BX25D. Mod #1 and continued.

[4shorts]

Hey Paul, did you stop doing snow removal for others? I know you talked about it but with the record snowfall this season I was wondering if you decided to plow or not. Of course that would be extra income for you. Just curious. Thanks, Stanley

Paul, I live just down the road from Stanley... I guess us locals here are all curious why you aren't out all night, snow-removing for fun and profit? Though it looks like you got enough right there at home to keep busy!

Well guys I'm not doing any commercial snow clearing this winter. I've wanted to take a break from it for the last two years but kept doing it until this fall. The contract requirements changed and I didn't like one of the items stated in it so I said NOPE, NOT INTERESTED!

The item in the contract stated that no matter how much snow fell from Friday evening threw Sunday evening no snow clearing was to be performed on the weekends. Well that meant that I would have to start cleaning up in the early hours of Monday morning then have to still open the shop at 8:30 Monday morning.

Now just think about it. If we had a pile of snow on a Friday night and Saturday it started to rain then froze it would be a heck of a time to try and clean everything up and if it got cold enough I might not have been able to actually get it done so I said " I'm out" and walked away from it.

Glad I did now because we've had more snow this winter than we've had in the last ten years and if I had taken the contract I would have lost big time with all this snow so it actually was a blessing that I didn't go for it.

2012-13 has been record years for us in business and 2014 is looking to be even better so we really don't miss being up half the night pushing snow.

Well you asked :laughing:

 

[dragoneggs]

The item in the contract stated that no matter how much snow fell from Friday evening threw Sunday evening no snow clearing was to be performed on the weekends. Well that meant that I would have to start cleaning up in the early hours of Monday morning then have to still open the shop at 8:30 Monday morning.

Now just think about it. If we had a pile of snow on a Friday night and Saturday it started to rain then froze it would be a heck of a time to try and clean everything up and if it got cold enough I might not have been able to actually get it done so I said " I'm out" and walked away from it.

I suppose someone stupidly decided it was a issue of 'not disturbing the folk on the weekend' or more likely they didn't want to pay for plowing that might not be necessary by Monday morning hoping that the snow might happen to go away by then? Oh, and public safety doesn't apply on weekends... I forgot.

 

[Kubotafan]

Glad I did now because we've had more snow this winter than we've had in the last ten years and if I had taken the contract I would have lost big time with all this snow so it actually was a blessing that I didn't go for it.

I once had a boss, a Moulton from NFLD, who used to say, "You might as well be an idle fool as a busy fool." No since working yourself deeper into the hole.

 

[4shorts]

I suppose someone stupidly decided it was a issue of 'not disturbing the folk on the weekend' or more likely they didn't want to pay for plowing that might not be necessary by Monday morning hoping that the snow might happen to go away by then? Oh, and public safety doesn't apply on weekends... I forgot.

It was a cost saving measure that wasn't thought out very well in my opinion. My argument was:

It's a government rented building owned by a private individual who I was dealing with for over 20 years. This building has an FRC (Fast Recrew Craft) that may be used in the case of an emergency to save lives. If the lot is not cleared on the weekends and an emergency occurs and they can't gain access to the building someone could perish.

My other point is: In the event of a fire if the fire department couldn't gain access to the building due to the amount of snow on the property the building could be lost.

My thoughts were IF any of these situations arose and someone died or the building was lost and there was an inquiry the end result would be the owner blaming the contractor (ME) and I could be held responsible for all loses becuase the owner didn't give me anything in writing, it was all verbal so rather than take the risk I bowed out and walked away.

If I can't do my work properly I won't do it at all and I think I proved this with my actions in this case. .

I once had a boss, a Moulton from NFLD, who used to say, "You might as well be an idle fool as a busy fool." No since working yourself deeper into the hole.

Well I say something similar. I say it's better to be doing nothing than working for nothing, At least it isn't costing you anything.

 

[srs]

The contract requirements changed and I didn't like one of the items stated in it so I said NOPE, NOT INTERESTED!


2012-13 has been record years for us in business and 2014 is looking to be even better so we really don't miss being up half the night pushing snow.

Well you asked :laughing:

Good for you Paul.

 

[varmint]

Paul, you were absolutely right in walking away from that. Even if you had needed the money badly, that sounds like a raw deal, and one that serves no one, except those who don't like their sleep disturbed at all. Lets hope that nobody is harmed because of that stupid policy. We down here are dealing with lots of ice events this winter, but so far, nothing really bad.

 

[WaxMan]

Well guys I'm not doing any commercial snow clearing this winter. I've wanted to take a break from it for the last two years but kept doing it until this fall. The contract requirements changed and I didn't like one of the items stated in it so I said NOPE, NOT INTERESTED!

The item in the contract stated that no matter how much snow fell from Friday evening threw Sunday evening no snow clearing was to be performed on the weekends. Well that meant that I would have to start cleaning up in the early hours of Monday morning then have to still open the shop at 8:30 Monday morning.

Now just think about it. If we had a pile of snow on a Friday night and Saturday it started to rain then froze it would be a heck of a time to try and clean everything up and if it got cold enough I might not have been able to actually get it done so I said " I'm out" and walked away from it.

Glad I did now because we've had more snow this winter than we've had in the last ten years and if I had taken the contract I would have lost big time with all this snow so it actually was a blessing that I didn't go for it.

2012-13 has been record years for us in business and 2014 is looking to be even better so we really don't miss being up half the night pushing snow.

Well you asked :laughing:

Hello Paul, Happy New Year, When I asked, what you said below, why your not plowing it was because you were not making any money? I think the guy just told you that nonsense of no weekend plowing, maybe you were charging too much and he wanted a change? A record snow fall this year? I'm sure that yard is being plowed on the weekends. You brought up two good points on why it has to be plowed.
On the good side At least now you have more time to modify.:thumbsup:

First and for most our tractor is part of our business. If there's one thing I'm good at then it would have to be my business skills. Our tractors are paid for, our business has done well but in the last few years with our booming economy it seems that everyone including their dog got a plow truck or a small tractor. Its great to see everyone doing well but when these guys go out bidding on snow clearing contracts and keep knocking the prices down to the point where its not worth firing up the machine then its just as well to leave it parked.

I won't miss the 4am wake ups either and trying to get all the snow pushed before the rain starts. We are seeing less and less snow each winter. Although its not etched in stone yet that we'll completely give up snow clearing its at the 80% mark that we will.
It will be the first time in 25 years that I can take my wife on a cruise or jump on a plane and go see our two sons when we feel like and not let the winter dictate where and what we do and that sounds really sweet to me.

Also the customer has some blame in this. The last few years we would take on some private driveways to clear. People would beg us to take them on as customers. They knew our record for safety was good, they knew we were reliable so we'd quote a price by the push because they didn't want a contract. Well we'd give them a good price but when the winter came they would only call and ask to have their snow cleared when there was a Hugh pile of snow in it. We would quote them on an adverage snowfall and over the course of the winter it would all balance out but it really didn't when they only called when there was a major dump of snow. Mid way through the winter we told them if the snow is deeper than 15 cm's then the price doubled. That worked out better.

I'm really looking forward to a winter without snow clearing BUT if I do decide to go at it again you can tell yourself "Paul's making money now"

 

[4shorts]

Paul, you were absolutely right in walking away from that. Even if you had needed the money badly, that sounds like a raw deal, and one that serves no one, except those who don't like their sleep disturbed at all. Lets hope that nobody is harmed because of that stupid policy. We down here are dealing with lots of ice events this winter, but so far, nothing really bad.

Thanks Varmint. The property owner and I have been friends for over 20 years but friends or not when I get that uneasy feeling in my gut I have to act on it and if anything happens on that property due to lack of access because of snow someone is in a pile of trouble. It's safe to say it won't be me
The revenue from the snow clearing was minimal to our business so it really won't be missed

Hello Paul, Happy New Year, When I asked, what you said below, why your not plowing it was because you were not making any money? I think the guy just told you that nonsense of no weekend plowing, maybe you were charging too much and he wanted a change? A record snow fall this year? I'm sure that yard is being plowed on the weekends. You brought up two good points on why it has to be plowed.
On the good side At least now you have more time to modify.:thumbsup:

And Happy New Year to you as well. Yes we made money at it although if we took it on this year we would have lost out because this past December was the snowiest December since 1901 so this happening was a real break in the fact we're not wearing out a 150 hour tractor pushing massive amounts of snow for the same money we got for the last seven years.
One company announced today that they are loosing $10.000 a month because of all the snow they are clearing. That's nasty stuff.
There was no argument about pricing, it was about weekend plowing. This popped up two years ago and I refused to stop. I think the real reason the owner wants to stop weekend plowing is to force the government to pay out more money to him for weekend snow clearing. He always stated he wasn't getting paid to do it on the weekends. My question to him that he didn't answer was why stop now after 20 years of doing it.
He didn't answer.
No snow clearing has been done on the weekends with the exception of late one Sunday evening when heavy rains were forecast for the next day. Wise move in my opinion.

 

[WaxMan]

Paul, I came across this the other day and it put a smile on my face, I thought I would repost it.

I'll bet, Paul, if you and I got together on mods we can get a Kubota cab to look like this in no time,:thumbsup: we'll make it a two seater, I can go plowing with you, when you get tired, I can take over plowing and you can watch the gauges.

Wax.. notice all the cars pull over when we go by, that's because they want to get a better look at the tractor, ......yeah you're right, look at that ?.wait ? Paul ! we got the off road led's on, they'er blinded ...thats why there pulling over ?Oops

Oh boy I can see the arguments now back in the shop. Paul we don't need a gauge to tell us how long the backup alarm is ringing, we need one to let us know the vacuum cleaner bag quality.
Wax we need six switches for the backup alarm, I want six switches ?.. Right sound, left sound, just lights, lights and sound, no sound, quiet sound. Ok but I want a backup alarm master switch?..
So ... seven switches it is .... Did you bring lunch?, I thought you did.
Check the gauges, I think we have a gauge for that somewhere. :laughing:

 

[Kubotafan]

Paul, I came across this the other day and it put a smile on my face, I thought I would repost it.

I'll bet, Paul, if you and I got together on mods we can get a Kubota cab to look like this in no time,:thumbsup: we'll make it a two seater, I can go plowing with you, when you get tired, I can take over plowing and you can watch the gauges.

Wax.. notice all the cars pull over when we go by, that's because they want to get a better look at the tractor, ......yeah you're right, look at that ?.wait ? Paul ! we got the off road led's on, they'er blinded ...thats why there pulling over ?Oops

Oh boy I can see the arguments now back in the shop. Paul we don't need a gauge to tell us how long the backup alarm is ringing, we need one to let us know the vacuum cleaner bag quality.
Wax we need six switches for the backup alarm, I want six switches ?.. Right sound, left sound, just lights, lights and sound, no sound, quiet sound. Ok but I want a backup alarm master switch?..
So ... seven switches it is .... Did you bring lunch?, I thought you did.
Check the gauges, I think we have a gauge for that somewhere. :laughing:

Is that the new Kubota Cab???? Wow!!!!!! Tier 4 DOES make a difference!!!!