# question for a bid?



## clncut (Jan 8, 2004)

I own a small lawn care business and this year I will be plowing. I have many questions since this is my first year offering this service. I have plowed before, so I have some experience. My question is, I was offered to put a bid in for 15 res. driveways, (2 car drives) and they are looking for an estimate for the year. Obviously no one can know how much snow to expect so how should I give this bid. Should I, estimate the total amount of snow storms and tell them that this bid could be higher or lower? I would like to bid on a per push contract. If so should I bid the price at my 2-3 inch price or 3-6 inch price? Any help would be great here. 

Ive done a search for help on contracts and have come up with some helpful ideas. If anyone else would like to share some other thoughts with me that would be great. 

One other thought. I bought a 2003 F150 4x4 and was thinking of putting on a western plow. Any ideas on which plow to pick. I know my options are probably few due to the front suspension ratings but again, your thoughts would be helpful. 

Thanks, John


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## PLOWMAN45 (Jul 2, 2003)

I would say 30.00 to 40.00 up to 6 inches maybe raise in by 15.00 to 20.00 in the 6-8 inch catagory.Then 8 or more you double it.As for a plow I like the 7.5 western ulta mount plow or the curtis hitch and run a meyer would be fine also i would stay away from fisher beats on a truck harder then the other models


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## elmo1537 (Aug 31, 2005)

I dont know if this is possible for you. I live near Cornell University in upstate ny. I went on there weather website and looked up the amount of snow fall that we got in the past four years. I used a two inch trigger. It was broken into the amount of snowfall that fell in a 24 hour period in my area. I took that and averaged out four years of snowfall for my area. My average came out to about 32 times a year i would plow a given site with a two inch trigger. I then took that number and multiplied it times the amount that i want for the job and voila. I had a yearly quote payup


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## Mick (May 19, 2001)

For snowfall (and other) averages for your area: http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/state.php3?c=US&s=&refer=

A quick way I use to figure seasonal plows: Take the average snowfall for your area (ie: 60"). Then divide that by your "trigger" (ie: 3") = 20. Divide that by 2 (20/2 = 10). Multiply 10 by the rate for the trigger (ie: $25 * 10 = $250). $250 is your seasonal rate for plowing snow.

I use this and it works for me. Anyone with their own historical data, let me know if you'd be happy with how this works out.


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