10 cents a foot

[DanielTerence]

A neighbor asked me to clear the snow off his 250 ft driveway. Knowing that the going rate for neighborly tractor work in our area is about $25.00 per hour, he assumed I could do the driveway in less than 5 minutes so $5.00 would be a good wage for the work. I explained that my total time was an hour which included getting to my garage, warming up the tractor, and then driving the 12 minutes to his house, plus a little for diesel. He said that he is going to shop around for a better deal.

From now on, I'm going to charge 10 cents for each linear foot of driveway - that would get me my $25. ;-) and I won't have these hourly wage discussions.

 

[Bedlam]

LOL Five dollars is a bargain. considering. They are most likely not gonna find a better price.

 

[asylum575]

Around here, my neighbors pay about $1 a foot. Driveways are much shorter 60-75 ft. I think their paying $50-75 a pop. They think I'm crazy doing my own. I'm thinking about throwing a plow on my truck and clean up around here.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

I'd go for a flat rate pricing structure and extra if it's over some specified length.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Another thread talked about charging a flat price for the snow season. If you could come up with a good price that way, it makes a lot of sense. No arguements about plowing when you didn't have to, not plowing when you should have, how much you are making an hour, etc. Short of that doing it by length of driveway, or sqare foot seems like a good plan. Perhaps different rates for different surfaces, of different levels of difficulty.

 

[c-and-a]

I would go more for the maintenance approach - they pay a flat fee for the year - whether you clear or not...

Avg snow storms per year+20% x $5...good deal for both

 

[dodge man]

$25 per hour? Thats pretty cheap. $5 for his 250 foot driveway. That's an insult. If he is a buddy, and lived close, I'd might do it for free. If he is not, then let him shop around. If its a straight shot without a lot of messing around, I'm not sure he will get anybody for $50. My guess would be more like $100.

 

[jgrreed]

A neighbor asked me to clear the snow off his 250 ft driveway. Knowing that the going rate for neighborly tractor work in our area is about $25.00 per hour, he assumed I could do the driveway in less than 5 minutes so $5.00 would be a good wage for the work. I explained that my total time was an hour which included getting to my garage, warming up the tractor, and then driving the 12 minutes to his house, plus a little for diesel. He said that he is going to shop around for a better deal.

From now on, I'm going to charge 10 cents for each linear foot of driveway - that would get me my $25. ;-) and I won't have these hourly wage discussions.

Is he crazy?? You bring your 40K+ $$ machine over and shovel his drive for him and he's whining about 25$??? Maybe he should go tractor shopping and see how many driveway cleanings it takes to pay for your machine!!! OY!!!!

You're not out of line at all asking that.

-Jer.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

I wouldn't be counting on any tips from this guy either.

 

[WayneB]

Around these parts a guy won't drop his plow for less than $25.00 regardless of the amount of snow. Thinking someone can get their driveway plowed for $5.00 is really hard to believe.

Wayne