Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
S2-99: LJ Lawn and Property Maintenance, Cold Spring NY
660 Plays3 days ago
The guys sit down with Luke Junjulas, owner of LJ Property Maintenance to hear about how he got his start doing some very unique residential snow properties, and his plans for the future
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Kickoff
00:00:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here we go. Snow jobs nation back again, bringing you episode 99 of the snow jobs podcast powered by Top Gun Backblades as always. I'm Steve. That's right. You all know who's with me. My main man, co-host snow pimp extraordinaire, snow squall slayer, the Rick James of snow management. Mr. Jeremy Lindstrom.
00:01:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
What's up, Jay?
00:01:10
RICK JAMES
Oh, just look at my Instagram. yeah I was reading a message.
00:01:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, okay. All right.
00:01:14
RICK JAMES
We got our, uh, our buddy at Australia. I just got his package finally.
00:01:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, really?
00:01:19
RICK JAMES
He was, he was.
00:01:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
I didn't even see that. Did he really?
00:01:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. He was thanking us on there. So yeah, it was, uh, I threw, I threw some extra stuff in there.
00:01:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:01:26
RICK JAMES
So he was, he was happy about that. So yeah, I was just returning that message. So he caught me and caught me right when I was reading it.
00:01:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. I hope, go ahead.
00:01:33
RICK JAMES
So.
00:01:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great, man. That's awesome. That's so cool, dude. Australia.
00:01:37
RICK JAMES
Australia. That's crazy.
00:01:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah 20 countries, one of which is Australia.
00:01:40
RICK JAMES
Uh, it's awesome.
Weather Discussions and Alerts
00:01:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I hope he, uh, I hope he heard his shout out. We gave him a couple of weeks ago on here.
00:01:46
RICK JAMES
Well, he must, if he listens to our show, you think he would.
00:01:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, that is true. I mean, maybe he's, maybe you know, maybe he's binging, you know, he's going to save some episodes for the big snow storms in Victoria, Australia possible.
00:01:51
RICK JAMES
ah Oh yeah, probably. I suppose this is it summertime there? Is it summertime there? Aren't they like, after I know.
00:02:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know what it is, dude. I didn't even know they got snow there. So, but they do.
00:02:04
RICK JAMES
Not either. Not either. So well, when they do.
00:02:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Apparently they do.
00:02:08
RICK JAMES
They do. We learned some how much we were been, uh, well, we, I wouldn't say we're busy.
00:02:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what's new?
00:02:14
RICK JAMES
We've been doing something here and there messing around.
00:02:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Snow squalls. That's the new buzzword, right?
00:02:19
RICK JAMES
Snow squalls. That's the new buzz. I mean, we've all heard of snow squalls, but apparently this year we're freaking everybody's using them. I got an alert on my phone. You know, like, like our Amber alert, it came on snow squall.
00:02:30
RICK JAMES
Seriously.
00:02:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God.
00:02:31
RICK JAMES
It came across the phone. I'm like, what the fuck is this?
00:02:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Crazy.
00:02:34
RICK JAMES
Oh, it's no squall.
00:02:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Turning you in weather, man.
00:02:37
RICK JAMES
Excuse me, doctor.
00:02:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's how you want that one.
00:02:39
RICK JAMES
Dr. Weatherman.
00:02:47
RICK JAMES
hu Yeah, fuck.
00:02:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Snow squalls everywhere, bro.
00:02:50
RICK JAMES
I don't know.
00:02:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Buffalo's got a snow squall right now.
00:02:52
RICK JAMES
moso Yeah, they're getting, they're getting pretty hit pretty hard.
00:02:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're getting getting shut down.
00:02:57
RICK JAMES
I heard so lucky them. I mean, shit, we don't got anything on the roof. We're just going to get snow squalls and quick Clippers. I think it's all we're going to get.
Snow Conditions and Merchandise Updates
00:03:05
RICK JAMES
So.
00:03:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, Rocco sent me a picture. It looks like Snowmageddon again.
00:03:08
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm. I heard that. I was talking to somebody from out there today, and they were they're saying they were getting hammered pretty good, so.
00:03:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
It did not look good, man.
00:03:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
The interstate was shut down again.
00:03:18
RICK JAMES
ah
00:03:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
There were a ton of cars sitting there, but the camera, you could only see about 30 feet from the camera. Everything else was just white out.
00:03:27
RICK JAMES
That's a normal day in North Dakota.
00:03:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, here we go. Here we go.
00:03:31
RICK JAMES
What were you expecting?
00:03:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's life in Antarctica.
00:03:33
RICK JAMES
He set me up. I knock it out. He set me up and I got to knock it out.
00:03:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
that's it Yeah. I'm digging the, uh, I'm digging the sweatshirt, bud.
00:03:38
RICK JAMES
That's just typical. You like it?
00:03:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That looks great, man.
00:03:41
RICK JAMES
Yeah, this is pretty badass.
00:03:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
The new snow jobs nation sweatshirt.
00:03:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah. I just. Oh yeah. Hell yeah. I mean, I.
00:03:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude. That looks great. That looks great, man.
00:03:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I like it.
00:03:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It's pretty sweet. I like it a lot.
00:03:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Came out great, man.
00:03:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
they are They are available.
00:03:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
You, you had a, what did you get a U-Haul?
00:03:57
RICK JAMES
They. I got my whole back of my pickups full. I mean, when we get on the show, I'm going to bring them in the office and I got to ship a bunch out.
00:04:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:04:05
RICK JAMES
They'll be in the mail tomorrow or UPS tomorrow. So, so I get your orders, get your orders.
00:04:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. The pre-orders.
00:04:11
RICK JAMES
We'll get them out as soon as you send the order in, I guess.
00:04:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. Absolutely. Get all the pre-orders filled and then keep on ordering guys. We should get them to you by Christmas. So it'll be under somebody's tree.
00:04:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It doesn't look like they're going to be hung up by any storms in North Dakota. So.
00:04:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, you're going to shut no, no squalls, no squalls.
00:04:30
RICK JAMES
No, no, I think there's a chance of something.
00:04:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
so Dude.
00:04:32
RICK JAMES
Well, when this is coming out on Monday, I think they got a chance of um a hole hole at three quarter inch again, maybe deep strap in, get the chains on, get the chains on.
00:04:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
It does seem to be the buzzword though.
00:04:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Whoa, strap in. Oh man. Snow squall does seem to be the new buzz term this year.
00:04:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Fuck. They must all just get together and just like, Oh, we're going to do this this year. Huh?
00:04:54
RICK JAMES
Just do this.
00:04:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:04:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
How can we screw with these people? What weather terms should we invent this year and overuse to cover everything?
00:04:56
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. still squaw We haven't had used that that for a few years. Let's do that. Yeah.
00:05:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
I really want to hear an oopsie out of them this year.
00:05:07
RICK JAMES
<unk> Yeah.
00:05:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just a text. Just one of their weather texts.
00:05:08
RICK JAMES
They never have ah you ever heard of a weatherman saying they just move on to the next day.
00:05:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oopsie.
00:05:14
RICK JAMES
they I mean, they've never said, Oh, well, we fucked that up.
00:05:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, they're they're like in the words of the immortal Ted Lasso. They're goldfish. They're three second memory. That's it.
00:05:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:05:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
On to the next. They're the best quarterbacks in the world because they forget the play before
Recap of Previous Episode with Tim Schragge
00:05:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
they're just they're on to the next play.
00:05:33
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I don't know.
00:05:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's professionalism right there.
00:05:35
RICK JAMES
That's great. I mean, that's fantastic.
00:05:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Forget your last interception. Get back in there and throw a touchdown.
00:05:42
RICK JAMES
I just don't get it. don I mean, we're already started. I can't say don't get me started. But yeah, it's just they have all this technology and they, I don't know, they shoot shit out of their mouth and then nothing happened.
00:05:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
um I'm sorry. I knew he was wound up about the weather. I pulled the pin. ah Oh man, it's all good.
00:05:59
RICK JAMES
No. Nick, Rob, Mark, sorry, but not sorry.
00:06:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:06:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah We do love you guys. we
00:06:08
RICK JAMES
You know who I am and you know how I explain things. So you get what you get.
00:06:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. That's it, bro. Oh, man. So what are we doing last week? What do we do? We had Tim Schragge of Signature Land Services in Anchorage, Alaska on with us. All right. That was our first time hearing about snow in Alaska. I was not disappointed. That was pretty cool.
00:06:28
RICK JAMES
That was cool. Yep. Definitely.
00:06:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's always awesome hearing like how totally different things are done in in different sections of the country and different markets. You know, Alaska is definitely no exception to that. They're putting gravel down.
00:06:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:06:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love that.
00:06:43
RICK JAMES
I, I would suck, but yeah.
00:06:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Love that. Buy a sweeper truck. Pay me to put it down.
00:06:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pay me to pick it up. Pay me to re-stripe your parking lot. Like that is awesome. Cover all the bases.
00:06:53
RICK JAMES
He's got her. He's got her. He's got her made there. i dont Yeah.
00:06:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for Tim, man. But yeah, Tim was awesome. We thank him for the time and we wish signature all the best this winter. All right. Be safe out there. No, uh, no bears hitting any trucks or anything like that.
00:07:06
RICK JAMES
what What did he say? Salt was $500 a ton to get delivered up there?
00:07:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
500. Yeah. You thought you had it bad.
00:07:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah. That's yeah. I mean, we do have a bad, but he's, he's double what we are. So yeah.
00:07:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not Alaska bad. It's crazy.
00:07:20
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:07:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Boy, um yeah, so what are we doing
Introduction to Guest: Luke Janjoulis
00:07:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
tonight? Tonight, tonight, we have one of my local celebrities with us, all right? I really wanted to get a couple guys that were local to me on the show over the next month or so. ah So tonight, Luke Janjoulis of LJ Property Maintenance of Cold Spring, New York. He's going to be on with us, all right? Luke is one of the hardest working guys I've personally ever met.
00:07:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. i He's just the ultimate grinder. He's built a very successful business for himself. um His customers, I've talked to a number of people that are his customers. They absolutely adore him. And he does awesome work, both on the green side and some very interesting snow work. All right. So, ah LJ has such a niche carved out in Cold Spring in that area around there, Cold Spring Garrison.
00:08:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah He's even starting to creep up into my neighborhood in my neck of the woods a little bit. I see that truck every now and then, ah but it's all good. he's He's a great dude and we get along really well. So I'm glad we're able to have him on with us and hear his story. And hopefully it's going to speak to some of the guys out there who may just be starting out or still on the smaller side, but you know thinking that they need to get huge.
00:08:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know, Luke has plans. He's got future plans, but right now he's got this niche carved out and he's killing it. So I personally love what Luke does. And I'm really looking forward to hearing what he has to say and how he, uh, what he has to say could help a lot of you guys out there. But before we get into this, this with Luke, all right, let's hear from team Top Gun and we'll come back. We'll do a quick week in review and we'll get on with it.
Community Engagement and Merchandise Promotion
00:09:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, guys, we are back. So we can review a couple of things we need to get out there. um As we said last week, the Eric Estes Memorial shirts are still available on the Plowwright Marking Stakes website. It's a little button at the top of the web page. Nice. Jeremy's got it up. I don't i can't grab my camera right now. I'm talking. That looks bad ass though, dude. The new sweatshirt looks bad ass. That is sick. I love that. Get my box made up. That looks really good. You're muted, dude.
00:09:55
RICK JAMES
Oh, ah should I autograph it? This is going your way. This is a 2X. Should I autograph it for you?
00:09:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Definitely a lot of graph. Definitely. I'll sell that on eBay, bro. That'll bring in some bucks before Christmas.
00:10:02
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:10:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Uh, but yeah, so go to the plow, right? Marking stakes website at plow dash right.com. Click on the button top of the page and grab a few Memorial t-shirts. Every dollar goes to Eric's kids for their college funds. Uh, so let's do what we do as snow guys. Let's help out, help out other snow guys. All right. Um, again, big shout out to storm for, uh, for jumping in with us and, uh, and paying for the shirts to be made so that every, every dollar could actually go where it needs to go. And that's the Eric's kids. So thanks guys in advance.
00:10:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, we talked about snow squalls already of the new weather term. Um, lake effect is kicking up again. Buffalo's getting killed. Uh, I think Erie's getting pounded again in Pennsylvania there.
00:10:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Erie PA. I think I saw that. And, uh, is Kyle getting anything in Ohio out of this or or still no goose egg.
00:10:53
RICK JAMES
I don't know if he's getting anything right now, but I think last night he did some something. Yeah, I don't know hopefully this weekend we'll get her done
00:10:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. All right. We got another Arctic Army roll call episode dropping soon We're trying to get our schedules to mesh up with big daddy John Stark. All right, who is possibly the busiest man in snow All right. We're hoping to get that one Yeah Hopefully we'll get that one recorded in the next couple days and be able to get that to you next week Because I know guys are asking about that and waiting on waiting on that one Just a little tough, I think, around the holidays and the ah the the preseason going right into snow season here. John's a busy dude. And you know we've we've had less time as well, the two of us. um What else we got? Oh, guys, if you're getting a storm, if you're getting snow, reach out to us. Let us know.
00:11:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, when it's, when it's going to hit you, when you're out doing your thing and, uh, we'll do an Instagram live with you. All right. When you're out there getting it done, hopefully you guys have better service than Zuber did when he was with MTG. Yeah.
00:11:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was some real dial up shit that he was rocking. That was the most pixelated crap I've ever seen.
00:11:54
RICK JAMES
Oh, that was terrible.
00:11:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Terrible, right?
00:11:56
RICK JAMES
It was like a phone, like a flip phone, like your, like your phone.
00:11:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Yeah. It's like one of these, the, the old star tack. If you, if you're that old to remember that shit.
00:12:05
RICK JAMES
ah that
00:12:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, so grainy, so annoying. but But yeah, let us know, guys. If you're getting snow, let us know.
00:12:11
RICK JAMES
We'll do an Instagram live.
00:12:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'll do an Instagram live. Yeah, absolutely.
00:12:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Shit.
00:12:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was fun.
00:12:15
RICK JAMES
That was fun.
00:12:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
We did a couple of them last week and a couple of them. though The first one was like 60 guys with us for two hours. It was like, holy crap. So we had some fun.
00:12:23
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that was good.
00:12:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's entertaining. And yeah, we'll do something with you and your guys and hopefully help you pass the time and have some fun. ah Jeremy already talked about the ah new sweatshirts. They are in the Snow Jobs Nation store.
00:12:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Visit snowjobsnationstore.com. Get all your Christmas needs. Jeremy will autograph them if you request it in the comments section on your order.
00:12:43
RICK JAMES
Oh no.
00:12:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. The new sweatshirts are freaking. They're awesome, though. I love them. The front looks great. Back looks insane. So you're going to want to get one of these.
00:12:54
RICK JAMES
Plus, plus the good old car hearts got them stocked up too. So, yeah, I got it going already.
00:12:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Car hearts are crazy good. Yeah, you just got to put a couple of those in my box too. I need those. Yeah, my wife's not due to do laundry again till February. So ah yeah I won't see my car hearts again for at least a month.
00:13:07
RICK JAMES
Jesus.
00:13:10
RICK JAMES
Can you do laundry?
00:13:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
I can when I'm home. I haven't been home much dude. But yeah, so get your stuff while you can. All right. ah You got anything else, Jay?
00:13:21
RICK JAMES
Hmm.
00:13:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nothing, huh? Okay. All right. Then let's just hear, we'll ah hear a quick word from our partners and we will be right back and we'll bring Luke in for the fun.
Luke's Business Journey and Growth
00:13:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Be back in a minute.
00:16:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, gang, we are back. So without further ado, let's bring in Luke and Jewel is of LJ property services or property management. We got to get that right. What's up, buddy? How are you?
00:16:42
Luke
What's up?
00:16:43
RICK JAMES
Hey Luke!
00:16:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
You are set up, dude. You got a mic. You got the the pop filter. Love it.
00:16:49
Luke
Yes, sir. I started my own podcast last winter for about ah three episodes, and then I stopped. That's why I have them.
00:16:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Podfade, Podfade got ya.
00:17:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's cool, dude.
00:17:01
Luke
I get bored in the winter.
00:17:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Why didn't you keep going with it?
00:17:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
You get bored.
00:17:06
Luke
So I got bored, and I was like, let me start a podcast.
00:17:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, come on, we had a...
00:17:08
Luke
And then I got busy again, so I stopped.
00:17:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I know some idiots that do a podcast. they Anybody could do it.
00:17:14
RICK JAMES
but
00:17:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah ah ha Why'd you stop?
00:17:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah, that's true.
00:17:18
Luke
Well, it wasn't landscaping related that I'm going to start this with this winter.
00:17:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, all right, good, you should.
00:17:23
Luke
I might start a landscaping related podcast time, which I probably won't.
00:17:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
You definitely should, buddy.
00:17:29
Luke
But it's something I wanted to do for a while. So and I seen you guys take off. So we'll see.
00:17:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. Yep. How's, uh, how's everything going?
00:17:38
Luke
Good man, we're ah we're finishing up fall about one more week. We'll get to Christmas and then we'll start praying for snow. So.
00:17:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're still doing fall shit.
00:17:48
Luke
Yeah, we're still doing full cleanups. I only have my salter in my trucks. I got the leaf box on still. We just, we got like 20 left. So the goal is, the goal is next Friday before Christmas to have everything done.
00:17:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
God bless you.
00:18:02
Luke
um
00:18:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you get caught a couple of two weeks ago with that rain that didn't, wasn't supposed to be snow.
00:18:07
Luke
Yeah, well up on the higher elevations, we got a We had a plow a few, like we had six inches up on the higher elevations, a zero zero in town, but we had to push a few, which was exciting, got me a little excited.
00:18:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:18:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:18:21
Luke
um I'm a type of guy that it does I don't like snow when I'm not ready, but once I'm ready, I'm i'm like telling my family, that hey, can you guys pray for snow?
00:18:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:18:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Bring it up, bring it.
00:18:30
Luke
So, yeah.
00:18:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome, man. Oh, Jay, you want to take us away, buddy? Get us into it.
00:18:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah, cool. Hey, Luke, I want you to tell everybody about LJ property maintenance when you got started and what you're all about.
00:18:44
Luke
All right, so i I started my company um in high school. Well, before high school even. I just, you know, cut my neighbor's lawn and stuff like you hear that from a lot of guys of my size.
00:18:59
Luke
But I started, I started cutting my neighbor's ah lawn and then I got, I saved up enough money by a tractor. Then I started to have my tractor around town. I have a lot of family in my town. So I'd go around my town and just doing landscaping. Same thing in the winter. We're just shoveling snow. Bought my first snow blower.
00:19:15
Luke
um Then when I was old enough to drive, I was blessed enough that my father let me use his truck. So I was able to put my tractor in his truck and start to expand my business even further outside of my town. um And I just kept making money from the small stuff and putting it back into the business. Everything I bought was for the business.
00:19:39
Luke
And high school, I started to skip class in high school just to go work, because I was like, this is way better than like sitting in school learning about something I don't care about.
00:19:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:19:50
Luke
So I did that. And then I was like, oh, college time. And I was like, all right, I'll go to community college. ill My business was starting to take off a little bit. ah And I just dropped out of college and continued to to do the landscaping.
00:20:06
Luke
and It was the best decision I've ever made personally in my life was to to not go to college, not saying it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it definitely wasn't for me. So the the day I dropped out of college, it was like the most freeing feeling in the world.
00:20:20
Luke
I was like, all I have to do is work now. I love it. So since since that day, I've loved my job and loved doing what I do.
00:20:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:20:26
Luke
So every day I just wake up and get to go, like, instead of having to sit in a classroom or sitting in an office, I get to go pee outside and do what I love.
00:20:26
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:20:34
Luke
But yeah.
00:20:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
A lot of guys say that, dude. A lot of guys on here said, though co we tried college. College just wasn't for us. And you know they just wanted to grind. So that's awesome.
00:20:42
Luke
yeah
00:20:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you, man. Good that you figured it out quick. So what year did you start it?
00:20:47
Luke
So legally, I started in 2019, which I was 19 years old in 2019, 24 now in 2024.
00:20:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:20:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:20:56
Luke
My age is cool like that, so every year I'll be 25.
00:20:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Very cool.
00:21:02
Luke
So I started in 2019. um legally in business, so five years now legally, but I think it it really took off probably my my senior my junior senior year of high school, so 17, 18 years old in 2017, 2018, but signed documents to make it a legal business in 2019.
00:21:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:21:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Did you like, did you blow up and gain a lot of customers? Like a lot of guys were hearing like when COVID hit.
00:21:30
Luke
Yeah, well, that was my second and third year in business, I believe.
00:21:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Was that your tech gangbusters?
00:21:35
Luke
ah That was, I think, still, to the like we did amazing this year and last year. um But 2020 was an insane year for us.
00:21:45
Luke
My my profit margins were insane in 2020.
00:21:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:21:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Incredible.
00:21:50
Luke
Yeah.
00:21:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:21:51
RICK JAMES
That's great.
00:21:52
Luke
i heard I hear that from a lot of people, too.
00:21:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. All that COVID vacation money. Everybody wasn't going on vacations.
00:21:58
Luke
Yep. Our industry specifically, not other, everybody else was going out of business and I was thriving.
00:22:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:22:04
Luke
Yeah.
00:22:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. That was my biggest worry. I said, oh, shit. Everybody's locked down. Everybody's staying home. They're going to be doing their own yard work, going to be mowing their own lawn.
00:22:11
Luke
Yeah.
00:22:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was the opposite, dude.
00:22:12
RICK JAMES
No, no.
00:22:13
Luke
ye
00:22:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, I don't want to look at this backyard anymore. Here's $30,000. Change it.
00:22:17
Luke
And specifically for our area, because ah I'd say well well over 50% of my customers are, they have ah they live in New York City and they come here on the weekend.
00:22:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:30
Luke
So they got kicked out of New York City during COVID, you know, a lot of work here. They come home and they're like, oh my God, I forgot about this place. Like I need to do all these projects. And they weren't doing like small things. They were doing crazy projects in the backyards because they were like, I'm going to be here for who knows how long.
00:22:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:22:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:22:45
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:22:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
I know. I know it was, it was hopping. It was definitely hopping.
00:22:47
RICK JAMES
It was everybody says that was some a couple of your best years. So
00:22:52
Luke
Yep.
00:22:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's awesome. And so what is what is LJ? I mean, I know, but tell everybody what's LJ property maintenance into? What do you guys specialize in?
00:23:04
Luke
So started off as you know your typical maintenance, lawn maintenance, leaf cleanups, snow removal. um And went back and forth on possibly like moving away from that the last couple of years. um But to to focus on some of the bigger stuff that we do.
00:23:21
Luke
but realize that that's kind of our bread and butter and that's a check at the end of every month and it does really well for us and it keeps the guys busy.
00:23:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
hu
00:23:30
Luke
um So your typical maintenance stuff and then the past i like three to four years you've been getting into the hardscaping, earth moving sort of site work type stuff.
00:23:41
Luke
that's the stuff that i i personally like really enjoy. um So just the past couple of years, I've been trying to ah buy new equipment, pay it off, um and get into the the bigger stuff.
00:23:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh-huh.
00:23:53
Luke
um But I could always fall back on the maintenance, which is nice because the maintenance does very well for us.
00:23:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:24:00
Luke
So just you're you're basically your your typical landscaping company, nothing crazy, no specialty. ah But i don't we don't like to do anything that we're not 100% confident in. So to get into a new scope of work, like, say, patios and hardscaping, which we started to get into the last few years, I'll be upfront with the customer and say, hey, we haven't done a lot of these. I'm going to give you a good price on it if you could trust us. So a lot of trial and error through the years, but we got it pretty dialed in now. We got separate landscaping crew, hardscaping, maintenance. So it's been going really well for us.
00:24:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. You got a, you got a really cool niche there with the mountain that, uh, you do a lot of drainage work on those driveways.
00:24:46
Luke
Yeah, love drainage, love drainage.
00:24:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like you do great drainage work, dude. It's, and it needs to be done, man. They all have that need. Cause man, those, those driveways, they're like goat paths sometimes after a good rain storm.
00:24:59
Luke
Yeah, it's super satisfying work too, ah because if it doesn't work and you messed up, you know right away.
00:25:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:25:06
Luke
um
00:25:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's no hiding in it.
00:25:08
Luke
Yeah.
00:25:08
RICK JAMES
It's a...
00:25:08
Luke
and And that's no problem at all. Like if I get a callback, we don't get a ton of callbacks at all. But if I do, I'm like there the next day, like, yo, we got to fix this. Let's go. um But drainage work is really, really fun because of that instant reward.
00:25:21
Luke
Like I'm always like spraying the hose right after we install. I'll be like, look, it all goes out this pipe where we hooked it up there.
00:25:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it.
00:25:27
Luke
think Yeah, drainage work is fun.
00:25:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
00:25:29
Luke
We had some heavy, heavy rainstorms. I think it was last summer, some serious rain, like they washed up major roads and we did drainage work up until this time of year, last year.
00:25:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:25:39
Luke
Like we were, until it snowed, we were, we were digging up driveways and sat in drainage. Yeah.
00:25:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that that was the the ones that almost washed West Point off the map, like that whole side of the river was.
00:25:48
Luke
Yeah, they, they washed off storm came there. Yep.
00:25:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, crazy. Yeah, I remember that. That was really bad. Oh, what else you got, Jay?
Challenges in Snow Management
00:25:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah, let's get into snow and see what, uh, what kind of, kind of weathers you do you have around there? it' You're in a Steve area, right? You're pretty close to Steve, right?
00:26:04
Luke
Yeah, yeah but about 10 minutes south from Steve.
00:26:05
RICK JAMES
You're saying so, but you're in a higher elevation than he is more like, or what?
00:26:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:26:13
Luke
um Yeah, so there's a lot of mountains around us. so we have i would i would say I don't know how much higher, but it is higher elevations. I i believe so, because you come down from... Yeah.
00:26:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, fish kills only 200 feet and they have.
00:26:25
RICK JAMES
Oh, you keep saying mountains. Those are big words around me, so.
00:26:29
Luke
Yeah, well, they're not your mountains.
00:26:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
So fish kills, fish kills, fish kills at 200 feet. And I think when you're driving on the Deconic at Fawnstock, that's like 1600 feet or something, 1700 feet.
00:26:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, you know, that that's that's the same mountain on the backside. You're the the backside of that mountain that goes to Cold Spring, right?
00:26:46
Luke
Yes. And then when you, when you come to, um, some of the properties that we have up on the actual mountains that we call mountains, the roads are called East mountain and North mountain.
00:26:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:26:48
RICK JAMES
its
00:26:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh huh.
00:26:56
Luke
Those, uh, I'm not a hundred percent positive on the elevation, but between like 2000.
00:27:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
They're up there. Yeah, they're up over 2000.
00:27:01
Luke
Yeah. Yeah. Like two, 3000 feet.
00:27:04
RICK JAMES
So what do you average for?
00:27:04
Luke
And it makes a massive difference. Like, well, we'll talk about that, but yeah, it makes it huge.
00:27:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Huge.
00:27:10
RICK JAMES
What do you guys the average snow out there and then what's your average winner?
00:27:12
Luke
Oh, Steve, that's probably a better question for you.
00:27:13
RICK JAMES
Any idea?
00:27:15
Luke
I think.
00:27:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
We're, we're always in the 40 range, but it really depends on the nor'easters. Like, I mean, we could get absolutely freaking pummeled and have like, I think five, six years ago was 90, 90 inches we had for the winter.
00:27:20
Luke
Yeah.
00:27:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cause we had our average of 40 and then we had two storms that dropped the total of 55, you know, with two nor'easters.
00:27:31
Luke
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
So yeah, ah we we average about 40 in the area though.
00:27:34
RICK JAMES
Plus the, so the million dollar question, do you get concrete snow?
00:27:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, fuck. Yeah.
00:27:42
RICK JAMES
I just, we gotta say that every show, don't we?
00:27:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Absolutely. Trademark. but Yeah.
00:27:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah, concrete.
00:27:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
We get, we get the same snow. We get the wet, heavy same snow.
00:27:51
Luke
Yeah, wet, heavy.
00:27:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you ever, you ever get any powder up on the mountain, Luke?
00:27:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:27:56
Luke
um No, the mountain never tends, there was a storm last year we actually used backpack blowers for the first time. So ah because it was a little bit lighter and fluffier, but majority of the time we're right on the edge of freezing and it's wet and heavy and slippery and dangerous and no fun at all.
00:28:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
me
00:28:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. yeah yep amen Yeah, you couldn't pay me enough to do some of the stuff you do up there with snow. You're like literally inches from losing a truck.
00:28:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
for like not just Not just having to pull it out, like losing a truck.
00:28:24
Luke
Yeah.
00:28:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
off
00:28:28
Luke
ah Forget about my trucks, but my like lives, dude.
00:28:28
RICK JAMES
Really?
00:28:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah ah
00:28:33
Luke
but inches away from lives.
00:28:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
You'll be able to jump out. i have I have total confidence in you that you'd be able to jump out before it went over.
00:28:39
Luke
ah
00:28:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh man, but yeah, it's he does some gnarly stuff up there.
00:28:42
RICK JAMES
Wow. it It's that close, huh? Hmm.
00:28:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:28:47
RICK JAMES
What kind of sites are you applying then? Just driveways or?
00:28:49
Luke
So also we're I would say we're probably 90% residential, 10% commercial, um super small town. There's there's no like chains or real commercial stuff by us. If you go up north, but like a little bit towards Steve, that's where the the commercial starts to start like you know you like I mean commercial isn't a McDonald's parking lot or a Walmart parking lot. We got one red light in town and a little grocery store. um there's There's no huge contracts like that. So 10% commercial, um but mostly I am plowing gravel driveways up steep elevations with two feet to my right hand side. I have like a 400 foot drop off. So that's like the majority of our services, yeah.
00:29:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's no joke.
00:29:35
RICK JAMES
Wow.
00:29:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's no joke.
00:29:37
RICK JAMES
Is there surrounded by trees or is this a drop off?
00:29:40
Luke
uh some some trees like they're that's pretty woody around here so you know some trees but that um i'm gonna run over some saplings roll a couple times then hit a bigger tree probably
00:29:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not that's going to stop the truck.
00:29:48
RICK JAMES
So, so if you get, so if you fall off, are you going to get wrapped around the tree or just keep going?
00:29:58
RICK JAMES
Oh, make sure you got your GoPro rolling.
00:30:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:30:01
Luke
how God bless, I haven't um i have and fallen off one of those cliffs yet.
00:30:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:30:10
Luke
I have got wedged between a few trees on the edge with some sketchy recovery um maneuvers to get out. But we'll hopeful we'll keep that streak up, hopefully, that we don't roll off any of those cliffs.
00:30:23
RICK JAMES
Well, well, hopefully, hopefully, he's using plow right marking stakes to mark all those driveways, right, Steve?
00:30:28
Luke
I am actually, so I found out I found out about free plug, free plug.
00:30:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
shameless plug.
00:30:34
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:30:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:30:35
Luke
I found out about plow right, maybe three years ago.
00:30:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:30:39
Luke
And I don't, I think one time when I first started, I use just your regular like fiberglass steak in a drill bed, drilling in a frozen ground, and then sticking these things in, hitting them with a mallet, and they were like not staying in. So I found out about Plowrite, I put in an order, and I have the first video I ever took with them.
00:31:00
Luke
and i ah I put them in my parents yard and I was like, these things are awesome. You just put the little, you got the thing on your back and you pull it out of the backpack. You stick it right in the ground.
00:31:11
Luke
And I took the metal stake that you used to push the, the, the plow markers in the ground with. And I started whacking the thing. Like it was ah like a baseball bat and they didn't move. They're actually amazed.
00:31:20
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:31:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's a great system.
00:31:23
RICK JAMES
but We'll charge Matt for another commercial right there.
00:31:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's big shameless plug for you, Matt.
00:31:30
RICK JAMES
ah
00:31:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man, good people, great products, though. It's awesome.
00:31:34
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:31:34
Luke
Not for real though. Yeah.
00:31:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, geez. You had a plow, right? Stakes will save your butt right on the mountain there, man. that That's legit. How many driveways are you doing now?
00:31:44
Luke
So I'm a little bit less crazy than I was. I found ah i found a good number and I learned how to say no around year four.
00:31:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good, good.
00:31:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Atta boy.
00:31:54
Luke
I found out how to say no. um We were doing up to 90 properties with one plow truck and then like one shoveling crew. um I dialed that down to...
00:32:09
Luke
60, I believe, if we're at for this year, 60, probably 50 residential and then 10 commercial. Still, I have one plow truck with one backup still.
00:32:21
Luke
And then um we have a town crew. We have smaller driveways that are in the the village of Cold Spring. But I still do all the plowing up on the mountain with the one plow truck.
00:32:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:32:32
Luke
um So around 60 total, 63 to 65 per storm.
00:32:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's a better number than 90, dude. I was worried about you at 90.
00:32:43
Luke
Yeah, 90 was, hours, people blowing up my phone where I, yeah,
00:32:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
How would you handle 90 driveways when we would get hit like we can get hit like with 24 inches, two or three inches an hour?
00:32:55
Luke
yeah like when we got one of those, of those nor'easters, it was, a number one was
00:32:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:33:01
Luke
go up to the mountain, go up to the higher elevations, and the steep driveways hit those at least every six inches as much as possible.
00:33:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:33:09
Luke
um And then we would leave all of the the village for the end. And I ran out of time for the the steeper driveways, higher elevations, and I would be sliding and scared and going towards the trees um when when we started to get to that 12 inch mark.
00:33:30
Luke
So that's when I was like, okay, you're not doing anybody any good if they're signing up for your snow removal service and you're telling them that you'll take care of them when you can't get up two feet into their driveway.
00:33:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:33:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:33:41
Luke
Yeah.
00:33:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh man.
00:33:43
RICK JAMES
And you're doing it with the you're just doing the plow pickup and not a blower anything just
00:33:46
Luke
but right All I have is a, I have an F550 with a Fisher V plow on it. um And i ah the first time I ever plowed was in my F-350 with a straight blade. I picked it up from like Facebook Marketplace and I plowed with it. I had no idea what I was doing.
00:34:04
Luke
and um Then I bought my new truck, 2020 F550 with the V-plow. I put a V-plow on it, Fisher Salter, and I got super comfortable with it. and i'd like i can I like to think that I can plow anything, but there's probably three driveways in my town that I've said no to because they're just, I don't know how they get done, but I ain't doing them now.
00:34:28
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:34:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:34:30
RICK JAMES
ah I want to see this.
00:34:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah ah Amen.
00:34:33
Luke
Yeah, well, you you'll see like,
00:34:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, he's got videos. He's got videos.
00:34:37
Luke
Yeah. It's not as exciting as like like back in the day, though, because back in the day, I was doing anything to to make a buck. and Now that I have a great customer base, I don't really have to worry about um getting contracts for its snow removal. I was doing everything and anything, and it got pretty sketchy like probably two years ago. and I was like, okay, i' I'm not going to have a business because I'm going to
00:35:05
RICK JAMES
<unk>s nice
00:35:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Jesus. That's fucking funny. Oh, well, that's awesome, man. I'm glad you, uh, I'm glad you scaled it back a little bit and started saying, no, it actually will create more demand for you, believe it or not.
00:35:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Especially in that area.
00:35:19
Luke
Yeah. Yeah, well, I don't know. I might as well just say it now, but like, so I'm sure everybody, everybody probably deals with this, but like day of or day before snow storm calls.
00:35:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh,
00:35:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh God. Yeah.
00:35:31
Luke
it's it's It's insane, but in this area, i don't it'll be like mid-January. We've had like you know three or four snow events previous, and the phone's blowing up with random numbers.
00:35:44
Luke
Be like, hey, do you think you can do snow removal for me on my driveway? And it's like, I used to feel bad for these people.
00:35:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:35:52
Luke
you know like that you know't They don't have anybody who can, um like, because they maybe they were doing it themselves with the lower amount of snow in the beginning of the year or whatever. So I started, I would say yes to everybody and that's where I got into that 90 range because then they would sign up for the year. and um But now when I'm plowing, I put my phone in like the center console, I have my iPad with my list.
00:36:20
Luke
And after, if we have a good storm and I finish everything, then I'll start going through the voicemails and be like, oh, this driveway, I know where that is. That's an easy, like whatever amount of money.
00:36:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:36:29
Luke
But I was saying yes to everything when I first started.
00:36:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:36:32
Luke
And now I just kind of ignore it and take care of the people who I've been taking care of for, you know, five to 10 years now. Because those are the people that you put food on my table and take care of me year round, not just in the winter.
00:36:44
RICK JAMES
Um hmm.
00:36:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen, dude. Amen, bro. Oh man. So you, you went over your F five 50 there. You got a Fisher V on that. You got a Fisher, what a polycaster.
00:36:57
Luke
Yeah, Polycaster.
00:36:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Tell us about the other stuff you got because I know you got that little empty the bobcat there that you're you're crazy good with
00:37:04
Luke
Yeah, so. So. The MT100 is like my right hand, a little Bobcat. We use that year round as well. um It's good to have around the house. I use it on every single job. I just picked up a few attachments this year from the Equip Expo. I don't know how I went, ah why I've had it for three, four years now without a grapple and forks. So I've got a grapple and forks. But um the past few years, we've been using that for our sidewalks and our our village driveways.
00:37:34
Luke
um Which we do, is that's a that's a a big 40, 30 to 40 of our houses are in in the village.
00:37:45
Luke
So we would use that and drive that around town. But as of last year, I got a Toro multi force and I got the plow on that with the weighted wheels.
00:37:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:37:55
Luke
And we only got to use it once last year, because I got it in the middle of the season. But it was, a we also use it for leaves, too, to push piles. it's it's a great machine and as a backup lawnmower, but we use the town crew.
00:38:09
Luke
We'll have a truck, a trailer, and this year we'll have a Toro multi force on it um with the plow. So they'll zip around town. It goes you know like 10, 12 miles an hour.
00:38:20
Luke
So they can go from property to property because the town's real small and hit all the sidewalks, hit all the driveways, and then I'll come through and salt everything that night or the next day or whatever. um and then My truck is me and a shoveler usually with ah maybe a snub blower in the back for any of the walkways we do.
00:38:39
Luke
I've been trying to get away from sidewalks and shoveling and pads. Nobody wants to do that. I just ah got lazy. I want to sit in the truck with my Crocs on and my pajamas and par
00:38:50
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:38:51
Luke
ah but Usually around I usually do all those big driveways first and then I'll come back to the garage You know, I'll ah'll put my snow suit on and I'll i'll get the snow blower and we'll go do all the walkways and stuff Um,
00:38:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
and
00:39:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you had any issues with the multi force after using it in the snow and the salt we've had a couple guys say like the What was it Jeremy the front of the engine or something?
00:39:12
RICK JAMES
and some
00:39:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's something on there that keeps shorting out or something.
00:39:13
RICK JAMES
um fan know someone yeah i don't remember
00:39:16
Luke
well because I only used it once I
00:39:16
RICK JAMES
ah member
00:39:20
Luke
The Storm, I did use it for its shocker.
00:39:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
I
00:39:22
Luke
It was wet heavy snow, maybe six inches. ah It was definitely sliding around even with the weighted wheels,
00:39:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:39:30
Luke
but i i put studs in for it. I have not been able to test those yet. But for what we need it for, it's been great.
00:39:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah, something, yeah, I don't remember.
00:39:40
Luke
I've had no issues at all with it so far.
00:39:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:39:43
Luke
It really sits on my garage most of the year though.
Technical Insights and Customer Relations
00:39:46
Luke
It has less than 50 hours on it. I've had it for a year.
00:39:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:39:51
Luke
but I put So I don't know the problems, but I'm the first person to say if there's a problem with something like I'm letting it
00:39:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Oh, I know. I know you you call it how it is.
00:39:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:39:59
Luke
yeah
00:39:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely. Um,
00:40:01
RICK JAMES
So you said you run a Fisher V-Paw on your truck 550, like how big is that V-Paw 10 footer?
00:40:04
Luke
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:07
RICK JAMES
what
00:40:08
Luke
It's a 9.6. It's the extreme thing. So i when I got it... um they didn't have any XV2s, right?
00:40:18
Luke
Fisher XV2.
00:40:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep.
00:40:19
Luke
They didn't have any of those in stock, the guy that I use. So I got the Extreme V. The only, I mean, the only really difference that he told me about and what I've experienced, like I think he was truthful with me and I believe what he told me, it was like, it's not going to throw snow as far when you're driving at like a higher speed.
00:40:36
Luke
But again, yeah, it's not flared as high, but I'm not doing like these big parking lots where I really need to like flare the snow.
00:40:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's not flared. Yeah. Right. Yep.
00:40:42
Luke
So it's been, that plasma has been also for stainless steel stayed stainless steel ah replaced the blade once in two years um i would I would put a poly edge on it, but again, I'm not doing, cause I always feel like, I mean, I don't know if everybody experiences this, experiences this, but when you're like, it's like 3 AM and you're planning on a driveway and it's loud as hell. And you're like, I'm doing residential. And you're like, gosh, that's loud. So I would put a poly edge on it, but the majority of my drive is your gravel. So.
00:41:13
RICK JAMES
That does not bother me.
00:41:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, no, that does.
00:41:14
RICK JAMES
It does not bother me at all.
00:41:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's their problem.
00:41:16
Luke
like you're you're much than me and you've looked yeah I bet you've probably learned to like be like, yeah, dude, I've been doing this for too long to care.
00:41:23
RICK JAMES
ah
00:41:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
they're They're just happy they're getting plowed.
00:41:24
RICK JAMES
i I used to, I used to care. I used to like feel bad for waking guys up in the middle of the night. I don't care.
00:41:30
Luke
yeah Yeah, definitely in the past two years, I've been like, dude, please try to complain to me.
00:41:31
RICK JAMES
I don't care at all. Zero, zero. Fuck. Yeah.
00:41:40
Luke
like I'm clearing your driveway. I got you out of your house. like Come on.
00:41:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Exactly. do you ah Do you do the like, how do you say no? You said you're trying to get away from doing walkways.
00:41:52
Luke
Yeah.
00:41:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
How do you how have you figured out how to say no to walkways along with when you're doing their driveway?
00:41:57
Luke
Just to do the draw away. So it's tough. It's really, really tough for me specifically, because most of these customers that I take care of, I've been working for since I was like 16 years old, right in high school still.
00:42:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:42:12
Luke
And my like worst my worst fear is them looking at me and being like, oh, you got too big for us. like I don't ever want to be that guy. like I'm the low
00:42:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
I hear you Yeah.
00:42:20
Luke
I'm the local guy, like I wanna take care of the people around here. like That's what I want. um So I've kind of not... like in i have to do it and like June and be like, hey, I'm taking my business this way. I really appreciate everything that you've done for us. If you want us to still do the driveway, we can, but we don't really have the time or the manpower to do your 10-foot walkway. like you know like We're trying to bang, bang, bang. you know
00:42:52
Luke
So I just kind of ease into it. And some of them have, but no problem. That's okay and easy. But some of them give me a little pushback and I'm willing to work with my customers and be like, all right, you know what, for you, we'll take care of the walkway.
00:43:04
Luke
It's no big deal. You've been good to us. So it's a little bit of give and take.
00:43:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:43:09
Luke
Yeah.
00:43:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
It definitely is, man.
00:43:10
RICK JAMES
So when you're doing these, i you know, you're talking these steep driveways with your repo, what are you doing? Just, just shooting up the middle and just winging out the side or I mean, what do you walk us through, walk us through that, I guess.
00:43:19
Luke
So yeah, it depends on, Yeah, yeah. So it depends on the storm. um I know some guys, so because most of the the driveways are gravel, I know some guys have used like used shoes on there their plows for gravel. um peak It again depends on the temperature and stuff. I've found that like the I've used shoes before and they tend to like dig in the gravel because
00:43:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:43:44
Luke
in and it'll leave you know big divots right where the shoes are and it makes things worse for me. So I tend to plow without the shoes. um If we got a good cold snowstorm, I can put the plow all the way down and plowing all the way down to the gravel and getting minimal gravel in my piles.
00:44:04
Luke
um But say steep driveway, I'm at the bottom, depending on this watch, trying to hit them every six inches at the at the maximum. I don't want it past six inches. um I'll go full V.
00:44:18
Luke
um I usually go down to float on the fish here and then up to, on the up controller, and I'll just send it uphill.
00:44:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:44:27
Luke
um the ah Depending on the amount of snow, I'll possibly back up the driveway, plow down, back up the over the snow, I mean, back up over the snow and then plow down and then back up over the snow and plow down.
00:44:41
Luke
That's been a ah good strategy, but ah we haven't really had in the past couple of years anything significant enough where I've had to worry about that. So I've been able to just go full V up, up uphill.
00:44:55
Luke
um Yeah.
00:44:56
RICK JAMES
Mm hmm.
00:44:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we haven't had more than like a foot, 14 inches, I think was the most last year in one storm.
00:45:02
Luke
Yeah.
00:45:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's pretty good.
00:45:02
Luke
And we were on top of that, that one.
00:45:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I don't and I don't know if you like, did you guys get the same? Like we were getting crushed with a couple, but you went like a mile south and a mile west and they had like half the amount of snow.
00:45:12
Luke
Yeah, I think, I think it was,
00:45:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, did you guys get hit as bad with those?
00:45:19
Luke
Um, what I, cause I remember we were talking and you were telling me, yeah, you were like, we got slammed.
00:45:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, I remember you texted me and be like, how much did you get? Holy shit. like but but yeah like Take a ride through Fishkill right now, dude.
00:45:28
Luke
And I was like, we got two inches.
00:45:32
Luke
Yeah. Oh, and then I did that day. Cause I went through fish go or whatever. It's probably to wash my chocolate, like foam wash and fish scale. And I was like, dude, this is like a different world up here.
00:45:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:45:43
Luke
Yeah.
00:45:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's crazy. It was crazy.
00:45:44
Luke
It really changes like that around here.
00:45:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:45:46
Luke
Yeah.
00:45:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Those are the best videos when you, when you're going down main street and you send, you put the
Weather Patterns and Business Strategy
00:45:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
video up. Oh, I'm in all hands territory.
00:45:51
Luke
oh
00:45:54
Luke
Yeah.
00:45:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
but Oh man. Yeah, it's, it's, it's wild. Like, I mean, I tell Jeremy all the time and and I know we've said it on the show, but it's crazy how much like it's almost like lake effect, but it's not, but it's crazy how much a mile to two miles to five miles can be such a sharp gradient cutoff for snow.
00:46:08
Luke
Right.
00:46:16
Luke
Yes.
00:46:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Where it'll just sit and hover.
00:46:16
Luke
oh We work at, um. i Everything that I have is local within 10 minutes, except but we do full season like maintenance and landscaping for a farm and across the river in Salisbury Mills.
00:46:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:46:30
Luke
So we do the snow there, too. That's part of the contract. um At first, when he he first contacted me, I did not want to do the snow because I don't want to drive that far. and So it's like 40 minutes away. But um he was like, if you if you do the snow, hire you for everything.
00:46:44
Luke
We've had them for three years. It was a great decision. um But their snow is so much different. So when I'm checking my forecast, I'm looking here and then I'm looking over across the river 40 minutes away and it can be
00:46:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
so
00:46:57
Luke
and And that's 40 minutes. that's so That's kind of far. so But we can be we can be five, 10 minute difference and have three, four inch difference.
00:47:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wildly different. Yeah.
00:47:06
Luke
Yeah.
00:47:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wildly different.
00:47:08
Luke
Yeah.
00:47:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pretty great. Pretty great. You never know what you're going to get.
00:47:13
Luke
No, you don't.
00:47:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, as far as, uh, anti icing, you guys do a lot with the gravel. You don't, you don't put down a lot of salt or anything, right? But your commercials.
00:47:23
Luke
No, so I'm always running 50-50. So half sand, I'm big on sand.
00:47:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:47:29
Luke
So I don't actually... It's funny because it most of the people that I'm i'm watching online doing snow removal and ice management, they' you know they're always salting their parking lots and stuff.
00:47:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:47:41
Luke
and Now that I think of it that this just got brought up, I don't know if I've like actually seen anybody put like sand in their salters before, but we're huge on 50-50 or straight sand because we're on these gravel driveways.
00:47:55
Luke
so you know but It'll melt the snow, but it doesn't do much for like traction, so we're running 50-50.
00:47:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:02
Luke
all of our gravel driveways every single steep one So I always have two to three tons of ah sand salt mix in my truck while I plow. It helps the weight balance, obviously. But I'm usually back to what Jeremy said about the the plowing up the steep driveways. I'm full V and I'm running sand and salt behind me as I go. So when I come down, I'm not sliding off into the ravine.
00:48:29
Luke
So no matter what, it's not like when I sign up these customers for the steeper driveways, it's it's not like, you it's not enough.
00:48:29
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:48:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Not an option. Yeah, not an option.
00:48:40
Luke
yeah it's um I'm spending money to sand behind me when I go up because when I go down, I'm not going down without sanders all day.
00:48:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:48:49
Luke
Yeah.
00:48:49
RICK JAMES
So, so with the salt, salt, go ahead.
00:48:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
How does how does the. Sorry, go ahead. Go ahead, Jack.
00:48:52
Luke
ah
00:48:52
RICK JAMES
So with the salt, salt in your sand, is doesn't that, uh, cause we've had a lot of people ask us like salt or gravel, lots of stuff like that. And when they get, you know, packed with snow, we're like, no, we're just gonna make it worse. Cause it, you know, just turn it to mush when it melts.
00:49:04
RICK JAMES
You don't have that issue there. You don't have enough salt in it, I suppose, or what, or.
00:49:08
Luke
but then what that would with it um turning into so like mush.
00:49:11
RICK JAMES
mush. Yeah. You don't get the driveways. I would turn the mush. If you, you're probably not off salt in your sound and probably matter that much or what, but I don't know.
00:49:19
Luke
No, because most of the most of the drivers are majority, they're already mush when I'm plowing them, if it's warm enough.
00:49:26
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:49:26
Luke
help So it's not like it's, um if anything, it makes for like, because I already have the sand salt mix in my truck, when I go to some of our pavement properties, I'm using that because it works good and also adds attraction.
00:49:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
00:49:27
RICK JAMES
Gotcha.
00:49:42
Luke
But like, come springtime, there's a ton of sand in the driveway, but we're doing the spring cleanups too. so
00:49:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:49
Luke
But I've never really heard of them the like the and turning into mush.
00:49:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
00:49:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pay me to put it down, pay me to pick it up.
00:49:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:49:56
Luke
yesterday
00:49:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
but
00:49:57
Luke
It's also like when I tear up all the gravel driveways and everybody's like, can you try to not plow the gravel? I was like, dude, I'm good at it. And I'm tearing up your gravel. You're going to have to pay me in the spring to regrade your driveway.
00:50:07
RICK JAMES
There
00:50:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
There go.
00:50:11
RICK JAMES
you go.
00:50:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a, it's cost of doing business, cost of doing business.
00:50:14
Luke
yeah
00:50:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
How does the, uh, how does the polycaster handle the sand? Cause that that's a question I don't think we've ever asked.
00:50:21
RICK JAMES
Ah.
00:50:22
Luke
I've never had any problems with my polycaster besides if I do a like a rookie mistake and I'm like, I'm not emptying this out tonight and I'm leaving it when it's 10 degrees and it freezes and then I'm in there with like whatever trying to break it up.
00:50:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
cool.
00:50:38
Luke
But besides that, my sand slides, right I don't even have a vibrator on it and it slides right down, no problem.
00:50:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Awesome.
00:50:44
Luke
I'm usually using it right away too and it's covered, which is nice. I was not getting wet. ah My supply plates, they have it covered as well.
00:50:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
We
00:50:51
Luke
so It's no, so put out the landscape material.
00:50:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
go lions. Okay. Oh, Padala. Okay.
00:50:56
Luke
I mean, they're family, friends forever, actually related to me in like multiple ways.
00:50:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:50:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha.
00:51:02
Luke
I am related to everybody. That's how small my town is.
00:51:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's a small town. Yeah. Definitely. Everybody's related to everybody.
00:51:08
Luke
yeah But I don't I don't go anywhere else for anything besides my plants. I go to divots and new Windsor, but um
00:51:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
I used to get with my first first year, I think when I just had one truck and I was just doing some stuff that I used to get my magic saw from Padala.
00:51:23
Luke
Yeah.
00:51:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
That was where I'd go load up before the storm.
00:51:25
Luke
I do. I do get, I get my magic saw from them too.
00:51:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
and
00:51:28
Luke
Um, for some of the, my commercial sites, uh, I'd like to put that color down and spread it.
00:51:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Absolutely. Cool.
00:51:36
Luke
It's sometimes, you know, people don't like when you saw it, they don't even know you salt it. So if you have a little blue in there, they're like, Oh, I saw or green, whatever.
00:51:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yep. Absolutely.
00:51:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:51:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Some kind of color.
00:51:46
Luke
Yeah.
00:51:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:51:47
RICK JAMES
More days.
00:51:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
00:51:48
RICK JAMES
They just want to feel the grit. Like we have some people around here.
00:51:50
Luke
Yes.
00:51:51
RICK JAMES
this We just need this we need to see the sand or somewhere. We're like, we don't use sand.
00:51:54
Luke
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:51:56
RICK JAMES
Sand does not melt snow.
00:51:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do you know how long and hard I had to, like, how much time I had to spend, like, training customers?
00:51:58
RICK JAMES
so
00:52:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, trust me, all you want is black, wet pavement.
00:52:06
Luke
Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:52:07
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
00:52:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
You don't want to see granular of salt laying everywhere.
00:52:11
Luke
Yep.
00:52:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's bad for your property. Trust me, I will send you videos of us salting your property if you think we didn't salt.
00:52:18
Luke
yeah
00:52:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
But now the, you know, the ones that have been with us since the beginning, they're they're all, okay, yeah, great.
00:52:23
Luke
That's funny that you I like the way you phrase it, you say train them because that's what you actually end up doing because they don't really know.
00:52:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
You have to.
00:52:31
Luke
Around here, like, love my customers, but they don't know about this kind of stuff. And why would they? So you you're genuinely like training. I'm like, oh, no, this is like, this is what we're doing.
00:52:42
Luke
This is why. Because they don't need, like, you can be like, do you want your driver assaulted? Or like, what the hell is that? Like, that some of them don't even know.
00:52:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
Here's the problem I think with that is you have so many guys that are so full of shit and and bad contractors and have told people things and they've been burned by people before.
00:52:54
Luke
Yes.
00:52:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
So you have to build a trust, you have to build a rapport.
00:52:59
Luke
yeah
00:53:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Once you do and you you don't screw them over by telling them bullshit, they will listen to you if you prove it to them like once.
00:53:03
Luke
yeah
00:53:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, now, okay, now everything you say is gospel basically until you fuck me.
00:53:10
Luke
and And that is exactly, that's exactly why I've been in business for five years without like,
00:53:14
RICK JAMES
Well, it's part of your job.
00:53:20
Luke
ah problem is because I built that trust right away. And now I'm not even when it comes to landscaping stuff, but I have customers call me about just like, you know, they know I'm i'm like a blue collar, know how to fix things.
00:53:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
amen
00:53:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:53:32
Luke
They'll call me about their car and be like, Hey, like we trust your opinion. Like, what do you think? You know, and that's what's, that's all when you, you build trust in the beginning and then they'll rely on you and they'll never, ever leave you.
00:53:43
Luke
Yeah.
00:53:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
00:53:44
Luke
yeah
00:53:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
I agree completely.
00:53:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:53:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Same philosophy.
00:53:46
RICK JAMES
It's definitely part of, part of your job it as a contractor is to educate your customers. I mean, it's only's only, it's only going to increase your business.
00:53:51
Luke
yeah
00:53:54
Luke
Absolutely.
00:53:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's only going to benefit you if you have educated customers 100%.
00:53:57
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:53:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, she got Jay.
00:54:01
RICK JAMES
Um, well, I don't know. I don't know. I guess I, oh yeah.
00:54:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
We use it for weather using anybody for weather.
00:54:07
Luke
Now I just, I use the typical, but oh, actually we have a really good, um, I wouldn't even have thought of this cause I was, I was looking at the question before and I was like, who do I use?
00:54:08
RICK JAMES
Steve.
00:54:17
Luke
And I'm like, just your, I didn't, not Apple weather, but like weather channel, but We have a really good, I don't know if Steve, I'd i'll be interested to know if you use it, but
Balancing Business Size and Personal Goals
00:54:27
Luke
Hudson weather, yeah.
00:54:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley weather is phenomenal.
00:54:29
Luke
yeah
00:54:30
RICK JAMES
All right.
00:54:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
I tell Jeremy that all the time.
00:54:30
RICK JAMES
You've talked about it all the time.
00:54:32
Luke
ah
00:54:32
RICK JAMES
Yep. Hudson going.
00:54:33
Luke
They're usually spot the hell on, like Weather Channel will say whatever and I'll go on there and they have detailed forecast where it's like, you don't you're not looking at radars or anything, you're looking at words and they're telling you exactly what's going to happen and they're they're very rarely wrong.
00:54:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:54:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
00:54:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, they're they have the Hudson Valley, which we've already talked about how complicated the little microclimates are.
00:54:52
Luke
Yeah. So go county by county.
00:54:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
They have it broken into eight different zones. So they they can tell you you what, by experience, what each zone is going to get out of this storm that they're looking at.
00:55:03
Luke
So I'm in Putnam County, Steve's in Dutchess County, and they'll show you Dutchess County is going to get eight inches and Putnam's only going to get less than two inches. And you're like, what? But that's just the way the valley works.
00:55:14
Luke
It's crazy.
00:55:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. That's it.
00:55:15
RICK JAMES
Do you know them Steve?
00:55:16
Luke
That's why I don't think one of those paid services specifically for me, for my area, would do me any really good. Because these guys, these guys at Hudson Valley weather professionals, they live here, they know exactly how the weather works.
00:55:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
I agree.
00:55:28
Luke
These professional, you know, I've never used them. So I i can't say anything bad about them. But I don't think they realize what exactly goes on. but
00:55:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would tend to agree with your, with where you are and with the mountain and stuff and what kind of properties you're doing.
00:55:42
Luke
Yeah.
00:55:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
I would say Hudson Valley weather is plenty.
00:55:45
Luke
Yeah.
00:55:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, because they nail it. Like I tell Jeremy all the time, if weather pros and Hudson Valley weather agree, it's a fucking lock.
00:55:49
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I do.
00:55:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's what we're getting.
00:55:53
Luke
Yup.
00:55:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
If they disagree, you know, but such Hudson Valley weather, ah they are very, very, very good.
00:55:54
RICK JAMES
can you Can you talk to Hudson and see if they can do Fargo?
00:55:55
Luke
It's either way. Yeah.
00:56:01
RICK JAMES
Well, maybe um maybe amazing do Fargo for me.
00:56:02
Luke
Dude, I have...
00:56:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like they are.
00:56:05
Luke
I know... I know... I know a couple people...
00:56:07
RICK JAMES
because
00:56:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
They are rarely ruined. Have you found them to be wrong ever, Luke?
00:56:10
Luke
Um...
00:56:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because I mean, in 15 years I've been following them, I've never, I can't remember a storm where they called it wrong.
00:56:20
Luke
No, that's...
00:56:21
RICK JAMES
They have their PhD.
00:56:22
Luke
We always like, I can't, I really, go ahead.
00:56:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
They what?
00:56:26
RICK JAMES
They have their PhD.
00:56:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
What? They have their PhD?
00:56:27
RICK JAMES
They're a doctor.
00:56:30
Luke
I know people who work there, like we can hook this up, we can get them on the show. Cause I want to know how they, figure like they're down to the inch usually.
00:56:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, if you know them, I would love to have them on the show. That would be awesome because like I said, I've never known them to be wrong and they're a freaking lock with a very difficult to call weather, you know, area.
00:56:49
Luke
Very difficult, yeah.
00:56:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
go
00:56:50
Luke
No, it's like you said, it's like lake effect, but without the lake, and then you have to also play in the river in the middle of it, and then the mountains, and it's crazy.
00:56:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:56:58
Luke
Yeah, they're good at the lake.
00:56:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you seen some of these weather models for New York? The last couple ones with the storms, how it's snow on both sides of the river Valley, but going up the river Valley, it's all rain because that river just like it's a heat sink.
00:57:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
It just holds that warm air there and keeps everything away.
00:57:13
Luke
No, that's your thing.
00:57:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
But I do.
00:57:15
Luke
You're the guy that, you study the charts, and you said, and be like, did you look at did you look at them? enough like
00:57:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, cause I, yeah, I study the charts because my weather companies are usually, uh, I'm telling them what's coming.
00:57:21
Luke
Nope.
00:57:26
Luke
Yeah.
00:57:26
RICK JAMES
Oh boy, there we go.
00:57:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
but na
00:57:27
Luke
ah I'm fully.
00:57:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
a
00:57:29
RICK JAMES
Oh, shit. ah You're going to get blocked the next time you call it's me doctor.
00:57:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:57:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:57:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
so Excuse me, doctor.
00:57:38
Luke
I'm fully the type
00:57:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Now, I got to say, weather prose weather pros has been ah outside that first one when they called rain and maybe a couple of flakes and we got six inches.
00:57:41
RICK JAMES
well
00:57:52
Luke
Yeah, but all that all of them did that though.
00:57:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yes. And that's what what I've said. All of them had it. So it had to be something that that was off with the data that they all called.
00:57:59
Luke
Yeah.
00:58:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
They all saw the same thing. But since then, they've been spot on.
00:58:02
RICK JAMES
Was that a half a degree?
00:58:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Half a degree, half a mile.
00:58:06
RICK JAMES
Half a, half a degree, half a mile.
00:58:06
Luke
um
00:58:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oopsie. ah
00:58:09
RICK JAMES
Oops.
00:58:10
Luke
I'm totally the type that wakes up like I'm ah i'm a wake up.
00:58:10
RICK JAMES
Oopsie.
00:58:14
Luke
Oh my gosh. coffee, ACDC, let's roll. I'm not sitting there for like weeks in advance and be like, ooh, in two weeks, there might be like two inches. like I'm just like, let's wake up and let's go to work.
00:58:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
I got you, bro. I got you. Yeah. Hudson Valley weather is the greatest. Yeah. Hook that up, man. Tell them to get ahold of us and I will definitely have them on.
00:58:32
Luke
not and I actually had an employee who used to work for them, so I'm gonna
00:58:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:58:36
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Five eight zero seven eight zip code for Fargo.
00:58:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:58:38
RICK JAMES
Let's go.
00:58:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Tell them to start doing Fargo weather. We need a guy.
00:58:42
Luke
ah
00:58:42
RICK JAMES
Might as well.
00:58:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God. So Luke, how many, how many guys are you running during a storm?
00:58:45
RICK JAMES
add to my list
00:58:49
Luke
Uh, usually a four.
00:58:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:58:52
Luke
That's it. That's all. I mean, and again, this is so much different than the guys that I watch on YouTube when the guys that are on this show, they're running. Uh, I mean, ah Jeremy's page, obviously that I don't even know how many like they're doing crazy stuff.
00:59:08
Luke
ah Yeah.
00:59:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Too many. That's too big a headache for me.
00:59:12
Luke
It's insane. But me, it's four guys.
00:59:13
RICK JAMES
And.
00:59:15
Luke
Me and the, I'm in the plow truck. I have somebody with me, honestly, just to keep me company, but also shovel a few walkways that we have to do. And then I have two guys in town running the machines to clear the sidewalks and the town driveways.
00:59:27
Luke
Then I meet up with them later and I've found it to be the least stressful. the most profitable, the easiest. As much as I like look at everybody on YouTube that I watch and being like, damn, that looks so fun. And wow, they're probably making so much money and it doesn't even have to like snow for them to make money. like They're getting these contract payments, like prepaid, whatever. It's um It's just worked for me, and that's the biggest thing.
00:59:55
Luke
It's not, I have goals in my business, of course, but it's worked for me where I'm at. I could stay where I'm at for as long as I want to and be comfortable and have the type of life that I want to live.
01:00:07
Luke
And I'm always striving to be better each year, but some years realistically aren't going to be that way for me. And that's just, that's okay, because I do all right.
01:00:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
Awesome.
01:00:16
Luke
So.
01:00:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's a perfect I love that answer, bro.
01:00:19
Luke
And, and it,
01:00:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
I absolutely love that.
01:00:19
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:00:20
Luke
ah be like that most like To be as completely honest as possible, I put all of my faith in God and I don't think without God I would be where I am. I think he's led me to have what I have.
01:00:35
Luke
because that's his will for me. Like I think I'm supposed to do this and I think I'm supposed to be where I am. And any year I do better is because I'm supposed to do better. And any year I might do a little bit under than I did the year previous.
01:00:48
Luke
It's because of where it's where I'm supposed to be. So I really try to take a like an attitude when I look at it as in you're just, you're doing what you're supposed to do.
01:00:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
01:00:57
Luke
Everybody, like I get a little bit genuinely jealous of like some of the guys, like some of my friends. that I follow, I'm like, damn, they're killing it, but it's to each their own. And I think for the younger guys that are listening, like the main thing I could say to you is like, look up to those guys for sure and focus on them and be like, okay, I want to be there one day and you'll get there.
01:01:08
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:01:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:01:19
Luke
But if you can get comfortable where you are, if you're doing okay, then you don't have to be the biggest and the baddest guy around. You can just do your thing.
01:01:27
RICK JAMES
and Yep.
01:01:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, I agree completely, man.
01:01:28
RICK JAMES
A hundred percent. That was great.
01:01:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
If you're making, if you're making high profitability, that's the whole game. Make the most profit for the least amount of expenditure and and headache and stress.
01:01:37
Luke
No matter what the size it could no matter what But Yeah, we can be it can be like there's guys like me for employees There's guys who are just one employee and there's guys with 50 employees who are you know doing the huge things?
01:01:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Exactly. Whatever your size is. If you're making the most profit you can with as little stress and as little expenditure as possible, you're winning.
01:01:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah You know, it doesn't matter what size you are.
01:02:02
Luke
the Sometimes the smaller guys are making more profit than the bigger guys
01:02:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, absolutely.
01:02:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:02:08
Luke
Straight up.
01:02:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
A hundred percent.
01:02:09
RICK JAMES
i it
01:02:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because once you start getting into the heavy equipment, dude, that I don't know these contracts, they're going to start having, if they haven't already, going to have a tough time affording what we need to charge to actually make the same profit margin with these machines that we used to.
01:02:20
Luke
Yep.
01:02:24
Luke
Absolutely. The more stuff I bought, the more expensive stuff I bought, the more maintenance, the more repairs, the more problems. Back when I was just a little kid driving around my tractor in town, I was raking it in, man.
01:02:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes, sir.
01:02:36
Luke
It was.
01:02:36
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:02:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
but hu
01:02:37
Luke
It was easy back then, now I'm like, holy shit, I got four things broken, I gotta order parts, I gotta do this, that.
01:02:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
It is.
01:02:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, now I got to be a goddamn adult.
01:02:45
Luke
Yeah, that's crazy.
01:02:46
RICK JAMES
Yeah, don't think sucks.
01:02:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, it's it's true though, man. i I say it all the time. like that I agree with you 100%. I'm good with what I'm doing. I'm making money.
01:02:56
Luke
Yeah.
01:02:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
i My stress level's manageable.
01:02:59
Luke
Yeah.
01:02:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
and Why? Why try and... I don't need to be Glacier. I don't.
01:03:04
Luke
Yeah.
01:03:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, it's great for them. Doesn't work for me. Not what I want to do.
01:03:09
Luke
I think everybody's a little bit jealous of Glacial.
01:03:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
um
01:03:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Glacier's awesome, like it's snow porn. I mean, that, you know, that's like the ultimate of your snow guy.
01:03:17
RICK JAMES
We need snow at all.
01:03:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
See 50 loaders rolling out of the same building, you know?
01:03:19
Luke
Yeah.
01:03:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
I mean, nothing's better than that as far as what your, you know, visual acuity is.
01:03:27
Luke
yeah
01:03:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, uh, as far as managing that.
01:03:27
RICK JAMES
It also took 25 years to build that, so it's that you know it's nothing overnight.
01:03:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, but I mean, for me, for me, as far as when I try and put myself in Jeremy's shoes and think about having to manage that every time it snows a half an inch.
01:03:40
Luke
but
01:03:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Fuck that dude.
01:03:42
Luke
Yeah.
01:03:42
RICK JAMES
So much fun. So much fun.
01:03:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, you have, you have to want it.
01:03:44
Luke
And it's hard to.
01:03:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's not always fun. He's full of shit.
01:03:51
Luke
It's even harder at my level.
01:03:51
RICK JAMES
I have fun. I have a lot of fucking fun. I have have a lot of, I mean, it's a lot of, it's a lot of stress, but I, I definitely think about it and I've had so much fun doing this.
01:03:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
You do, but it's stress. It's stressed.
01:04:01
RICK JAMES
It's, you know, I can't imagine anything else.
01:04:01
Luke
Yeah.
01:04:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:04:02
Luke
Well, that's the game. That's the game. It's like. I think anybody in this industry will tell you the same exact thing. It's like, it's so much fun.
01:04:10
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:04:11
Luke
I love it, but holy shit. Am I stressed out every single foot?
01:04:14
RICK JAMES
Oh, God, yeah.
01:04:15
Luke
Yeah, but that's that.
01:04:15
RICK JAMES
Yeah. It doesn't matter if you have one piece or 200 pieces. I mean, you're going to have good days and bad days, no matter what you do in life.
01:04:21
Luke
and Yeah, that's the game.
01:04:21
RICK JAMES
I mean, it's you just got to make the best of it and move forward.
01:04:24
Luke
Yeah.
01:04:25
RICK JAMES
so
01:04:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what, what are your goals? What, what is, what's next for LJ? What what are you, what's your dream? What are you looking to do with LJ?
01:04:33
Luke
Yeah, that's, um, That's something I think about a lot because, again, I battle between the how big do we want to get or even do I want to downsize a little bit. At my small size, sometimes I think about like, do I want to downsize? Do I want to get much bigger? Do I want to stay where I am? But I think the goal for I would give myself, ah I'll give myself a 10 year plan of 24 right now. um I obviously can't work the way I work now forever, just like physically.
01:05:03
Luke
I think the next 10 years I want to be in a very similar spot, but with, um which is the spot that I'm in now, which is just, it's comfortable.
01:05:18
Luke
It's easy.
01:05:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm hmm.
01:05:19
Luke
I mean, it's not easy. It's it's got its challenges every single day, but it's ah it's a good spot to be in. I don't have too many things to worry about. I can manage everything myself.
01:05:30
Luke
um I think in the next 10 years, if I could sum it up, I want to step away from the office side of things a little bit and have somebody who's sort of managing the business. That's not myself. um i want to still I never want to be out of the field. I always want to be working to get my hands dirty. I enjoy that. That's like what I like to do. The part I don't like to do is be sitting like behind this desk.
01:05:54
Luke
I like talking to you guys, but beside besides talking to you guys when I'm like answering emails, like out I want somebody else to do that.
01:05:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah I hear ya.
01:06:03
Luke
I want to just go out and work, come home and be done for the day. Maybe grow my employees times two, maybe have 10 employees myself, an office, maybe a couple office people.
01:06:15
Luke
And I i think the past few years have shown me that that's where I want to stay because i had these huge goals when i first started this So I want to be the biggest and baddest around and run everything, but it's also not the type of area that I'm in.
01:06:30
Luke
I'm in a small town and I have a name here. I've created a name for myself and I just kind of want to keep that name and be a local and own a house down south to go to in the winter and then fly back home when it snows.
01:06:44
Luke
That's all I want.
01:06:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
01:06:45
Luke
I'm a simple man.
01:06:46
RICK JAMES
ah
01:06:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:06:48
Luke
Yeah, that's all I want.
01:06:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah You could always come up to Fishgill. You could always come up the road, bro. There's plenty here.
01:06:55
Luke
I was there yesterday, I got a haircut.
01:06:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
e
01:06:57
Luke
ah very good
01:06:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah There's plenty of snow work to go around.
01:07:02
Luke
It's so funny Steve, I'm always like, cause I'm always talking to guys on Instagram and I'm like, dude, we're getting no snow here.
01:07:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
You ever want to come up north?
01:07:09
Luke
I want to come like, let me comply with you when it snows. And I always think of you like, shit, when it snows there, it snows here.
01:07:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's it. Very true. Usually, anyway, usually.
01:07:18
Luke
Yeah, usually.
01:07:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, man. Yeah, man. If you ever get a light one, come on up. Come on up. That's a great. um What do you do with the driveways? I was going to ask this.
01:07:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
as far Are you on a seasonal for the driveways or are you doing per push on them?
01:07:35
Luke
Yeah, so most of them are per push. I've tried to get them to seasonal, I've gotten a few, but it's just really hard for them around here because, I mean, especially the past, you know, like five years, it hasn't snowed that much here.
01:07:47
Luke
I remember in in high school or middle school, we were getting like nor'easters with three days off in a row from school because it was like, we got 10 inches the first day, six, and ah and it was three days in a row snow.
01:07:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yup.
01:08:01
Luke
We did it just hasn't still like that here much lately. So it's been really hard for people to sign up.
01:08:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
We're getting the same amount of snow in 12 hours.
01:08:11
Luke
Yes.
01:08:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like it's no longer 36, 48 hours. It's now still 18 inches of snow. We're getting it in 12 hours or less crazy.
01:08:18
Luke
Right. Yes, it's yeah, exactly. So it's mostly per push. which I can either have a really good winter, a really bad winter that way. I do have my seasonal contracts that get me like, I'll be okay. But all all I chat like realistically need in a winter to get by and be cool is like five storms and i' making good profit for the winter and gets me to spring.
01:08:45
Luke
So i don't I don't rely on snow for my money. I would love to, but it's just where I am.
01:08:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
I gotcha.
01:08:53
Luke
It's just not realistic for my area. um
01:08:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:08:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:08:59
Luke
you know i can Again, I could expand to your area. i get um I did want to actually talk about this, but I get emails all the time from these companies that are like, oh, well, uh, four year contracts for this property and this property.
01:09:13
Luke
But a lot of them, I just, I don't trust and I don't like the the headaches that come with them. I'd rather work for the people that I already trust and just, you know, hope for a good winter.
01:09:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:09:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. That's cool. That's awesome. What else you got, Jay? You want to take, want to do commercials and give them a break?
01:09:29
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:09:30
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:09:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
01:09:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let's hit some commercials and we'll be right back in about a minute and a half.
01:09:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yep.
01:10:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, we're back. So what do you think, Jay? You're muted. Only only episode 99.
01:10:48
RICK JAMES
I didn't think I muted that time.
01:10:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
You did. Uh, this is pretty, uh, is this interesting to you or is this like, Oh my God, can't do it.
01:10:57
RICK JAMES
No, it's good. It's all good. so It's always nice to hear.
01:10:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, you got to see some of them. You got to see some of the mountains that he does. Like the driveways.
01:11:03
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:11:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's insane. He's got videos up on his Instagram and the they're just some of the drop offs are like, I'm getting nauseous looking out the window when he's plowing.
01:11:14
RICK JAMES
Yeah, it was heavy.
01:11:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, my God, I can't pay me enough.
01:11:18
RICK JAMES
uh... mon live on the edge it's fun yeah you already asked them yours uh...
01:11:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's like goat trails. I tell you what, I wouldn't go up there with a skid. That's for sure.
01:11:26
Luke
no
01:11:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nope. No way. Oh, look, we're going to do a little thing called the five and five here.
01:11:33
Luke
Nope.
01:11:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
So Jeremy will lead with his and then I'll follow up on mine. So go ahead, Jay.
01:11:40
RICK JAMES
i'll ask them uh...
01:11:41
Luke
Cut.
01:11:42
RICK JAMES
where do you want to see
01:11:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, that's true. I kind of did.
01:11:43
Luke
You did it a little bit.
01:11:44
RICK JAMES
yeah ah
01:11:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
01:11:45
Luke
But I could get more in depth, so, got it.
01:11:45
RICK JAMES
you Yeah. ah Where do you want to see yourself in the next five years?
01:11:50
Luke
Five years I want to be... I stepped away, like I said earlier, from the office side um and mostly focusing my time on just sort of managing the bigger projects while still doing them, still having my hand in the job, being on the job site, but not having to answer the phone calls that come in every day and answer the questions.
01:11:57
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:12:18
Luke
um I don't mind it, but I don't love it. And I love doing the work, but I don't love getting the work and keeping the work and all that part.
01:12:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
01:12:28
Luke
So yeah.
01:12:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
I hear you.
01:12:29
RICK JAMES
Just send your call to India or something have somebody yeah Right
01:12:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
I hear you, dude.
01:12:32
Luke
Yeah.
01:12:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes. LJ property maintenance. yeah yeah but
01:12:41
Luke
But also that's the thing that people love about me is I'm the guy answering the phone and I'm the guy that's there and they're like, Oh, it's Luke.
01:12:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yes.
01:12:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
yes
01:12:47
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:12:49
Luke
Okay. Cause sometimes people call me and they're like, Oh, can I talk to Luke? I was like, that's the only person you're talking to. Like it's me on the phone.
01:12:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah There are only two numbers that actually there's two numbers that that they'll get. They'll get the office line and then they'll get my number and that's it.
01:13:04
Luke
Yeah.
01:13:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
And if I am not available, if I know I'm not going to be there, they get Ed's number and they'll have Ed's number as an emergency backup, but we are the only two people that they're going to talk to.
01:13:15
Luke
Right.
01:13:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
And they love that. They can go right to the top. They're not dealing with a site manager.
01:13:19
Luke
Yeah.
01:13:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
They will deal with a site manager that's running their site. But the phone call, if there's an issue or they need to know something comes right to me.
01:13:26
Luke
So this year, this year specifically, I started to give the maintenance guys have all the customers numbers.
01:13:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
And that's good embed.
01:13:33
Luke
so instead of the customers calling me to ask about something while the guys are there, then I have to call the guys and tell them, it's just like, why are we doing these extra shops?
01:13:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
01:13:42
Luke
So I'm trying to be, so this year, i've the guys have been like it something as simple as like, can you move the car?
01:13:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
01:13:50
Luke
In the past, it's been the guys will text me, hey, this guy's cars in the way I have to call the guy, then it's just a nightmare. So this year started to kind of hand that off to them. And it's been a lot easier that way, as long as you people that you trust to be able to speak to customers.
01:14:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good.
01:14:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:14:06
Luke
Yeah.
01:14:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Because they're representing you.
01:14:07
Luke
Yeah, exactly.
01:14:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what's been the, what's been the most important decision you've made in the last five years to get you to where you are right now?
Personal Stories and Reflections
01:14:17
Luke
i
01:14:21
Luke
The most important decision that I've made in the past five years to get where I am right now um would have to be actually just ignoring people who told me that I was like why like i stepped away from the system, if you will. I stepped away from doing the normal, easy thing and I took ah i took a bet on myself. That would probably be um the hardest thing that I've done and the best thing that I've done because there was no guarantee for any of them like the success that I've had.
01:15:02
Luke
but there's there was a lot of people who just kind of looked at me and they're like, oh, this guy's going to be in cold spring, the small town for the rest of his life. And he's never going to get out.
01:15:12
Luke
And I was like, yeah, but that's what I want. And I'm going to do it.
01:15:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go.
01:15:17
Luke
Yeah. there's like I don't want to go chase these, like, these things. and go to college and party and do all this stuff. like I was jealous of my friends who were in college and partying for sure. I'm like still young. I still think about, like damn, I never got that like college experience or anything, but I did something in my eyes that's greater than that. and it just it's like You don't have to follow the set path that's set for everybody. You can just go and try. and If this failed, and if it ever fails,
01:15:49
Luke
I don't worry about that. Like I'll go do the next thing, but you only get one life, you know? So I'm just, I'm ready for whatever.
01:15:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:15:55
RICK JAMES
the You bet on yourself. That's all you can do.
01:15:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you. Love it. What else you got for him, Jay? Anything?
01:16:04
RICK JAMES
I don't really got anything else for Luke tonight.
01:16:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
Got any funny, funny stories?
01:16:08
RICK JAMES
Great, great story. Great, great, great story.
01:16:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
and Oh, absolutely.
01:16:10
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:16:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got any funny plowing stories?
01:16:14
Luke
Oh boy.
01:16:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
That you can tell?
01:16:16
Luke
Yeah, wait. I was thinking about this earlier. um No, wait, we can...
01:16:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
That your limitations has run out?
01:16:27
RICK JAMES
I can say anything.
01:16:28
Luke
No, so that's actually... I've only one time I've ever had to go to court with any customer in five years. like That's pretty dang good. It wasn't for snow though, so I won't get into it.
01:16:40
Luke
But i was like I was just waiting and waiting, wait like small claims court, like it happens, I feel like to everybody. And I was just like, all right, i got this guy's got to go to court. like i can't I tried to avoid it at all costs, but I couldn't. Some people are just slow to pay. There's so many, but the the most common funny plowing story is people who are calling me, like they'll call me and they'll be like, ah the old plow guy, like he plowed a lot of my gravel.
01:17:10
Luke
And I'm like, Oh yeah, no. Well, uh, you know, that's kinda, that's kinda hard to avoid because you have a gravel driveway.
01:17:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's gravel, yeah.
01:17:19
Luke
Yeah. But like, I'm really good at buying driveways that are gravel and then I'll file them. And then they'll be like, you know, like two months into it, the snow will melt.
01:17:29
Luke
And they'll be like, there's a lot of gravel on the side of the driveways. I'm like, you well you know, it's kinda hard to avoid. I told you that when you signed up, but that happens all the time. But that's like a constant battle we go through.
01:17:41
Luke
I'm trying to think of oh or like lower the temperature if it's frozen or chill.
01:17:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
You got to tell them, you got to tell them to glue it down and just glue it down. It won't move that.
01:17:48
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:17:50
Luke
and As soon as we end this, I want to think of like the craziest story that happened while we were playing.
01:17:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my God.
01:17:57
Luke
But on the spot, I can't.
01:17:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's all good.
01:17:59
Luke
I mean, I've gotten stuck a ton of times. I've done some like stupid things to try to get unstuck.
01:18:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
but We all have.
01:18:07
Luke
Embarrassing.
01:18:07
RICK JAMES
We've done that.
01:18:08
Luke
Stuck between two trees, I'll put a ratchet strap on the truck and try to ratchet it to the tray.
01:18:09
RICK JAMES
We've done that.
01:18:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah that work out
01:18:15
Luke
It didn't work.
01:18:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah didn't work
01:18:19
Luke
I think I waited for the snow to melt to get out of that one.
01:18:20
RICK JAMES
ah
01:18:23
Luke
All right, wait, I got one story, not really funny, but just like this is snow.
01:18:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
01:18:28
Luke
Anybody who's plowed snow, you'll go through a moment like this. It was my first plow truck, the F-350 with the straight blade. I'm plowing like 90 driveways. ah We got like two feet of snow.
01:18:39
Luke
um Got people calling me like, are you coming? Are you coming? And my my truck won't start.
01:18:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
How'd that work out?
01:18:47
Luke
ah It shut off in the middle of a driveway. It's like 3 a.m. I'm coming down from the, like, I'll say the mountain. and It was a higher elevation. ah we're I'm trying to come back into town to go to my grandfather's house where I used to keep all my equipment. And my truck keeps shutting off as I'm driving. So I was like, all right, I need an alternator. My alternator's on a charge of battery. The battery keeps driving or it keeps dying. So I'm going down the hill like maybe 30 seconds at the most at a time. And by the grace of God,
01:19:19
Luke
There's a cop car that comes behind me, a sheriff. And ah he pulls over because I'm in the middle of the road. There's still snow on the road. like The town wasn't out plowing or anything. And he goes, what's going on? I was like, my truck keeps dying. I have no way to move it. And he was like, all right, let me jump you. So he jumps me.
01:19:36
Luke
I drive like 10 seconds down the road, it dies again. And he's like, it die again. I'm like, yep, he jumps me again. I drive 10 seconds down the road, it dies again. yeah Like this went on for, I was maybe five minutes away from home. It took me like 45 minutes to get there. The cop jumped me.
01:19:54
Luke
probably 20 times until I was able to, he kept, I kept dying.
01:19:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
01:20:00
Luke
He kept jumping me and he stayed with me the whole time until I got to my grandfather's driveway, pulled the truck in the driveway, getting another truck, drove to auto zone, picked up an alternator for the truck and put the alternator in the 350 while it was a little snowing.
01:20:16
Luke
And then that was the problem. I need a new alternator, but that was probably the craziest thing that's happened to me.
01:20:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hope you bought that cop a case or something.
01:20:23
Luke
guess i I knew the cop. I didn't realize who it was at first, but then he I knew who he was. And I was like, dude, thank you so much. like yeah i can never like I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for him.
01:20:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
You would have been there a while.
01:20:36
Luke
But the worst is going to happen during a snowstorm.
01:20:40
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:20:42
Luke
And you just got to deal with ah adversity.
01:20:43
RICK JAMES
Oh, I got you.
01:20:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:20:45
Luke
And you always you always figure it out. But yeah.
01:20:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen, bud. Anybody you want to give a shout out to before we let you go?
01:20:53
Luke
Yeah, actually, I don't know if you've had him on the show, Tom, my friend Tom Maggs.
01:20:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Max? Yeah, Max was on.
01:20:59
Luke
Yeah, he is.
01:20:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
We had him on.
01:21:01
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:21:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Killing it.
01:21:02
Luke
He's a he's a beast.
01:21:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, he's killing it.
01:21:05
Luke
I think that's actually my five. He's younger than me. Go back to the five year goal thing. That's where I actually want to be like if I was at his level right now. um I probably could be, but again, I know what he deals with.
01:21:19
Luke
We talk all the time.
01:21:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh yeah.
01:21:21
Luke
But he is killing it. His snow operation is awesome. His landscaping operation, his hardscaping operation, that he's a good friend of mine. um
01:21:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, he's doing great.
01:21:30
Luke
but
01:21:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's doing great. I check in on his Instagram all the time. He looks like he's, uh, he's really got it dialed now.
01:21:34
Luke
His YouTube is killing it. He's doing Yeah, his YouTube is good.
01:21:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. I don't do much YouTube.
01:21:40
Luke
he's got He gets a lot of views. His subscribers are growing. I'm going to go up there, though, because they've gotten maybe... I think they might have more pushes than Jeremy. they they
01:21:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, they got a couple. They got three or four right now.
01:21:54
Luke
for yeah
01:21:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. Three or four.
01:21:55
Luke
ah Next storm, if we don't get anything, i'm go I think they might get something next week.
01:21:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Going to plow a mailbox at 60 miles an hour.
01:22:02
Luke
No, Tom's killing it, though.
01:22:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Yeah, he's doing great.
01:22:03
RICK JAMES
a
01:22:05
Luke
I love those.
01:22:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
He's doing great.
01:22:08
Luke
He's got a gun good young crew that are just eager to work.
01:22:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's awesome for him.
01:22:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, that's the key, man. That's what allows you to expand.
01:22:13
RICK JAMES
yeah have percent
01:22:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
You gotta have dudes. If you got dudes that are invested and they're good people and they're not gonna leave you high and dry, then you can do it.
01:22:20
Luke
yeah
01:22:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like everybody used to always ask me like, why don't why didn't you ever get into hardscaping?
01:22:24
RICK JAMES
No.
01:22:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I was like, hard pass, no.
01:22:27
Luke
yeah
01:22:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
um It doesn't matter what kind of money you're throwing. No, well, why why wouldn't you do it? Because I don't know how to do it myself and I'd have to rely on other people, at which time and time again has taught me that that is always gonna be the problem.
01:22:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:22:41
Luke
Yeah, yeah, yep, no, he's got guys who care and treat his business like yeah yeah, that's my boy.
01:22:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. Well, that's the key. That is the key. If they, if they take ownership of the business, you can't ask for more than that. That's great.
01:22:54
Luke
I love that guy he's good dude Yeah, thanks.
01:22:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. All right, buddy. Well, listen, man, thanks so much for coming on, dude. Appreciate it.
01:23:01
Luke
Thanks for having me I had fun man
01:23:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
No problem, dude.
01:23:04
RICK JAMES
Thanks a lot.
01:23:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
Anytime it's, uh, it's good. We'll see you out there, man. and Anytime you're in fishgill, give me a call, stop in.
01:23:09
Luke
I know. I always forget. We got to get lunch together.
01:23:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
I know. Absolutely. We do. Absolutely. You're always welcome, man. Come on up. Even if you got it, even if you want to take a property or two up here, you know, let me know, let me know.
01:23:18
Luke
a
01:23:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'll steer something your way.
01:23:21
RICK JAMES
is
01:23:23
Luke
Hey, but wait, the oceans. Oh, wait, I don't want to say the name that that.
01:23:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh yeah. Oh, S the JB or JL.
01:23:30
Luke
Yeah, yeah. They were slow to pay. Like you said.
01:23:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, was I correct?
01:23:37
Luke
ah But but. I knew they would pay because that contract was like so legit. like that shit That took forever to get it actually like legal and whatever.
01:23:47
Luke
da They paid me all at once at the end of the season.
01:23:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
01:23:50
Luke
And I was like, holy shit, I'm rich. It was nice. Because they paid me and maybe like two checks. They owed me 15 checks. And they gave me two checks on time.
01:23:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
i I told you, brother, I do my homework and I know that, like I said, you take it as long as you can afford to not have payments for a while because they are slow to pay from everything I hear.
01:24:00
Luke
And then I got the other ones at the end of the season. and I was like, this is awesome. and
01:24:12
Luke
Yeah. They were just slow. Yeah, but they, uh, I'm locked in there for like four years, unfortunately.
01:24:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
01:24:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you, dude. Are you doing the snow there too?
01:24:21
Luke
No snow there though.
01:24:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
No snow there.
01:24:23
Luke
Yeah. No, like I said, I don't like to drive further than like 10 minutes or so, except for that phone.
01:24:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
01:24:27
Luke
That's it.
01:24:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Get a machine from the next leasing, put it in the parking lot and, uh, and have one guy doing it.
01:24:30
Luke
Yeah.
01:24:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Done.
01:24:33
Luke
Well, that's when I'm going to go visit Tom. So, cause I got that, I love, I would love to sit and skid and just like plow with a pusher. Look,
01:24:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
to Yeah, call that but that kind of contract called an S get a skid steer you put it in that parking lot Tell Ocean State you got it and you'll handle it for him and you just need one guy up there And if you ever get jammed up, we'll back you up.
01:24:47
Luke
scott ten
01:24:51
Luke
Do you know? Yeah.
Acknowledgments and Episode Conclusion
01:24:54
Luke
Do you know who does it now? You don't say their name or anything, but you know.
01:24:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
I Don't I don't know I can find out though because we do the ah firehouse right across the street so we're
01:25:02
Luke
Yeah. Yeah. You guys are all over there. You literally and yeah keep fish go open in a snowstorm.
01:25:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah we We're buzzing.
01:25:08
Luke
Yes.
01:25:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
We do buzz up and down. You're the lockdown, right? Oh, shit. Well, I appreciate you coming on, man. That was awesome. I think a lot of guys ah think a lot of guys that'll that'll definitely help.
01:25:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right. So cool to hear your story, bro. I never I never heard all of it before. But congratulations on the new house and doing well.
01:25:26
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you're killing it.
01:25:27
Luke
Thank you. Appreciate it, guys.
01:25:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
But all right. Well, guys, and that's going to do it for this episode of the Snowjaws podcast. Episode 99. What else, Jay? Oh.
01:25:38
RICK JAMES
Oh, we're going to, we're going to announce a little, uh, storm, uh, storm, uh, storm academy, storm academy.
01:25:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah, we forgot. Dorm Academy is ah open and for what they're making snow, right?
01:25:44
RICK JAMES
They got bacon snow. I'm going to probably leave here at night and drive the Mankato and playing some snow, some real snow.
01:25:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
You won't. You won't.
01:25:54
RICK JAMES
I probably won't, but i I really should.
01:25:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
I dare you. I dare you. You should.
01:25:56
RICK JAMES
I should, should just go there and inspire up the loader middle lane. Then they'll look at their cameras. They have fucking Jeremy's here. if Yeah.
01:26:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
They did it last. They did it in the summer when we were there.
01:26:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah. They didn't like that. I don't think they really liked that.
01:26:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Holy shit. They didn't like that.
01:26:06
RICK JAMES
I don't think, I don't think Brady liked that. He, I don't think he liked me sitting in that loader and just doing, what I want to do whatever I want to do.
01:26:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Stolen loaders. Oh, else might keep the snow cannon on.
01:26:13
RICK JAMES
I mean, they apparently don't know.
01:26:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
You'll be there in four hours.
01:26:17
RICK JAMES
it's Yeah, they don't, they just don't know what they just don't believe I'm going to do what I'm going to do usually. So.
01:26:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Snow pimp doing it.
01:26:25
RICK JAMES
And another thing that we've kind of let go is, you know, armrest, unrest, you know, cause storms got the armrest.
01:26:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh.
01:26:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh. ye Yup.
01:26:33
RICK JAMES
I was in a loader the other day, I didn't have armrest and I thought of it again, like, so for Christmas, anybody out there should get their buddy an armrest. If they are missing an armrest, call storm equipment and they will sell you an armrest for your loader that's missing an armrest.
01:26:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
Do they still have them in stock? They still stock those?
01:26:47
RICK JAMES
i would I'm guessing so. If they're not, I'm sure they'll get some.
01:26:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
They better. Cause you just shouted it out.
01:26:51
RICK JAMES
of it they'll They'll get it. I'm not worried about them. They'll they'll make it happen. but that's says i mean it made me have and It made me angry when I did that thing.
01:26:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Arm rest, unrest 23.
01:27:01
RICK JAMES
I was like, there's no fucking armrest in this thing.
01:27:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
You, that does drive your shit crazy.
01:27:05
RICK JAMES
It drives me crazy.
01:27:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
That really affects you.
01:27:07
RICK JAMES
I just can't even imagine not having it.
01:27:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
You have the weirdest pet peeves, dude.
01:27:13
RICK JAMES
it
01:27:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah thanks ah its shit I love you.
01:27:13
RICK JAMES
It's legit. It's legit stuff, man. hit that armrest made those made those John Deere's a hundred times better by putting them on there so oh yeah you should I'm pretty smart I don't know if we can keep talking that's what we do
01:27:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
01:27:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'll take your word for it, bro. but Can I wrap this now?
01:27:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Uh, I gotta go to bed.
01:27:33
Luke
I feel like we could talk all night, but...
01:27:34
RICK JAMES
ah
01:27:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
We could definitely talk all night.
01:27:37
RICK JAMES
ah
01:27:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
We could have Luke back. We can do this again. Definitely. Uh, but yeah, let's wrap it there. Episode 99. We are one away. The 100 will be the Christmas episode too, right?
01:27:47
RICK JAMES
So, yeah. Wait, so now if I don't talk enough, I don't mean you're upset. And if I talk too much and you're upset, you're like a woman.
01:27:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's right. You gotta get just right.
01:27:56
RICK JAMES
This is Christ.
01:27:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
just right
01:27:59
RICK JAMES
Where do I fall?
01:28:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Oh man. No, normally I'd let us go, but I'm, uh, I'm working tomorrow morning.
01:28:06
RICK JAMES
I'm just kidding. Yeah.
01:28:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Three 30 comes early.
01:28:09
RICK JAMES
I'm gonna, I'm gonna start shipping stuff tonight.
01:28:10
Luke
Oh.
01:28:12
RICK JAMES
So I better get going.
01:28:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. Sweet. All right, guys. Sorry if for the delay. Episode 99. Snow jobs podcast in the books. Next week is the big 100. We'll figure out what we're going to do, how we're going to do it. And we'll just have to wait and see. But we want to thank Luke for the time. We wish him all the best this winter and, you know, going forward. ah Keep crushing it, brother. That is it, guys. Everybody be safe. Have a great week. Just keep pushing. All right.