# condominium driveways



## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

I'm new to the site and this is first post.
I have been taking care of a condo complex for several years now
has about 150 individual driveways. plus all the main roads, parking lots, walkways etc.
The drive ways are my question. currently we bring in as many guys as possible to manually clear drives, usually about 25 for a 3" storm. I have a couple of skidsteers with pushers and snow buckets, and a polyethylene backblade edge( useless). anyone use a skidsteer blower or truck mounted blower for driveways? flow rate on skids low flow app 25 gpm. do they work for wind rows? Trying to get the quantity of laborers down. any help would be greatly appreciated


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## sthoms3355 (Jan 3, 2008)

We use 3 skid loaders w/84" blowers for four different sites. Work great. Can direct snow in compact condo sites. We also use trucks w/Hiniker "C" Plows to back drag and push down to dead ends,etc. Just depends on the specific site how exactly we do them. Check out my other posts for pictures and more descriptions. Beats paying that many guys to do driveways. We use that many plus just do to sidewalks and in front of garage doors for all of our sites. Would love to reduce that if there was a way.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

thanks for the reply
do your skids have high or low flow
was looking at ffc for new holland 180
how do they work on wind rows, was hoping to blow snow into common areas, would help eliminate alot of snow banks


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## svc turf (Sep 11, 2013)

You hire 25 guys??? That's crazy amount of money going out the door and not to mention guys not showing up. We do a condo site with 130 drives with a skid and a 9 foot Kage and a truck to plow the roads. 2 guys shoveling sidewalks up to front doors. The kage plow back drags driveways and pushes the piles on to the lawn.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

Ive tried backdragging with skid, wasnt too happy w/ result.

even bought a blade to back drag with so wouldnt scratch drives.

and yeah 25 guys 3" app 5 hours.

sometimes only 10 or 12 show up. makes for a fun night

saw kage advertised, maybe need to look into it further


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## svc turf (Sep 11, 2013)

What were you back dragging with? The kage blade does a pretty good job because you can put a lot of down pressure on it.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Pick up a jeep and put a back blade on it.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

its a polyethylene blade that bolts onto snow bucket. got gnarled up pretty fast too.


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## svc turf (Sep 11, 2013)

Jeep with back blade doesn't work well at all. The previous company that did the condo account tried that and it failed miserably.






Watch this and skip to 3:00. This is exactly how we do it. Best way next to an inverted blower in my opinion


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## Buswell Forest (Jan 11, 2013)

Blowers in close proximity to houses and cars and humans...scares me a little.

How deep are the driveways? I have a crazy idea bouncing around in my feverish little head..


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

they vary in size and depth
some areas all snow needs to be brought onto main road because they are so close to each other
some are singles some doubles
single family are up to 100 ft.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

i went on the website, havent contacted them yet 
says $5,800.00


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## Buswell Forest (Jan 11, 2013)

nyhog;1671607 said:


> they vary in size and depth
> some areas all snow needs to be brought onto main road because they are so close to each other
> some are singles some doubles
> single family are up to 100 ft.


Ok, then my crazy idea won't help. Good luck


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## BC Handyman (Dec 15, 2010)

you could buy a Hiniker c-plow to back drag the drives, then the loader to clear the streets.


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## goel (Nov 23, 2010)

Company around here that is big into condo corps tested a tool cat last year, added a pusher box with a back drag edges. Test driver hated the thought of it, did not want to drive it. 

Until he did...

Cats behind they say. Purchased 4 more for this winter because it cut down so much on time.

2 Swipes back dragging, pusher box to move the snow. Double duty.


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## goel (Nov 23, 2010)

this is from Neige on this site.

Since you have larger driveways. Watch around the 1 minute mark, they are knocking off drive a drive way in about 35 seconds.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

goel;1671657 said:


> Company around here that is big into condo corps tested a tool cat last year, added a pusher box with a back drag edges. Test driver hated the thought of it, did not want to drive it.
> 
> Until he did...
> 
> ...


Those are really nice setups. Something to definate


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

goel;1671657 said:


> Company around here that is big into condo corps tested a tool cat last year, added a pusher box with a back drag edges. Test driver hated the thought of it, did not want to drive it.
> 
> Until he did...
> 
> ...


Those are really nice setups. Something to definate look into


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## PLOWTRUCK (Sep 25, 2010)

we service a condo development with about half the driveways. We maintain all the roads, sidewalks and driveways. For the drives which are all front load and about 10' by 25' we use a power broom( must have reverse so the snow gets thrown back towards the machine). 2 men, one on the machine one shoveling the doors out about 3 feet can do all 72 drives in about 45 minutes. We have used the broom on a heavy 10 inch snowfall with no problems. Broom is on a 420 cat backhoe which we have at the location because we plow a 6 acre lot right next door.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

PLOWTRUCK;1671680 said:


> we service a condo development with about half the driveways. We maintain all the roads, sidewalks and driveways. For the drives which are all front load and about 10' by 25' we use a power broom( must have reverse so the snow gets thrown back towards the machine). 2 men, one on the machine one shoveling the doors out about 3 feet can do all 72 drives in about 45 minutes. We have used the broom on a heavy 10 inch snowfall with no problems. Broom is on a 420 cat backhoe which we have at the location because we plow a 6 acre lot right next door.


That's pto driven?


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## PLOWTRUCK (Sep 25, 2010)

quick disconnect the bucket and attach power broom with two hoses to the aux hydraulics. I know they make power brooms for skidsteers also. We have the first one manual angle broom. It was a great investment. We get use out of it in the summer also as we are builders and we use it to clean the roads in our developments.

http://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/attachments/brooms.html


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## ultimatelawns (Dec 18, 2011)

The tractors with blowers looks like a horrible mess at the end of each drive and filling up the sidewalks


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## PLOWTRUCK (Sep 25, 2010)

ultimatelawns;1671720 said:


> The tractors with blowers looks like a horrible mess at the end of each drive and filling up the sidewalks


We have one truck cleaning up the roads behind the broom. It actually works very good. Best way we have found so far, been doing it for 3 seasons.


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## DeVries (Nov 27, 2007)

Toolcats would work good but are very pricey. Look into a tractor in around the 75hp mark or slightly larger and put a box blade on the back and a pusher or a snow wing on the front. Tractor will out plow a truck, cheaper to run and can do both driveways and roadways.


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## sthoms3355 (Jan 3, 2008)

The two older machines are high flow. The new CAT we bought is std flow Did a lot of research and chose that high flow was not necessary. Why would you blow wind rows? If that is the case you might was a high flow than. 12" storm with std. flow is no problem. Blowing several feet of windrowed, compacted snow might be another case.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

sthoms3355;1671936 said:


> The two older machines are high flow. The new CAT we bought is std flow Did a lot of research and chose that high flow was not necessary. Why would you blow wind rows? If that is the case you might was a high flow than. 12" storm with std. flow is no problem. Blowing several feet of windrowed, compacted snow might be another case.


I wanted to blow wind rows because we have to clear curb to curb. A lot of areas we have to push 20 ft x 500 yds. The loaders then have to relocate push piles throughout storm. If the wind rows could be blown, I think would save a lot of effort
Plus intersections become dangerous with the piles. The site I am referring to has no engineered snow placement areas.


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## vtscaper (Oct 26, 2009)

just purchased a kage for our cat 287. using it on a somewhat smaller but very similar sounding condo. Had our first fun with it this am and it is working beautifully.


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## lawnlandscape (Oct 8, 2009)

nyhog;1671541 said:


> I'm new to the site and this is first post.
> I have been taking care of a condo complex for several years now
> has about 150 individual driveways. plus all the main roads, parking lots, walkways etc.
> The drive ways are my question. currently we bring in as many guys as possible to manually clear drives, usually about 25 for a 3" storm. I have a couple of skidsteers with pushers and snow buckets, and a polyethylene backblade edge( useless). anyone use a skidsteer blower or truck mounted blower for driveways? flow rate on skids low flow app 25 gpm. do they work for wind rows? Trying to get the quantity of laborers down. any help would be greatly appreciated


nyhog - I love this question. Sorry I'm a little late to the thread.

We service most of the Condo Associations in our County. The reason we service must of them (for almost all their services) is because they love our approach to snow removal compared to that which other company's give them.

The biggest difference: All Driveways are BLOWN - Not pushed or plowed.

No piles along side the driveways, no damage to landscaping, no back dragging. Nice and clean.. right down the the pavement.

Currently we use front mount grasshoppers with snow blower attachments and Massey Ferguson Subcompact Tractors with front mount blowers.

LOVE the tractors. Used only the grasshoppers for years, but they do struggle a bit on the larger storms. Also, with the grasshoppers we have had to always use chains on the drive wheels otherwise they don't get any traction at all. Even with chains, its not the best.... and the chains do scratch up surfaces a bit... But we have them more mowing, so we are going to continue using them in winter too.

The Tractors however are 4 wheel drive and the blowers are much better built.


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## Mega cab (Aug 21, 2012)

About how big are the drives or how many cars do they hold? If you go from hand clearing to any kind of plows-skid loaders ect. You need to check for any current damage in the driveways so you don't get blamed later.


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

Mega cab;1672772 said:


> About how big are the drives or how many cars do they hold? If you go from hand clearing to any kind of plows-skid loaders ect. You need to check for any current damage in the driveways so you don't get blamed later.


I don't have any mowers. But am going to look at 72" ffc blower this week.


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## SDLandscapes VT (Dec 17, 2008)

We just purchased two ag tractors and inverted blowers like the youtube from Neige (Paul) and you can't compare them to a skidsteer blower because they are in a different league. They scrape beautifully and the visibility is fantastic. For 150 drives I would look into it. I think Paul would tell you that setup could do all those drives in less than 4 hours if they are very close together


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## Nathan Helder (Aug 23, 2007)

lawnlandscape;1672595 said:


> nyhog - I love this question. Sorry I'm a little late to the thread.
> 
> We service most of the Condo Associations in our County. The reason we service must of them (for almost all their services) is because they love our approach to snow removal compared to that which other company's give them.
> 
> ...


We do thousands of condo driveways and have struggled with finding the right piece of equipment to travel from site to site. Can you send me some pictures of what you are currently using and how you have overcome this challenge?
thanks!


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## nyhog (Nov 24, 2013)

I revisited the back drag blades on my skidsteers
Last season. The ones I purchased are 4" x1/4"
Steel wrapped in poly. Had to drill the blades to fit
Buckets and trim a little of the ends. 
The condo I take care of is almost completely built
Out now ( roughly 260 driveways). On a 4" storm
2 skidsteers do all drives in 2 hours. Cut my 
Snow shoveling labor by 2/3. This year I purchased
Another skid. Bobcat s650 high flow with 72"
Snow blower, plan on using blower only on roads
Not driveways due to close proximity to cars, other
Driveways etc.


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## NickSnow&Mow (Jul 12, 2014)

goel;1671657 said:


> Company around here that is big into condo corps tested a tool cat last year, added a pusher box with a back drag edges. Test driver hated the thought of it, did not want to drive it.
> 
> Until he did...
> 
> ...


 yes this is exactly what ive been saying for months I have an inverted pusher/ puller on my compact tractor and it works amazing on single, double, and tripple size driveways. I also have a rear blower for heavy snow. Backdragging or inverted blowing is the way to go for residential/condo type work


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## NickSnow&Mow (Jul 12, 2014)

ultimatelawns;1671720 said:


> The tractors with blowers looks like a horrible mess at the end of each drive and filling up the sidewalks


 not true at all


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## Chineau (Aug 24, 2010)

This might work for you,good luck.http://http://youtu.be/FCVPgQMYbvM


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## excav8ter (Oct 7, 2009)

Chineau;1878249 said:


> This might work for you,good luck.http://http://youtu.be/FCVPgQMYbvM


Your link isn't working for me... :/


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## Chineau (Aug 24, 2010)

Let's try that again. It had the double http on the front of the link sorry about that.


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## excav8ter (Oct 7, 2009)

Chineau;1879413 said:


> Let's try that again. It had the double http on the front of the link sorry about that.


i like that set up for short drives. We have a new association being developed within our Master association that has 18' wide by 18' long drives and only an 18'x20' section of grass, every other lot for snow storage. I can see needing a Tool Cat or small tractor to help with this new association. Our NH TL100A with the 92-280 inverted is too big for that kind of space.


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## NickSnow&Mow (Jul 12, 2014)

excav8ter;1879453 said:


> i like that set up for short drives. We have a new association being developed within our Master association that has 18' wide by 18' long drives and only an 18'x20' section of grass, every other lot for snow storage. I can see needing a Tool Cat or small tractor to help with this new association. Our NH TL100A with the 92-280 inverted is too big for that kind of space.


 I dont know much about tool cats but I do know that you can get a lot of work done with a 30-50hp tractor especially with an inverted blower or backdragger on small drives


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## johnnyusa (Dec 22, 2009)

john deere 1420 front mount with a blower or plow or a ventrac


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## Chineau (Aug 24, 2010)

Nick when you are ready to come in from the cold Toolcat will keep you going and warm, plus multiple attachment options for year round work.


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## NickSnow&Mow (Jul 12, 2014)

Chineau;1885891 said:


> Nick when you are ready to come in from the cold Toolcat will keep you going and warm, plus multiple attachment options for year round work.


Haha i just wear a mask, Im sure its a great tool I just dont have any experience with them. Im assuming a jd 3046r with a cab would be more productive though due to more weight, horsepower, and front and rear implement options.


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## lawnlandscape (Oct 8, 2009)

This is what we use.. love them. (not my video)


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