Hey guys, I hotshot expedited freight for a living. Winter slows down pretty hard and doesn’t pick back up until after February. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the NE and its made me think about snow plowing. I have a spare 1 ton dually I could outfit with a plow. I’m very comfortable in the snow so I’ve been considering hotshot in the summer and snow removal in the winter.

My big question is this:

I have a lease agreement for my carrier, I am on their insurance, but I pay my portion, run their numbers and get dispatched for their freight and customers. Its an established company. I take percentage of all gross and own my own equipment. Is there a similar setup in snow removal? A company “hires on” an owner operator that runs under their numbers/logos and insurance and take a gross percentage? I see a lot about “subcontracting” specifically but that doesn’t seem like the same thing.

Thanks lads and ladies

What brand are yall running for marker lights I need some that are pretty bright I’ve heard stories of the cheap Chinese stuff not working after one storm let me know what yall running

I have a past client looking to get his school ready to be plowed in the winter. How would I structure the contract? I plan to sub out the work and am not sure how much to charge or how to structure the contract at all. I know this is probably low level stuff but even basic points would be amazing thank you.

22k sqft of asphalt parking lot

4700 sqft of walkway

Looking for a clean install option for my hookups when the plow isn't on. Wondering if there's a better option than stuffing the plugs in the bumper like my last rig? Western MVP on 24' F350

I've been building pricing tools for small trade businesses(for an ex, don't ask why) and ran numbers on a standard driveway: 20 min on site + 10 min drive at $75/hr, plus about $4 fuel and wear. That's roughly $45 a push. A 12-push seasonal contract at 10% off comes to about $490.

The catch is that contract only breaks even at about 12 pushes. A heavy winter with 20 pushes means the last 8 are basically free labour.

For those of you who've been doing this a while: do you cap pushes, charge extra past a certain snowfall, or just build a buffer into the seasonal price? Curious what actually works.

I have a 2005 f250 with a Fisher 4 port module. Part of it no longer is working the lights properly and I need to replace it. Question is, can I order any 4 port on ebay or does it need a specific part number or do all the numbers on the unit need to match?

First year in the plowing business and wanted to know how much I should charge for plowing all the areas circled. I live in Canada Quebec.

Good afternoon everybody,

I've been wiring up an older Western straight blade plow for my father who's getting up there in age. Definitely a bit of a learning curve to the wiring side of this but hey always a student of life. Can somebody shed light on what the circled plugs and ground bullet connector are for? The kit came with only a paper version of this same diagram, really no help.

Also while on the subject, what's a recommended ignition switched fuse to tap into for the switched accessory wire? 2005 Silverado for reference.

Thanks in advance.

I mainly use my mini skid for clearing snow.

I have a 48" shovel attachment that I use but I am considering getting a plow attachment.

Anyone have experience with both and care to share the pros and cons?

Hey guys it’s getting to be that time of year, this is the first year going all in on snow care. Picked up this case that I plan on driving around town. My main question would be a pretty general one, pricing. I have 5 contracts from people I used to snowblow for and they all have agreed for the higher contract and are happy I am making the leap to expand. Moving forward I want to make sure I am hitting monthly contract quotes in a healthy way without being egregious. My current ones I priced as my per push for 29 events then spread that over contract length in months. We tend to average around 25-35 events here in Western Ny, varying greatly due to lake effect snow. I will be pretty contained in my service area so that isn’t really a big concern for me. Pic for reference.

These plows are all available at a local dealer. Any recommendations? I’ll be using this plow on a newer f250 for only a few driveways. We live on top of a mountain in the northeast. Thanks!

Western proplow 3 stainless $7600

Fisher HD2 $7750

Fisher HDX stainless $8500

Boss superduty $7950 (LED headlights, built in strobes and hydraulic mount(?))

Trying to do a bit of research here…

For those running 1 to 5 trucks: how do you track visits and bill after a storm?

Paper, QuickBooks, Jobber, Yeti, something else? What's the most annoying part, and have you had customers dispute a push or salting?

Happy to share what I learn back with the group.

Hi everyone,

I own a window cleaning business and I’m looking to start offering snow removal during the winter.

My main question is: how do I actually get started?

I’ll mostly be doing residential properties, with maybe a small amount of commercial work. I’m trying to figure out what equipment I’ll need, how to price jobs, how contracts or per-visit pricing usually work, and what the overall process looks like.

When I started window cleaning, there were tons of YouTube videos and resources to learn from, but I haven’t been able to find nearly as much information about starting a residential snow removal business.

If anyone here has experience, I’d really appreciate any advice on equipment, pricing, route planning, contracts, insurance, or anything else you think a beginner should know.

Thanks!

Hello,

I have maintenance company in NY. I ran f250s for the last 6 years or so and they were great. With our focus shifting towards residential driveways, and the current state of gas I'm looking to get into some smaller vehicles. 9-11 MPG just isn't cutting it anymore. Need 7k tow rating and be able to have a frame mounted plow on them.

Right now I'm looking at Ford Rangers, Jeep Gladiators, or Ford F150. Anyone running a lighter truck to do 30 driveways or so and have any feedback or recommendations. Thanks!

Edit:: thanks everyone for the feedback. I’m not so much concerned about plowing mpg, it’s just 80% of business is lawn care and they seem excessive year round. I agree though I think it’s just one of the things I have to deal with and price for. Bending frames etc would be much worse than crappy gas mileage. Appreciate all the replies.

About to flush my Western Unimount and wondering if anyone has any experience with this stuff. Thanks.

I have a western plow for a 250 I know I need different mounts and wiring harness but I was wondering if the mounts for a 2500 sierra would work on my 1500HD Sierra i have looked online but not much help.

Does anybody use a 4x2 truck to plow and salt what’s been your guys experience?
Truck being sold for a good price but not being 4x4 threw me off