So I used your formula and I'm getting weird #'s I'm from the east coast. We get on average (last 5 years) 98.9" (November to March) @ 19.4" per event which comes out to 5. 09 events per year. Seems low. Am I missing something?
In Denver we charge $155HR for Plowing, $115 HR ATV, $65HR Shovel, $49 Per 50LB BaG OF Ice Melt. Run 5 Trucks, 2 ATVs, 12 Shovelers, Normally 100 - Bags of Ice Melt per event. Normally Average billing $20K per event. My true cost per event with no overhead is $4K. We run for about 12Hrs - 16Hrs per 4"-6" snow. I feel you want to have at least 50%-60% Gross Profit Margin (Prefer 75%), if you even want to attempt to get into commercial plowing.
Industry standards is not breaking the law or communism. Ever call an electrician plumber glazier. They have industry standards. Their prices are not the exact same but are relatively close. If using a loose industry standard your business may be higher or lower depending on the services you include and the client needs. I’m so glad you guys are accepting of this happening in every other business or service just not for lawncare
It’s kind of a nobrainer though. If your running equipment in the winter, what are you going to do when the snow stops flying. Where are your employees going to go if you’re running more properties than you personally could handle and you have employees. Well you’re going to move right into lawn care because if you mow the snow in the winter, you mow the grass in the summer. Along with that goes sprinklers, landscaping, aeration, if you have the skills and the equipment to handle it. Many landscaping companies are the only go to for snow removal. And yes you are right, Brian’s Lawn Maintenance is pretty rad from what I can tell. Got to love this treasure trove of a video.
Brian, I do residential snow removal. Mainly my mowing customers. The last 2 years I have found that the Stihl 800 backpack blower has been a great way to clear snow. When the snow is not super heavy the blower can clean up the snow without any issues. And even if it is somewhat heavy the blower does wonders. It might take a few extra minutes but the amount of pain it saves you is worth it. Also, Blake from B & B did a video on using a blower on snow.
So if im doing the math correctly; If your basing your $245 price on 1 acre of plow surface, that would equate to $0.0056/ sq. ft. So for a smaller lot, i.e. 6,500 sq. ft., would equate to roughly $36.00/push. Do you have an equation / calculation you use for smaller lots under 1 acre? Thanks!
Hey man Redmax is coming out with a new redmax ebz 9000 backpack blower next year and I hope they have a at equip expo this year because I’m thinking about getting one next year when it comes out
My company only does residential snow removal, meaning that I only do my lawn care customers. The past couple of winters here in Central Illinois I only had to use my backpack blowers to clear driveways and sidewalks. My rate is $45.00 for a single driveway and sidewalk/entrance walkway.
I would love to get into doing more snow. So many commercial business owners have asked me to do their plowing. The problem is insurance, they are quoting $20000 to start and 32% of revenue as you make more.
Here in North Dakota I got started in snow removal last winter and then lawns this summer. Anyways I learned a lot from last winter doing just one flat rate and learned the hard way and now going into this winter I have two price points based on snowfall based on under 12” and over 12” per day. And my pricing includes clean sidewalk, mailbox of on the boulevard, fire hydrant if if front of the persons home, and clean up to the front door. And I hate to give my pricing out publicly and it’s also based on size of the driveway. So Brian if you would like to and ever have time shoot me a message and I’d like to give you my pricing to see if I am in the ball park or if I am still selling myself short. Thanks and I take most of your advice and Kieth I think his name is advice this summer from the videos and it’s been helpful.
Very well thought out pricing structure, to me this stuff is gold. Sent 2 commercials quotes out today using this method, I'm in MA so I used cost of living difference to estimate my base rate based off the $245, , need to figure out my personal hourly recovery but I think I'm close. The proposal documents are excellent as well, no brainer for me to buy it. I did a hybrid with some of my own verbiage, it's a solid plan I have in place, I was floundering a bit before I came across this content, I had 2 bigger commercial bids to put together and this put the puzzle pieces together for me Thank you Brian
Amen! Not all are "home run" sites like this example, but a half dozen core sites are and another 15-18 are a variety of the above. That plus residential guarantees a decent pay day.
One way that I've figured out to combat competitive price wars; whenever people seem to want a lower price, simply refer them to get another estimate from a company that you know is more expensive. Then it helps to uphold pricing in your community. Generally speaking if enough people in a community are willing to pay good money, then there will be more than enough work to go around. If everyone gets competitive then everyone loses because then you need a thousand jobs to get a reasonable paycheck which isn't so reasonable when you consider what you go through and subject yourself to in order to get it. At the end of the day as entrepreneurs we shouldn't be trying to be competitive. We should be making profits. In my area landscapers always smile and wave to each other and there is a commaradery. This is because enough landscapers here agree to have similar policies in one way or another and refusing to be too cheap. We help each other to hold up market prices
@@BriansLawnMaintenance thanks yes I’m snow clearing for my second year this year and sometimes i accidentally tear up the sods so I’m trying to avoid that
So that’s for 15 snow events at 1.5-3 inch. What happens if you have 14 events at 1.5-3 and one event away 5 niches, you charge the additional amount of what a 3.1-6 would be on top of the seasonal? Great information btw!!
do you calculate the size of driveways/parking lots before you plow? or do you just give a rough estimate based on performance and how well the job is done
Hi Brian, I really enjoy watching all your videos. I own a sprinklers company and I’m trying to get into the snow removal business. My question is, How do you pay your guys during the snow removal season since it doesn’t always snow? Thanks
@emiladams6308 I have two accounts that take 500+ lbs-per event zero-tolerance medical buildings. One pays me after every storm like clockwork. The other is slow at cutting a check, drags their feet for 30+ days but always pays. One pays .50 per lb, and the other pays $1 per lb. If an account slows my cash flow then my prices don't budge. If they are good and on top of it, I make them feel like they are getting a hell of a deal meanwhile still making good $$$ for myself IMO
Excellent video! Just to make sure I understand the $245 for plowing is only up to 3 inches in this example. So say you get an 8 inch event it would be $345 multiplied by the 15 visits for a $5175 plowing total for that winter?
An 8” event would fall under our 6.1-10” tier. So that would be $550 I believe on our contact, I’d have to look. Or, depending how you did the scrape, maybe two visits, a 1.5-3” charge and another 3.1-5” charge, if that makes sense.
I run all my properties on flat rate monthly, due to the increase in warmer weather and ice issues up here in canada, im separating out my ice melt and salt this year because its very difficult to price the last 2 years, i am out on average 15 times and during december and january, been out to as much as 26 times and again about 15 times min in february and march.
Hey Brian, great info, thanks! Do you have any advice for plowing per mile plus cinders for a community? Just plowing and cinders. Trying to figure out how many cinders I would need. About 5 miles of steep roads. Thanks for any info!!
Best explanation I've seen and the closet to what I've come up on my own but I couldn't explain it haha my numbers are exactly this method and very close I do have 1 question when you have per push 3-6" for an acre say 300. For the 1st 2 clearing. ? What's the next 2 push clearing for price? Same rate or half rate? So $300 next clearing $______? then final clearing push $_______? Thx much!!!
After watching this for the second time through mostly because I was painting my trailer the first time, I love the concept of your pricing business model. I appreciate all the information but I’m kind of stumped with the average situation because just like some of the other Midwest states and north east areas last winter was a doozy. I live out in Utah, and we saw one of the craziest winters ever, I remember shoveling snow late into early April. And not just a little bit of snow a lot we had some 20 to 30 inch dumps. So with that said, and considering the infrequency of Weather over the past three years, how do you leave an ample buffer and how do you approach making bids for upcoming commercial contracts? This answer could be simply do it off of the 20 year average and everything after that is per push. I’m just not sure if the billing and pricing here in Utah is similar to the formula that you are using so I’m gonna have to do a little bit of research. Ultimately, I am not set up for a commercial operation though I have made a connection with a homeowners association small private community with approximately 40 houses in a circle and I did driveways last year and made great connections see a potential to utilize that network in and cultivate a business relationship. I am opening up a handyman business, and my concept is to dedicate my resources to this one neighborhood and general area because it’s isolated and In need of people to do some work for this area. Like fixing many different things paint drywall small electric work outside landscaping but I have a bug inside me that loves snow by the feet and I enjoy clearing it. I actually like being out in the snow so if it’s one of those things that I could still do I’m gonna be moving snow for a while. Thanks again Brian for the videos, and sharing your knowledge.
Hey man, you bet! Easy, if it’s per push, you’re covered bc it’s a la carte. If it’s prepay, ours is only covering through 45”. After that, it reverts back to per push pricing. That being said, if you do a seasonal prepay for commercial with a flat rate monthly, just have the 10 year seasonal average as your cut off.
I’ve been asked for seasonal pricing. Which I would oblige only under a 3 year contract. My problem with seasonal pricing is AVG’s are great. Every season someone gets screwed one way or the other. So a 3 year contract a snowy year and a mild year can avg out. Just my opinion anyways
Nice video, you made it easier for me to figured out pricing. I'm in Washington by the way, how much do you think is good price for residential plowing, base of the average driveway ?
@@BriansLawnMaintenance That’s great! How many total acres is that, divided up between residential streets and commercial parking lots? I’m just trying to see how we are doing with efficiency. We have about the same number of properties and it takes 4 trucks. Thanks!
What's a "plow event?" Is that the event of snow that falls on any given day/week/month? Is distance calculated in that? I mean if you have a small business parking lot versus a huge condominium complex, the expense difference is going to be significant.
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Just trying to get specifics to help be more precise. "Plow event" could mean each pass you do with the plow. Could mean each time it snows. Could mean each time you plow (I assume this one), and if it's the latter, how do you calculate for area? e.g. small lots versus big lots?
Same for all of the above except the home depots of the world. We're not there yet. The pricing changes drastically due to loaders, on site salt (potentially), efficiency / production rates are different, so I am not confident to share any formulas about all of that just yet.
Hey Brian, love the videos, I will be starting residential snow removal this year, what is the rate you charge for residential and what does it include? I am in Colorado and I can't seem to find pricing anywhere online for my area. I don't want to rip people off, but also don't want to leave money on the table, was thinking of charging $55 without deicing, and $75 with deicing. If you can let me know if I should adjust or not, that would be very helpful, Thank you!
Hey Brian, I just started my lawn care business a couple months ago and I’m about to get a plow , just wanted to make sure I’m not leaving a lot of money on the table, are you charging for a plowable acre or an acre property?
Just a quick question for anybody that can help me out. I started lawncare last year and we blew up this year. Im getting into snowplowing this year. One of the mowing contracts we have is 14 acres. We had a time this year on it with a 4 man crew. This same place wants us to plow and salt this year, but ive never done plowing before let alone something this big. I just did the measurements and for 1 plow and its gonna be exactly 1 mile worth of parking lots and roads/hills, not to mention sidewalks. I only have 1 truck right now, an F-250 with alot of miles, (runs good)and dont know if i even want to attempt this. Even if this was my only job this year, i dont know if we could handle it with 1 vehicle, if we get a major snow storm. What would you price the plowing and sidewalks for all of that? Or how would i begin to price that?
Hey Bryan, That's a good question. I struggle to give you an accurate number, would have to see the site of course. I've basically ran $245 an hour for my plow trucks and you could do a mile of roadway in about 30 minutes time if it's all windrowing. Double that up if there's culdesacs and double that up every time there's an additional 3" of snow. Id likely not attempt a site of that scale if it's your first one and also you only have 1 truck. Too much to go wrong and that would be a huge detriment to your business if 100 homeowners couldn't get out of their driveways due to a break down. Super bad optics. In the future, I plan to do a video on condos and long lane roads, to help with better pricing. Stay tuned for that. Best, Brian
Those numbers would be financial suicide in our area. Our lowest full service seasonal rate is roughly $20k for 1 acre or less with sidewalks. Lowest per push we take on is $465 (inches dont matter on the small ones), $330/salt, $220/sidewalk, min $50 for sidewalk icemelt.
I'm a little over the halfway point in the video and maybe I missed it And maybe you'll mention it, I'm just curious what you're plowing in bulk salt rates are for in terms of square footage of total area. I live in Northern Maine we get anywhere between 160 and 200 inches of snow per winter. I will convert your pricing put it in comparison to mine on my end but I'm just curious of that.
$240-$260 ton applied. And a ton of salt covers an acre, but the math is actually 800lbs of salt to an acre if you're trying to sharpen the pencil on your prices to be a little more competitive.
This will be my first year doing snow removal here in Missouri, what is the difference between salt and ice melt? I'm assuming salt for parking lots and ice melt for walkways? Also say you magically don't get any snow, are you still going to get paid and how? Thanks!
Bulk salt is for parking lots and road ways. Ice melt is calcium chloride and a special blend of chemicals that doesn’t destroy sidewalk concrete or drives.
This still doesn’t show how long of a sidewalk you’re talking about. I’ve got customers with side walks all around some just up front. What square footage are you basing this figure off of
Need advice on the type of plow to get. It’s mainly for my own driveway. My driveway is 300’ gravel. I might pick up a customer or two in the future. Should I get a trip edge or full trip? I am going with a Boss plow BTW. Any input would be appreciated.
Boss VXT minimum, I’d get a DXT if you want the nicer option. Gravel driveway is rough. Just being honest. Snow shoes are a scam, don’t get them. You’ll have to plow 1.5” off the ground to not destroy the gravel drive until it’s frozen solid. Just a quick tip there.
Another question. I have a 22 f250. I wired the truck side harness the other day and everything works as it should but I hear what seems like a humming relay when I switch the plow lights on. It happens even when the plow isn’t attached. I had it wired through the up fitter and I tried it through the boss rocker switch. It only makes the noise when the truck is running. No noise with just ignition on. Any of you newer super duty guys run into this?
Then it goes your way this season. You're paying to keep $50k-$100k worth of equipment available and not take a vacation for 4 months. Costs money for them to be on the list, regardless of how little it snows. ;)
I never understood not putting any salt or deicer down after shoveling or plowing. I've made the mistake of letting the customer do it themselves more than a few times they call me because they ran out of salt or deicer and now the entire driveway is a block of ice they think my snow plow simply break it up. If the customer does not agree to deicer or salt after service I don't take a job anymore too much headache for cheap clients
Everytime it snows I make around 2 grand 80$ per house some are little more have 20 accounts and a gas station I pay my buddy 150$ for the day helping me no employees no taxes all cash envelopes -80$ for gas for 2 trucks and plows snowblowers
Everyone that works for a living thinks their wages should be higher! 3” of snow is how much? For like a 60 foot long driveway and 15’ of sidewalk without salt?
We mentioned that in the video. Our SOR system recoups overhead with the labor hours and production we run through winter. We figured this out with our Know Your Numbers calculator.
I quoted my first customer 36 hours at a 4.3 acre lot. We are charging 120 per hour and offering an early bird discount of 20% and another 5% for a 4 month term package. We are priced at $8,118 per month after the discounts. It’s lower than your bid for the price tag but higher for the complete season first time doing these bids so I modeled your frame work somewhat.
Hope these prices help you guys with bidding your snow!
Man I can’t imagine how dumb I would be without the internet.
Thank you, and thank God.
So that's your rate from 1" to 3". How much does it go up from 4" to 6" then? 6" to 8"? Thanks Brian. 😊
So I used your formula and I'm getting weird #'s I'm from the east coast. We get on average (last 5 years) 98.9" (November to March) @ 19.4" per event which comes out to 5. 09 events per year. Seems low. Am I missing something?
@@yardsaway1also what if it's a "state of emergency" I'm guess price goes up?
Thank you bro this really help🎉🎉
In Denver we charge $155HR for Plowing, $115 HR ATV, $65HR Shovel, $49 Per 50LB BaG OF Ice Melt.
Run 5 Trucks, 2 ATVs, 12 Shovelers, Normally 100 - Bags of Ice Melt per event.
Normally Average billing $20K per event.
My true cost per event with no overhead is $4K.
We run for about 12Hrs - 16Hrs per 4"-6" snow.
I feel you want to have at least 50%-60% Gross Profit Margin (Prefer 75%), if you even want to attempt to get into commercial plowing.
I wish we as a profession would get together on prices. This is great. Would be great if you did one for leaves and fall clean ups
Collusion 😂
Sure thing brother let me see what I can do
Try getting normal folks who never had any snow removal other than a kid down the street shoveling for 20 bucks to pay anything more than $40
price fixing this would count as then... (a few laws to look into)
Industry standards is not breaking the law or communism. Ever call an electrician plumber glazier. They have industry standards. Their prices are not the exact same but are relatively close. If using a loose industry standard your business may be higher or lower depending on the services you include and the client needs. I’m so glad you guys are accepting of this happening in every other business or service just not for lawncare
Brian’s lawn maintenance included snow removal, talk about a company that can do it all! Love it!
It’s kind of a nobrainer though. If your running equipment in the winter, what are you going to do when the snow stops flying. Where are your employees going to go if you’re running more properties than you personally could handle and you have employees.
Well you’re going to move right into lawn care because if you mow the snow in the winter, you mow the grass in the summer. Along with that goes sprinklers, landscaping, aeration, if you have the skills and the equipment to handle it.
Many landscaping companies are the only go to for snow removal.
And yes you are right, Brian’s Lawn Maintenance is pretty rad from what I can tell. Got to love this treasure trove of a video.
Brian, I do residential snow removal. Mainly my mowing customers. The last 2 years I have found that the Stihl 800 backpack blower has been a great way to clear snow. When the snow is not super heavy the blower can clean up the snow without any issues. And even if it is somewhat heavy the blower does wonders. It might take a few extra minutes but the amount of pain it saves you is worth it.
Also, Blake from B & B did a video on using a blower on snow.
Love that idea!
Yea a lot of times in central pa we have used back back blower. It works great and fast and easy.
Some residential folks absolutely hate leaf blowers outside their house at 3am
I’m still sleeping at 3am
@@skoalbanditskoal
Thanks for the info on snow removal, definitely a fan of upfront pricing.
So if im doing the math correctly; If your basing your $245 price on 1 acre of plow surface, that would equate to $0.0056/ sq. ft. So for a smaller lot, i.e. 6,500 sq. ft., would equate to roughly $36.00/push. Do you have an equation / calculation you use for smaller lots under 1 acre? Thanks!
Planning on charging $115/hr this season, $70 minimum per push. First year in plowing business so hopefully all goes well.
That’s great. I’d personally try to get your hourly rate to $150-200+ or even by the job instead, but you’re headed in the right direction.
Hey man Redmax is coming out with a new redmax ebz 9000 backpack blower next year and I hope they have a at equip expo this year because I’m thinking about getting one next year when it comes out
Thanks Zach!@@zackeryarnett9454
When you say 150-200 per hour is that your rate to sub out to another company?
I currently sub for a company and have often wondered if I’m getting paid enough. What do y’all charge to work as a sub?
Good video, wouldn't mind seeing on on residentials too
Will do mate!
@@BriansLawnMaintenance thanks you're the best brian
Residential video would be great. I second that as well.
Would also love to see a residential snow pricing video!
This is great information we just had to renew contracts and did almost the same thing to break down our pricing. Thanks Brian💪🏽
My company only does residential snow removal, meaning that I only do my lawn care customers. The past couple of winters here in Central Illinois I only had to use my backpack blowers to clear driveways and sidewalks. My rate is $45.00 for a single driveway and sidewalk/entrance walkway.
Great Video Brian! This really helped me a lot with getting my contracts together.
Perfect!
I would love to get into doing more snow. So many commercial business owners have asked me to do their plowing. The problem is insurance, they are quoting $20000 to start and 32% of revenue as you make more.
Screw that I’d shop around for ins
Thank you brian this is the information we need🙏🏼
My pleasure!
Here in North Dakota I got started in snow removal last winter and then lawns this summer. Anyways I learned a lot from last winter doing just one flat rate and learned the hard way and now going into this winter I have two price points based on snowfall based on under 12” and over 12” per day. And my pricing includes clean sidewalk, mailbox of on the boulevard, fire hydrant if if front of the persons home, and clean up to the front door. And I hate to give my pricing out publicly and it’s also based on size of the driveway. So Brian if you would like to and ever have time shoot me a message and I’d like to give you my pricing to see if I am in the ball park or if I am still selling myself short. Thanks and I take most of your advice and Kieth I think his name is advice this summer from the videos and it’s been helpful.
That's awesome brother. Keep it going!
Very well thought out pricing structure, to me this stuff is gold. Sent 2 commercials quotes out today using this method, I'm in MA so I used cost of living difference to estimate my base rate based off the $245, , need to figure out my personal hourly recovery but I think I'm close. The proposal documents are excellent as well, no brainer for me to buy it. I did a hybrid with some of my own verbiage, it's a solid plan I have in place, I was floundering a bit before I came across this content, I had 2 bigger commercial bids to put together and this put the puzzle pieces together for me Thank you Brian
Glad to hear that brother!
Great video. 24 properties x $12,450 is a nice chunk of 💰. Granted not all do salt and sidewalks. Very informative. Thank you
Amen! Not all are "home run" sites like this example, but a half dozen core sites are and another 15-18 are a variety of the above. That plus residential guarantees a decent pay day.
Great info Brian. Looking at getting my 1st plow truck up here in Central mn.
should do a video like this one for residential.
My head is spinning from all these numbers! 😵💫
One way that I've figured out to combat competitive price wars; whenever people seem to want a lower price, simply refer them to get another estimate from a company that you know is more expensive. Then it helps to uphold pricing in your community. Generally speaking if enough people in a community are willing to pay good money, then there will be more than enough work to go around. If everyone gets competitive then everyone loses because then you need a thousand jobs to get a reasonable paycheck which isn't so reasonable when you consider what you go through and subject yourself to in order to get it. At the end of the day as entrepreneurs we shouldn't be trying to be competitive. We should be making profits. In my area landscapers always smile and wave to each other and there is a commaradery. This is because enough landscapers here agree to have similar policies in one way or another and refusing to be too cheap. We help each other to hold up market prices
Love all the information! How do you price roads? I have my first bid request for a residential dead-end road thats half a mile long.
Great info for those in the business.
I moved to FL after we got 157" total yr. in Indian River, MI
Of course, I had to hand shovel it all...🤣
Lol that’s wild!
Can you do a video on tips on how to not tear up lawns on residential plowing when your pushing snow on the lawn
I can try yep. Just tap up twice as you go over the curb or grass and it’ll ride up so it doesn’t shear off the grass.
@@BriansLawnMaintenance thanks yes I’m snow clearing for my second year this year and sometimes i accidentally tear up the sods so I’m trying to avoid that
So that’s for 15 snow events at 1.5-3 inch. What happens if you have 14 events at 1.5-3 and one event away 5 niches, you charge the additional amount of what a 3.1-6 would be on top of the seasonal? Great information btw!!
do you calculate the size of driveways/parking lots before you plow? or do you just give a rough estimate based on performance and how well the job is done
Hi Brian, I really enjoy watching all your videos. I own a sprinklers company and I’m trying to get into the snow removal business. My question is, How do you pay your guys during the snow removal season since it doesn’t always snow? Thanks
Thanks man! We keep our guys salaried through the year.
Can you make a video on how to pay employees throughout the year? Like a breakdown on the salary every it’s doesn’t snow a lot. Thank in advanced
Salt is my $$$ maker. $1 per lb. Never had an account bat and eye at it.
How do you provide to the customer that you used 300 pounds of salt for example? Thanks
@emiladams6308 I have two accounts that take 500+ lbs-per event zero-tolerance medical buildings. One pays me after every storm like clockwork. The other is slow at cutting a check, drags their feet for 30+ days but always pays. One pays .50 per lb, and the other pays $1 per lb. If an account slows my cash flow then my prices don't budge. If they are good and on top of it, I make them feel like they are getting a hell of a deal meanwhile still making good $$$ for myself IMO
Excellent video! Just to make sure I understand the $245 for plowing is only up to 3 inches in this example. So say you get an 8 inch event it would be $345 multiplied by the 15 visits for a $5175 plowing total for that winter?
An 8” event would fall under our 6.1-10” tier. So that would be $550 I believe on our contact, I’d have to look. Or, depending how you did the scrape, maybe two visits, a 1.5-3” charge and another 3.1-5” charge, if that makes sense.
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Thanks, that makes sense now
Is 135.00 a per to low if your driving an hour to get to the site?
@@MrSaltycity801yes
Can you do a residential pricing video? Located in central mn and I’m trying to figure things out for my first year
Sure
Do a fall cleanups video!
Can do!
Yes. Agree !!! Fall cleanups video would be great.
@@BriansLawnMaintenanceyes please!
Also can you do one for residential? Thanks
I run all my properties on flat rate monthly, due to the increase in warmer weather and ice issues up here in canada, im separating out my ice melt and salt this year because its very difficult to price the last 2 years, i am out on average 15 times and during december and january, been out to as much as 26 times and again about 15 times min in february and march.
Where are you based out of in Canada ?
Alberta@@citizenxxxx
Thank you for the information. Appreciate you 🙏🏼
Hey Brian, great info, thanks! Do you have any advice for plowing per mile plus cinders for a community? Just plowing and cinders. Trying to figure out how many cinders I would need. About 5 miles of steep roads. Thanks for any info!!
Best explanation I've seen and the closet to what I've come up on my own but I couldn't explain it haha my numbers are exactly this method and very close
I do have 1 question when you have per push
3-6" for an acre say 300. For the 1st 2 clearing.
? What's the next 2 push clearing for price? Same rate or half rate? So $300 next clearing $______?
then final clearing push $_______? Thx much!!!
So what do you do if you don’t get a lot of snow or no snow like we have sometimes in Md. There are some years were guys only do salt
After watching this for the second time through mostly because I was painting my trailer the first time, I love the concept of your pricing business model.
I appreciate all the information but I’m kind of stumped with the average situation because just like some of the other Midwest states and north east areas last winter was a doozy.
I live out in Utah, and we saw one of the craziest winters ever, I remember shoveling snow late into early April. And not just a little bit of snow a lot we had some 20 to 30 inch dumps.
So with that said, and considering the infrequency of Weather over the past three years, how do you leave an ample buffer and how do you approach making bids for upcoming commercial contracts?
This answer could be simply do it off of the 20 year average and everything after that is per push. I’m just not sure if the billing and pricing here in Utah is similar to the formula that you are using so I’m gonna have to do a little bit of research.
Ultimately, I am not set up for a commercial operation though I have made a connection with a homeowners association small private community with approximately 40 houses in a circle and I did driveways last year and made great connections see a potential to utilize that network in and cultivate a business relationship.
I am opening up a handyman business, and my concept is to dedicate my resources to this one neighborhood and general area because it’s isolated and In need of people to do some work for this area.
Like fixing many different things paint drywall small electric work outside landscaping but I have a bug inside me that loves snow by the feet and I enjoy clearing it. I actually like being out in the snow so if it’s one of those things that I could still do I’m gonna be moving snow for a while.
Thanks again Brian for the videos, and sharing your knowledge.
Hey man, you bet! Easy, if it’s per push, you’re covered bc it’s a la carte. If it’s prepay, ours is only covering through 45”. After that, it reverts back to per push pricing.
That being said, if you do a seasonal prepay for commercial with a flat rate monthly, just have the 10 year seasonal average as your cut off.
I’ve been asked for seasonal pricing. Which I would oblige only under a 3 year contract. My problem with seasonal pricing is AVG’s are great. Every season someone gets screwed one way or the other. So a 3 year contract a snowy year and a mild year can avg out. Just my opinion anyways
Maybe I heard wrong but what size of parking lot is it that you charge $240 for a base price?
One acre plowable site
Nice video, you made it easier for me to figured out pricing. I'm in Washington by the way,
how much do you think is good price for residential plowing, base of the average driveway ?
$1250 for 1k sqft!
Good video Brian! How many trucks are you running to cover the 24 accounts? Thanks!
3 trucks full time now!
@@BriansLawnMaintenance
That’s great! How many total acres is that, divided up between residential streets and commercial parking lots? I’m just trying to see how we are doing with efficiency. We have about the same number of properties and it takes 4 trucks.
Thanks!
In Wyoming we do 300 pre 3”
Great video. I just had 1 question unless I missed it in the video. What size lot are you charging almost 13k? Is this half acre? Full acre?
That’s a 1 acre site on average yessir.
I'm in michigan also antrim county roughly 150 inches
trying to figure out the commercial plowing
Up front black and white pricing!!
What's a "plow event?" Is that the event of snow that falls on any given day/week/month? Is distance calculated in that? I mean if you have a small business parking lot versus a huge condominium complex, the expense difference is going to be significant.
A plowable event. This isn’t rocket science mate. A plow run.
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Just trying to get specifics to help be more precise. "Plow event" could mean each pass you do with the plow. Could mean each time it snows. Could mean each time you plow (I assume this one), and if it's the latter, how do you calculate for area? e.g. small lots versus big lots?
I need a the most effective way to do snow removal for residential properties. Plow truck or toro multi force?
Hey Brian how do you price differently for the size of property such as a convenience store, a church or say a Home Depot?
Same for all of the above except the home depots of the world. We're not there yet. The pricing changes drastically due to loaders, on site salt (potentially), efficiency / production rates are different, so I am not confident to share any formulas about all of that just yet.
For the industry.
Hey Brian.... great video. What is the lot size for the base plow cost of $245?
1 acre my friend
@@BriansLawnMaintenance thank you
Are you considering a waiver deviation for salting only some days? Your insurance will not cover if you did not salt
Hey Brian, love the videos, I will be starting residential snow removal this year, what is the rate you charge for residential and what does it include? I am in Colorado and I can't seem to find pricing anywhere online for my area. I don't want to rip people off, but also don't want to leave money on the table, was thinking of charging $55 without deicing, and $75 with deicing. If you can let me know if I should adjust or not, that would be very helpful, Thank you!
$925 for a 1k sqft driveway here and that’s for 45” of snow coverage including the walks.
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Thank you so much!
@@BriansLawnMaintenance Forgot to ask, does your price include de-icing/salting as well?
Any thoughts on hourly rates for Northern Virginia snow plowing and salting?
I don't have anything for that market, but I wouldn't deviate much from what we suggested here.
Hey Brian, I just started my lawn care business a couple months ago and I’m about to get a plow , just wanted to make sure I’m not leaving a lot of money on the table, are you charging for a plowable acre or an acre property?
Awesome pal! To answer your question, a plow-able acre.
Thanks Brian! You’re channel is great and really helpful btw
What about residential plowing? How do you charge for that?
Great breakdown!
Appreciate it!
Without knowing the average size of the lot that you used for the example I can't tell you if it's high low or good.
These numbers are based off a 1 acre site.
Nice , we do
-plow driver fee per job /hourly plow price
spreader fee for the salt boxes. Plus salt per lb
Hand labor price per hr / sidewalk salt lb
Can you please make a video of every Booth at Equip Exposition This Year?
I'll film as much as I can :)
@@BriansLawnMaintenanceOkay Awesome!
Just a quick question for anybody that can help me out.
I started lawncare last year and we blew up this year. Im getting into snowplowing this year. One of the mowing contracts we have is 14 acres. We had a time this year on it with a 4 man crew. This same place wants us to plow and salt this year, but ive never done plowing before let alone something this big. I just did the measurements and for 1 plow and its gonna be exactly 1 mile worth of parking lots and roads/hills, not to mention sidewalks. I only have 1 truck right now, an F-250 with alot of miles, (runs good)and dont know if i even want to attempt this. Even if this was my only job this year, i dont know if we could handle it with 1 vehicle, if we get a major snow storm.
What would you price the plowing and sidewalks for all of that? Or how would i begin to price that?
Hey Bryan,
That's a good question. I struggle to give you an accurate number, would have to see the site of course. I've basically ran $245 an hour for my plow trucks and you could do a mile of roadway in about 30 minutes time if it's all windrowing. Double that up if there's culdesacs and double that up every time there's an additional 3" of snow.
Id likely not attempt a site of that scale if it's your first one and also you only have 1 truck. Too much to go wrong and that would be a huge detriment to your business if 100 homeowners couldn't get out of their driveways due to a break down. Super bad optics.
In the future, I plan to do a video on condos and long lane roads, to help with better pricing. Stay tuned for that.
Best,
Brian
I am in MD so we don’t get a lot of snow but I need to figure out how to get this snow money
Wow I need to get a salter
Maybe it’s different over in Detroit but here in Grand Rapids they’re predicting a warm winter so maybe no snow this year
Everything I’ve heard has said the opposite!
Same in Chicago. Just bought a $7k plow man im literally prayin it snow
Those numbers would be financial suicide in our area. Our lowest full service seasonal rate is roughly $20k for 1 acre or less with sidewalks. Lowest per push we take on is $465 (inches dont matter on the small ones), $330/salt, $220/sidewalk, min $50 for sidewalk icemelt.
Where are you located? I'm Eastern Pa and I was thinking similar
Awesome! What market?
Where are you located? And you’re getting $465 an acre per push?
I'm a little over the halfway point in the video and maybe I missed it And maybe you'll mention it, I'm just curious what you're plowing in bulk salt rates are for in terms of square footage of total area. I live in Northern Maine we get anywhere between 160 and 200 inches of snow per winter. I will convert your pricing put it in comparison to mine on my end but I'm just curious of that.
$240-$260 ton applied. And a ton of salt covers an acre, but the math is actually 800lbs of salt to an acre if you're trying to sharpen the pencil on your prices to be a little more competitive.
This will be my first year doing snow removal here in Missouri, what is the difference between salt and ice melt? I'm assuming salt for parking lots and ice melt for walkways? Also say you magically don't get any snow, are you still going to get paid and how? Thanks!
Bulk salt is for parking lots and road ways. Ice melt is calcium chloride and a special blend of chemicals that doesn’t destroy sidewalk concrete or drives.
Hey, what site are you using that tells you how many inches of snow you get in your area? Thanks
We use a variety of national weather reporting websites.
What if it's per push for 2" to 4" and per push for 4.1" to 6"???
You can set your tiers however you'd like!
Thank you sir god bless
What does it mean for a sidewalk? A sidewalk can be ten feet a hundred feet, a thousand feet two feet.Is that price per certain square footage
Standard width 36" etc
@@BriansLawnMaintenance what about length im going to quote a 1000foot strip in front of a care home and the small lot
Thanks for the quick response
This still doesn’t show how long of a sidewalk you’re talking about. I’ve got customers with side walks all around some just up front. What square footage are you basing this figure off of
@Pendletoncattleco his pricing matrix has it at 100ft $45 plus ice melt etc per visit
@@everythingcleaning2244 thank ya!
What cameras do you use? If you have time to get to this question thanks in advance!
Canon r6 and GoPros!
Need advice on the type of plow to get. It’s mainly for my own driveway. My driveway is 300’ gravel. I might pick up a customer or two in the future. Should I get a trip edge or full trip? I am going with a Boss plow BTW. Any input would be appreciated.
Boss VXT minimum, I’d get a DXT if you want the nicer option. Gravel driveway is rough. Just being honest. Snow shoes are a scam, don’t get them. You’ll have to plow 1.5” off the ground to not destroy the gravel drive until it’s frozen solid. Just a quick tip there.
Another question. I have a 22 f250. I wired the truck side harness the other day and everything works as it should but I hear what seems like a humming relay when I switch the plow lights on. It happens even when the plow isn’t attached. I had it wired through the up fitter and I tried it through the boss rocker switch. It only makes the noise when the truck is running. No noise with just ignition on. Any of you newer super duty guys run into this?
I know this was 3 months ago but what is a proper pricing for residential?
$925-$1,250 for us for 45” of coverage including sidewalks
What is the $245 base bush price based off of? Hours? Acres?
1 acre and 1-1.25 hours of production
Do you still use this model? If not would love to see a video on that!
@@johnlazear7405 yup 100%. Let me see what I can do ❤️
Question: For snow removal if you had to use a skid steer... Would you buy a tracked or wheeled skid steer?
That I am not sure, I don’t run them much!
What happens if annually snow is 45 inches and you do the contract but this season was a fluke and only get 20 inches what happens then ?
Then it goes your way this season. You're paying to keep $50k-$100k worth of equipment available and not take a vacation for 4 months. Costs money for them to be on the list, regardless of how little it snows. ;)
Looked on the website for the contracts brother, Couldn't find anything
Www.LawntrepreneurAcademy.com/store ❤️
Do you do 245 for any size lot what about residential how much do you do per push or did in the past
1 acre site. Residential we're at $1,250 for unlimited coverage, drive and walks, for a subdivision home
I’m assuming these numbers are commercial only prices?
Same numbers commercial, churches, strip malls. Anything non residential basically.
What’s the size of the lot that you are basing your numbers off of?
1 acre
350 cad dollars is minimum price for whole season
Is 135.00 a push to low if your driving an hour plus paying someone to run your plow?
Ive seen most employees make $25-$35 an hour to drive YOUR truck. To hire out their truck and rig, anywhere from $90-$150/hour seems average.
Where are you guys getting bulk salt? I'm in Washington
Find your local SiteOne or salt supplier, a quick google will come up with something!
Thanks. I'm just starting out lol and went from 1 to 10 in like a week.
In New York, we get 200 for a 50 pound bag
Any word if there is a salt shortage this year or not?
That would be a convo with your local supplier, everyone's source is different. I haven't heard much yet!
I never understood not putting any salt or deicer down after shoveling or plowing. I've made the mistake of letting the customer do it themselves more than a few times they call me because they ran out of salt or deicer and now the entire driveway is a block of ice they think my snow plow simply break it up. If the customer does not agree to deicer or salt after service I don't take a job anymore too much headache for cheap clients
I hear you loud and clear, and totally agree.
How arw you getting you walk price at $45. Some walks are long some are wide.
Just a standard rate, nothing fancy. Could always dial it down if you want to sharpen the pencil, yessir.
What day you going to equip expo? I want a picture with you
I'll be there all week my friend.
How does the size of the lot affect the pricing?
For every extra acre we discount it around 10%. To be fair, our company doesn’t focus on any lots larger than 3-4 acres.
You get $245 to plow a residential driveway each event?
I am not sure how you got that from this video? This video is 100% about commercial parking lots.
I’m sorry I missed that.
Everytime it snows I make around 2 grand 80$ per house some are little more have 20 accounts and a gas station I pay my buddy 150$ for the day helping me no employees no taxes all cash envelopes -80$ for gas for 2 trucks and plows snowblowers
What size lot is this example for?
1 acre site
I do retainer contracts money up front non refundable after each event I send invoices until retainer is gone then per hour
How does this work? Do you come up with the number by inch?
@@CerretaniOutdoorsLLC I do it by the size of the lot I strictly do commercial no residential
@@landscapingmaintenancesnow4675 same here my man
I got almost quarter million Sq ft at one of my sites
Sidewalks, parking lots, both needing salt
@@landscapingmaintenancesnow4675 u got a number I can reach out?
Everyone that works for a living thinks their wages should be higher!
3” of snow is how much? For like a 60 foot long driveway and 15’ of sidewalk without salt?
$245 is based of what it cost for you to come out there or where is the $245 coming from?
We mentioned that in the video. Our SOR system recoups overhead with the labor hours and production we run through winter. We figured this out with our Know Your Numbers calculator.
What’s the area of the property
1 acre and 100' of walk on average
I quoted my first customer 36 hours at a 4.3 acre lot. We are charging 120 per hour and offering an early bird discount of 20% and another 5% for a 4 month term package. We are priced at $8,118 per month after the discounts. It’s lower than your bid for the price tag but higher for the complete season first time doing these bids so I modeled your frame work somewhat.
We just do residential
Why did you divide the total average of snow by 3? Is that the average snowfall event? You lost me there
Is this canadian