GOODALL LANDSCAPING of Topsham has been in Delaware since Monday helping clear predominantly Home Depot parking lots around the clock after a blizzard hit this part of the east coast. The crew expected to head to Maryland next.
When Mother Nature dumps higher than normal amounts of snow on parts of the east coast not equipped to handle it, local contractor Goodall Landscaping normally finds themselves busy clearing snow in their own backyard.
However, after a weekend storm dumped at least two feet of snow on the eastern seaboard but missing much of New England, the Topsham company was able to mobilize and head south with a convoy of experienced employees and snow gear to help with the daunting amount of commercial parking lot cleanup needed.
Laura-Lee Bishop is the operations manager for Goodall leading the team, which is busy working around the clock in shifts clearing parking lots at Home Depot stores. She has five guys and is running three crews with three pieces of equipment — two skid steers and a John Deere 4520 tractor. Tuesday at noon they were in Newark, Delaware but expected to start hitting the many Home Depot stores in Maryland. They will likely be working through the week and possibly the weekend too before returning home.
Bishop has been getting her orders from the maintenance management company Goodall Landscaping is working with about every half hour and going wherever needed to put out fires. They cleared a total of three parking lots Monday and had cleared two by noon Tuesday. There is at least 2 feet of snow cover and more in some areas where snow was pushed by plows opening up the parking lots but not clearing them.
“We’re getting the nooks and crannies and moving it,” she said. Staff at the stores have been amazed at how fast the crews can move the snow and how they maneuver the equipment.
“I’ve got a great team behind me to help me,” Bishop said.
The team left at 11:30 p.m. Sunday and arrived at their first stop at around 9:30 a.m. Monday. On the way they passed cars still buried in snow in New York and at a service stop of the highway in New Jersey several tractor trailer trucks were still plowed into their parking spots.
In Delaware Bishop said people are going about their business still and they’re seeing plowed but more narrow roads and tight intersections. She’s been told some of the secondary roads haven’t been touched yet. There are other contractors who have traveled from away to help with the cleanup and one Goodall employee saw at least one other Maine company in their travels.
Being able to help out in these large snow events crippling metropolitan areas is something owner Ben Goodall said he’s always wanted to do but in the past the company has always been busy tackling storms at home. The quiet week of winter in Maine afforded Goodall Landscaping the opportunity to bring some of its snow gear down to an area where it seems the contractors there aren’t prepared for the kind of snow we’re used to up here.
Goodall said he’s heard that some areas where the annual snow fall might be 15 inches for the entire winter have received 30 inches in this single storm — more than they can handle. His company has a good relationship with the national maintenance management companies it has worked for a number of years and he said they are appreciative of the help.
Goodall sent a small team and only a portion of the snow gear to ensure it can cover its responsibilities in Maine where their current customers are the priority. The logistics were a bit of a concern but Goodall said they were able to take some of the more mobile pieces of equipment that are still effective for moving large quantities of snow.
“Where it’s been a lighter winter, it’s a good way to keep employees busy and equipment rolling too,” Goodall said. “Laura and her team is doing a great job down there.”
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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