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S4-166: Highmark Services, Anchorage Alaska!
0 Playsin 7 hours
The guys sit down with the owner Matthew Brandt, who tells us all about the company he started at age 13, and how its grown in leaps and bounds since. He explains how his learning process has helped him improve his business, as well as his leadership, and how he and his team are in a state of constant refining of their processes!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Merchandise Discussion
00:00:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Let's go, Snow Jobs Nation. We are back again bringing you episode 166 of the Snow Jobs Podcast main show powered by Top Gun Backblades. As always, I'm Steve. And you know who's with me.
00:00:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
The Rick James of Snow Management, Mr. Jeremy Lindstrom. What is up, Jay? How are we?
00:01:03
RICK JAMES
So, hey, Steve-O, not a lot, not a lot. It's nice out here today. So we're I think we're kicking into spring or going to summer, one of the two.
00:01:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
It was nice here too. A little chilly, but overall very nice today. I think it was in the high 50s, mid 50s.
00:01:18
RICK JAMES
Oh, shit, we're in 70.
00:01:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:01:21
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow. A foot of snow a week ago and now you're in 70 degrees.
00:01:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah, bring it.
00:01:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
know
00:01:26
RICK JAMES
Let's let's go.
00:01:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
gotta love it You think you're done finally?
00:01:28
RICK JAMES
Let's let's go. I hope so. I had and some guys wash some equipment up this week. We were taking salters out. We were doing all the things. So I'm hoping we're hoping we're done.
00:01:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice i see you're wearing the new hat i look badass dude i like the patch hats nice that's all right we can reorder there's always reorders yeah that uh get your new snow jobs nation patch hats they are on snow jobs nation store.com they are available for did we put that we didn't put the t-shirt up there yet right
00:01:42
RICK JAMES
Yeah, got the new hat. I like it. Yeah, I do. I do. Hopefully I should order more than I did, which is fine. We'll get some more in. ah It's on the store. It's on the store.
00:02:05
RICK JAMES
i I think we should, I should draw, we should put it on the night or something. don't know.
00:02:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
We can put it on.
00:02:09
RICK JAMES
We should, we should.
00:02:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
We we can put it up because I'm going to be wearing it at Stork in two weeks anyway.
00:02:11
RICK JAMES
I was going to, I was going to try and make a commercial for it or or or something and i I didn't do it yet. But yeah, I, I was trying to, i was going to try and meet up with the guys that were watching the other night and try to come up with something, but they started way too late.
00:02:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
That would be really funny, actually. so
00:02:24
RICK JAMES
And so I didn't, it didn't work out. So.
00:02:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
You know what? Hold it a couple days. Hold the putting it on the store. make the Make the funny commercial. And I think guys are going to love that. That's going to be a great T-shirt. That's going to be in big demand, I think.
00:02:36
RICK JAMES
Well, I could –
Steve's Retirement Plans
00:02:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
In the U.S. at least.
00:02:37
RICK JAMES
I made a video.
00:02:39
RICK JAMES
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:02:40
RICK JAMES
I made a video on packing the box, and I got it. I could probably drop that, and then I could make a commercial too, like a day or two later.
00:02:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
There you go. You can do that.
00:02:45
RICK JAMES
Yeah, so no, think it would be pretty cool.
00:02:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
You can definitely do that.
00:02:49
RICK JAMES
And hopefully – I want to get it on, so hopefully by Stork's what, in a week, two weeks here, maybe some guys will order some, and they can be wearing them there.
00:02:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:02:56
RICK JAMES
So maybe we got some fisticuffs.
00:02:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Yes. Maybe. Maybe some Pisticuffs. Oh, geez. Well, we're back in our comfort zone with our Sunday evening recordings.
00:03:08
RICK JAMES
Hell yeah.
00:03:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good to be back.
00:03:10
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely. a busy week, you know're We're both busy. You've been working a lot, Ivan.
00:03:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
This is my fault. Yeah. Yeah, this is my fault.
00:03:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:03:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
i ah ah The last two weeks, um I apologize in advance of I'm half a zombie. I'm 24 on, 24 off right now with the ah the other job. So just trying to build up the pension as much as possible before I pull the trigger and go.
00:03:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
So I'm working my butt off the last two weeks.
00:03:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we'll have to have a big...
00:03:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's like I'm a zombie. It's like Groundhog Day. It's ridiculous.
00:03:38
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we'll to have to a big party when that happens.
00:03:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
And I got the. Oh, yeah, I'm already planning it. It's going to be in a phone booth. Fit all the people that'll come.
00:03:45
RICK JAMES
Phone booth.
00:03:49
RICK JAMES
Oh, come on.
00:03:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:03:50
RICK JAMES
You know better.
00:03:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's the that's the joke on my job that, yeah, you're going have your retirement party in a phone booth and be able to fit everybody. but But, yeah, we'll ah
00:03:58
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
Matthew Brant's Introduction and Business Origins
00:03:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
we'll have to we'll have to have a party when I finally pull the trigger.
00:04:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm thinking hopefully by the end of the summer, I'm out. But hardest thing to do is retire. Nobody teaches you how to do that. You got ah tons of paperwork, tons of all sorts of meetings you got to do and stuff. It's not as easy as it sounds. You can't just say, hey, by the way, I'm not coming in tomorrow.
00:04:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Oh, well.
00:04:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
They want 30 days notice. its like Come on.
00:04:24
RICK JAMES
What are you going
00:04:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah Well, yeah, they will actually. yeah Yep, they they will do that. Remember all that money you put towards your pension?
00:04:30
RICK JAMES
to Fire me?
00:04:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, we're going to keep that.
00:04:33
RICK JAMES
You have to get out quicker. New York's going to take it out for all the free shit they want to hand out now.
00:04:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
You're 100% right.
00:04:38
RICK JAMES
so
00:04:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
And then I was thinking about leaving the state, but now they're kicking around an exit tax. If you want to leave, because so many people are leaving. If you want to leave the state, they're going tax you on the way out.
00:04:49
RICK JAMES
just get a PO box somewhere else so you don't right now so they can't get you. So.
00:04:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's a it's it's something else dude you can't make this shit up you really can't but anyway but uh yeah so we're back to sunday night recording we're gonna uh like i said that was that's my fault but we're gonna get it done and uh tonight we're making our second trip to alaska all right so we're heading up to anchorage and we're gonna talk to matthew brant he's of high mark services And they like I said, they're out of Anchorage. He's going to tell us all about Highmark's snow operation, how they get things done in the ah the great white north of Alaska. I'm looking forward to hearing about that.
00:05:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
And you know it's nice that we're we're up able to talk to a second guy from Alaska because there's got to be great stories up there.
00:05:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:05:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
the Tim did not did not disappoint with all his stories. Yeah.
00:05:35
RICK JAMES
No.
00:05:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
I hope we got it. We'll see. We'll we'll see. Maybe Matthew's seen Bigfoot. I don't know. Or aliens, you know, UFOs.
00:05:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know.
00:05:42
RICK JAMES
Oh, you never know.
00:05:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's got to be a pet bear.
00:05:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah. i heard he's got a I heard he's got a pet bear, so i don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I heard that story.
00:05:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
don't tell my son that.
00:05:49
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:05:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
you want you ah Wow.
00:05:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah. He rides in the truck with him and stuff, I guess. I don't know. Sounds. Yeah.
00:05:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
We'll have to hear about that then.
00:05:55
RICK JAMES
so Yeah.
00:05:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
But you know how how we do things here. Before we get to that, we're going to hear from Team Top Gun. We're going to come right back and do a quick week review.
Growth and Expansion of Highmark Services
00:06:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
all right gang we're back so we can review real quick uh as we said last week storm chasing season two officially kicked off last week actually two weeks now and uh if you haven't already done so head over to youtube subscribe to the storm chasing channel and check out the episodes all right uh they're doing pretty well i checked in on them the other day
00:06:55
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yeah, it's doing pretty good.
00:06:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
doing pretty well uh stork snow alliance has sold out as of last week i told you guys not to mess around i told you to get your tickets early you did not listen uh
00:07:11
RICK JAMES
How many DMs did you get from buddies saying, oh, shit, I forgot to. I got a few.
00:07:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
quite a few quite a few i had
00:07:16
RICK JAMES
I got a few, yeah. I had to call Gene. I had to call Gene for a couple things.
00:07:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
i i had to play dad with sean because uh oh sean sean text on the group sean text on the group dude i went to get my storks ticket they're sold out and robert let him have it i let him have him like i'm not calling gene you call gene like you be a big boy clean up your mess you make the phone call and ask if you can still come oh
00:07:24
RICK JAMES
Oh, that's normal. well You didn't give me a ticket? You didn't give me a ticket, a Dad?
00:07:44
RICK JAMES
I think Gene's going to let him come, but he's got to take control of parking. i think he's got to do parking, right?
00:07:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sean has to, yeah, he's the parking attendant.
00:07:49
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:07:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
He is the valet for the day.
00:07:51
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:07:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's perfect. love it. Teach him a lesson.
00:07:53
RICK JAMES
Could be good, could be bad. i don't know how it's going to turn out.
00:07:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Teach him. Well, I mean, there is a reason New Jersey's auto insurance is the highest in the country.
00:08:01
RICK JAMES
Because of Sean.
00:08:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
So. But ah yeah, Snow Alliance is sold out. it's ah i hope everybody that wanted to go you know listened to us and got the tickets early, we knew it would sell out. And like they are not selling they're not putting ah a number on this to be mean or anything. They're putting a number on this that they've kept increasing every year, but they are just maxed out on space.
00:08:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
So that's why the the cap is there. It's hard and fast, and it's sold out. We knew it would happen. So thank you to everybody that bought tickets and supported Storks doing this. It's a great event, great day, and we look forward to seeing everybody out there.
00:08:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Also, thanks again to Arctic Snow and Ice Products for sponsoring the golf tournament on Friday of Storks and the Case Construction Equipment for sponsoring the welcome party on Friday night. Should be a great time on both accounts. I still don't know if we're, are we setting up on a green with a speaker and just going to break everybody's balls?
00:08:53
RICK JAMES
I hope so, but no one's ever, no one's given us a green light yet, but I don't know if you need a green light. which You know how we roll, screw it, send it.
00:09:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
I've been very, yeah, I owe Gene a phone call, actually. I got to return ah a call. i've I've just been so busy. it's By the time I think about it, it's past normal hours for most people. So I don't, I got to call him back this week and figure out what we're, what he needs us to do. So that would, I'll bring that up. like
00:09:18
RICK JAMES
gene Gene's been pretty busy.
00:09:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gene, I'm sure is busy.
00:09:20
RICK JAMES
it's Me and Arctic Steve saw him last night. He was in Minneapolis.
00:09:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh yeah.
00:09:25
RICK JAMES
He was in Minneapolis.
00:09:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gene was in Minneapolis.
00:09:27
RICK JAMES
apparently Apparently he's playing guitar for Morgan Wallen.
00:09:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Really?
00:09:30
RICK JAMES
theres Yeah, he's, yeah. So ah the guy looks just so weird the Morgan Wallen concert last night.
00:09:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah but
00:09:36
RICK JAMES
And ah yeah, Gene jean was actually apparently a guitar player for him up there.
00:09:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah yeah, look just like him.
00:09:41
RICK JAMES
So it's just like him. Yep.
00:09:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, shit. That's great. Oh, man. Well, we'll see Gene in a couple weeks. That's coming up fast, so can't wait. Looking forward to it. Syma 2026 is in Cincinnati this year and is running from June 23rd to 26th. So if you're going to Syma, start thinking about that. It is in Cincinnati. Visit all the most wonderful cities for Syma.
00:10:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hartford, Cincinnati.
00:10:08
RICK JAMES
I
00:10:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Does it have to be a straight-up ghetto for Syma to go there?
00:10:12
RICK JAMES
think he's in Fargo next year.
00:10:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
No, it's not. Is it really?
00:10:16
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Is it really?
00:10:18
RICK JAMES
No, I'm just giving you shit.
00:10:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was going to say, like, holy crap, we're to have to double the size of the airstrip.
00:10:25
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:10:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Make the dirt road twice as wide so we can land on it.
00:10:25
RICK JAMES
Something like that. I'll spray the dust control. We'll be good.
00:10:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
But, yeah, har Hartford and now Cincinnati. It's interesting. Pittsburgh. Yeah.
00:10:39
RICK JAMES
You go and get a lot of people pissed off at you.
00:10:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well. I may say anything that's untrue.
00:10:45
RICK JAMES
No, probably not. Probably not.
00:10:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh man i think that's all i got we already talked about the patch hats head over to snowjobsnationstore.com to get all your snowjobs nation gear uh guys keep hitting the apple podcast and spotify like and subscribe to both drop comments we've actually been getting a bunch of comments recently so uh that's all great feedback and we love hearing from guys that love the show and uh letting us know what they want to hear more of it helps us keep bringing it to you guys so you got anything else rick james
00:11:16
RICK JAMES
I think I'm good for this one, buddy.
00:11:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, cool and Let's hear a quick word from our partners, and we'll be right back and get into this with Matthew.
Weather Challenges in Anchorage
Business Operations and Contract Strategies
00:13:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Just the two of you went to the Morgan Wallen concert?
00:13:42
RICK JAMES
No. No.
00:13:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
You sure?
00:13:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:13:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, really?
00:13:48
RICK JAMES
No.
00:13:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah
00:13:51
RICK JAMES
na No. No. Pretty opposite of that. no there's that's ah Dustin Van Hale was there.
00:13:55
The SnowJobs Podcast
oh really
00:13:57
RICK JAMES
Yeah. yeah let see It was a good time.
00:13:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Man, it always takes too long to get mail from Fargo or like, you know, nobody nobody invites anybody from the East Coast to come out and go to concerts or shit.
00:14:08
RICK JAMES
I didn't even know he was going be there. It was a last minute deal. and I think it was Thursday. I decided.
00:14:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, Morgan Wallen just decided to show up. Surprise concert.
00:14:14
RICK JAMES
No, he, no, he, no, he's kicked his turn off. And, uh, it was, uh, I was like, Hey, let's go. So we, we, he took his wife and Dustin's like, wait, Smythe's got a wife. So.
00:14:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mrs. Smythe.
00:14:31
RICK JAMES
Myth is Mrs. Smythe. She was there.
00:14:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:14:33
RICK JAMES
So, yeah.
00:14:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
She's one of the biggest snow supporters out there. Steve's been doing snow for how long? 30-something?
00:14:39
RICK JAMES
30 some year. Yeah.
00:14:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right.
00:14:43
RICK JAMES
It was a good time. We might've gone the wrong way down some roads last night stuff.
00:14:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's good.
00:14:47
RICK JAMES
So was getting hit by it.
00:14:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
In Minneapolis?
00:14:50
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Steve, ah he thought it was snow season where he just drive where he wanted to drive.
00:14:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Ooh. Be careful. Oh. Oh.
00:14:54
RICK JAMES
we were like, think there's some light rails where were we were on a light rail at one point. so yeah, it was a good time.
00:14:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, oh, okay. Don't get caught in any protests or anything out there.
00:15:06
RICK JAMES
we I was hoping so. was hoping so.
00:15:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
All right, well, let's get into it. Let's welcome Matthew Brandt of Highmark Services to the snow jobs. Matthew, you can unmute your mic.
00:15:16
Matthew Brandt
How's it going?
00:15:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Come on in. How are you, bud?
00:15:18
RICK JAMES
Hey, Matt.
00:15:19
Matthew Brandt
Doing good.
00:15:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Doing good. Welcome. Welcome. Our second trip to Alaska. We're looking forward to hearing all the Alaskan snow stories. So hope you don't disappoint.
00:15:28
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely.
00:15:30
Matthew Brandt
think I got a few.
00:15:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you have you seen Bigfoot?
00:15:33
RICK JAMES
Oh.
00:15:36
Matthew Brandt
i have not.
00:15:37
Matthew Brandt
I've seen Yeti, though.
00:15:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay, my son wants to know.
00:15:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
why he He says anytime you you you have people on that are from, like, the great north woods, like, ask him if they saw a Bigfoot. He's convinced Bigfoot's real. So he wants me to ask that question.
00:15:48
RICK JAMES
Wait, it's not real?
00:15:50
The SnowJobs Podcast
Huh?
00:15:51
RICK JAMES
You don't think he's real?
00:15:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
i dude i don't know i mean who knows i've never hit him with my snow plow so i when until that happens he's not real oh manby why don't you tell us about high mark
00:15:55
RICK JAMES
to oh ah
00:16:01
RICK JAMES
a
00:16:06
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so Highmark Services is a company I started when I was 13 years old. My dad told me he wasn't going to buy me a truck, so I needed to figure out how to make some money.
00:16:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
no shit
00:16:19
Matthew Brandt
So he let me borrow his push mower, and I started mowing some lawns around my neighborhood. And our driveway is steep, so he also, and and it's big, he had a side-by-side that he put a plow on it.
00:16:35
Matthew Brandt
And he allowed me to use that. you know i had to plow our driveway, of course, but then he'd let me use it to do some neighbors. So that was kind of my beginnings of Highmark services.
00:16:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:16:47
Matthew Brandt
So I've been doing it since then and just been growing it slowly but surely year after year.
00:16:55
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:16:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
How old are you now?
00:16:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
26, so 13 years in business.
00:17:01
Matthew Brandt
yeah
00:17:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow, awesome. And did you get that truck?
00:17:04
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:17:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:17:05
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, I did. Yeah, I bought it a couple months before I turned 16 and it was great. So, yeah.
00:17:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome. Good for you, man. That's, I mean, that's the story. That's how most people start. Push mower and some kind of snowblower or shovel and getting it done. That's awesome.
00:17:24
RICK JAMES
great.
00:17:24
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
00:17:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do you what he got for him, Jay?
00:17:26
RICK JAMES
So what's the, well, let's start, out what's going on up in Alaska today?
00:17:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
12th,
00:17:30
RICK JAMES
i mean, it's what, what's the date?
00:17:31
Matthew Brandt
Well,
00:17:33
RICK JAMES
April, what? 15th, 13th? don't even know what it is today. Whatever.
00:17:37
Matthew Brandt
12. Yeah.
00:17:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
12th. twelvelf twelvelf
00:17:39
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:17:39
Matthew Brandt
a
00:17:39
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:17:41
Matthew Brandt
It's snowing today. we got like a pretty wet one, um but it didn't accumulate as much as they're threatening in some areas. So we got an inch and a half to two inches, but it's melting off pretty quick. So um a lot of the work I do is it's, you know, two inches or more, but it's already melting and settling. So
00:18:03
RICK JAMES
Gotcha.
00:18:03
Matthew Brandt
Instead tearing stuff up, you know, we service both gravel driveways and asphalt driveways. We kind of held off from tearing things up today because it's already melting off. So, yeah.
00:18:13
RICK JAMES
Nice. we'll stay on the subject here.
00:18:15
Matthew Brandt
no
00:18:16
RICK JAMES
So let's tell everybody about High Plain. already told us how you got started, but what are you all about? What are all services you do nowadays since you're older and everything?
00:18:27
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so I started... When I started, you know, I was using the side by side, so only did stuff around my neighborhood. And then as I progressed the company, bought my first plot truck when was 16. I was a 03 Ram 2500 and I ended up finding a Craigslist deal on like a boss super duty plow and mount for like 1700 bucks. So I threw that on there.
00:18:53
Matthew Brandt
And then I was able to then venture out, you know, do driveways in my area. And I started subcontracting for a local guy who did some commercial properties. So from there, i got my introduction into like what commercial facility maintenance was like, how to kind of conduct that. I was doing everything for him from shoveling
Equipment and Material Management
00:19:15
Matthew Brandt
sidewalks to to plowing lots with him.
00:19:18
Matthew Brandt
um So I learned a lot with him and that was a great period of time for me. And then, you know, fast forward to high end of high school, I graduated. And that fall, I decided to buy a Kubota tractor.
00:19:34
Matthew Brandt
My dad had been big into kind of seeing some of the YouTube videos in Canada with like the inverted snowblowers and stuff like that.
00:19:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:19:42
Matthew Brandt
So yeah. He was kind of the convincing factor in regards to like, i should I should try that out to set myself apart. Because there was only one person in town who I would call like the pioneer of the the inverted snowballing here in Alaska um who was doing it at the time.
00:20:01
Matthew Brandt
And, you know, there's plenty of clients here, plenty of driveways to do. So it wasn't a bad deal to also ah jump into that myself. So that's what I did. so I was 18 years.
00:20:12
Matthew Brandt
years old that fall got a Kubota tractor uh m7060 to be specific uh 74 horsepower um and had loader arms and uh that same year i also ventured into doing my own commercial contract so i uh you know moved on still had a good relationship with the guy subcontracted to but wanted to do my own thing uh with my own contracts and such so that's what i did i had my one plot truck and my tractor
00:20:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. Nice size.
00:20:41
Matthew Brandt
And that tractor really opened up a lot of doors for me in regards to like my service offer offering, because, you know, it was ah it was a little louder. My dad and I like to refer to it as a Swiss army knife of...
00:20:54
Matthew Brandt
things. It doesn't do necessarily one thing well, especially when it comes to loader work.
00:20:58
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:20:58
Matthew Brandt
It does do it. But once you get like a real loader, it doesn't quite compare the same.
00:21:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:21:05
Matthew Brandt
But it really does the snowboarding quite well. I would say that's a great attachment for it. So yeah, that's what I was doing. So i was doing that.
00:21:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
What blower did you put on it, the first one?
00:21:15
Matthew Brandt
Norman Hybrid 82-inch.
00:21:17
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice. Nice.
00:21:17
Matthew Brandt
And my competitor slash you know friend, he's not really a competitor, but friendly competition, sold me my snowboarder, and he was also running his snowboarding business.
00:21:29
Matthew Brandt
So he not only had the product himself, but he was able to deal the product as well through Norman.
00:21:36
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:21:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:21:38
Matthew Brandt
So yeah, that's how I got my beginning and kind of what now the same services I offer today. So my progression was I kind of ran that for two seasons.
00:21:51
Matthew Brandt
Then I ended up getting another truck, put a boss plow on it, And then I got another tractor. This was around 2020. So then I was running two tractors, two trucks, and I was utilizing those to their full capabilities with you know pushers on the front, relying primarily on the trucks plus one tractor to do commercials as I continued to grow my portfolio.
00:22:16
Matthew Brandt
And then just, you know I'd say every other year, I just kind of multiplied. So then I bought two more tractors around 2022. And then
Lessons and Anecdotes from Snow Management
00:22:25
Matthew Brandt
I had another truck set up with a plow um and just continue to grow my portfolio of both commercial and residential properties.
00:22:33
Matthew Brandt
So I'd say around that time in 2022, was doing
00:22:38
Matthew Brandt
i was doing uh seven i was doing private roadways i had a private roadway contract had also bought a uh a used motor grader so we're doing seven miles of private roadways about 150 driveways um i had three team members uh also helped me and i was doing the work slash you know all the office admin and stuff like that that was around 2022 you know going from Jason Ph.D.:
00:23:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah.
00:23:04
Matthew Brandt
18 years old, I had about you know my first year I had 60 contracts, I was doing the snow blowing you know then jumping up to you know, some rigs on the road, know that was a pretty big jump for me. Jason Wong, You know those couple years, so the second tractor going backwards I kind of skipped a step buying the second tractor.
00:23:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:23:21
Matthew Brandt
was kind of like, okay, the first one worked, but you know, I want a little bit more power and road speed, like the first tractor was good. But you know, it kind of lacked on the power. And you know, always want to get the next size up, it seems like sometimes, especially when you're starting out, you know, you get that one thing, you're like, Oh, this, this will probably be better for your next step. So that was kind of what happened with my sector second tractor purchase. So Um, and then, yeah, so bought more tractors and was doing more contracts and just, yeah, pretty much year after year, just kept growing the company through, uh, you know, some white advertising, advertising and, uh, word of mouth.
00:24:00
Matthew Brandt
And, um, you know, now I have nine Kubota or nine tractors total with, uh, snowblowers, um, a couple wheel loaders, still have my plow trucks.
00:24:13
Matthew Brandt
And this year was kind of just a a year for refining the process, not not really pushing too much on growth, just trying to continue to do better at what we're doing.
00:24:25
Matthew Brandt
I've kind of found the sweet spot right now for the amount equipment and clients that we have for what we offer. So, yeah.
00:24:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool What do you guys do in the summer?
00:24:33
Matthew Brandt
What do you guys hear when talk So we've always done lawn maintenance. You know, that's why i started with and the to complement the plowing.
00:24:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay
00:24:43
Matthew Brandt
But um I'm working on moving away from my reliance on that and starting to offer more excavation work and some asphalt work. Nothing too crazy with the excavation, just, you know, expanding yards or making a parking pad, things of that nature. I'm really learning the asphalt stuff as well to offer my clients a more broad range you know,
00:25:04
Matthew Brandt
you know, services, you know, so they can stay in house with us since we solve their, you know, snow. I'd say we have a large, we have a large client base for snow. And then as far as lawn care goes, it's a very oversaturated market, I'm sure as it is in most places.
00:25:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, it's everywhere, I think.
00:25:22
Matthew Brandt
And it's, it's tough to get, you know, really the prices you need to get to make, you know, the the work makes sense.
00:25:22
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:25:30
Matthew Brandt
So what, You can't compete with someone doing it solo who has you know just different overhead than yourself.
00:25:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
100%, yep.
00:25:36
Matthew Brandt
you know I have a team so and I like to take care of them and it's not cheap to pay all that. so yeah, so our portfolio for lawns really is is shrunken over the years just because you know I got to ah charge a certain amount to make the work make sense.
00:25:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
not.
00:25:52
Matthew Brandt
And I do have that those clients that want us to do the work for them and we take good care of them.
00:25:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:25:57
Matthew Brandt
but um yeah we certainly don't do all of the same snow clients uh that we do summer work but with our asphalt and excavation services um there's not as much people not as many people doing that um so we're still able to uh you know i really like i have a good client base i like working with my clients um and i'm a big fan of like fishing from your client base rather than trying to find all these new clients all the time because it's always you know
00:26:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:26:26
RICK JAMES
Great.
00:26:26
Matthew Brandt
It's a hit or miss with what you're going to get. So if I can continue to further my relationships with my great clients I have and solve some more service needs, obviously in a good manner, then I'd much rather continue to do that than keep trying to get all these new clients.
00:26:42
Matthew Brandt
So that's really been my focus um last year and this year.
00:26:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah
00:26:45
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's smart.
00:26:45
RICK JAMES
great
00:26:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Instead of wasting time trying to cold call and, you know, get all these new customers, just expand your portfolio, what you can do for your existing customers, become their jack of all trades. And then it's one stop shopping for them. And most most people like that.
00:27:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
To only have to write one check every month or, you know, one contractor, they don't have to worry about you when billing comes that they're paying 12 different people to do 12 different things.
00:27:01
RICK JAMES
That's good.
00:27:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
So smart. I like that.
00:27:13
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, i'm not I'm not trying to do everything, but I'm trying to do a couple you know main things that can help you know what encompasses property service needs for my clients.
00:27:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:14
RICK JAMES
definite
00:27:24
Matthew Brandt
So yeah, not trying to do everything.
00:27:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:27:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool. So what are you guys, what's Anchorage?
00:27:30
RICK JAMES
that's good
00:27:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think Tim answered this, but I don't really remember that. That was a ah bunch of episodes ago. What's your market like as far as your annual snow that you get and the types of storms you do?
00:27:41
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so our market is very, say it's a diverse portfolio of weather. I mean, we have anywhere from negative temps, you know, you know single digits, snowfalls all the way up to like right on the verge of 32 degrees and we'll get that concrete snow.
00:28:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:28:00
Matthew Brandt
Obviously that's more an earlier season thing, but it can happen any month of the winter season here. um Anchorage just sits in a coastal inlet with mountains right behind it. So, you know, our weather is definitely influenced depending on the jet stream and how it's flowing. If we get get the cold air mass coming across from Russia, then our temperatures will typically be a lot colder and we'll get that nice, dry, fluffy snow.
00:28:27
Matthew Brandt
Or if we're getting that jet stream that's coming up from the the ocean there, you know, then we'll get that more wet snow. So it all depends. ah Every season obviously is different just like everybody else.
00:28:42
Matthew Brandt
so But this season was a pretty decent one. We we averaged, we had Over 161 days, I think it was, of below 32 degree temps, um which was good for our winter because we were able to keep our snowpack down. For our client base, we do a lot of residential, so we have clients with both gravel driveways and asphalt driveways. And one tough thing we you know run into is the melting of the snowpack, especially when we get some warm winds blowing. I mean, our snowpack can melt over a couple days. so
00:29:18
RICK JAMES
What's...
00:29:19
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so diverse weatherport weather every year.
00:29:24
Matthew Brandt
It's aggressively swing.
00:29:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
What do you normally average in in inches?
00:29:25
RICK JAMES
what's
00:29:27
Matthew Brandt
So average, I'd say around the 80 to 90 mark a season. Last year was a pretty rough one. I think we were right around like 50 to 60.
00:29:38
Matthew Brandt
And a bulk of that snow last year, 24-25 season, came at the beginning of the season in October, early November, and then at the very end of the season.
00:29:50
Matthew Brandt
um So that was a pretty rough year for us. You know, most companies local. um So that was, yeah, that was tough because we had, you know, December, January, February, we're all just about drying. And January, it actually warmed up to 40 degrees and was wet and raining and wind storms. And I mean, it didn't even look like winter in January here.
00:30:14
Matthew Brandt
So this year was a lot more normal, which, would you know, I'm sure all snow guys here at local were thankful for. Um, we had, uh, a little bit of a slow December. It was just negative temps actually most of December.
00:30:28
Matthew Brandt
Um, yeah. And then January it picked up, we got 40 inches in one month this year. Um, so that really set us on track for our typical average and, uh,
00:30:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice
00:30:39
Matthew Brandt
The stats before today where we were sitting at 114 inches this season measured at our airport, which is more down by the ocean.
00:30:45
RICK JAMES
Good.
00:30:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:30:49
Matthew Brandt
So where I service is up in the hillside typically.
00:30:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, you you definitely had more because all airports undersell what that area had.
00:30:54
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
00:30:58
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's ridiculous.
00:30:58
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:30:59
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. yeah So yeah, we're sitting a lot more normal today or not today, but this season.
00:31:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's great.
00:31:05
RICK JAMES
good
00:31:05
Matthew Brandt
So yeah.
00:31:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
Now, I'm going to jump around a little bit because you kind of just touched on it, and I figured well we should hit it now. what is your You said last winter was a rough one for you. What's your contract structure like? Are you seasonal on most driveways and commercials? Are you per push? like how's that what What works for you guys up there?
00:31:26
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so I'm a little bit of both. And yeah, luckily, because yeah, last winter, you know, i scraped by. I was able to pay my reoccurring bills, and keep some people employed, but it was not easy with not some extra you know with no extra snowfalls.
00:31:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:31:42
Matthew Brandt
Because, yeah, I'm still diversified in both my contract structures. So this year was a bigger push to lock more clients in, both residential and commercial, into a seasonal structure.
00:31:55
Matthew Brandt
For me and my service offering, personally, I think it just serves us better. because we're able to, you know, just serve the client better with with it. You know, a big problem we have is a lot of the clients like to, you know, stand stand in their robes in the morning, look out the window and try and determine, you know,
00:32:16
Matthew Brandt
how much snow they really think they have in their driveway and they get mad when we show up to do our job when we're doing everybody else. And typically those people were the people paying you know each time we came to do their driveway and it just frankly got annoying.
00:32:28
Matthew Brandt
And then we got to coordinate you know skipping them or giving them just a free service because they decided they didn't want it that day, especially if we get those like borderline two inch snowfalls and you know we go out to do all of our seasonals to provide a high level of service but then we got this person you know complaining about it it's like you know you're damned if you do damned if you don't uh kind of situation so uh yeah yeah definitely
00:32:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
So
00:32:41
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
00:32:50
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:32:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
you got those people even up in Alaska where it snows constantly. ah That are going to complain 115 inches. You're going to complain. You were, it's a two inch trigger and there's only 2.5.
00:33:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
You don't have to come ridiculous.
00:33:04
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so I mean, just doing the seasonal, it just makes it real simple for us to go do everybody on the route, provide a high level of service and take care of everybody and and you know keep our employees paid and all our reoccurring expenses paid.
00:33:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:33:17
Matthew Brandt
So every year just pushing for that.
00:33:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you found customers receptive to that? Have you found customers receptive to go into the seasonals for driveways?
00:33:25
Matthew Brandt
Yes, for the most part, I'd say a little bit of the older generation.
00:33:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:33:28
Matthew Brandt
i have more pushback from them and I still have some like, I guess call them legacy clients, just clients I've had for 10 years that have just been the same structure, you know, pay per push that are just not about it.
00:33:41
Matthew Brandt
And so I'm willing to, you know, they're good clients.
00:33:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
00:33:44
Matthew Brandt
They help with the the route density and they've been with me forever. So I'm willing to like, you know, still do the per push on them, but almost all new clients, if not all of them, you know, it's either seasonal or, or you know, we're not going to be able to do services for you.
00:34:01
Matthew Brandt
So, I'd say all of our older clients have an opportunity, ah but most new clients are seasonal. So I'd say we're like 75% seasonal and per push
00:34:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay, nice.
00:34:12
Matthew Brandt
on a lot of our stuff so
00:34:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you. Yeah.
00:34:15
RICK JAMES
So how do you how do you handle that? I'll jump around here too. since i How do you handle that? with Do you have like a software or what are you using to determine if you're pushing this one or not? Or what what are you guys doing for that?
00:34:29
Matthew Brandt
so we just for the, like, just the weather. Wait, maybe I'm not understanding your question the best.
00:34:35
RICK JAMES
as
00:34:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:34:37
RICK JAMES
for For how are you going to determine like on the ones that are obviously the ones that seasonal you're going to push and then the ones that aren't seasonal how do you determine which ones get done i mean do you send a text out or do you have like software like mu Yeti or or some sort of snow software you your guys know what to do and not to do what what do you how you guys determining that.
00:34:48
Matthew Brandt
Oh.
00:34:56
Matthew Brandt
I see. Yeah, so pretty much we have the same standard trigger, which is two inches. And what we kind of implemented this year for the picky people was we kind of got rid of our per service offering, which was, you know, just each time we come, you pay and we changed it to like an on call.
00:35:17
Matthew Brandt
So that way the client can, uh, and what we do on the backend is we send out emails. Uh, so we just, you let, we try and keep it simple and not use too many programs. So we use MailChimp.
00:35:28
Matthew Brandt
We just sent out like a simple day before, like the storm, like, Hey, we're going to go out tomorrow. If this happens, or if it already has happened throughout the day, we're going to do it early morning. Um, we'll send out an email notification to all clients.
00:35:40
Matthew Brandt
let them know, hey, we're going out. And then anybody that's not as seasonal kind of has the opportunity to opt in or opt out. Or we just have some people who already are like, yeah, we want you to do it.
00:35:49
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:35:53
Matthew Brandt
So usually I'd say about, we have a 5% of the people maybe pick and choose when they want to do it. And I just have the office staff there.
00:36:04
Matthew Brandt
I have one main office gal who's fantastic and she just stays on top of the request. And we make it really simple for the client to opt in if they do want it. And if we don't hear from them, then we can catch them the next day or so because we're typically out, you know, the first day.
00:36:21
Matthew Brandt
taking care of all of our priority clients, you know, the seasonal people, people who signed up for us and we make it a little bit,
00:36:31
Matthew Brandt
ah not necessarily difficult, just give us ah ourselves more runway when it comes to the on-call people to service them.
00:36:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. Mm-hmm.
00:36:37
Matthew Brandt
Like basically we guarantee we'll be there within 48 hours upon notification from the client. So we don't have to be there right away because they're choosing to be, you know, spontaneous about when they want service.
00:36:49
Matthew Brandt
So we're not going to be there right away either. And that's kind of like the differentiator between our seasonal versus our, you know, pay per push program is like, you don't get immediate service.
00:36:52
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:37:00
Matthew Brandt
Like, well, you know, then that's just a risk the client's willing to accept with us. So, yeah.
00:37:07
RICK JAMES
Okay. Are there, was gonna say, are are you just doing driveways or are there like, uh, you guys have residential sidewalks you do too, or it just is it just straight driveways, what you doing?
00:37:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
On your commercial. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Jay.
00:37:19
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so primarily our focus is driveway. So, I mean, to back up, our art business right now sits at about 70% residential based, 30% commercial.
00:37:31
Matthew Brandt
And in that commercial, I'd kind of loop in some of the private and municipal roadways that we maintain, which really are actually along our snowboarding routes that we do.
00:37:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay.
00:37:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:37:42
Matthew Brandt
They're not throughout town. So we're very specific on what parts of town we service. And our commercial is a very small part of town, really focused. So we're not driving all over the place.
00:37:55
Matthew Brandt
um So that's that's our service offering currently. Now for walkways and things like that, we do offer shoveling, but we don't do a lot of it. And I try and be a little bit I like to be specific too about the shoveling because it shoveling for um'm I'm sure almost all snow guys is like one of the hardest services to offer because you, you know, you got to find reliable guys to do the job well and to find reliable guys who do the job while you've got to pay.
00:38:19
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yep.
00:38:26
Matthew Brandt
Well, that's, that's the biggest solution I found is pay them what they're worth to do that tough work out there.
00:38:28
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:38:33
Matthew Brandt
Cause it's hit or miss, you know, they could be shoveling, you know, 12 inches of, wet concrete snow or two inches of light fluff. So I really try and take care of my shovel as well, but therefore my pricing is a little higher.
00:38:42
RICK JAMES
yep
00:38:45
Matthew Brandt
So, you know, I might look the other way when it comes to pricing, like
00:38:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
It has to be.
00:38:51
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, yeah. for For my elderly clients you know who are old and can't physically do the shoveling, I really try to be a little bit better about the pricing and still offer that as a service for them.
00:38:53
RICK JAMES
Right.
00:39:05
Matthew Brandt
But if but if it's kind of a younger younger guy, you know I'm like, hey, we can certainly shovel this, but this is going to be the price. And if they accept it, no problem. We'll do a good job at it. So I really try and offer it for my elderly clients primarily because they are the ones who need it most because they physically can't do it.
00:39:22
The SnowJobs Podcast
um percent
00:39:23
Matthew Brandt
um especially on some of the walkways for the driveways we service um but yeah we do very small and amount of walkways just because you know we got to be committed to doing a good job and the more you have the the more people you need to do it so yeah
00:39:39
The SnowJobs Podcast
hundred percent
00:39:40
RICK JAMES
Yeah, I was just curious just because around here, they'll the local guys around here will do you know driveways, but then sidewalks are a complete separate animal. So they'll charge, obviously, a lot more just for them.
00:39:52
RICK JAMES
So I was just curious. And I've heard, like, in Canada, they don't have a lot of sidewalks. They just have driveways. i mean, they don't have, like, neighborhood. I'm not saying they don't anywhere, but a lot of places, they just do driveways, and that's it.
00:40:00
Matthew Brandt
Thank
00:40:03
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, a lot of places in Canada, well, not a lot, but I know in the in a lot of the cities and whatever they call them provinces, the they take care of it.
00:40:04
RICK JAMES
That's all I was asking, so.
00:40:13
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:40:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
The city does. They were run those those things down.
00:40:17
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:40:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
not Not obviously from the house to the driveway. You know, that's still going to have to be done by. but I don't think a lot of the companies, like you said, Jay, I don't think a lot of the Canadian companies offer shoveling.
00:40:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
It's literally just driveway.
00:40:29
RICK JAMES
Not that aware it. I'm sure some do, but yeah.
00:40:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah.
00:40:32
RICK JAMES
Yeah. So I was just curious.
00:40:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's tough.
00:40:33
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, our shoveling like is like their decks and they're like their stairs to their house.
00:40:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
hmm.
00:40:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
00:40:39
Matthew Brandt
But like Steve said, a lot of the, it's part of the contracts for the road crews, whoever clears the roadway, typically to clear the walkways that are like adjacent to the roadway.
00:40:39
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:40:50
Matthew Brandt
So that's not something we do as far as the shoveling. It's just like their porches and decks so they can access their house safely.
00:40:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool, cool.
00:40:58
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:40:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
I think it's time we hear how he does this. The Jeremy Lindstrom, Dinesse leasing equipment segment. You want to take him through there, Jay?
00:41:07
RICK JAMES
Yeah, you bet. All right, Matthew, you want you to break it down. I want to hear all about your equipment. You kind of gave us some of it already, but let's ah let's hear the brands and what you're using from from the Cydox machines to your blowers, everything. So...
00:41:22
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so to start kind of on our residential side of things, Obviously, i bought my first tractor, Kubota M7060. As I continued my tractor purchasing, I always tried to purchase you know what I thought might be the next good fit for the fleet.
00:41:40
Matthew Brandt
So then I ah went to Kubota M5111, a little bit different model, more horsepower, a great step up. And then after that, I bought two more tractors, John Deere 4066R and then a Kubota M6131.
00:41:57
Matthew Brandt
um So those were my purchases were kind of like trying to find what fit and work best. And then I proceeded the next two seasons after that, I bought some John Deere 5090Rs.
00:42:04
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:42:10
Matthew Brandt
But then I inevitably sold those 5090Rs because I can't say I'm a John Deere man. I had one breakdown on me, blow up the transmission.
00:42:22
Matthew Brandt
Luckily, it was on warranty. It was sitting at 890 hours when it blew up the transmission.
00:42:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh my gosh.
00:42:28
Matthew Brandt
And it took me a year and a half to get that sucker back from the local dealer.
00:42:34
RICK JAMES
Oh, wow
00:42:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wow.
00:42:35
Matthew Brandt
So during that time period, was like, I don't think I'm ever dealing with this, especially that specific series of John Deere again. So I sold the other two I have, and I bought five Kubota M6 series tractors. I got four 111s and 131s. And basically at this point now, I'm just pretty set on...
00:42:58
Matthew Brandt
I'm going to continue you know my my goals with my current with my current trajectory and where I want to go is like consistency. So i want to have like consistency and same equipment, same filters, various aspects.
00:43:12
RICK JAMES
mm-hmm.
00:43:13
Matthew Brandt
So I just have everything on hand. I can make training videos for that specific model and everything same same and have backup tractors of the same model. so Because, you know, my past would be if something broke down, you know, someone could go operate a spare rig, but it was completely different operation.
00:43:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep. yep
00:43:32
Matthew Brandt
It would take them half a day just to figure out what they're doing another rig because they're only trained in the one rig. So now a lot of my decisions are based on just equipment standardization.
00:43:37
RICK JAMES
ever
00:43:42
Matthew Brandt
So now our primary fleet is six Kubota M6s.
00:43:44
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:43:48
Matthew Brandt
And then I still have my Kubota M5, which is a backup tractor at this point. um And then I still have the John Deere that finally got repaired. I have that one um after I got it back and it did last this winter, luckily.
00:44:04
Matthew Brandt
So that's good. um
00:44:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Dude, a year and a half to get it back?
00:44:06
RICK JAMES
yep
00:44:08
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, our dealership supports pretty often.
00:44:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's like lawsuit material at that point.
00:44:13
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, I was getting pretty bad. so I ended up, yeah, it was a battle. It was a battle for sure. So, but yeah, so Kubota's, I love the Kubota's.
00:44:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's ridiculous.
00:44:24
Matthew Brandt
They haven't broke down on me yet, but I can't say I'd get much better dealer support, but I haven't had the opportunity to test that because they just work. um
00:44:33
RICK JAMES
Good.
00:44:33
Matthew Brandt
So granted, most equipment I'm buying is lightly used. I don't buy a lot of new stuff. All my tractors, except my first one, I bought downstate and shipped them up here. But anyways, Kubota is where it's at.
00:44:45
Matthew Brandt
That's what I like. And that's what I have better support for here locally.
00:44:46
RICK JAMES
Good.
00:44:47
The SnowJobs Podcast
Kubota makes a great tractor are you able oh yeah no he can't isn't it just Canadian ones Jeremy that can get that snow package yeah yeah that'd be awesome to get but yeah only you'd only get it in Canada
00:44:49
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. And then...
00:44:54
RICK JAMES
Yeah, we get that Arctic package or something or whatever.
00:45:01
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. Yeah, you know, and I have the one small frame 4066 Arjon Deer, and I will say that's been an all right rig for me. But I've decided on the larger frame tractors just because the type of snow and the amount of snow we get here.
00:45:16
Matthew Brandt
the The mobility sometimes of the smaller tractor just is not up to par for what we need.
00:45:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
sure
00:45:22
Matthew Brandt
Several of our routes will change we'll chain up the front tires, the front axles on the Kubotas to make it up the driveways. And we are also running every tractor I have Nokia and Hakka Plita snow tires on.
00:45:34
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:45:35
Matthew Brandt
So when I buy a tractor, I put Hakka Plitas on it.
00:45:35
RICK JAMES
Nice.
00:45:38
Matthew Brandt
and you know make sure I have good winter traction, but sometimes that's still not enough. And those Kubota M6s also have front and rear lockers on them.
00:45:44
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:45:48
Matthew Brandt
And so they're just overall way better, you know ready to go tractor for what my operation is. And they're pretty easy to use.
00:45:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:45:57
Matthew Brandt
you know It's got push button shifting. You don't have to like shift gears like a manual transmission. It is manual, but it's all push button. And it's got armrest mounted ah rear three-point hitch control. So as far as like operator fatigue go, it's pretty it's pretty light.
00:46:13
Matthew Brandt
You're not having to move around bunch and like shift gears all the time or move levers for the three-point. So it's just really good. It's a good fit for where I want to go with the company.
00:46:25
Matthew Brandt
So that's my tractors.
00:46:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sweet. What do you got on those tractors as far as pushers and blowers?
00:46:28
Matthew Brandt
Okay.
00:46:31
Matthew Brandt
So I got Norman hybrids, all Norman hybrids. I run 92s on the 111s. And then 131s, I run 100-inch blowers on those. I have an 82 on the 4066R. And ninety two is on the M5 and 5090 as well. So I ran a plow, if necessary, on the front of the M5 load arms. But all my other tractors don't have load arms. So they're all specific for just the snow blowing.
00:46:59
Matthew Brandt
so
00:47:00
The SnowJobs Podcast
Gotcha. Okay.
00:47:01
Matthew Brandt
That's my residential fleet. Primarily the M6.
00:47:04
RICK JAMES
You have to muskox.
00:47:06
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, no, I'm excited.
00:47:07
RICK JAMES
have to try that new muskox.
00:47:10
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. And then for the commercial side, I've got cat wheel loaders. I've got two 908s. you know So my trajectory or not my trajectory, but what I started with was trucks and then the Kubota would help you know push some snow with the load arms, the little Kubota.
00:47:29
Matthew Brandt
But then two seasons ago now, I moved away from relying on trucks completely. I just removed them and replaced the fleet with, we went from three trucks in the Kubota to just two wheel loaders. So I had a Komatsu WA320 and a Cat906 my first season. I completely went over to wheel loaders.
00:47:51
Matthew Brandt
um and i'll i'll never go back to uh plow and snow with a pickup truck at least for my for what i'm doing so um did that that first season now ah i'm doing two cat 908s um i got rid of the 906 it was just a little lightweight for what i needed i have a metal plus 9 3rd 936 15 on one um and the other thing was the fuel tank on the 906 so we'd be running out of my land to shift so
00:47:57
RICK JAMES
yeah
00:48:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:48:18
RICK JAMES
So small. Yeah.
00:48:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
any Tiny, tiny.
00:48:21
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so bumping up to the 908 was the perfect fit.
00:48:21
RICK JAMES
yeah Yeah. The same issue.
00:48:25
Matthew Brandt
And I got two of those. The other one runs at Arctic Sectional LD 10.5. And that was our fleet this year for our commercials. So just two wheel loaders, about eight hours for the guy guys to do the complete route at night.
00:48:41
Matthew Brandt
I decided not to get a big wheel loader this season just due to last season being so rough.
00:48:48
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure. sure
00:48:49
Matthew Brandt
I was just trying to i rent the bigger wheel loader. I own the other two smaller ones. And last winter, because it was such a bad winter, halfway through winter, I ended up returning my wheel loader.
00:49:01
Matthew Brandt
And when it did snow again, I found that I was able to plow everything I needed to with just my little loader. So I opted out of getting a big one this season just to to make some better financial decisions and save some money because my portfolio don't really change with the commercial properties that I serviced.
00:49:17
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:49:23
Matthew Brandt
But for when I do get another big loader because I would like to get a couple more places, i used a i have a Metal Plus
00:49:34
Matthew Brandt
um for that sitting waiting to go on my next big loader that i get so probably like to get a cat 926 but obviously that's pretty spendy um but you know we have really good dealer support for the cat stuff up here that's why i like the cat stuff that's why i have 908s um and the price point as far as those go they don't our dealer doesn't really sell them any different of a price point than you could get them down states so um
00:49:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, wow. That's awesome.
00:50:01
RICK JAMES
Good for you guys.
00:50:01
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, those cats I've bought new, but a lot of my other stuff I'll buy lightly used out of state because there's a pretty hefty markup for equipment up here.
00:50:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, that's what Tim said.
00:50:11
Matthew Brandt
everything has to be yeah Everything has to be trucked or shipped up here. So I'll save a lot of money outsourcing, getting all my stuff out of state. And I'll coordinate all that myself. you know I'll do the purchasing and and find a you know i work with a place to ship it to the port in washington and then pay the barge to ship it up here and i'm still ah still ahead by a lot than i would be especially with the tractors um buying a new one for my local dealer versus buying down states it's a no-brainer i'll save a lot of money so yeah so yeah um that's my wheel loaders i have a volvo grader
00:50:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice
00:50:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
nice
00:50:45
RICK JAMES
Well, that's good.
00:50:53
Matthew Brandt
that I have for my roads. That's a great tool. I bought that used locally when I had gotten the road contract a few years back to maintain seven miles of roadway. So that's in the fleet as well.
00:51:06
Matthew Brandt
Ram trucks, that's what I run for my with my sanders on them. And I have two plow two plow rams, boss plows, super duty plows. That's what I run.
00:51:19
Matthew Brandt
So yeah, just...
00:51:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. What are you running for spreaders?
00:51:23
Matthew Brandt
western Western steel casters.
00:51:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Okay. Yep.
00:51:28
Matthew Brandt
So that's what I have, a three yard and a two yard.
00:51:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
00:51:31
Matthew Brandt
And yeah.
00:51:33
RICK JAMES
Are spreading salt up there? Are you just doing the gravel or like some guys do or or like sand?
00:51:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, what do you guys do with de-icing? Yeah.
00:51:39
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, so there is de-icing up here. It's not something my company offers. I've never done that. And I don't have any contracts that require that because that's just not the contracts I'm focusing on. But that is present up here. But what we do at my company is we and a lot of companies spread gravel.
00:51:59
Matthew Brandt
So it's like a mix of like some sand and some e-chip, we call it.
00:52:05
RICK JAMES
P-rock.
00:52:05
Matthew Brandt
It's crushed rock.
00:52:06
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah, Chip. Yep.
00:52:07
Matthew Brandt
um
00:52:07
RICK JAMES
Yep.
00:52:08
Matthew Brandt
So we'll mix it with salt, a little bit of salt, 3% salt content, give or take, so it doesn't freeze.
00:52:14
RICK JAMES
Just to keep it from freezing. Yep.
00:52:16
Matthew Brandt
Yep. So we'll spread that. And then we do parking lot sweeping too. So I got some sweeper trucks, some Timco 600s. And I like calling the the dirt, pay dirt, because we get paid to put it down and paid to pick it back up.
00:52:30
Matthew Brandt
So we'll spread it in the winter.
00:52:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love that.
00:52:31
RICK JAMES
There you go.
00:52:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
I love that.
00:52:33
Matthew Brandt
And we'll sweep it back up, and then I'll create a pi a pile at my lot just full of all the sweeping stuff. And then we'll sift it with a sifter and then remix it with salt and stash it in our little so sand bin to use next season.
00:52:49
Matthew Brandt
And it gets us by for a little while, but then we'll have to go to our local –
00:52:51
RICK JAMES
Good for
00:52:54
Matthew Brandt
um gravel supplier here in town and get some loads of e-chip and some other crushed rock. And we we do a blend to re restock the the box because it does run out.
00:53:07
Matthew Brandt
we We'll go through quite a bit of sand if we get some warmer weather and icing events. So yeah, but we just spread sand.
00:53:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool.
00:53:15
Matthew Brandt
So.
00:53:16
RICK JAMES
you.
00:53:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
Nice.
00:53:16
RICK JAMES
You just do that on your commercial accounts, correct? Or do you do any residential? You just...
00:53:21
Matthew Brandt
Oh, we do we do a lot of residential as well because
00:53:23
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:53:25
Matthew Brandt
You know, the properties we're servicing are up along in the mountains. So, you know, driveway is very, some get really steep and hilly.
00:53:30
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:53:33
Matthew Brandt
So we'll spread a lot of gravels for our driveways as well. And obviously, yeah, our commercial lots will spread a lot of gravel on too.
00:53:37
RICK JAMES
Okay.
00:53:41
Matthew Brandt
And yeah, so we do it for both residential and commercial. And yeah, keeps us busy if it's not snowing and we get a nice ice event then we'll be, we'll be sanding all day. Some sometimes.
00:53:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Well, let me ask you a question.
00:53:52
RICK JAMES
Good.
00:53:53
The SnowJobs Podcast
Who tells you about these snow and ice events? You guys use a contractor weather service?
00:53:59
Matthew Brandt
ah this year I used just a good old National Weather Service. The season before i had decided to purchase WeatherWorks and I used that for a season.
00:54:09
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:54:11
Matthew Brandt
But for me, I found it just wasn't really accurate for my area. um And it just didn't, it wasn't very good at forecasting exactly what was coming.
00:54:22
Matthew Brandt
And typically the National Weather Service was just better at forecasting what was going on up here.
00:54:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yeah. And you're paying a lot of money.
00:54:28
Matthew Brandt
So I, yeah, I did not renew that for this season, which has been fine. Weather work or the NOAA weather National Weather Service has worked just fine for us.
00:54:38
The SnowJobs Podcast
Yep.
00:54:39
Matthew Brandt
So I just monitor that regularly.
00:54:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Cool. Very cool.
00:54:44
RICK JAMES
How many total guys are you on in an event?
00:54:48
Matthew Brandt
Right now, we'll have 12 people come in, eight people driving tractors, two shovelers, and two loader operators.
00:54:59
Matthew Brandt
This was my first season not really being in a piece of equipment regularly. I was more focused on running the show and solving operator problems when they arose, going out in the field helping new operators.
00:55:16
Matthew Brandt
and teaching people where necessary. Because we always have some new operators, and I want to be there to try and help them mix excel and get this figured out. Because the tractor stuff can be a lot initially, um even with proper training.
00:55:30
Matthew Brandt
You can only practice so much until you get out there and start moving that snow, especially with the blowers and fixing shear pins and you know strategy when it comes to blowing.
00:55:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep yeah tactics yep
00:55:41
RICK JAMES
muskox no sheriff's on the muskox you need get the muskox yeah
00:55:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
no sheer pins on the muskox that's insane that's gonna kill it for there he just said it sheer pins there it is number one problem with the blowers
00:55:47
Matthew Brandt
yeah
00:55:51
Matthew Brandt
yeah yeah so there's yeah yeah so there we we try and take the steps necessary but you know um every outfit you know starts to work out uh and refine their operations after their first snowfall and you know by the end of the season the team's cruising and knows what to do but you know the beginning of the season's always a
00:56:05
RICK JAMES
yep
00:56:10
Matthew Brandt
a slow and and tough one. you know Just breaking guys in and teaching them.
00:56:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
crawl walk run
00:56:15
Matthew Brandt
and Yeah, it's
00:56:18
RICK JAMES
How is it finding a crew up there, if I can ask?
00:56:18
The SnowJobs Podcast
yeah yeah
00:56:23
Matthew Brandt
yeah it's I've got some good like team members who you know tell friends. So we're a young crew. Our oldest guy 27 currently. you know I've had some older people on the team.
00:56:36
Matthew Brandt
Or actually, i have one old older guy who's part-time, but a lot of young people on my team. So early 20s. um you know i got a lot of great people with good attitudes, and that's what I hire for. It's not necessarily experience.
00:56:51
Matthew Brandt
Um, and as far as hiring goes, it's, it can be tough sometimes to find some people like we've been, hiring for a summer position.
00:56:52
RICK JAMES
still.
00:56:59
Matthew Brandt
and I lined up some interviews and half didn't show up, you know, it's still very common. Like you'll line up interviews and they won't even show up, even though you've coordinated, like setting ah a time and a place to sit down and talk with them and give them an interview.
00:57:13
Matthew Brandt
Um, so that's what I've been doing with, um, So yeah, it's it's hit or miss, you know, and when I find those good people, i I'm pretty quick to give people a shot when I think I've found someone who I think has, you know, good character in regards to a good attitude to try and do this.
00:57:32
Matthew Brandt
So I don't dilly-dally in regards to giving them a job offer because sometimes, you know, people will find a new job pretty quick when they're looking.
00:57:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
00:57:41
Matthew Brandt
So yeah.
00:57:41
RICK JAMES
Mm-hmm.
00:57:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
If they're willing to work. Yeah, absolutely.
00:57:45
Matthew Brandt
Yep. Yep.
00:57:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
Is there a lot of competition for snow in your area in Anchorage?
00:57:51
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, there's a lot. um There's several snowblowing outfits. I sold my first tractor to a friendly comp competitor.
00:58:02
Matthew Brandt
um And yeah, but we're, I'd say everybody in the snowblowing game here is all fairly friendly with each other. It's plenty work to go around.
00:58:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
There's enough to go around. Yeah.
00:58:12
Matthew Brandt
um Tim Shraji, he's a big player in the the commercial market. you know I'd say most of the the high-end snow operations are friendly with each other and there's plenty of work to go around.
00:58:19
The SnowJobs Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:58:26
Matthew Brandt
and then um yeah so At least me, when I'm out there, I try and have friendly competition. Cause yeah, there's just so much to do and not enough, uh, reputable people to do it. Uh, and then of course we have those people and their plow trucks, uh, you know, who subcontract, you know, it's, there's all sorts of options out there for people, but I try and set my company apart by, you know, offering the, the higher end snowboarding services and, uh, you know, providing a good, reliable service with good customer service. So, um,
00:58:59
Matthew Brandt
I'm perfectly fine with the amount of clients I have. And I found a good sweet spot for me and my capacity for equipment and kind of the team size I want to have right now.
00:59:09
Matthew Brandt
So, yeah.
00:59:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you, dude. Good for you.
00:59:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah. Yep.
00:59:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
you want to hit some commercials, Jay, and then we'll do five and five.
00:59:15
RICK JAMES
yep
00:59:16
The SnowJobs Podcast
right. We'll be right back.
01:00:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
um right, we're back. Joe, you want to take them into the five and five, bud?
01:00:27
RICK JAMES
You bet. Hey, Matthew, when you, where do you want to see your company go within the next five years? what are you looking for to do
01:00:36
Matthew Brandt
I'm looking to just refine my my service processes and just really get really good at training the operators and conducting our services so we can, you know, get out there quicker and execute.
01:00:55
Matthew Brandt
and just grow, grow our efficiencies and providing our service. So, um, yeah, I'd like to maybe get a couple more tractors, but, uh, right now where I'm sitting, as far as, uh, you know, the amount of equipment I have, and the amount of clients I serve, uh, it's really been a good spot, uh, for me and I like it a lot. So, um, yeah, just want to refine and continue to improve our services primarily.
01:01:21
Matthew Brandt
So, yeah.
01:01:22
RICK JAMES
Nice.
01:01:23
The SnowJobs Podcast
Very cool.
01:01:24
RICK JAMES
Perfect.
01:01:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
So what would you say in the last five years has been your most important decision to get your company to where it is right now?
01:01:32
RICK JAMES
Oh
01:01:37
Matthew Brandt
Probably buying the tractor, the first tractor. That was a big was a big step for me when I was 18 years old.
01:01:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's big.
01:01:46
Matthew Brandt
you know That was a lot of money to buy that. and i was
01:01:49
RICK JAMES
oh yeah.
01:01:49
Matthew Brandt
Definitely a little apprehensive and by figuring I figured I'd make it work and get the work for it. And I did. So I'd say that was the biggest moment that's kind of you know gotten me to where I'm at and continue to set myself apart by offering those services you know by buying a tractor with it and doing the snow blowing. So yeah, that's been a big thing.
01:02:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:02:14
RICK JAMES
I mean, it's seemed like you you grew pretty quickly after that once you bought that tractor. I mean, you' you've expanded quite a bit with what you have. i mean, that's that's that's great.
01:02:22
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:02:23
RICK JAMES
Good for you.
01:02:25
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:02:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
Go ahead, Jay.
01:02:27
RICK JAMES
What do you, was going to ask him, so let's go right into. You got any good good stories for up in Alaska you want to tell us about that you can tell us?
01:02:38
Matthew Brandt
yeah I mean, I was thinking about this before the show again, before the show. and I had a few good ones come to mind. Uh, so, you know, back in my earlier days, I was playing double duty, you know, both doing the commercial, the commercial route and the residential route.
01:02:54
Matthew Brandt
And, uh, well, my route takes us by, uh, a strip club. And, uh, one night I was driving by the route and i saw a loader loader.
01:03:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Pay attention, Sean.
01:03:07
Matthew Brandt
Oh, I saw a loader, uh, it's called the Bush Company and I saw a loader parked there with a plow in the parking lot and he was not plowing. So I'd assume he was in there, uh, taking a break, I guess from his route.
01:03:18
RICK JAMES
yeah He was supporting the local local ladies.
01:03:21
Matthew Brandt
Uh, so that was pretty interesting.
01:03:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
Probably to use the bathroom. but
01:03:25
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. Yeah. So I thought that was pretty funny. That gave me a good chuckle. And then, uh, yeah, in my earlier days too, uh, when I subcontract plowing one night, we were plowing a lot and, um,
01:03:38
Matthew Brandt
Basically, I think it was a stolen vehicle. Some thieves, like, just were driving and and dropped a stolen vehicle right in the middle of a lot. We were plowing and just, like, parked it and ran.
01:03:52
Matthew Brandt
Like, you just saw, like, three guys zoom in park the vehicle, and three people get out and just run off into the darkness and just left it, like, there in the middle of the parking lot we were plowing.
01:04:04
Matthew Brandt
So that was...
01:04:05
The SnowJobs Podcast
Were they at least nice enough to park it in the last spot, or did they park it one spot away from the last spot?
01:04:10
RICK JAMES
ah
01:04:10
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, they parked it in an area that still haven't been plowed yet, so it's not very kind of them to do that, so, and then, yeah, I've just seen some, like, fights, like, last season, I think it was, I was driving down, like, the road at night, and there was, like, a homeless fight, like, I just, like, saw my rearview mirror, you know, I drove by and seen, like,
01:04:15
RICK JAMES
Of course.
01:04:15
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah Always. oh
01:04:18
RICK JAMES
No, no.
01:04:33
Matthew Brandt
like go <unk>t like people yelling at each other essentially, you know, like one guy in the roadway, just like in the lane and the other on top of the snow burn. I was like driving by and was like wondering what was going on. I look at my rear view and I just saw like the guy like jump and like attack the other guy.
01:04:51
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh,
01:04:51
Matthew Brandt
so I don't know. You just see some interesting things at night.
01:04:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
you do.
01:04:55
Matthew Brandt
Um,
01:04:56
RICK JAMES
You definitely do.
01:04:56
Matthew Brandt
those are kind of the key ones as far as like weird funny stories and you know then as far as not funny just dealing with like breakdowns you know just all kinds of crazy stuff has happened wheels falling off tractors you know tires getting popped glass getting broken but those aren't funny those are just part of the job so yeah yeah
01:04:57
RICK JAMES
You definitely.
01:05:17
RICK JAMES
expensive. Those are expensive.
01:05:20
The SnowJobs Podcast
Have you you seen any UFOs in the Alaska sky? All right, so no Bigfoot, no UFOs.
01:05:25
Matthew Brandt
No, I haven't seen those, but, you know, but sometimes the Northern Lights will grace us while we're working and we'll get a nice Northern Lights show while we're out snowboarding.
01:05:28
The SnowJobs Podcast
Man.
01:05:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's pretty cool.
01:05:35
RICK JAMES
that cool?
01:05:36
Matthew Brandt
So, yep.
01:05:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
How many hours of sunlight do you guys have up there to in the winter, in the day?
01:05:42
Matthew Brandt
um So by December, we'll get our most, like our least amount of daylight. So we'll get like the sun will start rising around like 10-ish and then it'll set by like start setting at 3.
01:05:55
Matthew Brandt
So we'll have like five to six hours of like dusk, a little bit of daylight. And then, our you know, the sun rises, it's up a little bit and then sets again pretty immediately.
01:06:06
Matthew Brandt
So it's never like, it's only full brightness for like a couple hours and then right back down.
01:06:10
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
01:06:11
Matthew Brandt
Um, so yeah, so we'll have, you know, 18 hours of darkness, just about, uh, right around, uh, winter solstice, I guess you would call it, uh, I think is what it's called.
01:06:22
Matthew Brandt
So, um, but then after that, you know, once we're hitting January and February, you really start to notice the, uh, the light coming back and it's great. Um, cause it definitely weighs on you early season, you know, starting to shift on the dark and then ending, you know, just in the dark and just having that little,
01:06:33
RICK JAMES
ohya
01:06:33
The SnowJobs Podcast
I bet.
01:06:39
Matthew Brandt
little window of daylight or no daylight at all, depending on, you know, what route you're doing. So, um, doing a route and then having like, you know, a bluebird day the next day after it snows and you're doing the route, you know, and it's just sunny blue skies after a fresh snowfall, uh, up in the hillside of Anchorage is just, it's a beautiful day and it's great.
01:06:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:00
Matthew Brandt
So it really makes for a more enjoyable day of snow blowing when you get that, those kinds of storms roll through.
01:07:04
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's awesome.
01:07:07
RICK JAMES
Bet you got some cool ass pictures and stuff up there of the landscape.
01:07:09
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, definitely.
01:07:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, it's beautiful up there.
01:07:11
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:07:13
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely beautiful.
01:07:14
RICK JAMES
Is it still the wild west up there? Or no? Is it tame down?
01:07:19
Matthew Brandt
Wild West Howe.
01:07:21
RICK JAMES
oh Is there a lot of, ah is that just more of like you see and like the deadliest catch, style the how that place is up there? Where just people are pretty wild and I don't know.
01:07:33
RICK JAMES
I don't know. I watch like deadliest catch and stuff like that. And where's that at again? What island is that on? are they all at the...
01:07:42
The SnowJobs Podcast
I don't know.
01:07:42
Matthew Brandt
It's on the Bering Sea. It's more, yeah, that's that's on the the coast of Alaska, you know west and where Anchorage is closer yeah closer to Russia out there.
01:07:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah, Bering Sea. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:07:53
Matthew Brandt
So
01:07:54
RICK JAMES
Okay. Yeah, that seems like that's pretty wild up there. Those fishermen.
01:07:57
Matthew Brandt
yeah, yeah, yeah. No, we've definitely had some interesting, you know actually, now that you said that, another interesting story I have was This road system we were maintaining, you know, kind of thinking about like the Wild West kind of characters you're talking about that you see on that show.
01:08:17
Matthew Brandt
This road system we were maintaining a few years back had this one property that had no house on it. And so to back up part of our deal with the contract was we had to make sure we didn't leave any greater burns in the driveways throughout the whole subdivision.
01:08:32
Matthew Brandt
You know, so we were staying on top of that. But this one specific driveway, my team and I missed because there was no house on it was simply somebody's property that he was storing miscellaneous equipment and supplies on.
01:08:46
Matthew Brandt
And one time I get this call ah later in winter. From, you know, deemed, you know, we'll just call him crazy guy. And he basically told me he was going to hunt me down by the end of the day. and you know all these threats and just cutting me out or cussing me out.
01:09:04
Matthew Brandt
yeah I'm gonna hunt you down, you know yelling at me if you don't come clear this effing berm out of my driveway. And I was like, what you know what on earth is this guy? you know This guy's crazy.
01:09:14
The SnowJobs Podcast
I was going to say, did he lead with what the problem was or he just went right into how I'm to fucking kill you?
01:09:20
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, he went right into basically threats and all this. Yeah, so.
01:09:24
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sir, could you be more specific? What's the issue? and Get in line.
01:09:27
Matthew Brandt
yeah so I figured out where he was and I went over there in my tractor and I just, I played it off. i was like, yeah. So, you know, he didn't know I took the call.
01:09:38
Matthew Brandt
I was just like, yeah, my, my boss sent me over here. And, and he, he said that you needed this, this berm cleared and, and, uh, you know, I took care of it and, I felt bad because I just, you know, I didn't realize that.
01:09:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
Smart.
01:09:51
Matthew Brandt
you know I guess he needed to get some horse feed off the property last minute in the winter. So that's why he was there in MAD. And I took care of the berm and tried to just help him out take care of the driveway for him too.
01:10:01
Matthew Brandt
But he wanted nothing to do with it, with me helping him do the driveway.
01:10:04
RICK JAMES
Oh.
01:10:06
Matthew Brandt
So i mean I cleared the greater berm. and And yeah, and then he just continued hand shoveling the rest of the driveway. But that was, a I mean, we do get some wild calls like that sometimes, of just some crazy people.
01:10:19
Matthew Brandt
We got one this year, too, where the guy was just like cussing us out, you know, claiming we were like causing the, you know, the miss municipality snow removal. He thought we were look with the m MOA, you know, and was just ripping into us. And like these, we definitely get some crazy people calling and,
01:10:37
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:10:38
RICK JAMES
Nope,
01:10:38
Matthew Brandt
yeah
01:10:41
The SnowJobs Podcast
So i got i got one more for you. You got something else, Jay?
01:10:45
RICK JAMES
nope, you're good.
01:10:46
The SnowJobs Podcast
I got one more for you. What lessons have you learned? i mean, you're you're only 26, but you've been doing this 13 years. You've expanded. You've grown. You've had problems. You've overcome.
01:10:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
You've learned a lot. And the just at 26 years old, you've you've done a lot. What lessons have you learned in either the early stages or as you started to grow the business that you'd want to pass on to other young guys?
01:11:10
Matthew Brandt
I'd say, uh, earlier on, one of the biggest things I struggled with, you know, was taking things probably too personally. Um, I was younger, I was doing all the work plus some helpers, um, you know, everything, you know, admin doing the mowing, the plowing, everything like that. So when people would have issues, I would take it definitely probably a little too personally.
01:11:35
Matthew Brandt
And it bothered me for a while and it still does to an extent. But I've definitely grown and learned that, you know, some people are just having bad days. The plow guy lawn guy can just be an outlet of frustration because we're just the the plow guy or lawn guy, you know.
01:11:50
RICK JAMES
why
01:11:52
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, we are. It's like, yeah, we should print that on our business cards.
01:11:53
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:11:54
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:11:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
like Just kick us.
01:11:57
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. So. Just taking things not personally has always, I still deal with it, but I definitely better to dismiss it. you know One thing I heard at a funeral once that's really stuck with me that I think is good for anybody is just that someone said,
01:12:15
Matthew Brandt
when they're talking about the person, they said, if it doesn't matter, they're trying to live their life better because it's so short. And they said simply, if it won't matter in five years, don't waste five minutes on it.
01:12:25
Matthew Brandt
So I've kind of adopted that principle when it comes to like little minor frustrations that come from a client, you know, and, and the other thing too, is, you know, the annoying people or people who are frustrated always, you know, seem more loud.
01:12:26
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. man
01:12:39
Matthew Brandt
They're always more present in your mind because you're frustrated. They're frustrated. So obviously they take up more, you know, of your thought process.
01:12:44
RICK JAMES
Great.
01:12:48
Matthew Brandt
But I mean, I have so many nice clients as well who send us emails, gifts, you know, it's, it's easy to forget those. So try and remember that during those tough times.
01:12:58
Matthew Brandt
So I'd say that was one main thing earlier on and still very, very, you know, present things. nowadays still for me is you're just learning to deal with people better and knowing that sometimes they're just having a bad day or not and they're just they're just also rude so in that case you know they're put on the do not service list for next season because some people are repeat offenders when it comes to that and we don't need to deal with that so that's okay so we'll move on from that
01:13:12
The SnowJobs Podcast
Absolutely.
01:13:23
RICK JAMES
Yep.
01:13:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Hey, listen, good good for you at
01:13:25
RICK JAMES
Exactly.
Team Building and Employee Development
01:13:27
The SnowJobs Podcast
26 that you're actually learning how to deal with people and converse face-to-face, where a lot of a lot of that younger generation can't do anything if it's not via text.
01:13:27
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:13:37
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:13:37
The SnowJobs Podcast
Like, they don't know how to have a face-to-face conversation.
01:13:37
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:13:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
So good for you, dude. Like, seriously, that's not an easy skill to learn.
01:13:43
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:13:44
The SnowJobs Podcast
So, I mean, good for you for ah for trying to improve upon it.
01:13:48
RICK JAMES
Yeah, definitely.
01:13:48
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely hit him with that better served by others if it just yeah can't see an end to that them and there the way they treat us.
01:13:56
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen. amen
01:13:56
Matthew Brandt
so And then, you know, now more days for me since I'm very reliant on my team. You know, you're only as good as your team. ah And I need my team to like help compete or complete the work that we have. So A big priority for me is trying to make this a really good work environment. You know, I am maybe ruined in the sense because this is all I've ever done.
01:14:23
Matthew Brandt
But I've tried to to curate this in a way that it's a good work environment for all and do things maybe more than necessary, you know, provide snacks, things that just make it a better environment to work for so people have a good experience here.
01:14:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
Wiener Wednesdays.
01:14:43
RICK JAMES
Wiener was...
01:14:43
The SnowJobs Podcast
That's what Jeremy does. Wiener Wednesdays. Yep.
01:14:46
Matthew Brandt
Yeah, exactly.
01:14:47
RICK JAMES
sort of
01:14:47
Matthew Brandt
Things like that, you know, team events or, you know, just a simple thing like ah a team breakfast, at ah a breakfast place after a snow event.
01:14:54
The SnowJobs Podcast
yep
01:14:57
Matthew Brandt
Because, yeah, I just want to take care of my guys because without them, we wouldn't be able to do do what we do, especially the way we do it. And effectively, you know, you need a good team to go out there and kick butt when it snows.
01:15:10
Matthew Brandt
And it's tough hours and it's tough on people, long hours and stuff.
01:15:11
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:15:14
Matthew Brandt
So, you know, the least I can do is, you know, make it simpler and provide some good snacks and coffee and, and water and energy drinks and and things like that to help them.
01:15:15
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah.
01:15:25
Matthew Brandt
And just be trying be as good of a boss as I can. Obviously, I'm still learning, trying to learn, learn and do that.
01:15:29
RICK JAMES
That's great.
01:15:31
The SnowJobs Podcast
ah You're doing great, dude. Trust me, you're way ahead of Good for you.
01:15:32
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
01:15:32
RICK JAMES
You're awesome.
01:15:35
The SnowJobs Podcast
good for you
01:15:35
RICK JAMES
Yeah.
01:15:36
Matthew Brandt
yeah Yeah, at the end of the day, you know, nobody, i don't really want anybody here, like unless they're really good and I can continue to afford to pay them well, you know, then I might want them around.
01:15:47
Matthew Brandt
But a lot of the time, the people that are, have been at my company, you know, this is a stepping stone. They're trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives, but they want to make some money and So I want them to come here, have a good time, learn some valuable life lessons, you know, even as simple as backing a trailer, I'll get people who don't know how to back a trailer.
01:15:57
The SnowJobs Podcast
Sure.
01:16:06
Matthew Brandt
And by the end of their, their time here, they'll know how to back a trailer. And I just want them to look back in life and be like, Hey, I'm glad I did that job. And that wasn't a waste of my time. And I enjoyed myself and the team and what I learned there.
01:16:19
Matthew Brandt
So that's kind of my ultimate goal and provide a good, good service to the clients on the flip side, know, just be community minded. So, yep.
01:16:29
RICK JAMES
yeah
01:16:30
The SnowJobs Podcast
Good for you, dude.
01:16:30
RICK JAMES
Yeah. got a great head on your shoulders. Yep.
01:16:32
The SnowJobs Podcast
i can't I hope we're still doing this in 10 years because I want to check back in with you in 10 years at 36 and see how how much farther along you are because, I mean, you're you're very impressive for a 26-year-old to be speaking the way you are and have a plan like you do.
01:16:44
RICK JAMES
Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yep, 100%.
01:16:49
The SnowJobs Podcast
I'm very impressed. Good for you. These young guns are just – they're a different breed, and they all seem to have the same story. Started with a push mower and a shovel when I was 8 10 or 13.
01:17:02
The SnowJobs Podcast
it's It's great. It's great to see. So, you know the younger generation is not totally doomed. So
01:17:07
Matthew Brandt
Yeah.
Community Engagement and Closing Remarks
01:17:08
The SnowJobs Podcast
good for you, man.
01:17:08
RICK JAMES
ah percent
01:17:10
The SnowJobs Podcast
What else you got for him, Jay? Anything?
01:17:12
RICK JAMES
No, I don't. it was great show. Nice to meet you, Matthew. And I'm glad to hear your how good your company is doing. And thanks for everything you do for us.
01:17:21
The SnowJobs Podcast
absolutely matthew i appreciate it yeah it was awesome meeting you awesome hearing your story uh good for you that is not an easy environment up there to do this kind of work in and uh you seem like you're doing great so uh keep it up man and like i said hopefully we check back in with you in 10 years and and hear about uh you know you tripling or quadrupling in size and quality so got anything else for us before we let you go
01:17:21
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. Thank you guys.
01:17:42
Matthew Brandt
Thank you.
01:17:46
Matthew Brandt
Just thanks for bringing you know the microphone to the community and help. you know It's great. It's great to hear the stories. you know know It's nice to tune in and know I'm not alone in my struggles in business.
01:18:01
The SnowJobs Podcast
Amen.
01:18:02
Matthew Brandt
you know It's across the industry, no matter which state you're in.
01:18:03
RICK JAMES
So,
01:18:06
Matthew Brandt
And it's great to you know learn from others. who you've had on your show and listen to their stories and things that they do so I can better further myself.
01:18:17
Matthew Brandt
So I really appreciate what you guys do and thank you for for it. And I hope you guys keep it up because it's needed. So thank you.
01:18:25
The SnowJobs Podcast
Oh, yeah. Well, we're not going anywhere. One thing I forgot to ask you, and I want to start doing this more of, if you just said a lot of things that are going to resonate with a lot of younger business owners in this industry.
01:18:36
The SnowJobs Podcast
If they need to reach out to you want to reach out to you to talk, what's your socials?
01:18:39
RICK JAMES
Oh, yeah.
01:18:40
The SnowJobs Podcast
You want to throw your socials out there so guys know how to get a hold of you?
01:18:45
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. um So you can reach reach me at the Highmark Services business page on Instagram. And I'll just make sure i read it here correctly.
01:18:57
Matthew Brandt
It's Highmark Services AK.
01:18:59
The SnowJobs Podcast
okay got it
01:19:00
Matthew Brandt
Yep. So it's pretty simple. So you can DM me there, follow us. So that's probably the best way to get ahold of me.
01:19:07
The SnowJobs Podcast
perfect that's all we need beautiful all right brother well thanks so much man this was a this is a great show guys are gonna love this and like i said best of luck to you keep killing it all right are you going you're gonna go to cincinnati all right
01:19:08
Matthew Brandt
And yeah.
01:19:11
RICK JAMES
Perfect.
01:19:18
Matthew Brandt
Thank you.
01:19:18
RICK JAMES
Yeah, thank you.
01:19:19
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. Thank you guys for all you do and look forward to seeing you guys at Simon again this year.
01:19:23
RICK JAMES
Oh yeah, we'll be there. All
01:19:25
Matthew Brandt
Yeah. Yes, sir.
01:19:28
RICK JAMES
right, we'll see you there then.
01:19:29
The SnowJobs Podcast
sweet yeah we'll see in cincinnati that's awesome all right well we'll wrap it there guys that'll do it episode 166 of the snow jobs podcast main show is going to be in the books everybody be safe out there winters should be over at least i mean it's not over in alaska they still got a little snow today but for everywhere else it should be winding down or completely over so uh start counting your money have a great week and keep pushing