When it comes to choosing a snow removal contractor for your property, there is often confusion as to the contract or pricing structure. In this blog post we’ll explain several different snow removal contract types so you can make the best decision based on your property, service needs and budgeting.
Types of Snow Removal Contracts
There are three main types of snow removal contracts for commercial properties: per event, monthly/seasonal, time & materials.
Per Visit or Event
With a per visit contract, you pay for each visit to your property. This is very common with residential driveway plowing and commercial properties. You’re generally billed after the month’s services are completed and plowing is rendered when snow accumulations reach the trigger depth, in larger storms there will usually be multiple visits to a property.
A hybrid of the per visit plan is per event, where a company has their price set based on the total snow depth and may visit the property multiple occasions, depending on timing of the event and rate of snowfall.
Monthly or Seasonal
Seasonal or monthly rates are fixed snow removal contract prices, these agreements use the weather data to create a law of averages that can work in favor of both parties depending on the season. If a particular winter has more snowfall than average, the client would be favored, if a winter is more dry, the contractor is more favored. There are a number of factors that impact snow removal contract prices including the snow depth trigger for when services are rendered, if ice control product is included (usually up to a set amount of weight applied) or billed separately and more.
These are very common on HOAs or Townhouse complexes as the management can accurately bill their residents for the services.
Time & Materials
A time and material based contract is exactly as it implies, work is billed by how many hours the equipment is operating on the property and man-hours (if applicable) when doing sidewalk shoveling. Material prices for ice melt are billed by the pound (sidewalks) and by the ton (parking lots). These contracts are common for large commercial properties such as retail, industrial facilities, and warehouses.
Additional services on the per visit/event and monthly/seasonal contracts such as applying ice melt, hauling snow off-site, or on-site snow pile stacking are generally charged under a time-and-materials rate and are billed separate from the snow plowing rates.
Keep Your Property Clear This Winter
The NW metro snow removal experts at Northwood Outdoor Services have the proper procedures in place along with personnel and equipment to efficiently plow and salt your paved surfaces 24/7 throughout the winter months. Request a quote today for your business, HOA, or townhouse complex.