Getting ready for the winter season

By Rbecca Groff, correspondent

November 1, 2014 | 8:00 pm

Tis not quite the season yet, but winter and its accompanying notorious four-letter word are edging closer with each falling leaf.

While many of the areas snow removal companies offer diversified services that include concrete work and green services such as mowing, fertilizing and landscaping, the time to prepare for the snow removal portion of their business is at hand.

Its a big conversion going from lawn care and landscaping over to snow, said Greg Scharf, who has owned and operated Gregs Lawn, Landscaping and Snow Removal for the past 31 years.

We work on trucks year-round getting them ready for the snow season. Snow is the worst thing you can do to a truck, he said.

Scharf has four full-time mechanics dedicated to keeping the trucks and equipments in operating condition. While he plans to add on a great deal of part-time seasonal workers to help with snow removal, he said it is becoming more difficult these days to find them.

The economy is changing and people are loosening up with their purse strings a little bit more, he noted. With more people putting on house additions and the like, that is what is consuming a lot of the labor pool. We just cant bring them on fast enough right now.

In a good season, such as last years persistent snowfall, this line of work isnt for the faint of heart.

We were running 24 hours a day, and last year it seemed like it hit us every weekend, he recalled. It just kills your guys.

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Getting ready for the winter season