# Sidewalk pricing???????



## iwnt2snowmobile (Jun 17, 2011)

I need some help guys! I am not competitive enough with my bids for sidewalk snow removal! I am an experienced shoveler arent we all....???? Does anyone have a good formula for square foot pricing or maybe even linear feet?? Rather than just guessing how long its gonna take my shoveling crew to do it and slapping a price down??? thanks in advance!


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## wizardsr (Aug 8, 2006)

Assuming you're not a total newbie here... Do you have accurate times for other shoveling jobs from previous years? Measure those sidewalks and figure out your costs from there. Knowing this, you can easily estimate new work based on square footage or linear footage. 

However, when you say you're not competitive, could it be because you're simply not as efficient as your competition? Sidewalks are tough to make money on to begin with, but if you're paying laborers with shovels to do them while your competitors are doing them with loaders, ATV's, etc, you probably don't stand a chance.


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## iwnt2snowmobile (Jun 17, 2011)

okay thanks! And what i mean by not competitive enough is that i leave money out on the table! I dont mean to be but i've been that guy that low balls on the sidewalks, I dont want to do that! If im gonna get that job i need to make money on it! Because where i am there is only little money in salting it seems like the going price for salting around here is $100/acre


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## wizardsr (Aug 8, 2006)

That salt price does seem pretty low, but it all depends on your market. Even though we're quite efficient on sidewalks, by the time I pay for equipment and labor, I don't make much on them at all. Where we make money is on plowing, snow relocation, and salt. Sidewalks are a great marketing tool though, as you can get better paying work plowing and salting that the competition walked away from because they didn't want to deal with shoveling. Kind of a necessary evil if you want to keep growing, even though you may not make much on the shoveling end of it. payup


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## Wayne Volz (Mar 1, 2002)

*Sidewalks can be a pain*

Sidewalks can be a pain. Regardless, get equipped to do them with efficient equipment. Even if you are going to use shovels, there are some higher production options available. Proactive is always better than reactive.

As posted above, sidewalks profit margins may be different from the other snow & ice services you offer. Most important, do you know why you charge what you charge other than that's what everyone else is charging or that's what I think the market will bear?

Calculate your cost per hour for your company and remember the many many variables that change production rates for this service.


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