That Neighbor You'll NEVER Plow Out / Snowblow Again !

[Travelover]

I plow out our neighborhood road when we get a heavy snow because the county DPW won't come for a week. I've had four neighbors pay me anywhere from $50 to $20 each, other just wave. The idiots swerve around me in their Navigators and give me a dirty look. Guess whose driveways get extra off the road? :laughing:

I do the driveways of a couple older neighbors and they give me small gifts, which I take so that they feel that they are paying their way.

 

[dodge man]

I do my country neighbors drive. Its not large, but maybe 150 long. They are maybe in their 50's or 60's. I don't expect anything in return and most of the time they would get by without me doing it. This year we got 20 inches at one time with a lot of wind. I got a phone call thanking me one time and this year after the big storm I got a gift certificate at a local eating place. Its nice they are thanking me.

 

[MF 1532]

This year I bought a tractor to keep here at my store . It has not snowed enough to clear my parking lot . My intentions are to keep my lot clean and a few of the driveways in the 200+ new subdivision by the store . This is going to be an " test ". Before work this morning , I spread a load of rock for a neighbor , just going to wait for the " thank you ". I am going to do the snow the same way . Pay whatever you think , or a " thank you " , one or the other or your off the list next snow . I am just doing this for a hobby ( snow storms makes business slow , I have employees that can handle the store . ) I learned in grade school and in junior high , delivering newspapers , this valuable lesson . That guy living in that fancy house was more demanding and a poorer tipper , than that little old lady in the shack . I had more respect for that little old lady too. In saying all this , I have a daughter thats a junior in high school that just chaired a blood drive at school , I am trying to show her how society should be You have to work and take care of yourself , but you need to help people in need , and good organizations whether with money or time .

 

[George2615]

I plow my own driveway and I also plow an elderly couple across the street (both in their 90's). I never ask them for money but about every 3rd or 4th time I plow the old man comes out and shoves a 20 in my pocket for fuel. Also plow out their mailbox area for the carrier. The neighbors drive only takes about half an hour.

I used to plow commercial and residential for years but sold my pick up with plow when I got my tractor. The first few years most of the residentials would pay as I plowed each plowing or by the second plowing. After that they knew the time of day I would be there and mysteriously weren't home so I could get paid. Friends were the worst, they knew I had a plow and would beg me to come plow when they had 2' in the drive. I'd go do it and only a few would even offer to pay me something. Now with no plow truck they don't call for plowing favors.

Some of the Commercial ones seemed to always have an excuse after the first few snows for not paying so I'd send them a bill which promptly got ignored. It was too much hassle to take them to small claims court so I just dropped them from my customer list. The next year, they'd call me when their lot had a foot or more and ask why I hadn't plowed. I told them if they wanted me to plow again this year they'd have to pay what they owed me from last year plus pay in advance for the rest of the season. Needless to say they didn't like those terms so I told them to find another sucker.

All I'm saying is if you are going to charge for plowing make sure your contract or agreement says when and how you get paid whether it is each time, weekly, monthly, or by a seasonal rate. Just get something in writing. If they fail to pay, you fail to plow them again.
If you keep plowing and don't get paid then its your own fault.

I still get called to plow and move snow with the tractor loader but I tell them my rate per hour, how much I'll charge and get paid up front. If they don't like it I say sorry but me and my tractor don't work for free. They usually call me back since my rates are lower than others.

 

[JJZ 109]

It's easy. They don't ask, and I don't volunteer. I've got enough of my own manual snow removal to take care of when the tractor part is done.

 

[beenthere]

I have a friend who plows. He has (several times) re-plowed snow back onto a driveway after being stiffed. He generally likes to leave about a 10' pile right at the end, then yell, " See ya in the spring!!" on the way out. Hilarious.

JayC

Hilarious??

I'm glad I don't have any mean friends like that.

Not returning to plow again is one thing, but being spiteful is another. IMO.

But each to their own.

 

[Bigturk]

This is an interesting topic and one that I am struggling with. I have purchased my tractor and equipment with the intention of building a small business that I can ease into at retirement. I have learned that if you start doing work for free that you will not be able to charge these people in the future. The driveways that I currently clear for free, I will continue to, just because I want to. I have regular paying customers and will try to build on this by doing exceptional work at reasonable rates. I don't leave a drive until the customer is happy. With my tractor,equiped with plow and blower, I can place snow better than the previous guy with his truck. I hope this will grow my business and alow me to someday leave my corporate job behind.

 

[grsthegreat]

This is an interesting topic and one that I am struggling with. I have purchased my tractor and equipment with the intention of building a small business that I can ease into at retirement. I have learned that if you start doing work for free that you will not be able to charge these people in the future. The driveways that I currently clear for free, I will continue to, just because I want to. I have regular paying customers and will try to build on this by doing exceptional work at reasonable rates. I don't leave a drive until the customer is happy. With my tractor,equiped with plow and blower, I can place snow better than the previous guy with his truck. I hope this will grow my business and alow me to someday leave my corporate job behind.

good luck..and wise move. ive picked up our road association work for next year, and im trying to pick up a neighboring associations work also. i generally dont work too much in the winter, so i can easily do snow removal.

i hope to make enough off of this work to pay for the loader mounted blower and plow. i figure i was going to get a cab tractor for my place anyways, so if i could help pay for the equipment, why not.

then throw in a half dozen driveways, its good winter money.

 

[stratton]

I live on a private drive around 1200 or so feet. There is 3 houses that share this drive. When i first moved in i was told that the one neighbor plows and we just give him like a hundred bucks around xmas time for his gas and what not.

Once winter hit the friendly neighbor let us know that he would be charging just enough for wear and tear and gas. Sounded fair until i added up the checks at spring time. I personally paid him just under 800. So the other neighbor paid the same and since we are splitting it 3 ways he also paid himself 800. 2400 bucks is not wear and tear or gas. But he claims he did not make any money.

Since we are kind of secluded and on our own up here i do not believe we should charge each other or make money off each other. I now have a kubota with a front mount snowblower. It put a big smile on my face when i told the neighbor last fall that i will take over clearing the drive and i dont want any money for doing so.

The third neighbor does call to say thank you. And they gave my wife and I a restaurant gift card which was very nice of them. But the neighbor who used to plow has not said a word. Gotta love shared drives.........

 

[grsthegreat]

I live on a private drive around 1200 or so feet. There is 3 houses that share this drive. When i first moved in i was told that the one neighbor plows and we just give him like a hundred bucks around xmas time for his gas and what not.

Once winter hit the friendly neighbor let us know that he would be charging just enough for wear and tear and gas. Sounded fair until i added up the checks at spring time. I personally paid him just under 800. So the other neighbor paid the same and since we are splitting it 3 ways he also paid himself 800. 2400 bucks is not wear and tear or gas. But he claims he did not make any money.

Since we are kind of secluded and on our own up here i do not believe we should charge each other or make money off each other. I now have a kubota with a front mount snowblower. It put a big smile on my face when i told the neighbor last fall that i will take over clearing the drive and i dont want any money for doing so.

The third neighbor does call to say thank you. And they gave my wife and I a restaurant gift card which was very nice of them. But the neighbor who used to plow has not said a word. Gotta love shared drives.........

cool...i bet the guy that used to plow is pissed hehe

thats alot of $$$$ for 1200 feet. how many times did he plow that season?

here we pay 200/plowing for 2.5 miles of road. there are 34 people paying into the pot, so thats like $6 each person per plow.