10 cents a foot

[DanielTerence]

Like a few have said, the only reason I can do the driveway quickly is because I have invested in the equipment. If the time spent on the job is so important - I can plow real slow!

The fee should be related to the job accomplished. It seems like it should be worth $25 to look out from your warm house and see a long driveway cleared.

 

[dmacneil]

Let him shop around - if he finds a better deal it isn't worth your time anyway.

The concern I'd have with a flat rate is when you get flurries. Small drops of snow which are less than an inch or half and inch for that matter. People might have different ideas of when you should be coming to clear snow. Might be good to specify that you'll come when accumulation over a number of days exceeds ## inches, or only cleared when snow fall within a 24-hour period is more than ## inches. Iunno.. just set clear expectations.

 

[Tollster]

Around here I tend to help out my elderly neighbors for nothing when the snow gets real deep, or if they don't feel well. I do not make a habit of it as they all seem to be hard workers and come from a time when hard work was the norm. Its just the neighborly thing to do. Consider bardering in exchange for something he excells at that you could use some help with.
Last year I dug a drainage ditch for my neighbor, it took about 4 hours and a half tank of fuel. She is widowed and having hard times keeping up with home heating oil. She did offer to pay, and i declined to accept her money. About a month later she brought over some perenials she had devided, and a basket of homemade cookies.
I do not remove snow for neighbors that have kids, my simple rule I guess as I think every kid needs to learn something about a little work in this day and age.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Next time it snows tell him you are busy, but will give him $5 to shovel it, so you can tend to other demands.

If someone made that offer to me after I finished the drive, I would tell them that I couldn't possibly accept such a large sum towards the small cost of my equipment all at once.

 

[Oldtrout]

I do a few driveways cheapest is 30 bucks,takes me about 15 min. including time to get there,the most expensive is 80 bucks takes a bit less than an hour,if we get a real good dump of snow it could take longer,however price remains the same;it all averages out.

A few years back a neighbour called wanted drive plowed,I go and plow the driveway takes about 1/2 hour,the wife wanted to know how much I said 25 bucks,oh she thought that was way to high,I replied no problem.and drove up on lawn and started pushing snow back in driveway,the husband came out and paid, I re opened driveway and said don't call me again, they didn't..

 

[asylum575]

Now that I think about it, if someone offered me $5 to clear a driveway, I would respectfully ask for an extra $20 to not go around telling all the neighbors what a cheapskate he is.

 

[shvl73]

If he does call back, I hope you refuse, or at least increase the price.

 

[George2615]

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.

Tell your neighbor its not 1980 anymore. He can look all he wants but I doubt he'll find anyone to do a 250' driveway for $5. I plow some close neighbors and don't charge them. But I have a few customers (cheap) that only want me to come when they call after they have 4' piled up and nowhere else to put the snow and want me to move it with the loader. For those customers I charge $50 an hour. For regulars I charge $35 an hour. My tractor is a 26 HP with a 5' loader.

 

[thatguy]

I do a few driveways cheapest is 30 bucks,takes me about 15 min. including time to get there,the most expensive is 80 bucks takes a bit less than an hour,if we get a real good dump of snow it could take longer,however price remains the same;it all averages out.

A few years back a neighbour called wanted drive plowed,I go and plow the driveway takes about 1/2 hour,the wife wanted to know how much I said 25 bucks,oh she thought that was way to high,I replied no problem.and drove up on lawn and started pushing snow back in driveway,the husband came out and paid, I re opened driveway and said don't call me again, they didn't..

that way too funny and a gutsy move on your part.. I would not have the nads to do that, I would take what they offered and not do it again...

Brian

 

[curtisfarmer]

please...........there are some things not worth doing. Until you have done some of these things, you won't know until you do. F that guy, and you will think the same when you break something and it costs you huge.... for peanuts. Why bother. 250' is $50+ for me, no deals, and that is every push after 6". You HAVE to get what you are worth. Cut this guy loose like an unwanted date and let him find someone else....which he won't.