The advantage of having them work on it in the winter is that
they know what to do if they are on a job in the summer and
something goes wrong. We also do special projects such as tree
clearing. For example, a customer had a problem with his fence
lines, which were causing security problems, so we cleared those
out. It just keeps our guys going through the year.”
Keeping those employees happy can sometimes be a challenge.
“Some of our crews can be very clique-ish. If we put a new man on
a crew and the foreman doesn’t like him, then we don’t make him
keep him. They have to like each other. We have 20-30 crews go
out the door in the morning and we want to keep them happy and
looking out for one another. We want to prevent little things from
getting blown out of proportion.”
Normally, the guys at Lot Maintenance just work a lot overtime,
but this year has been so busy for them, that they’ve added six
employees this year. “I’d rather my guys have the overtime. With
new hires, you have to train them and you may go through two
to three guys before you find someone. That affects productivity.”
Running Equipment
Albert buys most of the company’s equipment used. “We buy
from city surplus and online auctions, and rebuild it to keep
costs down. A new street sweeper can cost you $200,000, and
a VACTOR is $300,000. We’ve found that new machines are
not any more reliable than a used machine that has been wellmaintained.”
Most of Lot Maintenance’s equipment maintenance is done inhouse with several mechanics on staff to lend their expertise to the
other employees. The mechanics are also relied upon to rebuild
the equipment and keep it running. Although Albert loves the
old Mobils, they run a lot of Schwarzes as well. “We’re trying
to buy an Elgin right now because of their improved conveyor
system. I haven’t bought a brand new street sweeper for 25 years.
Some of those old machines are bulletproof while the new ones are
difficult to work on—too much electric and hydraulic. With the
older ones, you can fix something on the spot if it breaks.”
the city and state where mowing contractors failed because they
couldn’t keep up with the mowing. We just had to turn another
contract down. We’ll bid on it next year, but right now, we would
just be another problem, not a solution. The contract is for 250
locations and the knee high grass is causing safety and traffic
problems. I understand their concern and would like to help, so we
are just taking the hot spots, primarily the visibility restrictions.”
Limiting Your Liability
When Lot Maintenance is out on a job, they typically leave the big
tractors on the side of the highway to pick up mowing where they
left off the next day. “We’ve had some of our equipment stolen
from jobs so we decided to put GPS tracking devices on all of our
equipment,” says Albert. “Every tractor, trailer, skid steer and
sweeper has a GPS on it. If one of our tractors fires up after hours,
we know that someone is stealing it. Our insurance loves it because
it gives us a better chance of recovering it. It’s great added security.
“The technology has really evolved in the past year and is
reasonably priced now. There was some push back from our guys
about monitoring them, but it’s been a great tool. We get reports
if someone is speeding, or driving aggressively. We also get
maintenance reports from the GPS system, such as when the oil
needs changed. It’s one of the smartest things we’ve done. I wish
we hadn’t waited so long to do this.”
Next
Albert and his team are always on the look out for emerging
trends and holes in a market where they can fill a need. This everevolving concept has helped Lot Maintenance expand to meet the
demands of a changing market.
“I think that it becomes pretty common for businesses to evolve.
There seem to be fewer and fewer large sweeping companies in
the U.S. that just do sweeping. I love to hear those stories about
how businesses change. I have a friend back east that was a large
sweeping contractor when I first got into it, and now he’s one of
the largest rotomilling contractors. It’s very interesting to hear
how the guys get into different areas.
Lot Maintenance runs 10 street sweepers: seven mechanical
and three air. “There is a need for each of those machines. We
run mechanical 80 percent of the time because we mainly do
construction and road clean up. If we were sweeping Tulsa on a
monthly basis then we would use more air.
“Our business will continue to change and grow as the needs of
the market demands. Right now, we are transitioning the
company and it is 80 percent female-owned. By the end of the
year, it will be 100 percent.”
“You always need to have back-up equipment,” says Albert.
“But, right now, even my back-up equipment is out running
most of the time. We typically keep 15-20 percent of equipment
in reserve, but this equipment is busy and my guys are working
70 hours a week.”
Resources
Busy, Busy, Busy
“With this cool and rainy summer, we’ve had a big growing
season. In the last three weeks, we’ve gotten four new contracts for
www.nasweep er.com
Story by Jennifer Taylor
For more information:
? Lot Maintenance, www.lotmaintenance.com
? Elgin, www.elginsweeper.com
? Schwarze, www.schwarze.com
? VACTOR, www.vactor.com
N O V E MB E R 2 0 1 3 N O RT H A ME R I C A N S WE E P E R 1 5