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This Idaho teenager is making thousands of dollars off Seattle slush

caption: David Holston's snow plow is remote controlled, 10-feet-wide, and weighs two tons. The hardest thing to plow Holston says slush.
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David Holston's snow plow is remote controlled, 10-feet-wide, and weighs two tons. The hardest thing to plow Holston says slush.
KUOW PHOTO/ CASEY MARTIN

When David Holston's friend told him Seattle wouldn't be prepared for all the snow, he got into his plow truck and drove from Idaho. The trip has paid off.

It didn't take long to find a snow plower on Seattle Craigslist; there are dozens of ads up right now as the Puget Sound regions digs itself out from snow and slush. One of those entrepreneurs is 18-year-old David Holston from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

"My friend Steve told me it was going to be snowing about a foot in Seattle so I drove over here to plow," Holston said.

He drove here Saturday morning betting on Seattle to not be prepared for all this snow.

He was right.

In less than a week he's gone from charging $500 per hour to $750.

Back home he makes $100 an hour.

caption: David Holston in his Dodge Ram. He just bought it in October and this is his first winter plowing.
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David Holston in his Dodge Ram. He just bought it in October and this is his first winter plowing.
KUOW PHOTO/ CASEY MARTIN

"I'm getting calls every five minutes so I can't answer them all," Holston said, "I put them on speaker phone and talk to them while I'm plowing."

His phone was vibrating the entire time I was with him while he plowed a Walgreen's parking lot in Burien. In the big Dodge Ram he smoothly guides the massive plow around a packed parking lot. This is only his first winter plowing snow; he just got the truck and plow in October.

Since that first Craigslist ad, Holston's been completely booked out a day and a half. He said he's been working 12 to 15 hour days to keep up. He mostly plows apartment parking lots and parking lots that belong to businesses.

At this rate, he expects to earn $50,000 in less than a week pushing around Seattle's slush. Holston said he'll stay in Seattle until the roads — and money — dries up.

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