# How are you guys charging for driveways?



## FREDSKI

Hey guys i need help pricing contracts for driveways. What are going rates i live outside of Cleveland in south suburbs of Brecksville and Broadview hts. Taking on the poeple i cut grass for just need to know how to charge for a contract. Any input would be great tired scrathing my head


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## grandview

325.65 for the season


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## BC Handyman

grandview;1514247 said:


> 325.65 for the season


I must be a lowballer cause I charge 320 for the season & I live in Canada, so get way more snow then you & have it for 10 months every year:laughing:

seriously, 2 options. Per visit price or seasonal price


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## coldcoffee

In those communities you'd probably be better off at a push rate if you can sign them...I've seen and gotten flyers in my own mail box as low as $225/season. It's a nice area to plow because the lake doesn't dump on you quite as much as it does more East, but still can sometimes get close to the same number of events. Only problem is there are 4 plows on every corner.


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## FREDSKI

Yeah your right about snow fall around here. Am thinking ill strart at $300 for contract and go from there. I been plowing commerical for past 8 years now and know how to charge for that. But your right about the guys charging only $200 for unlimted pushes. Those are guys that you see on the news that dont show up!ussmileyflag


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## BC Handyman

wow you guys were serious? I thought it was a joke. how many plowable events do you get a year? The cheapest seasonal driveway for me would be $600


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## tuney443

I won't drop my plow for less than $40.00 per EACH plowing.No seasonal pricing to speak of doing driveways in my paradise,only per event.


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## woodchuck2

Very few people do seasonal charging here, almost everyone including myself is per push and i bill monthly. Price will vary by location, obstacles, length/width, and grade. $30minimum for most any home to start, price goes up from there.


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## dieselboy01

I charge per push, no one around here wants it per season. We have had some sad winters these past few years. Depending on location, size of driveways,obstacles, and if there close to any of my other accounts it's a minimum of $25, my average is $30. Salt and/or sidewalks are extra. I try and make around $2 a minute plowing driveways.


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## P&M Landscaping

I don't touch anything under $25 per push on the smallest drives, or monthly seasonal of under $100. My seasonals run 5 months.


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## Greenstar lawn

It's pretty hard for me sell seasonal in my area. But I have seen them as cheap as $150.00 for the season. I charge per push for all my residential accounts. Last year I only pushed them a total of 3 times but the previous year I pushed them 23 times at a 2 inch trigger. Driveways usually starts at $30 and go up from there.


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## gtmustang00

Per push...


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## merrimacmill

$410 Triple, $375. Double, $310 Single. When in doubt, charge more!


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## Jguck25

wow i have no idea how some of you charge so little for a seasonal service...mive seen some seasonal prices that are just barely more than i made in one storm off my driveways... 50 per push and had to plow it ever 4 inches and we got 24 inches in one storm last year..


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## Greenstar lawn

Jguck25;1526473 said:


> wow i have no idea how some of you charge so little for a seasonal service...mive seen some seasonal prices that are just barely more than i made in one storm off my driveways... 50 per push and had to plow it ever 4 inches and we got 24 inches in one storm last year..


So you plowed all your driveways 6 times for a 24" storm and charged them 300 bones?


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## Jguck25

Greenstar lawn;1526492 said:


> So you plowed all your driveways 6 times for a 24" storm and charged them 300 bones?


Not all of them, only the ones that said that is what they wanted done. I cut a lot of them a bit of a break. And it was coming down so hard I didnt get back to some of them until they had more than 4 inches on them. it was coming down about 2-3 inches an hour.

I was just trying to make a point that I have no idea how people charge so low for a seasonal service. I would only be able to charge that much if we got two storms a year. Maybe it is just because I am not familiar with their locations, maybe im wrong and they make out great with those prices


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## grandview

What size are these driveways your getting bid dollars for? Here it's anywhere from 200 and up.


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## Jguck25

grandview;1526839 said:


> What size are these driveways your getting bid dollars for? Here it's anywhere from 200 and up.


The driveways around here are usually pretty big. I dont get that much for all of them, just some of them. Again that was a mistake on my part, I didnt take into consideration that I have a much different market than most other people. The larger driveways for that price are usually around the 300-500' mark.


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## Mike N

Per push, $35 and up.


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## RLM

grandview;1526839 said:


> What size are these driveways your getting bid dollars for? Here it's anywhere from 200 and up.


Its less than that here & to make money you have to be less than the $ 200/season. Worst part is there is more money in the resididential than commercial.


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## White Gardens

Mike N;1533264 said:


> Per push, $35 and up.


That's where we are at. Add 10-15 bucks if sidewalks are involved. Generally it only snows 2"-4" with the majority of our snow falls, so a single stage snowblower will knock out the sidewalks in about 15 minutes.

.........


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## peteo1

RLM;1533290 said:


> Its less than that here & to make money you have to be less than the $ 200/season. Worst part is there is more money in the resididential than commercial.


Wow that's bad. Not to be a smart azz, but at that low a price why bother at all? Seems like you would be losing money on driveways at $200/season unless you guys don't get a whole lot of snow.


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## Dogplow Dodge

I've always done it per push...

Anything < 6"

Driveways start at $25 for a single drive @ 1.5 car length.

Double driveways are generally $45 and up depending on length, averaging $50 or so

Sidewalks are dependent on length. Driveway to front door ~25 feet or so adds $10-$15. I have a customer with a 250' long sidewalk in front of their house and it's $40 extra to do that sidewalk, along with the driveway which is $75 for up to 6" as it's 8-10 cars long and double wide at the back.


No one will do seasonal here, especially after last year....and maybe this year


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## White Gardens

Dogplow Dodge;1533424 said:


> No one will do seasonal here, especially after last year....and maybe this year


That's the case here. Residentials won't sign up for seasonal contracts. Generally not enough snow in one season to justify it.

The big winters we have seem to come in 10-15 year cycles with 2-3 winters in a row with exceptional snow. So ultimately the contractor would end up making more on average when you don't have enough heavy winters to turn it in favor of the client.

Even if we started doing seasonal contracts, it would probably be in the $150-$200 range as we generally only get about 3-4 good pushes a season.

....................


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## darryl g

Per push here too. Minimum $40 base price which is good for 2 to 4 inches. 4 to 6 inches is 1.5 times the base price, 6 to 8 is 2 times. 8+ inches is 2.5 to 3.5 times the base price. This is regardless of whether I come once or multiple times.


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## RLM

peteo1;1533370 said:


> Wow that's bad. Not to be a smart azz, but at that low a price why bother at all? Seems like you would be losing money on driveways at $200/season unless you guys don't get a whole lot of snow.


100 inches a year. You have to know how to make it work within what your market is. If done correctly you can make easily double doing residentials than you can commercial in my market. It's very competive, very price sensitive. 
A good friend of mine had a call from a potential client. She had his flyer and a guy's that was $ 5 less/season. He & I have the only 2 inverted blowers in our market, coupled to one year old John Deere 5101 tractors, he has a 2007 2500HD with a Fisher Exreme V, that sits as backup, he plowed with it until buying the tractor. He asked her; is the cheaper guy insured ?, what is he plowing with ? You realized I'm Snowblowing, not plowing ? What's his back up plan ? Etc. All she cared was the other guy was $ 5 less. He is able to gross about $ 150 per hour on an average season, where I'm bidding commercials at $ 85 hr & loosing work left right up & down to lower bids.


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## devypower

wow the prices on here are all over the place im in the michigan and there is no way i could do city drives at $200 a season typically i plow around 20 to 25 times a year depending on the snow, $200 % 25 times = $8 a push am i figuring that right????? there is no way i could do that my truck eats that in fuel every 1/4 hour and most drives around here are 50 feet long or more, seasonal plows start at $600 that is $30 a plow and figure 20 plows and chances are i will hit them more than that and have to eat it. i figure i have to pull in at min $500 a day per truck to pay wages, fuel, insurance, no profit at that. at $8 a drive i would have to do 60 plus drives per event to brake even, i would have to flip burgers to pay my payments. i charge $100 an hour for commercial including drive time and $30 per drive, dont get me wrong i loose some clients to low ballers but they always come back, all it takes is 1 dent in a garage door or a couple huge piles of sod on top of the snow and my phone will be ringing.


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## grandview

devypower;1536618 said:


> wow the prices on here are all over the place im in the michigan and there is no way i could do city drives at $200 a season typically i plow around 20 to 25 times a year depending on the snow, $200 % 25 times = $8 a push am i figuring that right????? there is no way i could do that my truck eats that in fuel every 1/4 hour and most drives around here are 50 feet long or more, seasonal plows start at $600 that is $30 a plow and figure 20 plows and chances are i will hit them more than that and have to eat it. i figure i have to pull in at min $500 a day per truck to pay wages, fuel, insurance, no profit at that. at $8 a drive i would have to do 60 plus drives per event to brake even, i would have to flip burgers to pay my payments. i charge $100 an hour for commercial including drive time and $30 per drive, dont get me wrong i loose some clients to low ballers but they always come back, all it takes is 1 dent in a garage door or a couple huge piles of sod on top of the snow and my phone will be ringing.


Better tell birdseedd that,He's in your area doing driveways for 150.00


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## devypower

all i can say is i have enough accounts at my price to run 2 trucks 10 hours per event, that is 1 time if it is pounding down i do them more, that is what people are paying for my services. the company's around me low ball and try to steel work so much that i never know what the real going rate for work is around me so i pay for a market analysis every 2 years and it is the top 20 lawn and landscape company's within 50 miles. that being said i have not raised my rates in 2 years to stay competitive with the top. using this information and charging what i do allows me to pay better wages and in turn have better employees who don't beat my equipment to death saving me more in the long run and for the past 4 years i could pick and choose what contracts to accept and i pass the others on to a couple buddies who also are in the business and local.


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## underESTIMATED

coldcoffee;1514364 said:


> In those communities you'd probably be better off at a push rate if you can sign them...I've seen and gotten flyers in my own mail box as low as $225/season. It's a nice area to plow because the lake doesn't dump on you quite as much as it does more East, but still can sometimes get close to the same number of events. Only problem is there are 4 plows on every corner.


I think flyers are like throwing ****. You gotta see what actually sticks.


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## GARRETTWOOD

Driveways 30 to 40 dollars per plow.


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## EquityGreen

We get a minimum of $50 per driveway and $60 for a triple and corner lot. Funny thing is its easier to plow a triple than a double. We also do $500-$600 seasonal and $80-$110 flat monthly fees per month. We also have quite a few associations that pay monthly 12 month per year. It's worked out quit nice this season with the lack if snow. The only reason I would like it to snow now is for my guys to get some hours and to help with the drought. Lawns my be dry this year.


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