as we can.
01:05:02
Kellan Stevenson
and We really, you know, our, our big goal is to as fast as we can, we always say two hours. That's our goal is if, if something happens that obviously if it happens at two o'clock in the morning, we're going to call the customer at two If they open at eight, we're going to, we're going to call them at eight and say, Hey, here's what happened.
01:05:19
Kellan Stevenson
Here's what we're doing to, to fix it.
01:05:20
RICK JAMES
ye
01:05:22
Kellan Stevenson
And here's our timeline to get it fixed.
01:05:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
love it
01:05:25
RICK JAMES
Nice. So with your competition out there, who plows a Dutton Ranch?
01:05:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
i think
01:05:33
Kellan Stevenson
That's in Darby. That's three and a half hours.
01:05:35
RICK JAMES
I'm just kidding.
01:05:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
um they just told you they hate that show and they gotta go to the Dutton Ranch laughing
01:05:39
RICK JAMES
I know, but I'm just going to keep picking at it. Why not?
01:05:42
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. Household.
01:05:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:05:44
Kellan Stevenson
It's a cool spot.
01:05:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah cool uh
01:05:47
RICK JAMES
Yeah. So do you guys use any software for your stuff then? Are you guys using any software?
01:05:54
Kellan Stevenson
So on like the office side, we use a software, it's called Service Fusion.
01:06:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay
01:06:01
Kellan Stevenson
it's really nice for like scheduling and you know, the guys can clock in and clock out of every account, you know, they can pick pictures, they can do notes. Um, we can add our own notes. So like our field managers throughout the year will constantly be adding notes like, Hey, you gotta watch out for this, or you gotta, you know, be aware of this, you know, here, make sure this always, you know, this is easy to miss. So make sure you get in there and get that.
01:06:27
Kellan Stevenson
Um, We've tried multiple softwares. I think it was like probably three years ago, the girls down in the office, I just said, hey, you guys set up a bunch of demos and decide which one you like the best because they're the ones working with it more than I am.
01:06:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they're using it.
01:06:42
Kellan Stevenson
So a they picked what they want they wanted and for the most part, we're pretty happy with it.
01:06:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:06:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Smart.
01:06:48
Kellan Stevenson
They're they're pretty good to deal with if you have issues. I don't know if there's a perfect software out there, not that we've tried anyways.
01:06:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
01:06:58
RICK JAMES
How about, okay.
01:06:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know what? Let's hit some commercials real quick, and we'll let these guys get a drink, and we'll be back in 45 seconds.
01:07:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, guys, we are back. so we're going to keep going with the North grounds boys here. What do you want to do? Jay, you got another question. You want to take them into five and five.
01:08:03
RICK JAMES
I was going to go go back to Brian.
01:08:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead.
01:08:06
RICK JAMES
um
01:08:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Brian again.
01:08:07
RICK JAMES
did you guys Did you guys start the Brian area or or since you're selling to most guys?
01:08:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's a good question.
01:08:12
RICK JAMES
Or did –
01:08:13
Kellan Stevenson
the
01:08:13
RICK JAMES
or
01:08:14
Kellan Stevenson
with when I, when, when me and my buddies started it, there was no one else in the area making it. um There is one other guy making it now. ah Well, actually no couple of, I guess there's a couple of guys that are one guy that we used to sell to and we sold them a lot and it, you know, he's, me he just started making his own, which made sense.
01:08:34
Kellan Stevenson
Like we were bummed because we lost that, that business, but for the amount of Brian, he was buying, it completely made sense.
01:08:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
made sense yeah
01:08:41
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. So he's he's just making it and using it himself. And then there's there's one other guy that we heard might be selling it, but I don't really know anything as far as what he's doing totally.
01:08:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool cool brian questions over jay you got any more brian questions all right just asking uh you want to take them to five and five
01:08:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's it. that's That's it.
01:08:59
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you
Future Goals and Employee Management
01:09:00
RICK JAMES
bet. Hey, what do you guys want to see your company goal within the next five years? What's what's your goals here?
01:09:06
Kellan Stevenson
um I think for me, you know The constant growth of the company. and and And when I say that, I don't mean just like more customers, more money, more, more, and more, and more. i want I want to grow our company to where, you know, if somebody asked their buddy, like, hey, I need someone to plow our parking lot.
01:09:24
Kellan Stevenson
And There's a lot of good companies in this town. There's a lot of great companies. And I want to be like, if they name off two or three guys, I want to be one of those guys. I want to be known for, Hey, if, if you need something, you call North grounds, they're going to take care of you.
01:09:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's cool.
01:09:38
Kellan Stevenson
If there's an issue, they're going to take care of you. You know, if, if, you know, just a simple question, you know, they're going to, they're going to get it answered for you, get a problem taken care of. It's the, the,
01:09:50
Kellan Stevenson
You know, keeping, you know, we always say we want to keep this valley beautiful. and And part of that is, you know, obviously the lawn care side, but then with the snow, you know, making sure that we can leave things beautiful, safe, and make sure that customers feel like when we leave their property that they got their money's worth.
01:10:10
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah, and I think mine or are same same with Ryan's, right?
01:10:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
01:10:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah. so
01:10:15
Kellan Stevenson
Holistic growth and and sensible growth. But my big one is is growing people, right, that we have in our company. you know We are in a very seasonal industry, whether that's the lawn side or the snow side, and we have a pretty high retention rate of returners for operators every year.
01:10:34
Kellan Stevenson
We don't have to do too much hiring. um So being able to grow people along with the company growth and grow them into positions where they're going to fit, and so that's what's important to me.
01:10:47
Kellan Stevenson
i
01:10:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's the dream.
01:10:48
Kellan Stevenson
Well, and and to kind of piggyback off of what Kellen said, i mean that's, and I'm sure, you know, you guys know, but owning the company, I spent so many years in the field, you know, doing everything, you know, getting up early, doing the work at the end of the day, working on the equipment, you know, taking my wife and kids to the shop with me on Sunday after church to wash mowers and clean mowers and do all that.
01:11:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:11:16
Kellan Stevenson
What? I can't read it. I'm blind, man.
01:11:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Don't fire off jokes to them when the middle of recording, he was, he was in the middle of a beautiful anecdote there.
01:11:24
RICK JAMES
I know he was, but and was on with too i ended like I didn't want to interrupt, but I had to say it.
01:11:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Come
01:11:29
RICK JAMES
i mean You want to keep that area clean. i mean.
01:11:32
Kellan Stevenson
other day, it's the guys like Kellen and and you know our office staff, Medora and Brett and Mike and Kylie, you know are are you know our core guys that are in the office every day. They're here.
01:11:45
Kellan Stevenson
It doesn't matter the time of year, time of day. they're in here putting in that time and, you know, keeping their, you know, the guys that are working underneath of them, you know, Kellen earlier today did his meeting with his airport crew and, you know, it's the same guys. They come in, they're excited.
01:12:03
Kellan Stevenson
You know, they know, they know that Kellen is their boss. They know they can have some fun, but they also know that he's going to keep them in line if they're, you know, not doing what they're supposed to be doing or, you know, however that looks. But,
01:12:16
Kellan Stevenson
And again, it really is. It's the people.
01:12:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Are they firemen too, Kellen?
01:12:21
Kellan Stevenson
No.
01:12:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
01:12:23
Kellan Stevenson
No.
01:12:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's smart move. That's smart move. but Speaking from experience. but
01:12:29
Kellan Stevenson
No.
01:12:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
The fun won't stop.
01:12:31
Kellan Stevenson
yeah I was in the Marine Corps for a while, and and I tried to hire some of my buddies, you know, that were in the Marine Corps with me. And I learned my lesson real quick that the fun stopped.
01:12:42
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
01:12:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah absolutely oh man that's great so what are you guys what's been your best decision that you've made in the last five years to get you where you are now
01:12:55
Kellan Stevenson
ah just to Just to go Jeremy, buying Metal Plus Plows. No, I'm kidding.
01:13:01
RICK JAMES
I need that.
01:13:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh went there
01:13:04
Kellan Stevenson
ah a The best decision, I think, was... Probably three years ago, we hired an in-town manager and it freed up Ryan and myself a lot from from having to make the 1AM trips. you know it it is only 20 minutes from our shop to Bozeman, but having to deal with running you know two different divisions you know geographically and then
01:13:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:13:35
Kellan Stevenson
also trying to produce and manufacture brine and take care of our customers on the paradigm side. That really was a big plus for us. And the guy we put in that position was he's top notch, had no experience coming into snow.
01:13:51
Kellan Stevenson
yeah And I just kind of baby birded him under my wing and said, it's fire, you know, baptism by fire right now. And you're going to have to learn and learn fast. And he really picked it up. So and he I mean, that that dude has every SIMA certification you can get. He went in full tilt. He you know, he he's our bed maintenance manager in the summer and
01:14:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Yeah.
01:14:14
Kellan Stevenson
He, you know, yeah um I talked to him like, listen, if you can if you can run snow, like you run your bed maintenance people, you can learn snow. But he's phenomenal manager and the the guys love working for him.
01:14:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:14:28
Kellan Stevenson
And I think that's what we were lacking in the past was we had like, this person was kind of in charge or that person was kind of in charge, but they lacked that leadership. And for me, I would say it's the leadership.
01:14:41
Kellan Stevenson
you know The guys have really gone above and beyond.
Business Insights and Operational Clarity
01:14:46
Kellan Stevenson
We hired a ah business consultant and worked with them and did the whole EOS program. And then we hired a ah fractional CFO. And that's been really helpful on the business side of things for myself. Because when I was out in the field every day, we had like broken down ratty equipment. Now we have lots of cool stuff. And Kellen tells me I'm not allowed to run the 521 with the metal class.
01:15:09
Kellan Stevenson
and And so i spend a lot of time you know in the office or making brine.
01:15:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:15:16
Kellan Stevenson
even though I'm not running equipment anymore, you know, when, when the when the text messages go out at two o'clock in the morning, that it's go time, I'm leaving. And a lot of times I just come to the shop and I'll make Brian, I'll just sit out in the shop and make Brian and, and, you know, check emails if there's any, or, you know, be in contact.
01:15:34
Kellan Stevenson
If, if Kellen needs something at the airport or if they need something in town, I can quickly run it to them and just kind of be, I kind of turned into the gopher.
01:15:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:15:41
Kellan Stevenson
Honestly, I just get to run around and, you know, help out with that.
01:15:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's.
01:15:45
RICK JAMES
That's
01:15:45
Kellan Stevenson
And that's, but then i I'm there when they need me. So for me, I guess, yeah, I'd be the the leadership that we've been able to to create in the company and the buy-in, you know, we've gotten these managers to, they've bought in, you know, and they've got that ownership of of their role and of the company and they don't want to let anybody down.
01:15:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:16:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I was going to say it's it's almost better off when you you said you hired a manager, but he had no snow experience.
01:16:06
RICK JAMES
and so
01:16:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's actually, for me, preferable because I can teach him exactly how we want it done by our standards, and he's not coming from any preconceived notions that he got from another company.
01:16:16
RICK JAMES
you know
01:16:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I love that. you know it's Like you said, you can learn snow. It's not hard. 100%.
01:16:26
Kellan Stevenson
That's such a firefighter mentality too, right? You know?
01:16:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
01:16:30
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. and And that's where I come from too, right? It's lot easier to TBI the way we want it done than it is.
01:16:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep Absolutely. All I need is the right attitude and heart and I can teach you everything else you need to know.
01:16:40
Kellan Stevenson
Absolutely.
01:16:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it.
01:16:41
RICK JAMES
mean, it definitely sounds like you higher hire great guys and then you and you actually let them manage and don't step on their toes, let them do their job. A lot of people don't do that.
01:16:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's that? What's that?
01:16:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah, what's that? Somebody actually lets you do do what you're supposed to do. so
01:16:56
Kellan Stevenson
know, probably one of the hardest things in this company that I've had to do when I, when I bought my buddy's company, I didn't ever, I never had an office person.
01:16:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's all. Yeah. Oh God. That's great.
01:17:08
Kellan Stevenson
It was me and my wife. We, we were, we were doing a lot of work and running a lot of people and it was just the two of us. And it was the late nights of billing and the, you know, the trying to figure out how we're going to do this and how to do that. And then, you know, the,
01:17:24
Kellan Stevenson
paperwork that we were not the most organized on trying to figure it out, you know, and, and then when we bought that, I, you know, I was like, okay, I'm going to put someone in the front office and relinquishing a lot of that was very hard for me.
01:17:37
Kellan Stevenson
And, and, and, you know, like telling her, Mike, the, you know, the snow managers, they knew the way I liked things done, but I also have to be cool with like, well, I did it this way, but that doesn't mean it's the necessarily the best way. And so letting Kellen and Mike have that freedom to call their own shots. We, mean we have weekly meetings that, you know, we we call, we do our level tens and we go over all the things, the customers, the, you know, incidents, the, you know, what did, what did we do last week? What do we have to do the next week?
01:18:10
Kellan Stevenson
And I think that is a huge part of it of just, there's a certain amount of freedom that makes it easier for everyone.
01:18:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
100% like ah that's good management here's the finish line I don't care how you get there but you don't have to get there my route but this is the finish line this is where we have to get to no matter how you do it so yeah that's dude I love that that's awesome good for you guys
01:18:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:18:30
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:18:32
Kellan Stevenson
The big thing we harp on the big thing we har harp on and is is task purpose and end state. And what that what that looks like is what's the task at hand, why are we doing it, and what's the expectation at the end.
01:18:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
mm-hmm
01:18:45
Kellan Stevenson
We brought Mike in. That was the biggest thing I told him is, you know what is our task here and how do we want it to look at the end of the day? And so as that has really paid itself off and paid dividends for us is just running on task purpose end state.
01:18:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Love it.
01:19:01
Kellan Stevenson
And it allows us not to get tunnel vision.
01:19:04
Kellan Stevenson
Mike, Mike, at the end of the winter last year, he's got a binder that's five inches thick of every single storm.
01:19:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
love it
01:19:05
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:19:12
Kellan Stevenson
Every person who was there, how how many, how, you know, how many inches were on this side of town? How many inches were on that side of town? Who plowed what? If they had a leaky hose or a windshield wiper, it is all in a Google drive now.
01:19:26
Kellan Stevenson
And it is amazing.
01:19:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:19:29
Kellan Stevenson
we can We can look back at any storm last year and have notes on every account.
01:19:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
and
01:19:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Keep that dude happy. Oh.
01:19:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:19:38
Kellan Stevenson
Mike's a good man.
01:19:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:19:38
RICK JAMES
No, Sam.
01:19:40
Kellan Stevenson
And we have a lot of fun. you know we can We've got a fantasy football league with all the managers and our wives and stuff. It's a little brutal. Me and Kellen had to play each other a couple weeks ago. and it was terrible to work with for the whole week. Unbearable and relentless.
01:19:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:19:58
Kellan Stevenson
And then I put up like four.
01:19:58
RICK JAMES
ah
01:19:59
Kellan Stevenson
son you Yeah. got
01:20:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh that's great no that's good man i love it you guys are having fun but you're you know i i believe in that management style like let the guys do what they know what the they know what the job is just tell them what the job is what the finished product needs to be and they get there they'll get there eventually it's uh it's great what else you got for these guys jay
01:20:01
Kellan Stevenson
that
01:20:02
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:20:22
RICK JAMES
ah Just let's you guys got any good plowing stories before let you go here.
01:20:28
Kellan Stevenson
you Okay, I got one.
01:20:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
that will not That will not damage your business by telling them.
01:20:33
Kellan Stevenson
This one probably won't.
01:20:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:20:35
Kellan Stevenson
I have two, but you go with yours.
01:20:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:20:37
Kellan Stevenson
So, one of the guys who plows with us, I met him years ago.
01:20:37
RICK JAMES
Probably going to be about the Duttons.
01:20:42
Kellan Stevenson
um the That awesome 6.5 diesel I owned blew up. Started on fire driving down the road right before winter. So, I ended up... um I was just subbing accounts for a guy. So I ended up not
Humorous and Unusual Job Experiences
01:20:55
Kellan Stevenson
subbing for him a year. And I jumped on a, there's a guy I knew in town who needed a plow driver. So i was like, I love plowing snow. was like, I'll come run a truck.
01:21:02
Kellan Stevenson
And um I met this guy, his name's Kelly. we We call him Betty White out now, but Kelly, um, he, me and hammer plowing it's Christmas night.
01:21:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whiteout.
01:21:12
Kellan Stevenson
Kids are in bed. Wives are in bed. We're up Bridger Canyon, which is about 30 minutes from here. There's no cell phone service. So you're talking to each other over your radios. We go up this driveway. It's about two miles long, this giant house. Nobody lives there in the winter, but we plow the driveway and shovel the porches. And Kelly's like, here, let's come down here. I got to show you something real quick. And he grabs a big flashlight out of his truck and we walked down this bank and Big old culvert. We walk up to it and he shines the light. He's like, see that? i'm like what? And he's like, it's a bear. I'm like, why?
01:21:43
Kellan Stevenson
He's like, it's hybrid.
01:21:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
we
01:21:44
RICK JAMES
but
01:21:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
why
01:21:50
Kellan Stevenson
I mean, we were on like a 30 hour shift. I mean, we had, everybody was gone on vacation. It was just me and Kelly just rallying through the mountains at night and apparently thought it was a good idea to go spy on a bear sleeping a car.
01:22:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah poke poke the bear that always works out
01:22:03
RICK JAMES
Should've go poke them, poke the bear. 20 bucks, 20 bucks.
01:22:06
Kellan Stevenson
I idea. nope there
01:22:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God. Yeah. Why, why would you have brought me here to poke the bear here? No, that's great.
01:22:16
Kellan Stevenson
story it's it's it's uh it's and then you know kelly actually got out of plowing for a while and then i called him up one day because i had a plow driver that that pieced out and left us high and dry and i called kelly i was like hey can you help us out for a couple of storms and he had swore he'd never plow again and that was six years ago and he's one of our
01:22:17
RICK JAMES
know
01:22:39
Kellan Stevenson
most truck boy, the point he he'll stop in the shop during the summer.
01:22:39
RICK JAMES
Still plumb. Yeah.
01:22:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Still going.
01:22:43
Kellan Stevenson
He'll stop in couple times a month just to see how things are going. He'll come steal a lawnmower from me on the weekends to mow his own lawn with. Cause he doesn't want to push mullet. And, and it's just, again, it's just good people.
01:22:52
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:22:54
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah.
01:22:55
RICK JAMES
That's awesome.
01:22:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
to it's yeah you can never really give it up if it's you know like we say it all the time like snow is snow guys are different like it's in your blood you either love it or you fucking hate it but if you love it it's very hard to say oh you know what it's a great theory it's great in theory until the snow comes that i'm not gonna plow any snow this year and then once the snow's the first flake falls you're like get me a plow get me a plow you're like a crackhead you know it's like you know get me in a plow truck
01:23:17
RICK JAMES
Okay.
01:23:25
Kellan Stevenson
though This is Kellan's always like, I love snow. I hate summer. I love snow. So we always joke, but you know, Storm had the I love snow stickers and Kellan's truck is definitely getting one at some point this morning.
01:23:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:23:36
RICK JAMES
okay
01:23:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:23:37
Kellan Stevenson
Last year, about mid-January, I'm like, still love snow, Kellan? It's pretty bad out there. We've been plowing for 12 days straight. but But I think what the cool thing with that is, like with what you guys are doing with the the podcast and the and the and the YouTube show,
01:23:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
It sometimes gets monotonous.
01:23:55
Kellan Stevenson
I don't think people fully appreciate what we do and not just us, like you guys, everyone in this industry, there's a lot of really hard jobs out there and there's a lot of dudes and and girls out there that will work their tail off
01:24:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:24:09
Kellan Stevenson
but I don't want to offend anybody. The one thing I think that really puts us, you know, stands out and in this industry anyways, is we don't know what we're getting, right?
01:24:20
Kellan Stevenson
The forecast says you're going to get an inch and you get a foot, you know, you're going to get a foot and you get an inch or nothing. And you're calling your guys and you're waking them up every hour to let them know that it hasn't started snowing yet. And then 30 minutes later, you're waking up because it's nuking outside.
01:24:34
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:24:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:24:35
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
01:24:35
Kellan Stevenson
And think that the guys and the girls who can get out there and they deal with the fact that they have no idea when they're working, how much money they're going to make that month.
01:24:46
Kellan Stevenson
You know, I would say I was I was talking to my wife about it. Like it's like being a doctor or a nurse. You don't know what you're getting or a firefighter. You know, you don't know what you're getting every night. It's it's it's all hands on, you know, whatever, you know, happens. And and with a hope and a prayer.
01:25:05
Kellan Stevenson
we get out there and get it done.
01:25:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, you know, miraculously, it always seems to get done. Snow guys always seem to make it happen, no matter what they got to put together with bubble gum and duct tape. You know, we always we always get it done. i mean, there is no, what did what what did Don say, Jeremy? What was the line from season one there?
01:25:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
We're in a no failure business or what did he say?
01:25:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
01:25:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
i can't remember.
01:25:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Something like that.
01:25:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
It wasn't as poetic as that.
01:25:29
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:25:31
Kellan Stevenson
I think my funny story was ryan brian mentioned it earlier and
01:25:31
RICK JAMES
that
01:25:35
Kellan Stevenson
and you did too about kind of hiring firefighters. And I said, well, I hired some Marine buddies, that old four loader, it 24 cat that we had.
01:25:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
you hope.
01:25:45
Kellan Stevenson
I mean, that thing was tired. She Ryan says, plug it in and started. It was more like plug it in and give it a half a can of ether and start it type of thing. Yeah. But it had an old 14 foot cage on it, uh, that we had, it was pretty tired.
01:26:00
Kellan Stevenson
Um, I think it had more weld from us on there than it came from the factory. A hundred percent. Actually. Yeah.
01:26:06
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:26:08
Kellan Stevenson
Uh, we got a three footer in March and I watched this kid that was in the Marine Corps with me. I watched him drive into a concrete Jersey barrier with three feet of snow and fourth gear with his plow down.
01:26:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my gosh.
01:26:21
Kellan Stevenson
And I watched the back end of an IT 24 come off the ground about a foot and a half and set back down. And I walked over there. I'm like, this kid is dead. There's no way he's alive in this cab.
01:26:33
Kellan Stevenson
And I opened the door and he looks at me, grabs his donut off the floor, takes a bite of it and says, I'm all good, boss. Let's keep rolling.
01:26:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
01:26:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah,
01:26:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
did He didn't go through the windshield.
01:26:45
Kellan Stevenson
Oh, no. That glass from 1994, they built a different thing.
01:26:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
01:26:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
That is true. Yeah, that is true.
01:26:51
RICK JAMES
yeah, yeah.
01:26:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now it's meant to shatter shatter if a fly lands on it, so you got to buy a new one.
01:26:52
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:26:57
Kellan Stevenson
You know, my other and my other story I had was was from Sima two years ago, and it involves Christian from Storm.
01:26:57
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:27:04
Kellan Stevenson
So, were yeah, where you guys were you guys at Sima two years ago in Pittsburgh?
01:27:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, then we love it already.
01:27:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pittsburgh? Yep.
01:27:11
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:27:12
Kellan Stevenson
They had that Metal Plus night where they had that train car, the trolley that went up the hill to the Metal Plus.
01:27:12
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:27:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we didn't go to that because that was the same night as ours as our storm party there that we when we talked when we did the storm chase on unveiling.
01:27:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:27:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Right. think that was it. I think it was the same night.
01:27:29
RICK JAMES
ah That was the night before.
01:27:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
You sure?
01:27:31
RICK JAMES
Pretty sure.
01:27:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
What did we do the night before?
01:27:33
RICK JAMES
i don't know.
01:27:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
at Anyway, don't worry about it.
01:27:35
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:27:35
Kellan Stevenson
So they had that train car that takes you up to the top of the restaurant or whatever. And I went there and I had, you know, ate food and talked to a couple of people and rode the train back down.
01:27:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:27:47
Kellan Stevenson
And there was a line to get on a trolley to go back to the convention center. And we get on and there's standing room only. I mean, and, and this trolley takes off and,
01:27:59
Kellan Stevenson
We get going and the drive turns from like five to 10 to 15 to 20 minutes. And I look at the guy sitting next to me and I said, I guess Metal Plus is going to like hold us hostage here until we all agree to buy Metal Pluses or something.
01:28:13
Kellan Stevenson
I kid you not, the trolley within 30 seconds pulls back up to the top of the restaurant and the door opens and Christian christian walks in. He's like, hey, welcome everybody. And all of us on the on the bus were like, we were just up here. What the heck's going on?
01:28:28
Kellan Stevenson
And so the next day I see Christian at the show and I was like, that was a pretty funny prank you played on all of us. And he goes, that wasn't a prank. We thought you guys were showing up. And I said, it's funny because I swore I'd never, you know, we'd never buy a metal plus.
01:28:41
Kellan Stevenson
And I, and I swore that, you know, metal plus was going to hold us hostage until we did. And 20 story now, two years later, we have four metal, three or four metal pluses now. Yeah.
01:28:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh If they work for you, they work for you.
01:28:51
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. um
01:28:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:28:54
Kellan Stevenson
Yeah. So thanks to Christian for holding us hostage on a trolley. I guess that's his sales tactic over there.
01:29:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
but He's a salesman.
01:29:02
RICK JAMES
Probably so.
01:29:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whatever works.
01:29:05
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:29:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man, that's great. Jay, you got anything else for these boys before we let them go?
01:29:09
RICK JAMES
I don't know. Yeah, I'm going to go.
01:29:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Guys, you got anything else for us or we'll cut you loose?
01:29:15
Kellan Stevenson
No, we appreciate it. Super, super pumped to be on here. You know, appreciate everything you guys do for this, this industry for sure.
01:29:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
No problem.
01:29:22
Kellan Stevenson
So, yeah. And we hope to see you in Montana for season two.
01:29:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
No problem. Yeah. Hopefully we can get out the Bozeman this winter. That'd be great.
01:29:28
Kellan Stevenson
See at Sima. Yeah.
01:29:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:29:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:29:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was always Cincinnati this year, right? Yeah. Cincinnati in June.
01:29:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah. All
01:29:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
We will definitely be at Simon June. That's for sure.
01:29:37
Kellan Stevenson
So we'll wait.
01:29:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, guys.
01:29:39
Kellan Stevenson
but
01:29:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, we really appreciate you guys coming on. It was great hearing about North grounds and all the best of luck with season two. They're the voting for storm chasing pulling for you.
01:29:50
Kellan Stevenson
Thanks. Appreciate it
01:29:51
RICK JAMES
Thank you guys.
01:29:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
01:29:53
Kellan Stevenson
Have a great day.
01:29:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Well, that's going to do it. We'll wrap episode 141 of the Snow Jaws podcast main show. We want to thank Ryan and Kellen for the time today. Best of luck to North grounds moving forward.
01:30:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
That is it guys and girls, everybody be safe out there. Have a great week. Keep pushing.