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Introduction to Street and Municipal Sweeping |
Street Sweeping Requires Big ChangesMark Farrell started Illinois-based Farrell Sweeping in 1974. Although most of the intervening years were spent in parking area sweeping, for the last two years the company has moved almost completely away from parking areas as it has moved into other areas of the business.by Mark Farrellwith Ranger Kidwell-Ross
For us, that was the beginning of our move to this segment of the industry. We moved from there to doing a small amount of streets. Currently, we operate three sweepers: two regenerative air street machines, and a mechanical broom unit. At some point I realized that even my larger parking area sweepers weren't capable of picking up what the cement trucks were leaving. Plus, the intake side of the head is on the wrong side for street sweeping. So, then I went to a large regenerative air sweeper. Although that does a good job on most debris, it couldn't handle some of the mud that would get caked on. So, I then added a mechanical broom sweeper. Today, the construction and street sweeping area is where my work is coming from. Besides, our experience was that litter pickup had gotten to be extremely competitive. Construction sweeping was also a little bit easier for me to do on my own, whereas with parking lot sweeping there were so many times when I needed help doing it. Once I got started, I kept on getting more and more work by word of mouth, and it got me to where I'm at now. Actually, parking lot sweeping is easier, but the hours of working nights and early mornings weren't all that appealing to me anymore. With construction sweeping and street sweeping, we're able to work during the day. The majority of our time is between 2 and 7 PM, because you have to get in there after the contractors leave, so that can prove difficult, too. The parking lot sweepers and related equipment cost less money and require less maintenance, but with the construction sweeping you're able to charge a little bit more. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For our on-call construction sweeping we charge a two-hour minimum, which is something most anyone has to do to stay in business. With some of the types of cleanup work these big sweepers are called for, you can end up with a 15-minute sweeping job that will require an hour's worth of maintenance. With the high level of construction currently taking place, I'd estimate that 90% of my work right now is construction sweeping for new home projects. Most villages now have EPA stormwater runoff rules to follow, so no longer allow contractors to leave a mess on their sites or the roads leading to and from them. The minimum they allow is twice a week. We've also gotten involved in sweeping for some small towns, and now do milling sweeping, as well, which is a whole other ball of wax. We've found construction sweeping to be a little bit easier than parking lot cleanup. It's more cut and dried; 'I need these streets to be swept, curbs to be done, period.' With parking lot sweeping there are more variables: put in garbage can liners, sweep the lot, pick up the grass, blow out certain areas. Even though you did a great job at 3:30 in the morning, the manager might call at 10 and say, 'Hey, you didn't do the job!' With road and construction sweeping, they can tell it was done. I do have to have some pretty hefty insurance, currently we're at $2 million, though we haven't been required to be bonded yet. We've had a couple jobs that required $5 million, so for those we had to add a rider. As anyone in the business already knows, insurance coverage is going through the roof just like everything else. If someone is thinking of going from parking lot sweeping to construction or street sweeping, there are definitely a lot of things to take into consideration. Number one, the cost of the sweeper. It's close to $200,000 for a good new sweeper, and you can't have just one. If you're planning on staying in the business, you must have a back-up machine. It's vital. If you're sweeping a street, or millings, or even a construction site, if your truck breaks down these guys don't wait around. They call someone else. You also need to have mechanical knowledge available to you on an immediate basis. With parking lot sweepers, repair and standard maintenance aren't too bad. With the big sweepers, if you don't know how to make some types of repairs you'll be in a world of hurt. If you can't do it yourself, you need a good mechanic who will be willing to come out to the jobsite if the truck breaks down. "With the big sweepers there's also the matter of a CDL license, so you've got to do more paperwork and pay an operator more than is required to run a parking lot sweeper. Also, with contractors, they are always busy and don't want to hear that you can't get to them right away. When they need it, they need it. You may reach Mark Farrell via email. Ranger Kidwell-Ross is editor of WorldSweeper.com. You may reach him via the contact form on this website. |
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Parking Area Sweeping Contents
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I started out in parking area sweeping, and that's all I did for a good number of years. One day, the manager of a shopping center we were sweeping asked if I'd be interested in sweeping the streets at a mini complex that had been built behind it.