# pricing by the inch



## rusty gmc (Nov 2, 2003)

hi guys and gals,im new to the site and new to the commercial plowing biz.here is my problem,the condo association that i will be plowing for cannot make up its mind as to how much to pay for plowing services. we bid $650.00 to plow and sand 17 cabins and 1 long entry road.each cabin has its own driveway and being in maine i expect alot of snow. we decided to charge $650.00 up to 18 inches and twice that after 18 inches. well to say the least, they think we will be hosing them good on every 19 inch storm. they may decide to reject our bid unless i can come up with a 'reasonable ' price for the big storms. should we bid by the inch,per visit, 24 hr period or what?i really didnt want to go with 'by the inch'because of future disputes as to how much snow actually fell. im sure this has been covered before, but im not good at searching this site yet. any advice?


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## BWinkel (Oct 23, 2003)

Charging them twice after 12" sounds more reasonable to me. Someone will be getting hosed on storms over 18" and it shouldn't be you.


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## rusty gmc (Nov 2, 2003)

i agree with you, we live damn close to each other and you know that 18 inch storms in southern maine are very rare.i really think we should stick with our original bid and hope that the blizzard of '04 hits us.im sure once i shut the truck down at 18 inches, they will make the phone ring!


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## SCL (Jul 27, 2000)

How are you figurng that you can charge the same for a 4" storm as you can for an 18" storm? Have you ever tried to plow more than 6" all at once? I don't want to seem mean or snotty, but man after 6" or whatever, you should hike up a certain amount and do it in increments on up cause you're gonna push it more than once OR take very smal bites and very much time. Maybe I forgot to ask, are you using a plow truck or a loader or something? Just curious.


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## rusty gmc (Nov 2, 2003)

apparently,the association had no problem with the initial bid to start plowing at 3 inches.given the size of the place,huge x large and being paved,we figured it would be an easy push up to a point. that point being 18 inches of snow.this account is currently our only account so we have the time to hit it a lot during a storm and the people arent there during the week.we figured 3-12 inches would be easy money and 12-18 inches would be equipment bustin,back breaking work. it almost balances out.next year they want me to bid a price for the entire season so they can control their budgets.it could be a win-lose,lose-win season.


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## kipcom (Feb 3, 2001)

Rusty...we have some budget conscious customers here aswell. We do flat rate up to 10" with them & then it is a per hour,per truck above 10".....They seem to buy into this kind of pricing due to we rarely get over 10" of snow in a single storm.


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## SCL (Jul 27, 2000)

Rusty 
Godd response, makes sense now. Good Luck
Scott


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