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General Business Tips |
NPE Sweepers' Roundtable 2004This year's Sweepers' Roundtable at the National Pavement Exposition was moderated by Gerry Kesselring, the president of the North American Power Sweeping Association (naPSa). He started off with a brief introduction and welcome to the approximately 50 sweeping industry attendees. Uri BenYashar started by relating a discussion he had at the show with a contractor who has found it to be cost-effective to send a "guy in a pickup truck" out ahead of the sweeper, sometimes during the day, to clean sidewalks, replace can liners, and perform big item pickup prior to having his sweeper go by. Gabe Vitale said they have some routes where they find it better to put two people in a sweeper and the second person perform those functions. In other words, they are hand-picking at night but using the sweeper for transportation for both employees. Chuck Wright offered his perspective, which is to combine landscaping work with hand-picking at night prior to the sweeper run. "We have a $30,000 night landscape truck with a crew doing landscaping at night and they do the hand-picking along with it. Then we have the sweeper come by." Comments from other audience members: "Depends on if you have a day-porter service at a spot or not. One of the problems we've seen with two or more types of crews on the same property is some in-fighting on whose job is whose. If we have a day porter, we don't need to send a second person in at night with the sweeper. In any event, we don't want our [comparatively expensive] sweeper parked while someone is hand-picking or blowing." "Keep in mind that hand work is important, because a white paper bag is much more visible than leaves in the corner." 
Uri responded that it was important to keep in mind that the issue of who does what depends upon transit time and other cost factors. The idea is to do a good job and save money. This is something, he said, that is open to numerical analysis: "Think about your sales/income volume in terms of how many truck-hours it takes to bring that money in. Supervision is a key when you have two guys, as is the type of property you're cleaning up." New topic: How do people deal with windshields broken, and 'allegedly broken,' as a result of sweeper action?Uri offered a hot tip: Right after it happens, he told us, run a credit card along the crack. If it scrapes and stops along the window crack, that's an indication the damage just happened. If not, it isn't a recent crack. Scott of Contract Sweepers Insurance: "Our recommendation is that the burden of proof is on the individual with the cracked window to prove that it happened as a result of the sweeper or other piece of machinery. You should challenge the claimant with providing you with specific information about where it happened, plate number, time of day, weather, etc. That can stall some of the people who make claims. Mark Carter, Bill's Sweeping: In California, if a rock hits the road first then it's a road hazard, at which the person's comprehensive policy will cover it. Tell them to call their insurance company to get the same information. Gabe: In New Jersey, damage over $100 has to have a police report. If you tell them they have to make the report, a number of claims will fall out. [Check with your state's jurisdiction to find out the law in your area.] A comment on a related topic was made that one contractor had found that a good thing to do was to purchase wash coupons in bulk from one or more local car wash places. Then, on the occasion when someone gets upset because their car has been covered with dust from a sweeper, the wash coupons may be given away. It's better than having someone going to the property manager or other client making accusations when you're not there to defend yourself. Also cheap positive public relations. Next topic raised: DOT regulationsWe learned that most states will have someone come in and check for free to see if a company is in compliance. This shows you what to do, however you are then expected to do it. There are also companies that you can pay to come out and do this for both OSHA and DOT overview. The audience was asked about topics they thought would like to have more information about, or to feature in future seminars. The following were suggested:
Discussion re: Donaldson filter program.The naPSa members who have been taking advantage of the promotion offered to naPSa members report that they've saved almost 50% over normal filter pricing. The program was termed a large-scale success. A reminder was given to not only join naPSa, but to become active. Current committees where assistance could be used include Marketing and Environmental. Gerry also reminded everyone that, with the exception of Amy, everyone involved with naPSa works for free. The current goal for naPSa, he told us, is to have a membership of 500 within 2 years. |
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