The snowflakes are falling and the parking lot of the Scuba Shack in Rocky Hill is starting to look like a bobsled run. But inside, Ralph Correia is busy checking his diving gear and preparing for a certification class at the Cornerstone Pool in West Hartford.
The winter months can be cruel to seasonal businesses but Scuba Shack founder Ed Hayes has found he can maintain a consistent cash flow by shifting his focus from selling gear to teaching lessons.
“We prepare financially for this year-round,” says Hayes. “This is a great time for us to do inventory, set up new products and plan for the next year.”
Finding ways to avoid a cash flow crisis is the common bond for landscaping companies, pool cleaners, roofers and other seasonal contractors who depend on the kindness of Mother Nature. And necessity is the mother of invention.
Over at Veneziano Construction Co. Inc., workers at the homebuilding business in Rocky Hill are booked solid this winter with remodeling projects.
Owner and mason contractor Santo Veneziano, who specializes in the $1 million-plus home market, credits his company’s success to excellent time management and his dedication to save. He pays special attention to how and when he meets clients’ needs at particular times of the year.
Veneziano prefers to save the bulk of his framing and interior trim work for the off-season when low temperatures make it uncomfortable to work outside. He saves the exterior work for warmer months when the days are longer and he has a larger crew he can schedule.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re busy right now,” said Veneziano. “Winter is usually our most challenging time. We were like squirrels in 2010, working and saving hard to store up our small stash of nuts to get us through the long winter.”
During the busy months, Veneziano tries to save up enough money to fund his business for five months — four months worth for operating expenses and routine bills and one month for new equipment and supplies.
Veneziano, who has roughly 22 workers during the peak months and seven during the off-season, says many of his laid-off employees take jobs in family restaurants, retail shops or go on unemployment until new positions open up.
At Russo Lawn and Landscape in Windsor Locks, owner Mike Russo has the opposite challenge. His business, which caters to commercial clients in the Greater Hartford region, employs an estimated 65 workers during the warmer months. When the chill hits, he hires up to 300 people.
For the past six seasons, Russo has supplied Roncari Express Valet Parking with around-the-clock crews to shovel, scrape and wipe snow from the 3,000-plus cars that park at the 45-acre lot daily.
At any given time during the snow season, at least 20 groundskeepers are busy working on the lot, said Paul Murdock, general manager of Roncari Express Valet Parking.
“It’s a budget buster,” said Murdock. “Like any municipal highway operation, we allow for a certain amount of snow removal in the season, but the amounts and frequency of storms this year have been killing us.”
David Peterson faces the same dilemma every year.
The owner of Peterson Landscaping Services, Inc. in West Hartford scales back from 10 contractors to six during his off-season, which usually hits mid-November to early March.
Peterson, who rehires his workers when projects pick back up, uses the busy spring and summer seasons to pay his operating expenses and build cash reserves for the slower winter months.
Peterson offers snow removal services for a small group of customers as a way to help pull in extra revenue during the cooler months, but doesn’t advertise that because he worries he might get overwhelmed with calls.
Instead, Peterson prefers to use the slower months to bid on new projects for the spring, clean lawn equipment and coordinate activities for the trade group.
“Everything is contingent on the weather. You might see 130 inches of snow one day and then nothing at all the next day,” says Peterson.
Many landscaping businesses shift from routine lawn care to seasonal yard decorations as a way to keep money coming in during the winter, said Peterson, also a board member of the Connecticut Grounds Keepers Association.
“The holidays are a great opportunity for landscaping businesses because you can add on to existing services,” said Peterson. “People like to decorate and set up lights around their homes and yards for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“It’s a natural side business for someone in this industry who has clients already and needs to make a little extra cash during the slow months,” said Peterson.
It would take more than 10 feet of snow to deter the folks at the Scuba Shack, where retail sales account for 60 percent of business during the off-season. Hayes, who employs 10 instructors and a handful of technicians, believes the down time can help strengthen a company’s position in the marketplace.
Instead of cutting hours or letting people go when business slows down between December and April, he uses the time to perform routine maintenance and brush up on certifications.
“It’s easy for a business to look at the big picture but everything is in the details,” says Hayes. “You can have friendly instructors but what if they don’t dive? You can have a beautiful facility, but it doesn’t mean anything if there’s nothing in it. This is the time to work out those little details.”
