# Comments on my postcard



## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

Just working on my postcard and looking for some opinions


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Not bad. Insured? What do I get for 99.00 dollars?


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## Banksy (Aug 31, 2005)

Looks good. Ya, what does $99 get you? As far as insurance....I never had it when I shoveled and only used a blower. I don't think a 16 year old could get it anyway.


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## JohnnyRoyale (Jun 18, 2006)

grandview;814026 said:


> What do I get for 99.00 dollars?


It all depends on what part of the city you're looking in....


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## Luther (Oct 31, 2007)

Come on.........$99.00 is too cheap for a seasonal on ANY driveway.

What's the matter with you?!?

At least put a 1 in front of that number for Gods sake. :crying:


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## Grn Mtn (Sep 21, 2004)

jg244888;814020 said:


> Just working on my postcard and looking for some opinions


maintenance is spelled with an "E" after the "T"

Dependable and Reliable are saying the same thing, and by conscientious I assume you are stating you won't blow snow at the picture window or blast it down the side of the car

I also assume you will use a background picture you have rights too (I see the copyrighting in the center)

is winter property maintenance your biz name or is that just a tag line of sorts?

maybe emphasize that your the better choice over a plow truck because you can scrape the driveway clean with your rubber paddled snow thrower and place the snow where the plow can't and you won't wreck the lawn. also charge more for this not less, remember a plow truck will have the drive done in 3 minutes, you're going to be on site 20.

be careful with the salt, once you are in charge of applying it, its your liability. skip it until you run a business with general liability insurance.


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

cant get insurance at 16 but only using a blower and shovels. havent figureed out mypricing yet so just put that in to fill the spot till i decide.


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

TCLA;814052 said:


> Come on.........$99.00 is too cheap for a seasonal on ANY driveway.
> 
> What's the matter with you?!?
> 
> At least put a 1 in front of that number for Gods sake. :crying:


Maybe it's a teaser... seasonal for $99 (walks only!) That would be clever for a 16 year old.

But seriously... don't sell yourself short, kid. I'm not sure about Toronto snow totals, but around here you'd be doing drives for an average of $7 each and it would take you doing about 4 drives all winter just to pay for a snowblower. Remember, one dog chain or frozen newspaper and that auger is toast.


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

Grn Mtn;814055 said:


> maintenance is spelled with an "E" after the "T"
> 
> Dependable and Reliable are saying the same thing, and by conscientious I assume you are stating you won't blow snow at the picture window or blast it down the side of the car
> 
> ...


i will be purchasing the pic from istockphoto.com good point on the salt
thanks


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## Grn Mtn (Sep 21, 2004)

big acres;814057 said:


> .... Remember, one dog chain or frozen newspaper and that auger is toast.


actually the ccr2450 is tougher than you might think. on a particularly bad night at one of my commercial lots, it was 4* blowing snow and I sucked up a chain attached the the garbage bin and then after unwinding that I proceeded to blow newspaper that some lazy employee dropped in front of instead of in the recycle bins:angry:

not that i recommend either thing to do, but mine survived. they do however suffer from clogged and frozen carbs do to light fluffy snow blowing into it while sitting in the back of the pickup truck.


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## Luther (Oct 31, 2007)

jg244888;814061 said:


> i will be purchasing the pic from istockphoto.com good point on the salt
> thanks


How about a picture of a nicely cleared driveway, as opposed to a snow covered one with a two track?

Sorry, didn't notice you were only 16.....my bad.

Good luck to you son.


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## creativedesigns (Sep 24, 2007)

How' bout "Prices starting at $350 (walkways included?) & up. Most houses you'd probly get close to that...mabe some larger drives for $385? Good Luck.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

Grn Mtn - Your all over this s**t!! The stuff you pointed out I didn't even notice, LOL.

My advice, "Gordon-Johnson-Jr.", is to charge per time you blow/shovel. NO SEASONAL.
Also charge more for heavier snow fall - say at 4" then 8" and so on.

I'm with you on the "24", the others can bite me!


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## Luther (Oct 31, 2007)

Don't listen to him.....stay with the seasonal. Don't get yourself into a billing nightmare with per push residentials, and all the complaining "I'm not paying you on this one, there wasn't enough snow". Get 1/2 of the season paid up front, then the other half on Jan 1.

You could give a slight discount for those who pay the entire season up front.


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## hydro_37 (Sep 10, 2006)

Prices should definately be higher and I agree with the rest.....Skip Salt this year unless a customers specifficaly asks you about it.


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

thanks guys for the help will post a revised copy soon!!


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

TCLA;814125 said:


> Don't listen to him.....stay with the seasonal. Don't get yourself into a billing nightmare with per push residentials, and all the complaining "I'm not paying you on this one, there wasn't enough snow". Get 1/2 of the season paid up front, then the other half on Jan 1.
> 
> You could give a slight discount for those who pay the entire season up front.


That's just like you, steering a Maple Leaf fan (more than likely) in the wrong direction. 
Kid will probably do 5-8 drives all season, how's that a billing nightmare? Just say you go out at 1" unless they want it done no matter the amount. No arguments that way.


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

You are not going to get per push in Toronto.
A 20x50 drive witht he front walk goes for close to $500.
They tend to pay more because a lot of guys use blowers and not truck because there is no where to put the snow and people park on the road.

Skip the salt, how are you going to carry it.


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## Luther (Oct 31, 2007)

WIPensFan;814230 said:


> That's just like you, steering a Maple Leaf fan (more than likely) in the wrong direction.
> Kid will probably do 5-8 drives all season, how's that a billing nightmare? Just say you go out at 1" unless they want it done no matter the amount. No arguments that way.


LOL. The Maple Leafs haven't been a real threat of late ~ you on the other hand..........

Let's hope he has 2-3x that amount to do. Nightmare was too strong a word, unnecessary would have been a better choice.

Residentials are normally a 2" depth before service. Look for the 1 1/4" to 1 3/4" accumulations to make your move. When you service your customers at that point (when others skip their's) they will take notice. You will breeze through them and your good reputation will separate you from your competitors....that's your goal. You may even pick a few extra ones up that chose the per push route because they felt neglected.


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## Bruce'sEx (Sep 16, 2006)

cet;814412 said:


> You are not going to get per push in Toronto.
> A 20x50 drive witht he front walk goes for close to $500.
> They tend to pay more because a lot of guys use blowers and not truck because there is no where to put the snow and people park on the road.
> 
> Skip the salt, how are you going to carry it.


Toronto moved away from per push so long ago, hard to even remember those days.

Sounds about right from people we talk to that do drives. Lowest I have heard is at 400 a season all the way up to 800. Guessing just depends on size.

Just try not to be that lowballing kid, that no one likes. Phone around the yellow pages, and just give them a driveway size and see what others would be charging to get a rough idea.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

Toronto guys, how much snow do you get a season? Also, how many times did you go out last season?


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

I don't keep track of totals. I want to know how many times we plow.
Last year for the sites we only push at night we went 21 times. For the stuff we have to plow during the day also we went 30. Salt trucks were real close to 50.

I am 20 miles north of TO and would say we had over 100"


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

How much would you Toronto guys charge for 6 car drive (3 down 2 wide)? Thanks


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

WIPensFan;814664 said:


> Toronto guys, how much snow do you get a season? Also, how many times did you go out last season?


check this out http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/menu_e.html?timeframe=2&Prov=ON&StationID=9999&Year=2009&Month=9&Day=28
you can go many years back if you go to the bulk data on the bottom you press csv and it will download a full year in excel.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

jg244888;814687 said:


> check this out http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climateData/menu_e.html?timeframe=2&Prov=ON&StationID=9999&Year=2009&Month=9&Day=28
> you can go many years back if you go to the bulk data on the bottom you press csv and it will download a full year in excel.


Nice! Thanks.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

cet;814671 said:


> I don't keep track of totals. I want to know how many times we plow.
> Last year for the sites we only push at night we went 21 times. For the stuff we have to plow during the day also we went 30. Salt trucks were real close to 50.
> 
> I am 20 miles north of TO and would say we had over 100"


Thanks, cet.


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## JohnnyRoyale (Jun 18, 2006)

jg244888;814686 said:


> How much would you Toronto guys charge for 6 car drive (3 down 2 wide)? Thanks


Try these two sites

www.clearmysnow.com
www.snappysnow.ca


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

WIPensFan;814111 said:


> Grn Mtn - Your all over this s**t!! The stuff you pointed out I didn't even notice, LOL.
> 
> My advice, "Gordon-Johnson-Jr.", is to charge per time you blow/shovel. NO SEASONAL.
> Also charge more for heavier snow fall - say at 4" then 8" and so on.
> ...





cet;814412 said:


> You are not going to get per push in Toronto.
> A 20x50 drive witht he front walk goes for close to $500.
> They tend to pay more because a lot of guys use blowers and not truck because there is no where to put the snow and people park on the road.
> 
> Skip the salt, how are you going to carry it.





Bruce'sEx;814604 said:


> Toronto moved away from per push so long ago, hard to even remember those days.
> 
> Sounds about right from people we talk to that do drives. Lowest I have heard is at 400 a season all the way up to 800. Guessing just depends on size.
> 
> Just try not to be that lowballing kid, that no one likes. Phone around the yellow pages, and just give them a driveway size and see what others would be charging to get a rough idea.





WIPensFan;814664 said:


> Toronto guys, how much snow do you get a season? Also, how many times did you go out last season?


You betcha, telling someone in an area that ONLY does seasonal for drives to do per push.

Guess that's been covered.

Must be a bunch of liberals on this site. Everyone seems to think they know what is best for someone else.


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

heres an update hows it look


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## jg244888 (Dec 22, 2008)

the dependable line will be changed


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

Make that red star a light blue snowflake. Also, change the wording inside to somthing more simple. You could also add a few of various size and color, and put your other info inside them. That way everything flows together


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## Grn Mtn (Sep 21, 2004)

jg244888;815481 said:


> heres an update hows it look


make sure you print out a copy at exact size, sometimes type can be hard to read when all capitals and squeezed. capitalized type is an emphasis, something to stand out, but if everything is caps then the page gets flat if know what i mean. the star is already an attention getter so the type does not have to be.


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## rm25x (Sep 5, 2009)

I would go with a different picture like others have said. A nice house with a nice cleared driveway.


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## cet (Oct 2, 2004)

I stink at English but Snow Blowing and Hand Shoveling might be better so the word Snow doesn't repeat itself.


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

cet;815724 said:


> I stink at English but Snow Blowing and Hand Shoveling might be better so the word Snow doesn't repeat itself.


I was going to say that also.

I would change the wording in the red star to say "we don't use large plows" instead of "we only use snow blowers" because it says you hand shovel also.


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