One of the most difficult areas snow contractors have to deal with is “sidewalks”. Most contractors shy away from this kind of work. And, with good reason. Too often we experience labor issues associated with getting guys to get out in the elements and battle the snow first hand. It’s much different than from the warm cab of a truck or loader or skidsteer. It’s cold. It’s nasty. It’s generally a thankless job that must be done without benefit of mechanical devices that

In sidewalk snow removal work we do not perform activities that offer opportunity for positive synergistic effect. In fact, we have the opposite. When we increase the crew size, we lose efficiency. For example; send one person to do a job that takes 4.0 hours of elapsed time (or 4.0 man hours). Now.... send 2 people with the same equipment the same distance to clear the same area, and it takes 2.4 hours of elapsed time (4.8 man hours). The two person crew did it much mor

The most efficient crew size for performing sidewalk snow removal activities has been discussed, argued, and subjected to trial and error testing. Since sidewalk snow removal emerged as a separate (or specialty) business, the issue became more important. By adding mobile crews, we discovered the importance of correct crew sizing. In today’s competitive labor environment the need for higher productivity and increased quality suggests a ‘new look’ at sizing sidewalk snow rem