After today, Temps are dropping below freezing… 8+ inches of snow is predicted for Wednesday… and the long range looks pretty grim for the next few weeks before Christmas. I will be laying off my crew expect my full time guy to handle the misc jobs that we are able to work in. 2016 was a huge growth year and profitable year for us. I will start diving into metrics and numbers shortly after Christmas and I hope we can start some good discussions as we plan out 2017 and beyond. Also, I bought a new house I am fixing up so if any of you want to come help me hang sheet rock and paint…
Looking forward to this conversation!
Love that stuff!
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Ummm usually spackle comes before paint… Just letting you 
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Coming from the guy who never finished painting that room…
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The mere thought of drywall dust had me reaching for my albuterol…possibly my least favorite chore in the world! Congrats on a successful 2016 and all the best in the coming year.
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Yeah, tomorrow will be our last full day of work. We got thru all of our existing customers on Saturday just before 3" of snow came in Sunday. I see the temps starting Wednesday and that’s enough to shut down residential for the season. Last year we were working well into December cuz of the warm temps so we’ll do considerably less than last December but overall we hit out estimates for the year for gross income so that’s a win.
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Do your guys file for unemployment insurance over the winter? How has this affected you? This is the first year I will have a full time guy on unemployment over the winter so I’m unsure how much rates will go up.
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With 8" of snow expected by Wednesday will there be any demand for roof snow removal? I just saw the Cut N Slide video and it looks intriguing.
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Ha… still not done. Week after Xmas. Kitchen an stairway 
No chop busting either . My wife is mad cool. She knows I’m out there making the donuts
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Yikes - we rarely get that much in an entire winter here!
Enjoy the house renovation. 
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We had a very good December in 2015 and would have had the best December in 2016 if the weather wasnt going to be so bad. But… we made up with the best November ever… 112% increase over last year…
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My regular Techs file for Unemployment. To be honest its not that big of an expense. In missouri your unemployment is based off what you earn from June to June. So it would from from June of 2015 to June of 2016. Half of my guys started in april or may. I only know of 2 guys that for sure will file for unemployment, the rest have kids and need to make money so they are looking for winter jobs.
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I dont know if there is any demand or not… if there was I’m not interested. We do well enough march-december to not have to hit it hard in the winter. Now if I found another uber profitable service to add on for the winter I would be interested, but I have no motivation to freeze my butt off or have employees hating their job cause their out in sub zero temps unless I am making $$$$. I use to have a large commercial storefront route and I sold it several years ago and its one of the best business decisions I have ever made. I also have other business/investment ideas and projects and the down time in this industry allows me to pursue those opportunities.
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We keep working. “lucky” I guess that we don’t freeze out but around Christmas things die. Once we take down holiday lights it’s our dead season.
Tried many things over the dead season. Believe this year. 50% of crew will go on unemployment, 50% will stay on with the idea of 1-2 days max in the field 3-4 working in the office with me.
Whatever happens, i know I don’t want to leave the office in Feb.
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thanks a lot for the info Kyle.
Last December may never be repeated for weather and this November was pretty awesome, wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirt in WI on November 18th.
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Do you have to pay unemployment to the people you lay off? Forgive my ignorance…
If they file and qualify
Our last day is next Friday. We had a full week scheduled for next week, but had to front-load everything on to tomorrow and Sunday because the hard freeze is coming next Wednesday.
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