Separate ways or stick together???

[yardsmith]

I finally have 2 trucks now to use for plowing, & my dad is helping out by driving the other truck. He is relatively new to plowing, but learning at a good rate.
My question is: those of you who have a few trucks (but not a fleet) do you pair up & tackle places together, or go in diff. directions to get the route done sooner?
Both would have advantages, esp. if one gets stuck the other guy is right there to help. On the other hand, 2 trucks do not double your efficiency on 1 property.
What do some of you guys do, or do you do both occaisionally? For now we'll be on the road together, esp. until he learns the ropes.

[landscaper3]

We split up to do seperate areas. Otherwise we may bump into eachother. I have tried plowing areas with 2 trucks and found only time savers are bigger areas like Wallmart size lots.

[JD PLOWER]

Yardsmith, we have three trucks plus subs, and if we stay together it usually means it's a really bad storm. The other thing to remember is how close are your accounts to each other? Sticking together at first while someone is learning the ropes or if your checking out a sub contractor is a good idea, but efficiency is the name of the game and splitting up is the way to go.

[diggerman]

The faster you show more people you are plowing the better.Its better to have started two places when a truck breaks down than to have only gotten more of one done.

[Alan]

We've got a few places where we tag team with two trucks. But our usual practice is to go in several directions at once. For the past few years we've had two trucks, this year it will be 3 and hopefully 4 if I can get my act together and get the last one sandblasted and painted and a mounting frame made for it. At times we will try to get two trucks in the same area, like our local industrial park. We do five buildings there and it's close enough for our hand radios to talk between rigs which makes it nice if somebody gets hung up. We haven't expanded the route much this year, but we did trade some small accounts for a few bigger ones. I'm hoping that with the extra truck or two we will be able to get around the route faster and give better service. If we can cover the route faster we will increase revenue by being able to get more pushes out of a heavy storm.

[JCurtis]

I agree with the rest of the guys. if you have a bad storm or a large lot stick together.

If you have alot of small driveways or parking lots, split up.

I would recommend (if you don't already)to invest in either a radio communication system or cell phones so you can keep in touch if you break down or need help at a site.

[n y snow pros]

I agree with the majority here we split up. if 1 truck gets in trouble we can help him out ,but otherwise too many pieces of equipment at 1 location means congestion

[GeoffDiamond]

Residentials are one truck opps. However I have several lots where a couple of trucks work together.

Geoff

[Deere John]

We talked and agreed that we get more done when apart - less coffee consumed, fewer pit stops....

Jackpot proof your route - then just the truck to worry about.

John

[Edited by Deere John on 11-22-2000 at 06:17 PM]

[iowastorm]

You always split up unless you're all going to the bar to take a break.

[yardsmith]

thanks for the replies; it kinda goes with what I was thinking. Once my guy gets better, & I get the plow put on my new ('80) shortbed, we'll split up, except for big lots.
We have walkie talkies for same site communie, & cell phones for everything else. Should be nice for plowing, cuz majority of plowing will be on 'free nights & weekends' hours :)

[plowking35]

While we spilt up, we always have at least 2 trucks on the same route, that way another truck is never far away. Only one truck at a time in a lot tho.
Dino

[CCLC]

The only time that we have more than one truck on the lot is when we are at the hospital that we plow. We split up after that but we are never more than 5 miles away from each other. We all have Nextel for communication so we can keep on top of things and to make sure others don't need an extra hand finishing up.

[SLC1]

We run 5 trucks plus one loader with pusher and 4 of the trucks all have there own routes and are never together the loader and one truck stay together almost the entire time. IT is just better to have everyone doing there own thing, that way all your customers will see you at there locations more and there would be less chance of running into each other. Just My two cents