Niagara Lawn and Garden Equipment

SITE: 11½ ACRE RETAIL LOT
LOCATION: NIAGARA FALLS, NY

Average annual snowfall: 84”-96
Sno Pusher type: Steel Edge Sno Pusher
Equipment: Pushers
Keywords: EFFICIENCY, TRADITIONAL PLOW VS CONTAINMENT PLOW, REDUCED SNOW MELT COSTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Niagara Lawn and Garden is a midsized snow removal operation in Niagara Falls, NY. This case study spotlights the Steel Edge Sno Pusher and how Niagara Lawn was able to reduce its man hours 40% by using Sno Pushers over truck plows. It also uncovers another benefit that is unique to the Steel Edge Sno Pusher- it reduced their salt usage on their site to almost nil as a result of the steel edge cleaning hard pack snow.

COMPANY BACKGROUND
Niagara Lawn and Garden Equipment is a retailer of lawn and garden equipment. It started its snow removal business in 2006 to increase revenue in the winter months. Its snow removal operations have rapidly grown and currently make up 60% of its business. Niagara Lawn and Garden has 10 snow removal employees clearing 11 lots including retail and shopping mall lots. Its snow removal fleet consists of loaders (Case 621, Trojan 3500Z, Deere 44E, 540H, 644H, 644D), a John Deere 310G backhoe, 6 pickups, a single axel truck, a tandem truck, and two snowblowers. It owns a Pro-Tech 14’ Steel Edge Sno Pusher (IS14L) for use on one of its loaders.

SITE INFORMATION
Niagara Lawn and Garden removes snow from the 11.5 acre Target parking lot in Niagara Falls. The lot is extremely busy and frequent with traffic which causes hard packed snow. There are many islands and lampposts. Loading docks at the back of the store must also be cleared. There are several long pushes of 200-300’. The lot receives 84”-96” of snow annually with an average storm of 5”.

COMPARISON: BEFORE & AFTER THE ADDITION OF PRO-TECH SNO PUSHERS

Before: The lot would be cleared by windowing the aisles with two pickups with straight blade plows and using a loader to pile the snow in designated areas. The hard pack caused by traffic would require a lot of salt before the lot could be cleared. The bucket of the loader was frequently needed to break up and clear hard packed snow. A typical storm would take 3 employees and 5 hours, requiring a total of 15 man hours to clear the lot.

After: Niagara Lawn and Garden began using a 14′ Pro-Tech Steel Edge Sno Pusher with a Case 621 loader on the lot two winters ago. The Steel Edge Sno Pusher easily scrapes away the hard pack to the point of the pavement being clean. Niagara Lawn and Garden experienced this result with three different operators. They credit the quality of the Sno Pusher with being able to get consistent results no matter the operator. The Sno Pusher is used to clear all open areas of the lot and easily clears the long 200-300’ pushes. Two pickups with plows are used to trim areas around islands, curbs, and cars. In a typical storm, it now takes 3 employees 3 hours to clear the lot, requiring a total of 9 man hours. Adding one Pro-Tech Sno Pusher allowed Niagara Lawn and Garden to reduce its man hours at the lot by 40%. In addition to saving man hours, salt was no longer needed because of the Steel Edge Sno Pusher’s ability to clear hard pack.

QUOTES
“I love it. I want to buy two more”
“I won’t buy anything other than the Steel Edge Sno Pusher”
“The shoes are idiot proof, where ever you put it, it will sit level”
“Used with three people and it was all the same quality, so you know it’s the Pusher.”
“Saved having to go back at night… so much cleaner”
“The Steel Edge Sno Pusher easily scraped up what cars went over, it’s incredible”
“It was paid for by what I saved in salt”
“I couldn’t believe how well it cleaned hard pack”

Niagara Lawn and Garden Equipment
Mike Richards
4835 Saunders Settlement Rd
Niagara Falls, NY 14305

Office: 716-297-4783