Do you find yourself struggling with yearly estimating and the profitability of your snow removal contracts? Would you like a more scientific process to base these decisions on each year? Finding a reliable source of historical snow and ice data may be the missing piece of the puzzle for your snow business.
We have officially put the 2022-23 winter season behind us. Simply stated, it was another winter of extremes for many snow and ice removal companies. Instead of dwelling on what was or was not in a given winter, the more important suggestion is to start planning now with quality data for future seasons.
Start With a Snowfall Climatology
The first step when evaluating and estimating your next bid or contract is to obtain a detailed snowfall climatology for the specific location. The components of a snowfall climatology will vary depending on your business model and the snowfall contract / bid you are working on.
A snowfall climatology is the statistical values and metrics associated with snowfall (or ice) at a specific region or location over a specific period of time -- at least the most current 5 seasons but you may look for up to 30 or more seasons. At a minimum, the metrics should include annual snowfall, average snowfall, number of events and incremental event breakdown.
A Game Changing Approach
The most critical part of winter preparation is that the contractor and property manager agree on a credible, reliable and accurate source of weather data well before the season begins. It does your business a disservice if you agree to refund a percentage of the contract when the seasonal snowfall does not come within a certain percentage of average if the source or the average are not established ahead of time.
WeatherWorks' Snowtistics® offers the largest and most reliable quality-controlled database of historical snow and ice data – and now with the quickest turn-around time in the industry! Snowtistics empowers you to make accurate data-driven decisions with comprehensive, historical snow and ice totals and analytics for any specific ZIP code or region across the United States.
A “normal” or average snowfall may only occur one-third of the time or less in any given season. Therefore, thoroughly understanding other trends and analytics like median snowfall, standard deviation, icing events, mixed precipitation events and lean or extreme seasons can offer a greater competitive advantage when it comes to balancing your winter portfolio. Incorporating these other metrics into your portfolio will allow you to develop a better strategy and greater protection from extreme seasons each year.
Better Data = Greater Profitability
A successful snow removal company makes continual adjustments to its business model based on a credible source of historical weather data. Remaining complacent and treating each snow season the same and within a single approach will only hurt your bottom line.
It is crucial that snow businesses adapt and align with changes in climate whether it be more seasonal extremes, differences in average snowfall or a higher frequency in mixed precipitation events. If the historical data suggests that sleet or freezing rain is occurring more over the last 10 seasons, it would be wise to account for the extra labor in your contract when removing sleet or freezing rain at a property. At WeatherWorks, we often preach that developing a successful billing model around a reliable source of accurate and reliable weather data like Snowtistics will yield a greater return for your bottom line.
For more information, visit WeatherWorks at www.weatherworksinc.com or call us today at (908) 850-8600.
