# Free plowing as advertisement?



## de03x7 (Sep 26, 2012)

What are your thoughts on plowing a driveway for free and leaving a flyer with a price for seasonal plowing and a per push price. 
The driveways are 15 feet wide and 25 feet long. The units are rentals and the tenants are responsible for taking care of the own snow removal. I will be signing a seasonal contract at one of the units in the next day or two and will need to plow it at that time. I use a skid steer to plow the snow and one of the driveways takes about 2 minutes start to finish.
Most of the units will not have anyone home when I am there and I believe if they come home to a clean driveway it would be much better advertisement than knocking on the door and trying to sell them service. If they don't decide to use me to plow then I am only out a couple minutes of time and a little fuel.


----------



## jmac5058 (Sep 28, 2009)

Not a good idea , I think thats tresspassing . What if you damage something and open yourself to lawsuite


----------



## dieselss (Jan 3, 2008)

Yea.....Not a good idea at all. Ask first


----------



## Banksy (Aug 31, 2005)

de03x7;1842313 said:


> If they don't decide to use me to plow then I am only out a couple minutes of time and a little fuel.


Except for the car you hit or that thing you backed into. Horrible idea.


----------



## seville009 (Sep 9, 2002)

If they're outside shoveling, you could talk to them first and see if they want a freebie. Otherwise, like everyone us saying, you're just asking for trouble. It's unfortunate the way society is today....


----------



## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

whats free about it ?

you just used your truck, equipment ,your time and fuel with no compensation ? sounds rather expensive .
im sure you can come up with a more lucrative strategy . Good Luck !


----------



## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

jmac5058;1842319 said:


> Not a good idea , I think thats tresspassing . What if you damage something and open yourself to lawsuite


This.......


----------



## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Like other guys said, bad idea. I quite doing "free stuff" many years ago with landscaping and plowing, even the poor little old lady out shoveling. I know it sounds bitter and cold but a few things lead up to this a looong time ago. Believe me people love free things but the minute you peel up a lawn, damage anything, your the bad guy.


----------



## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

Brian Young;1842379 said:


> Like other guys said, bad idea. I quite doing "free stuff" many years ago with landscaping and plowing, even the poor little old lady out shoveling. I know it sounds bitter and cold but a few things lead up to this a looong time ago. Believe me people love free things but the minute you peel up a lawn, damage anything, your the bad guy.


This too...


----------



## Mike_ (Aug 23, 2014)

I'm not in the plowing business, I have an UTV and just clean for friends, family, and elderly neighbors on a fixed income for free. Most people I talked to ahead of time but I cleaned one neighbor's drive only to find out he already hired someone for the job, that guy came by on a tractor only to find the drive clean. Not only did I take money out of his pocket I wasted his valuable time, lesson learned! DON'T DO IT

Your best option would to be leave a flyer saying "give me a call your first cleaning will be free". Also remember even homeowners may have an yearly agreement with the same people that mows their yards and could require the use of a poly or rubber edge to keep from damaging their drives. Plow with the wrong edge and you could be installing a new drive.

I'm new plowing only been it about 3-4 years and only do it for fun I'm retired from my main job. I've learned a lot and hope to learn more from this site and someday supplement my retirement just doing some small jobs.


----------



## shark78 (Nov 3, 2013)

One way is to offer a "good neighbour" discount. Get your customers to sign up their neighbours and each neighbour they get on contract with you gets them $5 off their contract until it's free....but only for 1 season!


----------



## DERHNTR (Sep 16, 2014)

I used to give 1 free plow to new full time residential accounts. I landed lots of new accounts that way. Some of these accounts I have had for 28 years. I still offer a 5% senior citizen discount. These folks pay as soon as they get the bill. I bill monthly and hate sending out 2nd and 3rd notices.


----------



## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

So your paying customers are waiting to be plowed while your out giving freebies!


----------



## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

de03x7;1842313 said:


> What are your thoughts on plowing a driveway for free and leaving a flyer with a price for seasonal plowing and a per push price.
> The driveways are 15 feet wide and 25 feet long. The units are rentals and the tenants are responsible for taking care of the own snow removal. I will be signing a seasonal contract at one of the units in the next day or two and will need to plow it at that time. I use a skid steer to plow the snow and one of the driveways takes about 2 minutes start to finish.
> Most of the units will not have anyone home when I am there and I believe if they come home to a clean driveway it would be much better advertisement than knocking on the door and trying to sell them service. If they don't decide to use me to plow then I am only out a couple minutes of time and a little fuel.


The best thing you can do is get some legitimate paying customers in a certain area...Give them Great service at a good price....

Pay attention to the driveways around those customers.....Flyer or talk to those people and sell your service to them......

Do Not Do Anything For Free.......


----------



## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

grandview;1842607 said:


> So your paying customers are waiting to be plowed while your out giving freebies!


a classic Thumbs Up

this is the place for the learning curve

go get em payup


----------



## BUFF (Dec 24, 2009)

de03x7;1842313 said:


> What are your thoughts on plowing a driveway for free and leaving a flyer with a price for seasonal plowing and a per push price.
> The driveways are 15 feet wide and 25 feet long. The units are rentals and the tenants are responsible for taking care of the own snow removal. I will be signing a seasonal contract at one of the units in the next day or two and will need to plow it at that time. I use a skid steer to plow the snow and one of the driveways takes about 2 minutes start to finish.
> Most of the units will not have anyone home when I am there and I believe if they come home to a clean driveway it would be much better advertisement than knocking on the door and trying to sell them service. If they don't decide to use me to plow then I am only out a couple minutes of time and a little fuel.


.....

Since you've landed one in the neighborhood it shouldn't be long before neighbors start approaching you on there own. When you see one of them outside shoveling wave, smile and given the chance say "Hi some weather", it'll give them the feeling you're approachable. I did this very same thing in a subdivision that was new to me. I had one driveway and by the 3rd event of the season I had signed 3 more on, the following year I picked up 4 more.

Also FWIW vehicle and personal appearance are the what people use to make there first impression, always present yourself as being a professional and people will be more apt to hire you.


----------



## de03x7 (Sep 26, 2012)

grandview;1842607 said:


> So your paying customers are waiting to be plowed while your out giving freebies!


The snow storm ended Monday and all contracted customers were plowed then. I have a couple customers who call me after every storm but do not want to sign a seasonal contract. They understand that my seasonal customers have priority.



BUFF;1843037 said:


> .....
> 
> Since you've landed one in the neighborhood it shouldn't be long before neighbors start approaching you on there own. When you see one of them outside shoveling wave, smile and given the chance say "Hi some weather", it'll give them the feeling you're approachable. I did this very same thing in a subdivision that was new to me. I had one driveway and by the 3rd event of the season I had signed 3 more on, the following year I picked up 4 more.
> 
> Also FWIW vehicle and personal appearance are the what people use to make there first impression, always present yourself as being a professional and people will be more apt to hire you.


 I went today and signed a contract with the customer. The couple driveways next to her that had not been cleared when I drove by on Wednesday had been shoveled by hand when I was there today. I dropped a flyer off to let them know what service was available now I just need to wait for another storm.


----------

