How Much Money do you Charge to Snow Blow / Plow a Yard

[Tractor Tom]

Hi Guys, a couple of my neighbors would like me to snow blow their yards - driveways on a regular basis. I'm considering it but i have no idea what a fair price is?? do you price by the job? by the hour? Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[nybirdman]

Any outside work by my tractor is $75.00,if they don't like the price someone else can do it.I don't do much and that's the way I want it.
I do one neighbor,my daughter,son and sister and don't charge them anything(snow removal) anyone else by my rate.
I do a little brush hogging for neighbors.
I would be real careful in people's yards,you never know what is out there,septic systems for one...........

 

[Farmall45b]

I do a bunch of city/suburban driveways. My base rate is $25 for a normal length 2 car driveway, $30 for a three car driveway. I discount $5 per plow if they commit for the entire season to reduce instances of someone calling for plowing as soon as I get the tractor cleaned off and back in the garage.

 

[Amvcane]

Check your insurance policy if you are leaving your property to make sure you are covered. there is an active thread in the Kioti owning and operating section.

 

[haroldy]

I ask $35 per time,, dont do it unless at least 3 inches of snow

 

[George2615]

As mentioned,
1) Check your insurance to see if your tractor is covered if you are hit while you are on the road going to neighbors.
2) If you are going to charge do you have liability insurance for any damage you cause while on your neighbors property. Neighbors can sue at the drop of a hat if you damage their property.
I'm with nybirdman. I do plow a few close neighbors and don't charge them. Other people who call to move snow (or other tractor jobs) get charged by the hour. I have insurance for physical damage caused to the tractor and liability insurance if needed for damage I may cause. If you charge your neighbors without ins. you do so at your own risk. That being said, there are many guys with plow trucks are not in business and don't have plowing ins. that charge by the job. They may get lucky for many years and never do any damage that they could get sued for.

 

[Sprinklerman]

Plowing prices are regional . What I get in suburban Maryland is quite a bit different than the guys in Chicago get . We get $ 145.00 hour for a truck , $ 175 tractor or bobcat .

 

[Fi-Q]

My snow removal contractor was at 1$ / minute when I first hired him 5 years ago. I didn't even ask what was is hourly rate now. He is the one keeping my 700 ft driveway clear. It average less than 1000$ / per winter her in eastern quebec for the past 5 years !

I am not home to often, so dad tractor or the plow on my atv are more toys or final snow clean up when I feel like it.

 

[GPintheMitten]

I do a couple of neighbors drives for free. ...but gladly accept cookies.

 

[PILOON]

I am in Quebec, north of Montreal.
I now only do mine and my daughter's drive but used to be the 'go to' snow contractor and know most of the local jobbers.

Usually we have 2 rates. W/E only and every event.
At present the guys range from $500 for a short drive to $1000. for the longer ones with about 20% more for every event.
No sanding. Longer ones are almost 2-3000 ft.

Myself I used to eyeball and estimate how much time I needed per event as some were straight forward (like drive in and out=5-10 mins) others while shorter could take 1/2 hr.
A whole lot depended on the actual drive configuration. Straight? short? long? where to push that snow?
Zig and Zag between trees and rocks? hills? they flag? I flag?

Then once came about 36" of snow late in the season and that was higher than my plow blade. Even with chains on all 4 wheels of my 4 X 4 3/4 ton GMC. Man I sweated that one, but I managed. LOL, the local newspaper actually interviewed me over that one.
Truck plow was the desired method due to distances between drives but a blower was needed from time to time to widen and make space.

We tended to figure on 25 events per year and plowed only over 2". never included sanding.
If sanding was included folks always wanted more.
No contractor ever includes sand, (some as extra and generally only on demand).
I never got rich at it but with 20-25 drives I generally netted $4-5000, sometimes less if I broke too many axles.(usually 1-3 per year and mostly rt front.)

Snow is about the most cut thought business there is. I was lucky, my clients were extremely loyal and fair. On the other hand I tried to be fair with them as well. In the latter years I only billed at the end of the season depending on the conditions and my efforts.

One big problem is that you almost need 2 pieces of equipment as machinery can and will break at the wrong moment and you do have a commitment.

At the time I did plow I aimed at earning about $50/hr gross.