General Business Tips

Street and Parking Area Sweeping: Then and Now

Three industry veterans discuss changes in the sweeping industry over the past decade.

There's no doubt that modern day life has vastly changed from its ancient and not-so-ancient counterparts of the past. But, does the same sentiment apply to modern day sweeping, as well?

To get a view of how contract sweeping has changed through the years, we sought the opinions of veteran contractors from three different regions in the US. All have been in business for at least a decade. We discovered that, although their geographical locations and sweeping conditions vary, their experiences with the changing face of sweeping are surprisingly similar.

All agree that inflation plays a big part in the life and times of the modern day sweeping contractor. Bill Henderson, operations manager of Commercial Outdoor Service in Tennessee and Alabama, relates his experience: "Equipment prices are going up anywhere from 5-10% a year. Fuel and other costs are also going up. It affects just about every aspect of our major operating expenses."

James Mason, owner of General Maintenance in Massachusetts, also notes this significant change. "I just reviewed some of the prices I paid for my trucks 10 years ago, and they've about doubled since I've been in business."

Adding to increased equipment and operating costs, dumping fees are also on the rise. Mason reports a 30-40% increase in the past 10 years, "...depending on how good a job you do separating. And a lot of landfills are closed now, so you've got to go to transfer stations where you pay more to dump."

Yet, despite operating expenses doubling, Mason says his sweeping fees have only increased 45-50%. "My company's a lot bigger now," he reflects, "but I don't think I'm making as much as I used to."

Rising cost factors are not being matched by rising revenues.

Henderson agrees. "The biggest problem all sweeping contractors are facing is that rising cost factors are not being matched by rising revenues."

Both Mason and Henderson cite undercutting by small-time operators as a significant factor. "They mess up the market because they don't know what their actual costs are, " says Henderson. "A lot of them do good work - they just work too cheap. When WalMart calls me for a bid on sweeping their parking lot, and says they're now getting it done for $15 a sweep, I tell them I can't even drive to their lot for $15.

"Many of the startups don't have a handle on their costs, so they're just around for a few years. When we first started, nobody could give us the cost analysis information we needed so we decided we'd just compile our own. Now we have computerized cost tracking. We're doing a lot with our computer, and will soon be upgrading because we've outgrown our current memory capacity."

Noise concerns are another big issue for the present day sweeping contractor. Mark Antoncich from Washington-based Sammamish Sweepers, Inc., doesn't expect it to get any better, as long as the increase in development keeps taking place in residential areas.

"We're finding that a lot of places where there weren't noise concerns in the past are noise problem areas now. It has to do with apartments being built right next to shopping centers, housing right up against business parks, and grocery stores staying open 24 hours. The pressure on the sweeping contractor to find a time to operate safely and without disturbing the neighbors is getting more intense."

"The noise issue is getting to be a real big problem everywhere," Mason echoes. "I liked your article about the fellas out there in Boise that were faced with the possibility of noise restrictions for sweepers. That was a pretty good way to take care of it -- getting everybody together. Still, in certain areas, contractors don't talk to each other. They're all out trying to squeeze each other. It's a war.

"The bigger you get," Mason adds, "the more of a problem noise becomes. You end up having to reroute sweepers, backtracking, and sweeping at a lower throttle speed on your sweeper motor. Sometimes you also have to go slower in wet weather, or in order to pick up the heavy debris."

Educating the public has become a large concern for the modern day sweeping contractor. "Stormwater regulations should end up being a big help for sweeping contractors," notes Antoncich. "Most people don't know where the water goes. It certainly doesn't just go away. It goes into all the waterways around us - rivers, lakes, streams, sounds. Most of the property managers and owners we talk to don't know anything about stormwater management yet. Or they're vaguely aware and don't know what to do about it. They're not as concerned as they should be, because enforcement is still at a pretty low level. As contractors, we're really the ones who are in a position to bring education to the market."

Dealing with the issue of improper waste disposal is yet another modern day industry concern. "I get a lot of jobs just picking up items that were dumped illegally," says Mason. "It's always been an inner city problem, but it's moving out to the suburbs now. Couches, trash, tree prunings ­ it's hard to get rid of anything these days. Years ago, people used to dig a hole out in their back yard and throw their trash into it. My grandfather used to burn everything. Trash dumping is getting to be more of a problem everywhere we sweep."

"Illegal dumping by sweeping contractors became a problem in my area a few years back," says Antoncich. "To counteract it, a group of contractors in my territory got together and wrote a letter to our clients telling them that none of us believed in bandit dumping. 'Out of sight, out of mind' is not necessarily legal anymore. As ethical contractors, we told our combined clientele that we all insisted on arranging for a legal place to dump what we swept up for them. Also, we educated them to the fact that if a sweeping contractor is dumping in other than a properly designated place, the property managers could be the ones who end up with a big problem.

"The whole issue has now become easier to deal with here, because nearly all of the contractors in the area were willing to get together to force the issue. As professionals, we need to do that sort of thing more, and on a national level."

Demands from customers are increasing, but there's not much willingness to pay for that service increase.

Increased demand for service efficiency is another issue now looming large for the sweeping industry. "Demands on the part of our customers seem to be increasing," reports Henderson, "but there's not much willingness to pay for that service increase. The pressure is on us to figure out how to do things faster and more efficiently, and we only have so many hours in a night. Also, because parking lots are much bigger now, it cuts down on the number of properties you can clean in a night. There are many different cleaning requirements for properties now, too, because of the general increase in average property size. Because of all the added factors, it just takes a lot longer to get the job done."

Mason concurs. "You've got to educate your customers as to what you're doing for them, in order to justify the cost of sweeping. If it takes you a little bit more time to do a good job and you can get the property manager to recognize the difference, I think most are more than willing to pay. I also offer two or three services for some customers, especially if they have got more than one property: landscaping, graffiti removal, that sort of thing. Managers definitely like not calling three different people."

Other contractor concerns include finding effective ways of dealing with proper handling of sand and leaves. "Fifteen years ago, in our area you could get directly into landfills," says Mason. "Now we pay by the ton at transfer stations, so we can't be dumping sand. By separating out our debris, we can get rid of the sand to a builder or an excavator to use for fill. I couldn't really justify a $40,000 screening machine which would only get used once a week for fourteen or fifteen weeks. So, I had a couple tubs made up, and use the bucket on a Bobcat to sift litter back and forth through a screen. Leaves are a tough thing to separate, though. You have to sift through them and pick out the trash, then just use the leaves as compost."

Henderson relates another new development in his sweeping experience. "The insurance companies are putting more and more demands on having employees with clean driving records. It's getting harder and harder to find qualified people because, honestly, it's hard to find people with good driving records. I'd say only one or two of every twenty-five people we interview for a job can even meet the current requirements of the insurance companies.

"And it doesn't help, of course, that the hours we work are pretty tough. I've learned to hire people who have already worked in a third shift environment, because if you put someone onto third shift for the first time, they typically won't last."

Quite honestly, I'd rather have all women driving for me, because they tend to understand what 'clean' is better than men do.

What does the future have in store for tomorrow's sweeping contractors? Henderson believes the sweeping industry is evolving into larger companies, and moving away from the 'mom and pop' industry it has been. He also sees more women coming into the business. "Quite honestly," admits Henderson, "our company is prone to hire women. If it weren't for the safety factor, I'd rather have all women driving for me, because I think they're better cleaners and tend to understand what 'clean' is better than men do."

Antoncich feels there's an increasing pressure on municipalities to consider outsourcing, or privatization, due to increasing budgetary constraints. "More and more we're finding they either can't afford to buy a sweeper or they can't maintain the one they've got. I know of one city that needs to hire additional personnel, but the city council won't let them do it. The result is they're hiring out their sweeping. I think that trend might continue as more and more government entities find out it's less expensive and the contractor can do a better job by being a specialist. Contractors know what the best equipment is and how to maintain it, and our operators are better trained. With the savings, it makes sense for municipalities to consider going to contractors."

Clearly the role of the present day industry contractor is far more than just sweeping. Increased customer service, knowledge of proper disposal, handling, and stormwater regulations, plus educating the public, are all a part of the daily modern day sweeping industry.

Belinda Chambers is a freelance writer, editor and ruthless copy editor. She lives in northwest Washington state.

This article is reprinted from American Sweeper magazine, Volume 6 Number 1.

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