# Anybody from BC?...Was I charged fairly?



## JGraham (Dec 21, 2008)

I have a 1/2 acre (25000 sq.ft) (0.8 ln/km) parking lot that I needed sanded and called a local excavating company that has a 1 ton with a V-box and asked them to SAND the lot. I was caught by surprise by ice and the customer called to see if I could get it sanded right away so I subbed it to someone else. I dont have a sander myself, I normally do it by hand so I called these guys and they came by within the hour. I was happy with the promptness of their service. I checked the site as soon as I could after it had been done, the whole lot had been sanded and there was a tiny bit of salt spread in one shady corner of the lot. I got their bill today and it was $100 plus GST/PST for SALTING of lot. I requested SAND not salt. Just curious if I was I treated fairly? Thanks for your input.


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## JD Dave (Mar 20, 2007)

Sounds good to me, I know your cost of living is expensive there. I wouldn't do it any cheaper here.


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## BlackIrish (Dec 22, 2007)

You got off easy. I would have charged you $250 .


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## Neige (Jan 29, 2008)

Seems to me you got a fair price. Remember there has to be a minimum price, seems like you got theirs.


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## BlackIrish (Dec 22, 2007)

Is it just me I think he got a rocking deal.


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## JGraham (Dec 21, 2008)

ok thanks...just curious.


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## Oasis (Oct 28, 2007)

Seems fair to me, I charge one plaza I have 60000 sqfeet 300 to salt per application .... But as said previously there has to be a minimum charge to cover time, labour and truck usage. Any of my plazas that call me for extra salt get billed our $150 minimum.


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## Woodland (Sep 17, 2005)

Can't really comment on the cost to sand that size lot since I don't have a sander either and usually sub out if I need something, but as far as the bill for SALTING rather than sand, that may just be how that company words their bills. I have a few customers that get their driveways cleared with a snowblower rather than plowing but their bill says "Plowing" for each event.


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## basher (Nov 13, 2004)

JGraham;709430 said:


> I have a 1/2 acre (25000 sq.ft) (0.8 ln/km) parking lot that I needed sanded and called a local excavating company that has a 1 ton with a V-box and asked them to SAND the lot. I was caught by surprise by ice and the customer called to see if I could get it sanded right away so I subbed it to someone else. I dont have a sander myself, I normally do it by hand so I called these guys and they came by within the hour. I was happy with the promptness of their service. I checked the site as soon as I could after it had been done, the whole lot had been sanded and there was a tiny bit of salt spread in one shady corner of the lot. I got their bill today and it was $100 plus GST/PST for SALTING of lot. I requested SAND not salt. Just curious if I was I treated fairly? Thanks for your input.


Excellent service for a great price! Our minimum mobilization charge is $150 (USD) and the State of DE considers $160 the average. http://www.deldot.gov/information/community_programs_and_services/snow/rates.shtml

You should be thankful for the professionalism of the operator to recognize the need for a melting agent in the shaded areas. Possibly prevented a slip and fall or the requirment to apply material at a later date. I'd gladly to hire that driver to run one of my rigs, hard to find pro-active responsible experienced operators

Based on it's (sand) negatives, i.e. the cost of lot clean up, interior floor damage due to tracking, interior clean up, the traction issues sand creates on non frozen pavement, etc. Balanced against a melting agent's positives, Immediate gratification, a certian residual effect and in the case of bulk salt short term traction improvement, I'm surprised you request sand as opposed to salt.


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

I think you got a great deal. I wouldn't have shown up in an hour to plow your driveway for under $50. I would sign an exclusive contract with them for future sand/saltings.


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## JGraham (Dec 21, 2008)

thanks everyone


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## CountryBoy72 (Jan 8, 2009)

JGraham, Do you know what they're charging up there to plow per/hr ? Or are they just charging per push ? What does it cost to have your lot plowed ?


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

BlackIrish;710426 said:


> Is it just me I think he got a rocking deal.


I think you got a great deal for on call service. Some guys won't start up a truck for a non-customer for less than whatever they charge for a ton of salt. That tends to be around $400 here, but I don't know about sand. It's cheaper and no one uses it here. But I think he was more than fair to you.


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## TD BOBCAT (Apr 7, 2008)

*A General Reply*

So far this is the closet "thread" that I have found that features "Western Canadian" content. All the other threads seemt o either focus on Eastern Cananda or the States. All the various regions have diferent pricing tolerances. From what I have read here so far this is the closest to what we are getting in the Central Alberta area.

With regards to the sanding question. Here I was getting charged a $135.00 min for 1yrd of material applied. That would then get marked up to $150.00 to my customer. This price is consistant in our area and we have 3 guys sanding lots in a community of 10,000 ppl.. The $150.00 charge is for 10mm sanding "chips" (not sand) as our customers prefer the chips over sand. In our community we NOT allowed to lay down salt due to the enviromental hazards. Our whole town will be salt free for the 2009/2010 snow season.

The rates that we get here are $85/hr for skid steers (most sizes) $100/hr for the truck plow and $135.00 for the loaders. Trucking is a $95.00/hr for a tandem plus any applicable dump fess marked up to the customer.

I would like to hear from other ppl to see how this is comparing on other areas of Alberta and B.C.


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## Grshppr (Dec 2, 2002)

TD your prices there sound about the same as here. I am in the Okanagan Valley. I dont charge anything by the hour its almost always on a per time basis and we base our prices to get at least $100 per hour on the trucks. Any parking lots we do I charge about half the plowing price to spread sand/salt mix. We sand after plowing most snow events so the amount of sand going down is not to bad. Hauling is about $120/hr for a truck and bobcat plus dumping charges for the snow.


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## TD BOBCAT (Apr 7, 2008)

I too do "most" of my lots on a per time basis. However our larger lots are bid for the seasona and those I have calculated so much/acre. In the end it all still works back to so much an hour.

It is reasuring to know that I am working in the ballpark and not giving away the farm whereby screwing up the market. For the most part we are pretty lucky here, nobody is lowballing or account poaching. I think that is becasue all the contractors know each other quit well and we all respect each other. For example if I have a particular account nobody goes after it unless my customer goes looking for another price and lets face it. If we as contractors are doing our job-customer satisfaction. Why would they feel a need to look elsewhere. Business is not all about price. But what you give for that price and SELLING that to your customer. Most of our customers have been with us for 10yrs and we constantly are getting new ones AND we are NOT the cheapest(nor the most expensive) contractor doing this work. Honest, reliable work for a fair price with the service promised being delivered!


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