# Snow inquiries coming in, when do you start your bidding?



## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Hey guys! Long time no post.

I run a landscaping business seasonally but take off every other winter to travel.

Getting back into snow this year. Only residential and small town commerical.
(All snowblowers and shovels, no plows)

Will you guys start to sell your contracts around this time? I am getting a number of snow inquiries already at this time.

I think pre-selling and paid for the season up front is the route I will take from now until November or so. Hopefully sell a bunch of paid up front contracts for residential.

Also trying to weigh the benefits of per season/month vs per push.

(Seems to me a set rate per month or for the season is a win win if you price high enough, my aim this year will be increased rates)

Do you guys have a mix and match where some clients are paid up for the month / season and some like per push?

We are running two crews this winter, 4 to 6 employee's on blowers. Going to need to factor my pricing into payroll etc.


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## iceyman (Mar 1, 2007)

June


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## cjames808 (Dec 18, 2015)

I have sent out 20+ bids this week that I have been collecting since July 

New. Closer. Better?

Going to thin out the herd and bring our service radius in more, Incase I have to walk there with a shovel.


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

cjames808 said:


> I have sent out 20+ bids this week that I have been collecting since July
> 
> New. Closer. Better?
> 
> Going to thin out the herd and bring our service radius in more, Incase I have to walk there with a shovel.


How do you like to price your residentials?

All seasonal? Up front payment?

Any per push?


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Will you guys typically price each month differently in a seasonal bid or will every month be the same price with a flat rate, ie. $500 per month. Nov 15 - March 15


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## iceyman (Mar 1, 2007)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> Will you guys typically price each month differently in a seasonal bid or will every month be the same price with a flat rate, ie. $500 per month. Nov 15 - March 15


We make each monthly payment the same


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## Hydromaster (Jun 11, 2018)

Residential drives are bid on a seasonal rate.
our season runs from nov,1st to may,1st.
if they wish to pay in two installments we brake it into two payments,
first payment due by dec1st, 2nd payment jan 1st.

any calls for a one time or a occasional service are bid as perpush.


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## EWSplow (Dec 4, 2012)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> How do you like to price your residentials?
> 
> All seasonal? Up front payment?
> 
> Any per push?


Ours are all per push, invoiced monthly. Occasionally, we get the client who complains about over servicing. I have a simple response: No problem, we'll quit doing your property.


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

EWSplow said:


> Ours are all per push, invoiced monthly. Occasionally, we get the client who complains about over servicing. I have a simple response: No problem, we'll quit doing your property.[/QUOTE
> 
> lol Awesome,
> 
> ...


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## cjames808 (Dec 18, 2015)

WarriorLandscapingCan said:


> How do you like to price your residentials?
> 
> All seasonal? Up front payment?
> 
> Any per push?


We only do commercial. However I do reroute nearly 100 residential calls to other local guys.

We should have a good mix of seasonal and per push again.


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## HadiCoop (Aug 1, 2016)

We actually sent out emails to all our existing clients yesterday. 4 responses so far! Lol

It’s all these cooler nights that gets people thinking about winter. 

We are dropping all our commercial clients this year and only focusing on residential. We get everyone to pay in advance for the season. 

If your going to do monthly payments, make them all the same, because one month you’ll have a few cleanups and then the next you’ll have lots! We used to allow our commercial clients to pay monthly, but all residential clients pay in advance.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

HadiCoop said:


> We are dropping all our commercial clients this year and only focusing on residential. We get everyone to pay in advance for the season.


This seems to be a trend in Fergus...
Im guessing the market is opening up for higher prices in the commercial stuff finally.


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## HadiCoop (Aug 1, 2016)

The market in fergus is too low in my opinion in both residential and commercial. I give them my price, if they don’t like it then no problem. I’ll get another client to replace you. Seems to be $500-$600 for the season is the norm around here for a residential driveway which is nuts! I don’t know how anyone makes money going out 20-25x a season at those prices. But, people still do it. Guelph on the other hand is a way better market. Usually 2-3x the amount of what you can get in fergus. I just hate driving to Guelph, it sucks up a lot of time!


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## Hamster360 (Jul 10, 2015)

If you think 5-600 is too cheap don’t come to London. Too many 1 truck companies doing driveways for 350-400$. They usually stop showing up around mid January tho.


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## HadiCoop (Aug 1, 2016)

Are they legit company’s or just fly by nighters? Most around here are legit company’s offering those prices. I don’t know how they do it with all the overhead they have. I usually have “shop talk” with some of the bigger guys around here, I really don’t understand how they can offer those prices. They do not make much if anything, especially with employees.


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## Hamster360 (Jul 10, 2015)

Little bit of both. I think what happens is they get all the money upfront, then it’s all gone by Christmas. I have 6 driveways and that’s 6 too many in my eyes. If you’re going to do driveways, only do driveways and be properly set up for it, or stick to commercial. How any one thinks plowing city driveways with a pick up is efficient or profitable is beyond my thinking.


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## HadiCoop (Aug 1, 2016)

I have no problem plowing driveways. I usually only take driveways where there’s room to push the snow. Sometimes yes, theres a few that can be a pain backdragging


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## WarriorLandscapingCan (Sep 22, 2016)

Those prices are ridiculous I feel your pain boys.

We do residential in Mississauga and Orangeville/GrandValley.

Snowblowers only so we charge a premium and sell people on the advantages of hand vs plow.

We charge $750 - $1000 for a regular size driveway depending on distance, demands, etc.

I had a larger driveway last year in Orangeville, 200 x 20 ft, was $750 a month.

This year our prices are going up, that $400 per season guy won't last long, they are the ones who won't get out of their truck or return after a client has been snowed in again..

$150 per month minimum in my eyes. And that's even cheap.


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