Ethics on clearing neighbor's drive ways and private lane

[LD1]

Looked pretty funny with all the snow cleared except her house and two tire tracks running through it! :laughing:

At that point, he should have called the cops on her so they could give her a warning or ticket for not clearing her sidewalk.

 

[Otto Syracuse]

I got a nice basket of homemade biscotti for my morning coffee from my neighbor for clearing their driveway. Nice!

 

[Travelover]

Plowed out my neighborhood of 33 one acre homes and came home to a complaint that I had left a berm in front of one person's driveway and would I come back and remove it? Guess which million dollar home will never see my tractor's services again.

 

[Z-Michigan]

At my last house I was in a very, very rural area with two elderly neighbors and no one else nearby plowing. I would regularly plow their driveways if there was heavy snow and I was doing my own. They didn't ask me to nor offer to pay, but were very thankful and neighborly. I was happy to do it as a good neighbor thing. Not taking money also means you have no obligation if sometime isn't convenient or whatever.

I'm currently in a subdivision of expensive houses on 1 acre lots and without any tractor. One of my neighbors spontaneously brought his UTV-snowblower over one day while we were starting to shovel a 10" snowfall and cleared our driveway in under 5 minutes. We thanked him, he left, he has never been back. Might be worth mentioning that it was the first big snow of our first full winter up here. We've mostly been shoveling but got motivated to hire paid snow removal for the more recent big snows. Still appreciate the one time from the neighbor and don't feel as if he owes us a thing.

It's a lot easier to do a favor for one or two neighbors who, by age or finances or both, aren't in a good position to buy their own equipment. If you had a whole subdivision of people who could afford to pay for service or their own equipment, I wouldn't be inclined to do favors except either (1) to those few elderly/whatever people or (2) if there's a truly exceptional snowfall, like 5 feet when you rarely get more than 6 inches, and it's just far beyond what people are ready to handle. Outside those circumstances I would either keep to yourself or consider offering a for-hire service if you're interested and willing to buy insurance for it or take a risk.

 

[Travelover]

Plowed out my neighborhood of 33 one acre homes and came home to a complaint that I had left a berm in front of one person's driveway and would I come back and remove it? Guess which million dollar home will never see my tractor's services again.

Just as a follow up, it snowed another 4" of heavy wet snow the night I posted this and this time I made sure to keep a wide berth of the complaining neighbor's house when I cleared the road. The next morning I see the neighbor out there hand shoveling access to my plowed path and did he ever look pi$$ed. :laughing:

 

[airbiscuit]

Just as a follow up, it snowed another 4" of heavy wet snow the night I posted this and this time I made sure to keep a wide berth of the complaining neighbor's house when I cleared the road. The next morning I see the neighbor out there hand shoveling access to my plowed path and did he ever look pi$$ed. :laughing:

Payback's a b!tch

 

[GGB]

Just as a follow up, it snowed another 4" of heavy wet snow the night I posted this and this time I made sure to keep a wide berth of the complaining neighbor's house when I cleared the road. The next morning I see the neighbor out there hand shoveling access to my plowed path and did he ever look pi$$ed. :laughing:

Don't you just love Karma???? LOL!

I just love stories with happy endings......

 

[skyhook]

Just as a follow up, it snowed another 4" of heavy wet snow the night I posted this and this time I made sure to keep a wide berth of the complaining neighbor's house when I cleared the road. The next morning I see the neighbor out there hand shoveling access to my plowed path and did he ever look pi$$ed. :laughing:

Haha, reminds me of that song,," how do you like me now ".

 

[square1]

Some of you are plowing without being asked to and feel unappreciated because you're not being thanked? I don't get it.

I plow for my close neighbors if I have time. One neighbor has no way to deal with the snow, the other neighbor does and will do mine if they have the time. We all show appreciation but no one gets hacked off if a thank you isn't given / received.

I think if they aren't showing appreciation it may be because, for what ever reason, they do not appreciate your unsolicited good will.

 

[Garandman]

Last winter when we had over 100" of snowfall in Boston, I did the next-door neighbor 1 (widow), next door neighbor 2 (house under construction), and the "Crazy old lady across the street". We actually had two units, and 11.5hp Ariens and a 9.5hp Honda, so it didn't take that long.

They're all real grateful and the new neighbor bought a machine himself, so now if we're away he clears our sidewalk. The people in this neighborhood all pitch in on the sidewalks (6 snowthrowers) so it gets cleaned up fast.

Payback's a b!tch

When I lived in another neighborhood in Boston, a guy knocked over my motorcycle with his car. Only damage was a $25 EZPass. He said he'd pay, then started avoiding me then got hostile about it.

Every time it snowed for the next two years, he would laboriously shovel out his space and leave for work. And I would put all the snow back with a snowthrower that moves about 1,800 lbs of snow a minute. I figure he paid that $25 back at about a dollar an hour.....