How to get the best ROI for your sweeper investment
By Lori Helms
As a small business owner in the world of paving and asphalt contract work, you’ve likely gotten used to wearing many hats (usually stacking them two and three high at once). When you’re not acting simultaneously as your business’ marketing director and lead estimator, you’re also occupied with maintaining a productive and professional labor force while answering phones, emails and text messages.
But one of the more critical hats you wear, for better or for worse, is that of chief financial officer. Someone’s got to handle the money flow, whether it means collecting what’s owed to you or paying the bills to keep the lights on and the equipment rolling. It’s a role that requires a valuable skill set, and implicit in all of that is your ability to evaluate the best way to spend those hard-earned dollars.
To help you along that journey, this month we’ve contacted some industry professionals to guide you if you’re considering the purchase of a small street sweeper or sweeper attachments rather than contracting out that work or renting equipment. They’ve provided several helpful tips – everything from how to determine the type of equipment best suited for your line of services to how to make the most of such a critical investment. We specifically asked them what should be kept in mind when considering investing in the purchase of a small sweeper, as well when the option of purchasing sweeper attachments for use with existing equipment would make more sense.
“When considering the size of a street sweeper, there are a few key factors to account for,” says Chad Schiele, product manager for Elgin Sweeper. “Those include street size, climate and the distance to the dump site. In urban areas, maneuverability will be important. This is where a three-wheel sweeper would be beneficial.”
He says a region’s climate could also help determine the type of sweeper needed. As an example, he says a pure vacuum sweeper would be ideal for porous pavement in rainy climates, whereas projects in a dry climate would benefit from a dust control system on the street sweeper. He also adds that the distance to the dump site for the debris collected is important — if it’s a long distance, the sweeper will require a larger hopper.
Joe Hendrickson, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Schwarze Industries, says it’s also important to consider the type of project requiring a sweeping service. For smaller parking lot maintenance, seal coating or pavement striping jobs, a multipurpose attachment to collect, contain and haul off debris should do the trick.
“You don’t have to have a dedicated (sweeper),” he says, adding that such attachments have a relatively low cost of entry. “You can tow it with a pickup truck and park it on the job site – just sweep and go.” He says he understands that for paving contractors, time is of the essence and that subcontracting that work out may not always be the best use of time and financial resources. “The more a contractor is in control with being able to do those things, it helps out with their efficiency on the job site,” Hendrickson says.
But when purchasing an entirely separate piece of equipment isn’t necessarily in the cards, sweeper attachments that can work in conjunction with your existing smaller equipment such as skid steers, loaders or tractors are an attractive option.
“If you’re paying two or three laborers to broom by hand every job, you’re already over budget,” says Erich Schmidt, founder of CMC Equipment. “A sweeper attachment can pay for itself in weeks just by reclaiming those man-hours.” Schmidt believes there is definitely a strong return on your investment by using a skid steer broom attachment rather than renting sweeper equipment or subbing out the work.
“Contractors often think renting or subbing out sweeping is cheaper,” he says. “But by the time the truck shows up late, your crew is standing around and the site’s still not clean, you’ve lost time and money. Owning a reliable broom attachment gives you control and cuts those losses immediately. … A skid steer broom gives you flexibility. You already have the skid steer on-site – adding an attachment that replaces a dedicated sweeper truck keeps your fleet lean and your budget tighter.”
Whether it’s the purchase of a stand-alone piece of sweeping equipment or an attachment for items you already own, these professionals all agree it’s not always about the actual purchase price – it’s about what spending those funds will save you in the long run. Hendrickson, whose company specializes in all manners of street sweeper sizes and options, says you should consider how using your available cash can help your business make more money by enabling you to offer your customers more services.
Those same considerations exist when it comes to the option of sweeper attachment purchases, according to Schmidt. “I always tell customers – don’t just ask how much the broom costs,” he says. “Ask how many hours of labor it replaces, how many delays it prevents and how many tools it consolidates. That’s where the real value is.”
