In M&A news, Sauers Snow & Ice Management announced this week it has been sold to New York-based Orion Group, a commercial facility services company backed by private equity money. The transaction closed June 16.

The company serves the commercial sector throughout eastern Pennsylvania, southern and central New Jersey, and northern Delaware. In addition to specializing in snow plowing and snow and ice management, the company providing commercial landscape maintenance services in the summertime.

The Sauers family -- siblings Stephanie, Mike, and Joe -- are no strangers to Snow Magazine readers. Located in Warminster, Pa., the company’s snow and ice management operation makes an annual presence on The Top 100 list, they have contributed their insights to educational discussions and editorial content in the magazine, and company President Stephanie Sauers is a past recipient of The Leadership Award. Likewise, Sauers played a key role in the grassroots effort to get the Accredited Snow Contractors Association’s model legislation passed into law in Pennsylvania.

Both Stephanie and Mike will remain on as president and director of sales, respectively. Joe is transitioning out of the company's daily operations to pursue other business interests.

Located in New York, New York, Orion Group (Orion) is a commercial facility services company actively partnering with family-owned service providers. Orion is building national platforms in several field services sectors by investing in businesses with strong teams and cultures, and by creating growth opportunities. Orion is backed by Alpine Investors, an investment firm that focuses on partnering with and developing exceptional people to grow businesses. Alpine has been an investor in field services for more than a decade.

"The business and cultural fit were important as well as giving Orion a major presence in the east," says Doug Smith, senior managing director M&A at General Equity, an M&A advisor that brokered the deal for Sauers.

Schill Grounds Management is on an M&A hot streak, this time adding its first international acquisition along with reinforcing its foothold in the Cincinnati grounds management market.

The company announced its expansion into Canada with the acquisition of London, Ontario-based TLC Landscaping, a best-in-class commercial landscaping and snow and ice removal operation that caters to clients of all sizes in the region. TLC will continue operating with that name as it joins the SGM family and will expand into the Toronto area in the coming months. Together, they bring better technology and operational support for commercial and multifamily customers in the Ontario market, which has many similarities to Schill’s home market of Ohio. TLC CEO Jay Murray will become President of Canada for Schill, and TLC VP of Operations David Leff will become Director of Operations for Canada.

“TLC and Schill share the same values of superior service, innovation and investing to grow the business as well as enhancing a strong company culture," Murray, who has run TLC for more than 35 years. "We are thrilled to become part of the Schill ecosystem as we meet the needs of customers in southern Ontario and beyond."

And according to the company, the TLC deal is just the first as SGM seeks additional M&A opportunities in the southern Ontario province to strengthen its position in and around the Greater Toronto region.

Stateside, SGM announced the purchase of Grounds Elite, a complete grounds management service that expands its footprint in southwest Ohio and into the Dayton market.

“We are very excited to add TLC’s visionary leadership team and employees to the Schill family as we come together to provide the very best service to customers in south Ontario and enter the Toronto market with strength and momentum,” says Jerry Schill, CEO and founder of Schill Grounds Management, headquartered in the Greater Cleveland market. “In Cincinnati, Grounds Elite gives us a greater service footprint and operational efficiency across southwest Ohio and Dayton.”

Schill has been active in M&A since he partnered with Argonne Capital Group in 2020. Together, the SGM and Argonne plan is to consolidate the fragmented commercial landscaping industry through the strategic acquisition of privately held landscaping and snow and ice management businesses throughout the Midwest and the southern part of Ontario as many family-owned companies seek an exit or retirement strategy.

The acquisitions are the sixth and seventh purchases in less than two years for SGM. The other recent acquisitions include:

• Enviroscapes in Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia
• Ward + Thornton Landscapes in Cincinnati
• Fredericks Landscaping in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
• Ohio Valley Group in Cleveland
• McCoy Landscape Services in Marion, Ohio

With the recent purchases of TLC and Grounds Elite, Schill will have a team of about 775 employees, making SGM one of the largest family-owned landscaping companies in North America.

Mike Zawacki is editor of Snow Magazine.

Great news for Pennsylvania’s professional snow and ice management community. On Tuesday, July 12, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed House Bill 1665 into law and the Keystone State added its name to the states that have adopted the Accredited Snow Contractors Association’s Model Legislation
 
To date, Illinois, Colorado, and Connecticut have adopted the ASCA’s model legislation, and it is under consideration in several other snow states.

House Bill 1665, The Commercial Snow Removal Limited Liability Act, the association – with the support of Pennsylvania’s snow and ice management community -- have been working on for years, says Kevin Gilbride, ASCA Executive Director.

“It has definitely been a long road to get to this goal line,” Gilbride says. “This experience has been an awesome example of how powerful an industry’s grassroots effort can be in advocating for real legislative change in their state. A special thank you goes out to Pennsylvania snow professionals Stephanie Sauers (Sauers Snow and Ice, Philadelphia) and Chuck Lantzman (Snow & Ice Management, Pittsburgh), whose support of this effort was above and beyond.

“The bill was sponsored by Representative Christopher Quinn from Delaware County,” Gilbride added. “Chris’ support and dedication to getting the ASCA’s model legislation adopted in his state was critical, and a heartfelt thanks goes out to him.

The law prohibits property owners and manager from passing on their liability to the snow contractor through the indemnification clause in a contract. For example, property owners and managers can no longer give a snow professional a 2-inch trigger and have the contractor hold all the liability for a slip-and-fall claim. The way the law is written, snow professionals must have their contract terms in writing to take effect. This, of course, is an industry best practice.

“This statute requires property owner to take reasonable care of their property in a reasonable time frame,” Gilbride added. “Property owners are using indemnification clauses and hold harmless agreements to skirt this law, putting all liability on the contractor. The ASCA’s model legislation fixes this.”

The ASCA is scheduling educational seminars in mid-August about the new law -- one in Pittsburgh and an another in Philadelphia. The seminars will review the impact this law will have on Pennsylvania’s snow and ice management professionals and how contractors can adopt this new law into their snow and ice management sales and operations. The ASCA will announce registration details soon.

Plow manufacturing parent company, Douglas Dynamics, has integrated its new TRACE edge technology, a terrain-response advanced cutting-edge system, into its Western, Fisher, and SnowEx product lines.

The patent-pending, terrain-response advanced cutting edge system is made up of independent 2-foot sections that move vertically, oscillate, and trip to accommodate contours and obstacles in the plowable surface. In addition, a ¾-inch cutting edge with carbide inserts provides durability for heavy-duty commercial applications. Self-leveling side plates also keep the TRACE edge in contact with the surface.

By working together, the manufacturers says the sections remove more snow, which reduces the amount of ice melting material needed on pavement surfaces. In addition, two greasing locations allow the operator to keep the components well lubricated for maximum performance.

The new cutting edge technology offers professional snow and ice managers peak snow removal performance on their most challenging jobs, said Andy McArdle, Director of Marketing – CSI at Douglas Dynamics.  

“And in an industry where you have no time to waste, the ease of attachment, operation and the best-in-class dealer network will help operators get more jobs done faster,” McArdle added.

Here’s how the technology addition breaks down into each company’s individual product offering.

WESTERN
The Western Pile Driver lineup of pusher plows — available in 8-, 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-foot widths — come with three heights and a common carrier attachment system making them compatible with skid loaders, wheel loaders, tractors, and backhoe loaders.

© Fisher

FISHER
Fisher Engineering's new line of Storm Boxx pusher plows feature the patent-pending TRACE edge technology. Independent 2-foot sections move vertically, oscillate, and trip to contour to the plowable surface.

The Storm Boxx lineup of pusher plows come in 8-, 10-, 12-, 14-, and 16-foot widths. A common carrier attachment system makes them compatible with skid loaders, wheel loaders, tractors, and backhoe loaders.

© SnowEx

 

SNOWEX
SnowEx upgraded its line of Power Pusher plows with the TRACE edge technology. This patent-pending system is made up of independent 2-foot sections that raise more than 1.5 inches and trip up to 30 degrees to accommodate contours and obstacles in the plowable surface.

The SnowEx Power Pusher is available in 8-foot and 10-foot widths while a common carrier attachment system makes them compatible with skid loaders, wheel loaders, tractors, and backhoe loaders.