Steve Roque, of Sanderson Roofing, uses an axe to chip away at snow and ice build-up on the roof of a house on Fourth Avenue.
While Ottawa residents have been wading through waist-deep snow and roadside snow banks look like the Rocky Mountains, some businesses are revelling in the weather.
“We’re swamped,” said Jim Potvin, general manager of J.D. Sanderson Roofing. “We’ve got crews working every day, all day and people keep calling.”
Sanderson is one of a number of companies that specialize in clearing snow from residential roofs. The 113-year-old outfit has been busy since before Christmas, Potvin said. He has 10 two-person crews working all over the city.
Ottawa has received more than 400 centimetres of snow this winter, just under the seasonal record set in 1970-71. The massive accumulation has caused numerous problems, one of which is the heavy mounds of snow on people’s roofs.
Potvin said the massive weight of the snow and ice can cause a great deal of damage.
While collapsing roofs are the most dramatic effects of ignoring the rooftop snow piles, Potvin said ice build-up could damage structures and cause water to leak into homes.
In recent weeks, several people have been killed in Quebec from roofs collapsing. In Ottawa, a Westboro family was evacuated from its home after the roof split, and Rockland District High School was closed for a few days after cracks were found in its ceiling.
Fear has spurred many people to call Potvin.
“It’s been a busy and lucrative season for us,” he said. “We’ve done some roofs two or three times already.”
While clearing rooftops is Potvin’s business, Keith Brown handles what’s underfoot.
“This year has been insane,” said Brown, the owner and operator of Keith Brown and Associates. “It seems like we’ve been out clearing every single night since Christmas.”
Brown’s snow-removal service, which he has been running for more than 30 years, has been flooded with requests to keep driveways and walkways clear. Unlike the roof clearing companies, most plowing operations work under contracts signed long before the first snowflakes hit the pavement.
Thomas Stamoulis, manager of Mystiko, a Greek restaurant and wine bar on Kent Street, said that after last year’s mild winter, he decided not to sign a contract to have his lot cleared.
“It was a huge mistake,” he said. “We’ve already paid 15 times what we paid last year.”
Stamoulis said he will probably sign another contract next fall, because you never know what the weather will be like from year to year.
Brown said his company charges a flat rate up to 250-centimetres – the industry standard – then his clients pay per visit or per centimetre if they have a large commercial lot.
With this winter’s near-record snowfall, everybody is getting more work than they bargained for, Brown said.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean more money in his pocket right now.
More snow means more crews working longer hours and burning more fuel, which directly affects the bottom line.
Brown said he has had to hire more workers than usual, and the skyrocketing price of diesel is costing him a fortune. Plus, he said, with the constant snowfall, trucks frequently break down from overuse.
“Time will tell if we’re going to make a profit or not,” said Brown. “Right now, I just want to make sure I cover my operating expenses.”
However Brown, whose firm also does year-round property management, said the harsh winter would likely create business for him in the spring.
“I think there will be a fair amount of damage,” he said. A lot of older buildings are going to need repairs as the weather warms up, Brown said.
“I can see my business growing in leaps and bounds,” he said.
Potvin agrees that the weather will boost his business as well. He said many roofs in the city are going to need reshingling.
“People are going to walk around their properties when the snow is gone and find shingles all over the ground,” Potvin said.
“Whenever we have bad winters,” he said. “We get a lot more calls.”