Todd Dickerson never tires of the old joke, “If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.” You see, Todd has amassed an impressive portfolio over the last two-and-a-half decades built on a reputation for managing snow and ice at highly secure government facilities and international airports. No small feat when you consider the logistics and sheer scope of staffing and equipping these challenging properties.
In fact, Todd and his team at Olney, Md.-based Top Dog Services recently landed a multiyear deal to manage snow and ice at one of the world’s largest office buildings – The Pentagon. Not only does the size of the job provides unique challenges, but it requires a particular attention to detail that extends from staffing to the actual field work.
“And at the end of the day, we can’t talk about 95 percent of the work we do … and we’re okay with that,” he says.
SNOW MAGAZINE: You niche is secure government facilities and airports. How long have you been in this market?
TODD DICKERSON: This is our 26th year and I’ve been the prime snow contractor at Dulles International Airport for the last 22 years. Dulles is unique because it’s a hub for United [Airlines]. … So basically, all of their air-side fire departments, access roads to the runway, all of the emergency type roads in case something were to happen.
So, all pavement that isn’t runway.
Exactly. Generally, at the airports only FAA-certified people can handle runways and that’s due to liability issues.
What markets are you in?
Right now, we operate in the DC market, which is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles. And we have the Pentagon now, along with a number of other secure facilities that I’m not allowed to name. We have [The Eastern Iowa Airport] airport in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, both George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, and we handle Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. We’re everywhere.
How many people do you employ for the winter?
We have 42 full-time employees. We ramp up to approximately ten times that amount during a storm.
How did you get into this particular market?
Let me explain how I started. Back in 1997, I got a phone call from the contractor handling Dulles Airport who needed help. So, I sent a couple of trucks down there. They had no idea what they were doing so I set the entire thing up with trucks and equipment. At that time, I was literally a three-truck company, and I was just doing snow for fun because I loved it. My brother and I, when we were kids, would go around with a Craftsman snowblower to do neighbors driveways so we could go buy video games. So, I’ve always done snow removal and that’s how the passion grew.
We kicked off as a sub at Dulles in 1997. Then the contractor eventually defaulted on the contract. We negotiated for the contract and have been the prime contractor [at Dulles] ever since.
I do still have about 12 pieces of equipment that I sub there, but everything else is self-performing. And the only reason why I keep those 12 pieces there is that when I needed them, [those service providers] were there for me. So, I feel a loyalty to those guys – they always have a job until they don’t want to be with us.
How did you hear the world’s largest office building needed snow and ice management services?
That’s the funny part with this bid. [The Pentagon] won’t give you that information. In fact, they called us. They’d seen our name and we were neighbors in the sense of managing snow at Dulles and Reagan [airports]. So that’s kind of how the communication started.
My brother, Kyle, really wanted to do it, and I was excited, too. … There certainly was interest there, but we’d just gotten the Cedar Rapids contract and Houston was talking to us because we had helped them out the previous year. We’ve always had the growth philosophy of slow and smart. I was concerned if we took a bite out of this apple, it’s going to get us off the commitment we’d made to our customers.
We did some self-evaluation. My main concern was getting the equipment and trucks, so we started reaching out to our vendors. Pretty much, everyone was on board with it and that they’d help us figure it out. Everyone wants that picture of their equipment at The Pentagon. That’s a pretty damn good marketing piece.
No pun intended, but I took my key personnel and threw them in our war room. We started banging away at calculators and accessing Google Earth trying to get a square footage figures. We did the best we could and worked in some fluff factor for what we call the “Oh, crap!” mistake. We put a package together along with our references from the other secured facilities we managed.
I’ll be honest, when we got that phone call I was jumping up and down on the one hand and had my head in the other hand going, “Oh, God, what have I done?” It’s been a challenge. Our supply chain really stepped up and we’ve gotten everything we’ve asked for from my equipment people – John Deere, Kubota, Fisher … Those guys more than stepped up.
Did COVID provide any unique challenges?
The biggest problem we ran into was the vaccine mandate. When we bid that contract none of that was even remotely discussed. And with employees, it seemed [people] were either all the way on the one end of the issue, or all the way on the other end. There wasn’t a lot of middle with people’s views.
So, I needed to play the political game [with people]. And I understood both sides of the issue and never felt one side was right and one side was wrong. But I found myself shaking hands and kissing babies to get people vaccinated. It was just a really difficult time. In the end, I knew it was all about performance. If I couldn’t get people in the seats, then I wasn’t going to be able to perform at the level the client expected.
How many people did you need to do the job? And how did you find and vet them before winter set in?
We asked for every favor possible from The Pentagon to get people vetted ASAP. And they did a phenomenal job because they really wanted us to succeed and they don’t want to look bad, either. It was all about getting the mission accomplished.
[We need] about 70 people per 12-hour shift. And we don’t let them leave … They’re either in equipment or in a hotel room.
Did The Pentagon’s security provide you with any challenges?
With social media, I have a media team that helps document and share what we do for marketing purposes. But with The Pentagon, there’s none of that – no pictures, no video, no cell phone cameras, no nothing. I have some employees who have to carry flip phones without or with disabled cameras on them. Our attitude is that while we’re the experts on snow and ice we ultimately have to abide by their rules.
Whether it’s a management company working for the federal government or an airport authority, they’re going to tell you when you start and when you finish. And you have no control over that. Now, they’ll sit down with you and discuss weather conditions and what you think is going to happen, and most of the time they listen to us. But this isn’t a 2-inch trigger contract, curb-to-curb, and goodnight. They expect wet pavement at every facility we do and that’s what we’re used to.
What types of equipment are you using?
It’s really not as bad as you think. We’re using some specialty stuff, such as ramp blades that we use over at Dulles and Reagan. We keep it open during the day while people are working and really hammer down and get after it when nighttime comes. We’re using a couple of Oshkosh (blowers) with high-speed blades on them to cover ground. But the main equipment we’re using are loaders with box plows, and at the end of the day we’re using between 15 and 20 of those at various sizes. And considering what we need to do sidewalks, we’re at about 35 pieces of equipment per shift.
And how are you managing sidewalks and walkways?
On sidewalks we’re using Superior Brooms [sweepers]which is what we use out at the airfields. Very few people other than us are using [these sweepers] for snow removal. We’re also using Boss Snowrators on sidewalks, too.
Because it’s a government contract, were there any restrictions on what you could use in your anti-icing strategy?
We discussed a number of different options and they bought into what we were using out at the airports. We showed them the MSDS data sheets, and they were fine with [our recommendations]. We make our own brine, and we make it on a mobile platform. So, I can pull it to wherever I need it to make brine. We also use the AMP product by EnviroTech, which works really well and produces results.
What were some unforeseen challenges that came up?
Honestly, because of our past experiences we’re able to plan for just about any scenario. I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but this is what we do. [The Pentagon contract] is a perfect fit for us, so the unforeseen issues are very few. Our predecessor on the contract was an excavation company, and I believe to do this type of work you’ve got to be all in with snow to be successful.
But that’s not to say there weren’t challenges. For example, we got the contract about a month later than I would have wanted, which forced us to race the clock to get everything in order. COVID had changed the workplace and often placed priorities on other areas of the business that didn’t involve snow removal. But I always say, give us two storms and we’ll have everything dialed in the way we like it. The hardest part of a new contract like this – and this is for every secure facility we manage – is terminology and set-up. After that, snow is easy.
What advice do you have for contractors who want that big, challenging property in their market?
I have two pieces of advice. The first is to surround yourself with good vendors. No matter what, I don’t care if the equipment is brand new or five years old, at some point you’re going to have a break down. You need to be able to call your vendor and arrange a backup or a mechanic. [Today’s equipment] has become so technology based your regular yard mechanic can’t handle all the specialties in the various pieces of equipment you may have. There’s just too much technology involved.
The other area where guys fail – and I see this consistently – is anyone can handle a 2- to 4-inch snowstorm. You need to be prepared for the big one. I go into every contract and tell my guys, if we get a 20-inch East Coast storm are we ready? And the answer better be yes. You’ve got to be prepared for the big one. If you don’t, then your client is calling a guy like me to take your contract. And that’s the truth.
So, what’s your key to success?
You really need to have a passion for this work, and you need to love what you do. You either need to be all in or you can’t be in. The job requires long hours, and you tend to begin hating each other in the middle of a blizzard. But guess what? After some sleep, we all love each other again. So, you have to love this industry or you’re not going to make it.
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