Hello Grader People, Years back I plowed snow for the City of Toronto for a private contractor. I got plenty of experience plowing with a CAT 140G and Champion 780. Both Had wing attachments on them. These days I live in America and find that more often they use truck plows then Graders, However I see plenty of pictures posted here of plowing operations with Graders. Looking for a seasonal arrangement ANYWHERE plowing with a Grader has proved fruitless, can any of you folks give me a lead? Much appreciated
Gee, you'd think there would be lots of outfits looking for experienced grader operators for winter operations. With us though most grader jobs are listed as "in service competitions", meaning only those that work with us now can apply..if qualified. If no one within the department applies, or those that do are not qualified, then it goes to an "open competition" in which people outside the department can apply. Once you apply, and if you're selected then you will be tested on a grader...Psst..the examiners are tough..If you pass the test, then there is still more you have to go through, but I can't really get into that. We have a grader in almost every division throughout the Province and they are used on a regular basis in the winter. If something comes up I'll shoot you a PM. I can guide you in what process to follow. That's if you're willing to move to this Province. You did say anywhere..If you need more info send me a PM.. Good luck with your endeavor!
Canada does things alot different than America from what I've seen. In Toronto, It was easy to get a job plowing with a Grader cuz thats all the municipalities used, down here thats not the case at all. Its ALL truck plows. (which makes no sense to me because you can't manipulate the load your pushing) I have yet to see any Private contractors running a plow on any city/county/state roads down here anywhere. Being that I gave up my rights to working in Canada when I left, I doubt they would have me back without a litany of paperwork and hoop jump thru's.....Hell, I'm an hour from Toronto right now and can't work up there, if I could I'd know exactly who to call. (if I could afford being hammered twice as hard tax wise too) New Brunswick always did fascinate me, maybe I should get the paperwork going for next season...Feds are so slow it probably wouldn't even be finished by then. Thanks for tip on the Provincial forumula!
I don't know why all these younger people I see on here trying to become operators don't get out after the snow removal people for loader/skid steer and trucks....thats an easy ticket in if you are careful and reliable.
Milling drum I noticed you are from Florida, don't know why you want to plow snow. In my experience you would have to look for county with lots of gravel roads, that is were grader work best. You have to leave about a inch of snow on the road so you do not remove to much gravel. We have found that truck plow don't work well at all. If they catch the gravel you get major bouncing The county I worked for was divided into divisions were a grader was asigned to each division. they look after the gravel in the summer and the snow plowing in the winter, about 125 miles. The plow trucks look after all the pavement
Thats great info graderman, I was unaware they split the roads up like that according to whats on top. The graders I ran in Toronto were on city streets and had variable float controls and down pressure didn't matter so much....on gravel that would be entirely different I can imagine. There are plenty of pictures here posted of graders plows in operation down here in the USA, but a web search yields nothing in that dept, most all the plowing jobs are in the New England area....(Kinda strange really.) All pickup truck or skidsteer parking lot commercial/residential. Very few municipal postings are up. Heres the Florida deal, its so expensive to reside there now its not worth it for me to bother trying to find work running a milling machine anymore (much less anything else, milling usually pays a dollar or two more), I make more on unemployment then I can make working all day. Once I can find a good winter gig, I'm set, half a dozen operations in the summer up north can use me when its warm.... Figure I used to run a plow and it was alright so why not go back to it if I can get it.