PUSHIN SNOW FOR MONEY

[gordon]

Ok you guys up north are starting to get or have already got a good bit of snow in some areas. This question is for the guys who push snow for money---What are you charging this year to push snow???

Around here Delaware we get some snow but not a whole bunch but it looks like this year might be in the whole bunch range. Even so it's still not enough to justify getting a snow blade for my tractor, I just use the rear blade with a gauge wheel and one end plate. So whats the going rate in your neck of the woods?
Gordon

 

[gerard]

In snow country (comparitively speaking) my service charged me $13 per plow for about 250 feet of driveway + a parking area that's about 30 x 60. He said he was raising his rates $1 per time due to fuel costs. (I had already decided I was going to do it myself this year so I could justify getting a back blade!) He came about 24 times last year and it was a really mild winter. The cost was VERY reasonable and while freezing my butt off this winter I may regret doing it myself but we'll see. (Of course if we really get hammered I can justify starting up the backhoe which has a full heated cab and 1 1/2 yard bucket! As much fun as that would be I'd just as soon pass on a storm big enough to make that necessary!!!!)

 

[Thomas]

Gordon,
The rate up here $25.oo for a 50' driveway over 50' $40.oo to $50.oo,and needs better than 2inches before plowing.
Thats not per storm,thats everytime he shows up to plow,/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif so its cheaper and of coarse more fun if I do my own plowing.

Sanding a driveway is a flat $35.oo. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[richh]

I do a little plowing and charge about $80.00 per. hr. Just do my store and a few others, nothing to big. But this seams to be the going rate.
Rich

 

[Rowski]

Gordon,

Along with are service and repair business we call on 100 customers. We don't plow with tractors, we use trucks. When the snow banks get to big we hire a loader, we may try it with the tractor this year.

I try to get $65 to $75 per hour with my trucks. There are some guys who get a little less. This is what we need to charge to make a profit. As you mentioned in another post you need to add up all the cost big and small. Our drives vary from small 75 foot drives to roads that are almost a mile long. We also offer sanding, it costs the charge of the plow plus the amount of sand used.

At one time we had alot of seasonal fees but now we have less that 1/4 of our customers on season fees. Per plow is the best way for us and the customer.

If you do get some customers try to keep them near each other or in groups. This way you will have less travel time. It takes (us) 12 hours with 3 plow trucks during an average snow fall to plow all our customers.

Derek

 

[gordon]

After reading through these posts it sounds like whatever the market will bear. In this area alot of people will shovel the first snow and once they get sore muscles my phone will ring. I've got a few customers that I charge hourly $50.00 hr.. Then if I'm driving down the road and get hailed down I charge a straight fee. I've made quite a bit of money doing this but heavy snow storms are few and far between in this area.

Whats the most you guys have made in a day pushin snow?
Gordon

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: PUSHIN SNOW OT

I used to think moving snow was dull until this year, saw the biggest and smallest and they sure are interesting. A huge rotary plow that mounts on a locomotive in the Rockies, and a guy operating a Bobcat at a ski resort town (Whistler BC). Watching that guy spin in place cleaning sidewalks, flying off and dumping and reversing even before the load hit the ground was pretty impressive.

At the time I couldn't imagine being able to dump snow so easily. That was before my fast hydraulic L35, my Ford would have a hard time dumping snow because the bucket is fairly slow even at high rpm. This bobcat seemed like the bucket dropped as faster then gravity would drop it if the linkage was disconnected! That fellow wasted no time!

 

[Bird]

Re: PUSHIN SNOW OT

del, my brothers used to own a garage in Anchorage and they've told me that bobcat was the greatest thing they ever used to clear the snow from the parking lot.

Bird

 

[gordon]

Re: PUSHIN SNOW OT

Bird the greatest thing or the most fun!!!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Man that would be a blast---errr--I mean hard work with a bobcat.

Guess the good thing about a bobcat is the weight over the rear tires for traction. Being able to spin it on a dime also helps in tight quarters.
Gordon

 

[Bird]

Re: PUSHIN SNOW OT

Gordon, maybe it was just the most fun./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Like me, my brother likes to play with different equipment and they had a customer in the construction business in Anchorage who didn't use his bobcat during the winter and was looking for a place to store it indoors. My brother told him they'd keep it indoors for him and use it to clear the parking lot and he agreed, saying it would be better if it were run instead of just sitting all winter./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif So they had free use of one for the winter.

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Gordon,

I've never seen a "gauge wheel" used with a rear blade, only skid shoes or use it in float position. What type of rear blade is this? Do you have a picture of the gauge wheel hooked up?

 

[gordon]

My rearblade is a Landpride series 35 blade thats 84" wide. It's the factory gauge wheel. I don't have a picture of it but if you go to http://www.landpride.com/lp/manuals/rb_manuals.html and click on series 35 owners manual it will download an Acrobat reader file. One page nine of the manual it shows the gauge wheel. I've also got the end plates and the skid shoes for the blade. But the gauge wheel is a very handy thing when grading. Like all Landpride add ons $$$ but you only have to buy it once. If I would have had more time I could have made up one but in the long run this was a time that it was better to buy it and be done with it. It has already paid for itself a couple of times over just in time saved.
Hope this helps
Gordon

 

[Harv]

Gordon -

I checked out the Landpride manuals page. It's great!

Little by little more companies are publishing their manuals and other documentation on the web. It's cheaper for them than printing hardcopies, and it's becoming more and more convenient for the customers.

Considering what I had to go through to get a manual for my rotaty cutter (and I still don't have one for my box blade), I'd be tempted to go with Landpride for my next purchase, just for the convenience of getting an on-line manual. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I couldn't wait for the download (slow......), anyhow, I've seen the gauge wheel used with the rake and never seen one with a rear blade.

I use a 8' rear blade with skid shoes in both forward and reverse directions on a small shopping center parking lot. I put the 3 pt. hitch linkage in "float" position as well as the position control in "float" position. I think the blade is about 800 lbs and don't know how a gauge wheel would work between the weight and going backwards.

The Landpride units are extremely good quality implements.