# question about plowing your own street



## erty67 (Jan 3, 2009)

OK, so here I am all excited I get to finally try out my new plow. The guy that plows my road usually only plows one lane down the middle. After he came by today, I plowed my driveway, but also widened the street during the clean up. A friend of mine told me to watch out as I could get fined for plowing the street without bring on the town's payroll. Is this true? Not something I plan on doing often, I'm just trying to get the feel for the plow and my street could use the extra help. I just don't want any trouble. I guess I still have some things to learn.


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## SKYNYRD (Jan 13, 2009)

best advice i could offer is to either call and ask the highway supervisor directly while explaining your situation to him or call the police department and ask them. good luck with the new plow and stay safe


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## erty67 (Jan 3, 2009)

Yea, I'm going to check. I certainly don't want to start on the wrong foot.


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## dirt digger (Feb 27, 2005)

i plow for a township.....while i do not know an exact answer to your question i can say it is frowned upon. One of the reasons being if you were to hit a mailbox or damage something on someones property that is not your own then the homeowner would think the township drivers did it and call them


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## AndyTblc (Dec 16, 2006)

Another reason is because liability reasons, if you plowed the streets and plowed it wrong and it hurt some peoples cars or what not, then they can come back on you. Chances are your road commission will tell you don't do it. Unless you go way out in the boonies on an unmaintained road or in a parking lot on a sunday night where noboday can see.


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## erty67 (Jan 3, 2009)

dirt digger;721470 said:


> i plow for a township.....while i do not know an exact answer to your question i can say it is frowned upon. One of the reasons being if you were to hit a mailbox or damage something on someones property that is not your own then the homeowner would think the township drivers did it and call them


Yea, I know what you mean. My street still has a good 5-6 feet of snow on each side and mailboxes are on the houses themselves. There are only two houses. I made sure to stay far away from anybody's yard, so I knew I was safe there. I probably won't do it again. I just figured it was easier than calling in a complaint against this guy. My whole neighborhood looks like ****, but oh well. Thanks for the info guys.


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## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

Fine you b/c they do a horse sh!t job? I think you'd win that one in court (unless you damaged something of course). My dad lives on a dead end street in town, the only house at the end of the block (literally like 200' of street, if that). The town used to always make the corner and NEVER plow to his house unless he complained. I did it every storm, sometimes just so he could get the car out of the driveway it would be so bad, even after complaining. One Sunday we had a large snowfall the night before. I had to pull off a lot to plow him out of 2' of snow so they could get out to go to church. The roads were clear aside from his. I always had half of a mind to send the town a bill for it. I don't think they'd mind my free service once they saw that!!!!


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## MattR (Jan 4, 2009)

The town I live in does things goofy too. They make 2 swipes, one going each way, yet still goofy. When they come through and plow my road, they drop the wing and plow 3/4 - 7/8 of the whole road and throw it on the west side, which is the side everybody lives on. Nobody lives on the east side of the road. Numerous times I have talked to one of the town board members and all he can ever tell me is "It is the best way they have found to clear the road".. Anyways I think if I ever get big enough equipment, I want the town contract and we will see if that is the best way to clear the road on their own road.. Anyways, just trying to give another example of how goofy the town can plow so you do not feel like the only one with a problem with the town plows. I get questioned to who plows the road before the town guy comes through, and I just tell them that I know nothing about it..lol.

Matt


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## ahoron (Jan 22, 2007)

What would they charge you with???? I have plowed my street before during a storm when the town trucks are busy clearing main streets never had a problem or even heard of anyone having a problem plowing their own street. If you damage something it's your problem but if you damage something because the street is not plowed it's your fault also six of one half dozen of another


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## sluggermn (Dec 5, 2008)

I understand wanting to get experience but I WILL NOT drop the blade unless I am getting paid for it!! 
I have even told the guys I work with at my regular job that if it gets that bad in our parking lot they are screwed cuz I am not plowing unless paid. 

what I did was go to my commercial lots and buzz around to get a feel for the lot and my eqpt. told them it was a freebee for my good customers. 

slugger


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## erty67 (Jan 3, 2009)

sluggermn;721984 said:


> I understand wanting to get experience but I WILL NOT drop the blade unless I am getting paid for it!!
> I have even told the guys I work with at my regular job that if it gets that bad in our parking lot they are screwed cuz I am not plowing unless paid.
> 
> what I did was go to my commercial lots and buzz around to get a feel for the lot and my eqpt. told them it was a freebee for my good customers.
> ...


I was looking at the benefits of having a clean street. Trust me, I wasn't going around the neighborhood.


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## kashman (Jan 13, 2004)

i do my street it more of and access road had a lady complain i was windowing all the snow 2 her side . So i told her my wife parks on the other side and im not going 2 bury her so dig out . She called the city they said they aint coming down so keep up the good work.


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## got-h2o (Sep 26, 2008)

sluggermn;721984 said:


> I understand wanting to get experience but I WILL NOT drop the blade unless I am getting paid for it!!
> I have even told the guys I work with at my regular job that if it gets that bad in our parking lot they are screwed cuz I am not plowing unless paid.
> 
> what I did was go to my commercial lots and buzz around to get a feel for the lot and my eqpt. told them it was a freebee for my good customers.
> ...





erty67;722004 said:


> I was looking at the benefits of having a clean street. Trust me, I wasn't going around the neighborhood.


Yeah aint it, relax! It's not like he's plowing the whole town out. He want's his street cleaned properly in front of his house, so he takes matters into his own hands. Ooooooo!

I know a guy with that attitude. He's also one that sits on the couch 75% of the time when it's snowing b/c no amount of $ is good enough for him and his POS truck.


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## MattR (Jan 4, 2009)

sluggermn;721984 said:


> I WILL NOT drop the blade unless I am getting paid for it!!
> 
> slugger


You get paid for plowing your own driveway?..lol. Yeah yeah I know, figure of speach.

Living out in the boonies like I do, we live on a gravel road. So in my case I do not have to worry about wrecking the road. I mainly clear enough snow so I only have to clear the driveway once, and not one time for the drive and then another for what the plow dumps at the end. Just wanted to clarify my situation and my choice of plowing part of the road might be different if it was paved.

Matt


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## Niteman9 (Jan 6, 2007)

The county plows my subdivision. Most storms they don't show up for 2 to 3 days. So I plow my road just about every storm. Not the whole subdivision but the from my house to the main road. I try not to bury anyone driveway to bad. Most everybody in the sub waves when they see me. I don't think I have to worry about the cops we have one sheriffs deputy patrolling the township one shift a day five days a week. So about the only time you see them is if there is an accident and someone calls them.


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## dirt digger (Feb 27, 2005)

you can call in a complaint about the township guys not plowing your road decent but i can tell you they just don't give a sh*t.....they way it works for where i plow there is a little over a hundred miles of road in the township, they have 2 crews of 5 guys...on bigger storms we all get called in at once, most of the guys are in charge of getting the main roads open and kept open...the other guys, like me go around and do the subdivisions

now the township i work for has all their trucks with wing plows on them, so we can do a residential street in 2 passes because the truck is 15 feet wide...when i plow in the 1-ton pickup with V-plow i have to make a total of 4 passes (most likely what most townships have to do because they don't have wings)....when its really snowing i will make 2 passes and keep going....we only go back and hit the whole road when the snow stops and we are doing clean-ups


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## Midwest BuildIt Inc (Nov 14, 2004)

I plow my street just about every time it snows.. the neighbors like when i keep it clean..its a dead end street and i live at the end. the street is about 30' wide, if the village truck does do it. he makes one pass down and one pass up. the street only ends up about 20 feet wide. 3' to 4' foot wide of windrow to the mail boxes..so when i keep it clean, i plow it all the way to the grass on each side, clean around the mailboxes and clean the ends of the driveways real quick..i dont think the village minds, when they are all done and salting the side streets(if they salt, watching their budget) the driver will back into the driveway more that he has to and kick on the salt spreader...

Ive also lived on this street all my life and know everyone that lives here on a first name basis.....


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## sluggermn (Dec 5, 2008)

MattR;722026 said:


> You get paid for plowing your own driveway?..lol. Yeah yeah I know, figure of speach.
> Matt


I get a little kick back (wink wink) from the lady of the house for doing our drive way. lol 
I have also a time or two cleaned my driveway up and then cleared about 20 feet in the direction the plow comes from so I don't end up with a huge plow wash in my drive after I get home.

WARNING THREAD DRIFT..........

Last winter I was out snow blowing the walks in front of my house and I had just finished clearing the cross walk, which had 4 foot high plow wash from the city trucks in it and the plow driver comes down the street and around the corner and deposits the full load of his blade into the cross walk I had just finished cleaning out. I put both hands up, palms up like what is the deal and the ***** smiled a smug grin at me and waved, so I promptly waved back with one finger. since then I wont help them a holes out, ever, and I have no qualms about plowing across a street dumping it in the ditch..... 
Oh and just to be a arse hole I do run the snow blower on the boulevard to clear a spot for the trash can and I always clear it to the curb and clean a small spot next to the curb just to show them how far away they are from the curb (usually about 2 to 3 feet)

slugger


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## snowguys (Jul 26, 2006)

well i live in chicago in the city not the burbs like some people like to say and a week ago we got a 12inch strom so the nice guy i am i plowed the steets by my house and
even got the bob cat out to move piles i made i was even plowing down the wrong way on a one way streets the cops just drive by and wave


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