Dan and Ron Snarr got into the snow removal business by accident 14 years ago.
After the record-setting snowfall of recent weeks, they're not certain they made the right decision after averaging four hours of sleep nightly and trying to coordinate their employees to make certain clients' businesses are open."It's a very stressful job," said Dan, flashing his bloodshot eyes and fingering his combination radio-telephone, fully expecting it to ring at any minute with a message that a parking lot needs more attention.
Working together as Snarr Brothers Inc., 1353 Ramona Ave., Dan and Ron say they operate under the grief factor. "It is very stressful. We would like to take the winter off but we can't afford it. It is a nonstop business. Everybody wants perfection and we try to deliver it," they said.
Because of the relatively light amounts of snow in the past five years, Snarr Brothers had a hard time paying the insurance on its trucks because they weren't bringing in much money. But this year, the storms have been driving them hard to keep parking lots and sidewalks clean for 125 accounts.
Ideally, the Snarrs need one storm per week to keep their 32 employees and equipment busy and provide some time to repair equipment. In the stretch early this month when the snow seemed like it would never quit, the Snarr brothers once were offered $100 per hour to do some snowplowing, but they turned it down because their first concern was for their clients.
They have five plowing trucks, either 3/4-ton or one-ton, each with a hydraulic plow that is taken off during the summer for property maintenance work. The trucks are used all year.
Each truck has two employees, a snow blower, a salter on the back and various types of shovels. One employee plows the parking lot of a business and the other uses the snow blower to clean sidewalks. The shovels are used to clean where the snow blowers can't go.
Dan and Ron rarely get involved in the plowing or snow shoveling, but confine themselves to coordinating the massive snow-plowing operation. Armed with their combination radio-telephones, the Snarrs keep in close contact to ensure their clients are getting good service.
The company breaks the Salt Lake area into regions, and each region has enough equipment to keep the assigned areas free of snow. If one employee gets finished in his area, he helps others to get the work in adjoining areas finished quicker. Keeping a truck and the drivers in limited areas is their goal, because when the equipment isn't plowing snow the Snarrs aren't making money.
Besides, even their trucks can get stuck if they run around around too much, said Ron.
One of their trucks is a mobile repair shop and one employee is accomplished in repairs to keep the equipment operating.
Although the Snarr brothers don't do much subcontracting because they want control over how things are done, during January's nonstop snowstorms they hired high school students to go around in a van and shovel sidewalks. This year, because the snow has accumulated so quickly, they contracted with a backhoe operator to restack or remove some snow.
Most clients want their snow plowed when it gets two inches deep, Dan said, so the Snarrs must be aware when the snow starts. They have spotters in various areas for that purpose.
The Snarrs said the stress comes into their job because often an expected light storm turns into a major event. Also, the storms starting about 4 a.m. give them the most problem, because clients want their parking lots cleaned so customers can get in, and a storm at that hour make the task difficult.
Sometimes, they clean a parking lot and sidewalks of a business only to be told later that city snowplowing crews covered up the sidewalks with their equipment. So Snarr employees return and do the work again. It's much like a mechanized snowball fight, the two brothers joked, saying the city crews are under the same stress.
The Snarrs said they look at weather reports, but they seldom trust weathermen. "We like to keep one hand outside," they said. Storms can be late or they can come early, but no matter what happens in their type of business they must be prepared.
They have been so busy in the winter and summer they don't need to advertise and aren't listed in the Yellow Pages. They rely on word of mouth and feel they are controlling the service they give by not taking on any work they can't handle.
The brothers started their property maintenance business 14 years ago doing landscaping, mowing lawns, planting and trimming shrubs, installing and repairing sprinkler systems and removing trees. They cut 2.5 million square feet of grass per week.
Their customers were so pleased with their work they wondered why the Snarrs didn't remove snow, too. The brothers wanted to keep their good employees, so they jumped into the snow removal business and now serve clients all year.
The brothers say they wouldn't be successful without their employees, who have worked long hours in the latest siege of snowstorms. For example, they filled in for Dan when he had pneumonia during one weekend.