HALIFAX – The lack of snow in the Halifax area so far this year has been great news for people who don’t like winter, but it’s not good news if your living depends on the snow.
By this time last year, the Halifax area had been hit with eight snow storms – and that was just in the month of December. This December, there hasn’t been one snow storm requiring snow plows or snow blowers.
Mostafa Rashidi, who operates Mr. Junk Removal, has used his truck to remove junk for the last three years. He bought a snow plow for his truck this year, after all the snow last winter. “I get customers, but still no snow,” said Rashidi, “and we waiting for snow.”
For established businesses like MBA Landscaping, they’ve kept busy, despite the lack of snow. “We stay busy with any excavation work or trenching work,” said Matt Williams. “Even in the last two weeks, we’ve put in some gravel bases for like a brick patio or walkway.”
MBA hasn’t had any layoffs because the work has been steady. “We were even laying large sod jobs in the middle of December,” said Williams.
He says MBA has about 70% of clients under contract for snow removal, and that’s the key for anyone in the business. “A lot of the smaller businesses just do a per push, so it’s kind of rolling the dice if you’re going to go that route,” said Williams.
If you have a contract to clear a large parking lot like the one at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax, you are probably smiling these days with no snow so far. But if you’re a small operator, who only gets paid each time you plow, you’re probably struggling.
That’s the case for Rashidi. He only has about 15 customers and only three of them are under contract. The rest pay by the job each time. “Yeah it’s very tough and no work, no job, no money,” said Rashidi.
Rashidi suffered an eye injury from welding and that’s why he started his own business. Junk removal is steady in the summer, but not now he notes. “Junk removal is very, very slow because it’s cold.”
For Rashidi and others like him, there’s good news in the forecast; snow is expected in the next week.
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