This is the time of year when many companies are now searching for a professional gritting service to keep their business operational and their staff and visitors safe over the coming winter.
When you search for the right gritting service one of the many questions you will want to ask is: Should I go for a national or local gritting service and which is the best choice for my company?
Here we shall look at the advantages of each in turn and show how Ice Watch give you the benefit of both.
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Advantages of a National Gritting Service
One of the many advantages of a national gritting service is that it has all the resources needed to cope with the high demand. This is especially important as recent years has seen some of the coldest UK winters on record such as the Big Freeze winters of 2009-10, and 2010-2011.
With more cold snaps yet to come, a national gritting service benefits from keeping sufficient grit and salt stocks to cope with the demand as well as the most up-to-date machinery. Nationwide companies also benefit from sufficient numbers of trained staff to ensure there is full cover for even the longest and most treacherous of winters.
Another benefit is going with a trusted name. A company that is well recognised and has a good reputation gives you the confidence to rely on their service and trust that your site will be made safe for staff and customers.
Not only this, but if you have multiple branches in locations scattered all over the UK, it is easier to count on one gritting contractor to cover all sites at once. This is not only a great timesaver as one company serves all (so you don’t have to ring round to find a gritting service for each branch) but it also helps to keep costs down.
Larger companies also benefit from economy of scale as, generally, the larger the company, the better value it can provide to its customers. There are a number of things that a larger company can bring such as: bulk buying of supplies and equipment, mass marketing, and better access to the latest equipment. This all helps reduce the cost of their services and attract more clients, and they can pass these savings on to you, the customer.
Advantages of a Local Gritting Service
Although there are many benefits to using a national company, you generally can’t expect to receive the same personal service and one-to-one treatment that a local gritting service can provide.
A locally based company can get to your site fast, compared to a big depot situated hours away from your business. They can also more easily visit the site to see it at first hand, so they can make more accurate gritting decisions.
Local operators are also more likely to be familiar with the location of your business. As they know the area well, they can get to your site easier in difficult weather conditions and if the roads are shut, they can more easily find an alternative route.
Having a site in the local area also minimises the chances of operators themselves being affected by bad weather conditions, such as shut motorways when the conditions are icy and hazardous.
Getting the Best of Both Worlds
Ice Watch is a nationwide gritting service with salt spreaders across the country. We work for a wide range of businesses and have acquired several major new contracts. As a result of our success, we have recently expanded to a team of 75 operators, covering 300 different sites.
By choosing us to clear your pathways, walkways, car parks, ramps and entrances, you will benefit from the best of both worlds - a national name you can rely on and a local, responsive service.
We organise ourselves on a local basis - recruiting operators from the local area - to ensure that all our clients have an operator within ten miles.
As our operators are based locally, this helps minimise mileage, keeping costs low and reducing our carbon footprint.
We use highly localised weather reports from WeatherQuest but sometimes forecasts are borderline. If we are in any doubt whether or not to grit, our local operators can quickly go out and check your site first before gritting. This means that salt wastage is reduced to a minimum and, again, we can pass these savings on to you.
With Ice Watch you can access all the resources of a large company - with experienced staff, hi-tech equipment and the ability to meet demand - combined with the speed and knowledge of a local operator.
Our customers also benefit from our £10 million public liability insurance we provide as part of our full service.
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