# how much for sidewalks



## Lawnman883 (Jul 5, 2007)

how much do you guys charge for sidewalk cleaning, salting, shoveling. i am new to this and have 2 apartment complexes i do summer work at and they are interested in sidewalk cleaning in the winter. both complexes have a plow on the their compnay truck, but they don;t have anyone to do the sidewalks. the complexes have about 250 to 300 units each and each unit has a snall sidewalk approach which would need to be cleared as well. last year the one complex told me thye had a guy on an atv and a guy with a shovel and it took them about 3-4 hours to complete after 5-6 inches. i'm new to commercial snow removal and just would like some feedback. i have an f350 truck and a deere 42inch snowblower mounted on a tractor.


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## CNY Plow (Sep 12, 2007)

NEVER let the customer tell you how long it will take,
Will your blower fit the entire site and/or will you need hand sholveling?
Are you going to have someone do this while you are out plowing.
Why doesn't the owner have his own personel (like with the plows)?
What's the owner's criteria - around-the-clock, 2 or 3 inch start, after snow fall?
How much do you need to make per hour?


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

Garden Tractor or 4x4 utility tractor w/42" blower?

If you want a guess on time prior to the winter then walk it. Park your truck and check you watch. Walk up to every door, walk back out and on to the next one. 2,3,4, hours later you will have a good idea what it will take.

How many places are there for the truck plower to push snow berms in the way of your entrance onto the sidewalks?

250 or 300 is a 50 sidewalk difference.

Is your eqipment reliable? Maybe buy a nice 2 stage self propelled unit just in case.

Just a rough guess, but that is 1.5 miles of sidewalk.


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## oman1999 (Sep 14, 2006)

I'll throw some ideas out as I have real world knowledged about this type of situation.

Last season I did 286 condo unit sidewalks. Each walk averaged 25 linear feet. Standard width. We used (2) guys, (2) Toro 5hp single staged blowers and a Ford Ranger 2wd.

It took 10 total man hours to clear all the sidewalks no salting. We had to use a shovel once or twice to clear some snow from porches but our contract says that porches are the owners problem as we do not want to damage what they have on thier porch. Worked well really. Wasn't a horrible time as we were dressed for the weather and had snow-boots to combat the slush and water. 

Here in N. IL you'll figure $15.00 an hour per man for hand work with the blowers. You've got $150.00 for labor, another $50.00 for fuel and misc. expenses (wear and tear on the blowers, etc.) to make a good profit i'd say bid $3.50 each sidewalk under 4 inches and $6.00 for over 4 inches. You could go as low as $2.00 a walk or $600.00 total but that is pushing it if you have a big storm.

I've found that for condo and partment walks because they tend to be narrow and have mulch, landscaping, etc. on both sides that a 20" single stage blower works great. Very fast even through 30" of snow drifts when compared to a shovel. Tractors don't have the maneuverability to do sidewalks that have and type of turns in them as condos usually do.


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## JpLawn (Aug 5, 2007)

We use the toro 5hp blowers. They work realy well. Light weight, easy to move around and they dont cost a arm and a leg to buy. good luck with you bid.


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## powerjoke (Nov 13, 2004)

*$.65 per foot*

i bid $.65 per foot up to 6 foot wide that includes shoveling and rocksalt chloride is an extra $.10 i do about 1.5MI we have a toolcat and a husqvarna thrower but still dont work as good as shovels

Hope this helps as i see nobody actualy give you a straight answerf


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