Three ways to price snow removal
Every snow contract answers one question: who pays when the winter is bigger than expected? Tap each card to see how the three common types behave.
Tap each card.
Per push
Per event
Seasonal
None of the three is cheaper by nature. The winter decides. A seasonal price buys certainty. Per push and per event follow the snow you actually get.
It snows two inches overnight, stops, then snows again the next afternoon. Your contract is per push with a one inch trigger. What should you expect?
See our answer
Best practice: Probably two or more pushes, depending on how the contract defines them. Under per push pricing, each plowing visit at or above the trigger is usually billed. That is why the contract should say how continuing storms and return visits are counted.
Which contract fits your property?
Pick the best fit
Question 1 of 4
An HOA board needs a number it can approve in December and not revisit.
Our answer: A seasonal price gives the board one number for the winter. Check what happens if the winter goes past any cap.
Question 2 of 4
A valley-floor retail center wants to pay only for the snow it actually gets.
Our answer: Paying by the push or the event follows the winter. In a light year, that usually costs less than a seasonal price.
Question 3 of 4
A property at Tahoe or Truckee, where snow is heavy and frequent.
Our answer: Where snow is frequent, per push bills add up fast. A seasonal price, or a per event price with clear depth bands, often makes the winter easier to plan.
Question 4 of 4
A logistics center that has to keep trucks moving through a storm.
Our answer: Operations that cannot stop can have crew members stationed on the property for the whole event, clearing as it falls.
Have a question about your own community? Every free quote starts with a walk of the property and a conversation.
- Valley floor and Tahoe winters are very different. Price for your own elevation.
- Ask for the last few winters of service logs or invoices to count real events.
- Snow removal is offered to our landscape maintenance customers.
What drives the cost of a snow contract
The depth that starts service: a trace, 1 inch, 2 inches. A lower trigger means more events and a bigger bill.
Lots, drive aisles, HOA streets, walks, entries and ramps. Every area on the map is time and equipment.
Often priced per application. We use calcium chloride, which works at lower temperatures and is gentler on concrete and plants.
Where the piles go. Tight sites with nowhere to stack snow can mean hauling, which costs more.
Areas that must be clear before a set hour need crews out earlier and sometimes more of them.
Continuing storms and refreeze checks. Know how they are counted and billed.
Every contract should start with a snow map: curbs, medians, islands, hydrants and drains marked before the first storm, with snow storage agreed. See how we set triggers and maps on our snow removal page.
Compare the whole year, not the snow line alone
When you compare pricing, look at everything you are paying for in a year: landscape maintenance and snow together. Some vendors pair a cheap maintenance price with much higher snow rates. One real winter can cancel every dollar saved on maintenance.
- Low monthly maintenance price
- High per push or per event snow rates
- Low trigger that adds events
- Ice melt billed on every visit
- A year of maintenance plus a winter of snow
- The same trigger and snow map for every bidder
- A light winter and a heavy one
- What happens past any seasonal cap
Bid A prices snow per push or event. Bid B has one seasonal snow price. Type in each bid, then slide the number of snow events. Nothing you type leaves this page.
For Bid A, multiply the monthly maintenance price by 12 and add the snow rate times the number of snow events. For Bid B, multiply the monthly maintenance price by 12 and add the seasonal snow price. Compare the totals for a light winter and a heavy one.
Want both numbers from us? Get a free quote with maintenance and snow priced side by side.
Get a free quoteSnow and the landscape are one job
Snow work leaves marks on the landscape: plows catch sprinkler heads and curbs, ice melt burns turf edges and beds, and storage piles crush shrubs. That damage shows up at spring startup.
Why one team for both helps
Planning next year's numbers? Our guide to building an HOA landscape budget in Reno gives snow its own line.
Snow contract checklist
Your result updates as you go.
Still to pin down:
Want a snow map and a clear winter proposal? Snow removal is offered to our landscape maintenance customers.
Get a free quote