# what maximum inches do you plow?



## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

a client wants me to plow a small lot at 6 inches. what is the maximum you typically wait before plowing?


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

2 inches...


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## plowman4life (Jan 16, 2008)

2 inches max on commercial.

whatever the customer wants on residential typicically 2-4 inches


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## TPC Services (Dec 15, 2005)

Walk away, that or sign a huge non fault contract. That question just scares me on how cheap they want to have it done for.


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## Stuffdeer (Dec 26, 2005)

Depends on how bad of storm, time of day, what the account is, how well the account pays, how quick the account pays...

Usually 2 to 3 on a commercial. During the day some of my accounts are Zero Tolerance, so 1 flake and I salt the piss out of it and they are happy


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

the pay is decent and thell pay on time. im just worried that 6 inches will be a little rough on my truck. i was thinking i would say i had to do it every 4 inches. 

good sized lot but not real big. what do you think?


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

plowman4life;1348609 said:


> 2 inches max on commercial.
> 
> whatever the customer wants on residential typicically 2-4 inches


2inches seems a little excessive to me. here in mi we can get 18 overnight. that would be 9 plows in a night.

this specific account is a church. i usually tell people 4inches. 2 with no upcoming snow.

i have no problem leaving it at4. but 6 can add up after 100 feet.

would you non plow until , or is that too much wear on the truck? if you think 6inches isn't too much then Ill do it at6. 04Dodge1500 8' western


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Your not in the charity work,plow it and charge them for your service.


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

I plow it all. No sense in leaving the blade up and doing it again.


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## toby4492 (Dec 28, 2005)

birddseedd;1348704 said:


> the pay is decent and thell pay on time. im just worried that 6 inches will be a little rough on my truck. i was thinking i would say i had to do it every 4 inches.
> 
> good sized lot but not real big. what do you think?


What is your normal trigger or is this "new" for you. It's your business and equipment to maintain. Will 6" be harder on the equip than 2" absolutely. To me it seems foolish to set yourself up for potential downtime. Sign with 2" trigger or walk away IMO.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)




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## 903ntate (Nov 13, 2011)

2" here as well


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## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

The 18" storm thing makes sense.....................not like I would plow every 2 inches all the way to the 18" mark. BUT, you're saying that it could snow a 5.5 inch event and you would not plow it? Sounds rediculous to me. I could see waiting for 6" or so before you plowed an 18" event, just to knock it down. But to not plow lesser events is really hurting your income potential. Correct me if I have this wrong.

I'm with everyone else on 2"


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

toby4492;1348879 said:


> What is your normal trigger or is this "new" for you. It's your business and equipment to maintain. Will 6" be harder on the equip than 2" absolutely. To me it seems foolish to set yourself up for potential downtime. Sign with 2" trigger or walk away IMO.


normally 4inches during snowfall, or 2 at the end of snowfall.

maybe my question should be how much harder is6 6 than 4?


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

birddseedd;1348893 said:


> maybe my question should be how much harder is6 6 than 4?


Have to ask GP on that one.


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

got-h2o;1348890 said:


> The 18" storm thing makes sense.....................not like I would plow every 2 inches all the way to the 18" mark. BUT, you're saying that it could snow a 5.5 inch event and you would not plow it? Sounds rediculous to me. I could see waiting for 6" or so before you plowed an 18" event, just to knock it down. But to not plow lesser events is really hurting your income potential. Correct me if I have this wrong.
> 
> I'm with everyone else on 2"


i agree, and im sure he will want to change it on the first 5.5 day.

though add stated above i think i will make him sign a release of liability.


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## coldcoffee (Jul 17, 2008)

Before accepting a deal like that, consider how many times it will snow less than 6", then imagine several "small" snow events happening that don't require plowing based on the contract. Then imagine what will happen to all those "small" snows that get driven on every day and the sun only partially melts, which turns to a thick glazed sheet of ice at night. Then imagine getting "the big one" that you have been so anxiously awaiting. Then try to imagine trying to move 6"+ of snow across a surface you can skate on.
In the words of Pink Floyd..."Run Like Hell" (away from that kind of deal).


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

coldcoffee;1348922 said:


> Before accepting a deal like that, consider how many times it will snow less than 6", then imagine several "small" snow events happening that don't require plowing based on the contract. Then imagine what will happen to all those "small" snows that get driven on every day and the sun only partially melts, which turns to a thick glazed sheet of ice at night. Then imagine getting "the big one" that you have been so anxiously awaiting. Then try to imagine trying to move 6"+ of snow across a surface you can skate on.
> In the words of Pink Floyd..."Run Like Hell" (away from that kind of deal).


lol. these are some of the things i actually want to being up to the client next time i speak with him


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## TPC Services (Dec 15, 2005)

Normal is two inches, if you are doing all yours at 4" I sure in the heck hope you have a great non liability insurance!!! Like coldcoffee said your going to have a hell of a lot of pack down then if it melts and refreezes think of the hazard you’re dealing with. On large storm you should be able to plow every two inches you may start a lot at two but by the time you get back to it on a 18" storm you'll have more than two on it again. Most on here plow with the storm which means they try to keep themselves from having to plow 6"+ at a time take a hell of a lot long and hard on equipment especially if it’s a wet snow.


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

spoke with customer today, will be plowing every 4" of continuous snow, so during a storm it will be plowed as much as the rest of my route. then plowing at 3" on days the lot is used


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## dfd9 (Aug 18, 2010)

birddseedd;1348846 said:


> 2inches seems a little excessive to me. here in mi we can get 18 overnight. that would be 9 plows in a night.
> 
> this specific account is a church. i usually tell people 4inches. 2 with no upcoming snow.
> 
> ...


I'd like to know when the last time Kalamazoo received 18" of snow overnight.



2COR517;1348878 said:


> I plow it all. No sense in leaving the blade up and doing it again.


Excellent point.



birddseedd;1349854 said:


> spoke with customer today, will be plowing every 4" of continuous snow, so during a storm it will be plowed as much as the rest of my route. then plowing at 3" on days the lot is used


Hope you have a good liability clause in your contract. Never heard of a commercial account only want plowing at 3".


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

dfd9;1350592 said:


> I'd like to know when the last time Kalamazoo received 18" of snow overnight.
> 
> Excellent point.
> 
> Hope you have a good liability clause in your contract. Never heard of a commercial account only want plowing at 3".


its a church so its not fully commercial i guess. i will put a little bit of leeway in the contact so i can plow it when it needs. its only used on certain days so i will be able to keep it clean on days that its used.


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## Plowtoy (Dec 15, 2001)

birddseedd;1350599 said:


> its a church so its not fully commercial i guess. i will put a little bit of leeway in the contact so i can plow it when it needs. its only used on certain days so i will be able to keep it clean on days that its used.


I've done churches in the Holland and Allegan area in the past, I understand that they may not have a big budget if they are a small church. What I do is put in my contract that it is X price up to X inches, after X inches we can negotiate a price. I personally have a church in Holland that signs the contract to be plowed at 2 inches but ask to only plow really as needed (I figure its kind of a charity if I put it off). Plan on it taking much longer to plow deeper depths. The 18 inch storms though don't come through KZOO all that often as far as I know. The Idea is to keep on top of the storm.


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

Plowtoy;1350613 said:


> I've done churches in the Holland and Allegan area in the past, I understand that they may not have a big budget if they are a small church. What I do is put in my contract that it is X price up to X inches, after X inches we can negotiate a price. I personally have a church in Holland that signs the contract to be plowed at 2 inches but ask to only plow really as needed (I figure its kind of a charity if I put it off). Plan on it taking much longer to plow deeper depths. The 18 inch storms though don't come through KZOO all that often as far as I know. The Idea is to keep on top of the storm.


we dont get as much snow as we used to.

thats basically what im doin for the church. every 4-6 inches. with the lot at the end of my route it would be up to 4 inches easily. then 3 inches after snowfall on nights its used.

alot better than the initial 6 inches. that was a scary thought.


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## second income (Sep 19, 2010)

2" trigger, PLOW with the storm and charge them by the total accumulation in the following increments 2-4, 5-7, 8-10 and so on. Pay attention to the forecast and you may get away with plowing a 5-7 inch storm only once. That is the fairest way it seems for all involved. Sounds like they don't want a per push price.


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## indplstim (Dec 4, 2008)

I never understood the "per storm" pricing idea, I don't know if that's what your suggesting here it just reminded me, I had this conversation the other day with a friend who plows, so if you have a 2 inch trigger, and it snows 6 inches, and say you plowed the lot 2 times during the storm, the idea of only charging for 1 push at the 5-7 price increment seems silly to me, If I have a 2 inch trigger and I plow twice at 3 inches per, they are going to be charged my per push rate twice, that's how my contracts are set up at least. Obviously if I get there and there is 6 inches on the ground then they get charged at per push price at the 6in increment


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## birddseedd (Jul 12, 2010)

indplstim;1351217 said:


> I never understood the "per storm" pricing idea, I don't know if that's what your suggesting here it just reminded me, I had this conversation the other day with a friend who plows, so if you have a 2 inch trigger, and it snows 6 inches, and say you plowed the lot 2 times during the storm, the idea of only charging for 1 push at the 5-7 price increment seems silly to me, If I have a 2 inch trigger and I plow twice at 3 inches per, they are going to be charged my per push rate twice, that's how my contracts are set up at least. Obviously if I get there and there is 6 inches on the ground then they get charged at per push price at the 6in increment


so you have a pricing teir sorta? under 4 inches per plow is xxx cost over 4 inches there is a premium cost per plow?


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## indplstim (Dec 4, 2008)

As an example say 100 per push base so 100 at 2-4 inchs, 130 for 4-8, 175 for 8+, there are a lot of factors that go into it obiously, and alot depends on ther expectations of the client


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## second income (Sep 19, 2010)

Paying by total accumulation in a 24 hr period works out well for us here in Jersey because sometimes when it comes down fast and furious you may not be able to get to all your jobs at 2" triggers so why get beat. If the storm starts at 6pm and all your jobs are done by 7am the customer doesn't care how many times you came out as long as he is ready for business the next day. I don't do any 24 hr facilities. If the storm is an all day long event we focus on travel lanes in the lots and then come back for clean ups later. Per push pricing isn't fair to the business owner many times when his lot is full of cars and in essence you are only plowing 50% of it because of these and other obstructions during the day. An example of the price structure :
2"-4" $100.00
5"-7" $150.00
6"-9" $300.00 in this example if you were to charge $100.00 per push it would work out to be the same $300.00 I would charge if I charged $100 per push but the difference is that I will only have to do this lot at most twice on a 6"-9" storm. This is important for us here because of the heavy traffic conditions that sometimes occur and makes getting around to all of our jobs sometimes difficult. This works for us and we get plenty of work with no complaints. Pricing structures as we all know varies by location. The "per push" concept took hold here when the Nationals became dominant players. The "total accumulation concept" is easy to explain and easy to work on our end.


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## indplstim (Dec 4, 2008)

I understand what you are saying, most of my commercial properties(day care centers) are open 6am-6pm no weekends, when it snows during buisness hours the lots are still usually 3/4 empty, I will get everything I can, then come back after close(assuming it has stopped snowing) and then clean up the rest of the lot that was covered w/ cars and I don't charge them a push for the cleanup, but during buisness hours, every 2 inches they want me there


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