# Price per push?



## lowrider57 (Nov 11, 2008)

Newbie here ,,,I keep seeing this phrase ,,,price per push ,,,,what exactly does that mean?When driveway clearing don't you charge by hour? Also would like to know I keep hearing about commercial clearing ,you use depths, such as 1-3 3-6 6-9 does that mean you keep coming back when it accumalates 0-3 inches and what about the first time you start out and there is already say 7 inches do you charge more,,,thanks look forward to seeing some answers really confused here,,,


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## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

Welcome! The "per push" concept is fairly simple, and it's like the way it sounds. Each time you plow the driveway, it's a "push" and is charged. If you plow twice, you charge twice. Many do this because an all-encompassing charge for 1-12" doesn't take into account plowing it 3 times, and people aren't working for free. Many of us charge in the depth ranges you mentioned, or something along those lines. You might say $30 2-4" $40 4-6" $50 6-8" $60 8-10" and some kind of blizzard clause beyond that. 

As for the "hourly" concept, I don't think you'll find that very often in the driveway market. Say you spend 5-10 minutes per driveway, or maybe more for the longer ones. How are you going to charge for a driveway taking 10 minutes? If you want to make 150/hr and do a 10 minute driveway, are you charging $25? A driveway taking 10 minutes will ALWAYS bill out higher than $25. Hourly is more common in commercial applications and subcontracting.


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## hydro_37 (Sep 10, 2006)

Welcome to plowsite and YardMedic has answered your questions the same as I would.


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

Some have a seasonal contract, I charge a flat rate per storm up to 8" of snow. then I charge per inch over the 8"


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## archer39 (Oct 26, 2008)

don't want to hijack your thread but i had a question along theses same lines...

For say a storm brings 12 inches of snow. if you have a 2 inch trigger do you come back when ever 2 or more inches accumulates? and do charge your per push rate every time you come back during that storm?


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## YardMedic (Nov 29, 2006)

I may get blasted on this one, but if a driveway gets plowed 6 times in a 12" storm, something's wrong. I might see a commercial site being kept clear for a steep fee, but at $30/per push, are you paying $180 for a single storm? I don't know where some people live (head in the sand or in the clouds maybe), but that's not gonna fly in these parts.


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

archer39;632535 said:


> don't want to hijack your thread but i had a question along theses same lines...
> 
> For say a storm brings 12 inches of snow. if you have a 2 inch trigger do you come back when ever 2 or more inches accumulates? and do charge your per push rate every time you come back during that storm?


2" trigger means that you plow all storms over 2"

12"storm you would plow twice maybe three times it would all depend what the customer wants for more than that


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

cretebaby;632598 said:



> 2" trigger means that you plow all storms over 2"
> 
> 12"storm you would plow twice maybe three times it would all depend what the customer wants for more than that


Yup, this year I had all my (residential) customers sign contracts with a 2" trigger, and we would plow each time 6" (or so) accumulates during a big storm. I think it will work out good.


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## ECS (Nov 11, 2005)

I charge hourly for all my resi drives with a minimum. For instance, 80 hr, min of 1/2 hr. ($40/drive).

Out here, it had better be one heck of a storm to plow more than once in a day. I have only had to plow twice on only a handful of storms in the past 10 years. Homeowner would expect to wake up the next morning for work and be able to drive out of his driveway though. No one out here uses the inch method for pricing. Gonna cost homeowner the same if you are plowing 4 inches as compaerd to 10 or 12 inches.


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## Woodland (Sep 17, 2005)

I would like to add one thing in regards to your comment about people charging per hour for residential. You do see that phrase thrown around a lot but that is a "back end" term. Meaning something we talk about as professionals but not with customers. The way the "hourly rate" works in this situation is you develop a target rate, i.e. an amount that you want to earn each hour of work. Then, when you look at a potential account, you estimate how long it will take you to plow it, multiply that time by your target rate and you have your "per push" price. You would never (or very rarely I guess I should say) tell a residential customer "your driveway will cost $100 per hour to plow" because in reality, you are going to charge them $50 because it will take you 1/2 hour to plow.


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## cretebaby (Aug 23, 2008)

Woodland;633250 said:


> I would like to add one thing in regards to your comment about people charging per hour for residential. You do see that phrase thrown around a lot but that is a "back end" term. Meaning something we talk about as professionals but not with customers. The way the "hourly rate" works in this situation is you develop a target rate, i.e. an amount that you want to earn each hour of work. Then, when you look at a potential account, you estimate how long it will take you to plow it, multiply that time by your target rate and you have your "per push" price. You would never (or very rarely I guess I should say) tell a residential customer "your driveway will cost $100 per hour to plow" because in reality, you are going to charge them $50 because it will take you 1/2 hour to plow.


well said


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