About to buy a Boss Snow Plow for my truck

[JimP]

I never had a Boss plow. I have an 8'6" Fisher extreme V in a Chevy 3500. Love the V feature, it goes from a high snow separating V to wide snow moving flat blade to scoop. I agree 8 foot would be too small to cover tracks in a turn and 9 foot wouldn't fit in my garage.

I am not sure what you want to spread but almost all tailgate spreaders will only throw salt, they won't throw a sand salt mix. The Airflow MSS tailgate spreader has a conveyer belt and will, kind of, throw sand or sand salt mix. All bets are off if the sand or salt gets wet and freezes.

 

[Old Red]

What are these "clinics"

Do you OWN them? Lease them? Just manage them?

Start snow removal and salting and you open up to lots of liability. So hope you have insurance if someone sues you for slip/fall because you didnt apply enough salt.

Probably looking at $10k in equipment. Its quite a bit of upkeep to keep things going. Dont expect to hitch and go every season. Most guys hook up and verify everything works before first snowfall. Working out electrical gremlins, flushing pumps, etc.

And be prepared for the rear of your truck to rot off in a few years

What does my association with my clinics have to do with anything? They are primary care clinics serving the elderly and children and those who might otherwise be excluded from the health care system. We are a non profit. I am the Chief of them....Just so happens I can do more than just sit behind a desk and tell people what to do. I'm a country boy who wants to serve my patients and organization in any way I can like I have the last 20 years. If we shut down because of snow or anything I want to help. I don't care if my truck gets salt on it...I don't care if I have to service something...that's just part of the deal with all this stuff we do on here.

I am in healthcare....we have tons of insurance...more than you can imagine. We are liable if someone slips and falls inside or out on salt, water, or just plain don't watch the ground when they walk. We know all about liability in my line of work.

 

[Old Red]

I never had a Boss plow. I have an 8'6" Fisher extreme V in a Chevy 3500. Love the V feature, it goes from a high snow separating V to wide snow moving flat blade to scoop. I agree 8 foot would be too small to cover tracks in a turn and 9 foot wouldn't fit in my garage.

I am not sure what you want to spread but almost all tailgate spreaders will only throw salt, they won't throw a sand salt mix. The Airflow MSS tailgate spreader has a conveyer belt and will, kind of, throw sand or sand salt mix. All bets are off if the sand or salt gets wet and freezes.

How well do spreaders work at spreading salt? Do they have a rheostat that allows you to open up the spread or close it in? For example we have 2 portico's where patients are dropped off. Can you drive through and spread salt when you go through them? Do the guys who spread at banks going through drive thru's spread when they pass through?

 

[LD1]

You keep using "we" and "I" seemingly interchangeably.

Your affiliation has everything to do with it in terms of liability. Which is no laughing matter in slip and fall lawsuits.

What I gather is that YOU are an employee of this organization.

Are you an "employee" doing snow removal, or a "contractor".

You may think you are doing a good deed for your company.....but they will throw you under the bus in a lawsuit.

You say "we have tons of insurance"......is that "YOU" or the organization.

If you take on the responsibility of snow/ice removal.....as a contractor......hired by your organization......"YOU" are the one that needs the general liability......because it's YOUR @$$ on the line in a lawsuit. Sure......they may go after organization.......but they are gonna quickly say " we hired old red to take care of this....it's his fault"...

If you are doing this work as an employee of the organization....and want to keep liability on them and not you......then the organization needs to buy equipment and pay an employee to run it......not hire a contractor such as yourself (who just happens to work there also). But that fact doesn't matter once you jump in YOUR equipment and become a contractor.

So your association with the clinics has everything to do with this. And you need to figure this out before you drip $10k.

I plow commercially....an many places won't even let you on there lot without $1M or $2M in liability

 

[Old Red]

You keep using "we" and "I" seemingly interchangeably.

Your affiliation has everything to do with it in terms of liability. Which is no laughing matter in slip and fall lawsuits.

What I gather is that YOU are an employee of this organization.

Are you an "employee" doing snow removal, or a "contractor".

You may think you are doing a good deed for your company.....but they will throw you under the bus in a lawsuit.

You say "we have tons of insurance"......is that "YOU" or the organization.

If you take on the responsibility of snow/ice removal.....as a contractor......hired by your organization......"YOU" are the one that needs the general liability......because it's YOUR @$$ on the line in a lawsuit. Sure......they may go after organization.......but they are gonna quickly say " we hired old red to take care of this....it's his fault"...

If you are doing this work as an employee of the organization....and want to keep liability on them and not you......then the organization needs to buy equipment and pay an employee to run it......not hire a contractor such as yourself (who just happens to work there also). But that fact doesn't matter once you jump in YOUR equipment and become a contractor.

So your association with the clinics has everything to do with this. And you need to figure this out before you drip $10k.

I plow commercially....an many places won't even let you on there lot without $1M or $2M in liability

Gotcha...It will be my clinic who is purchasing and owns the plow. I will be doing it on the clock instead of sitting at home. My paycheck will remain the same if I sit at home watching Netflix or jump in the truck and get the clinic ready for my/we/our patients. Everything that happens there I am responsible for....the buck stops here... My name is on all of the insurance policies, my name is on EVERTYHING....and yes we have more insurance than you can possibly imagine plus an umbrella for me personally just because of my liability of walking in the door everyday and an umbrella for the corporation. We have someone on staff who does nothing but risk management....we are fully aware and understand liability more than most because of the nature of what we do.....This has nothing to do with me earning a buck and everything to do with helping my patients.

Now, back to plowing...anyone have any better suggestions or setups in this situation?

 

[Citydude]

Although the OP's intentions are admirable, I have to agree with LD on this. As a former contractor, personal liability is paramount.

 

[RobS]

Around here it seems that most contractors use a push spreader for sidewalks and tighter areas (like a push-type fertilizer spreader). Truck mount for the parking lots and roadways.

 

[4570Man]

Gotcha...It will be my clinic who is purchasing and owns the plow. I will be doing it on the clock instead of sitting at home. My paycheck will remain the same if I sit at home watching Netflix or jump in the truck and get the clinic ready for my/we/our patients. Everything that happens there I am responsible for....the buck stops here... My name is on all of the insurance policies, my name is on EVERTYHING....and yes we have more insurance than you can possibly imagine plus an umbrella for me personally just because of my liability of walking in the door everyday and an umbrella for the corporation. We have someone on staff who does nothing but risk management....we are fully aware and understand liability more than most because of the nature of what we do.....This has nothing to do with me earning a buck and everything to do with helping my patients.

Now, back to plowing...anyone have any better suggestions or setups in this situation?

If your paycheck remains the same why are you spending your money, rotting out your truck, and wasting your time?

 

[Old Red]

If your paycheck remains the same why are you spending your money, rotting out your truck, and wasting your time?

It isn't my plow....if you see my first sentence where you quoted me you will see I said "Gotcha.....It will be my clinic who is purchasing and owns the plow"

How do you see that it is wasting time contributing to my business/my place of employment........and a place where we heal the sick?

 

[Peter 315]

Back to the original question boss plows are good we had 4 at my other job. Only broke the blade return spring. They have down pressure good for scraping hard pack. You might by better off with a small drop in poly sander salt dogg 1.5 yards