way o/t snow plow rates

8850dave · Apr 7, 2012

What rate should I charge for plowing a business parking lot with pickup and blade, per hour or so much per time?

Cold Beer · Apr 7, 2012

In Central Michigan it is usually by the job.
i.e. $x.xx per plow for less then 6 inches
$y.yy per plow for 6 or more.

Daryl in PA · Apr 7, 2012

I'd go with per hour. 2 feet of snow vs 6 inches gonna take a lot longer. I did alot of plowing in the late 80s, early 90s. You can easily charge 75 to 100 per hour. We did with no problem. Good luck!

Paul in MN · Apr 7, 2012

We've been in the plowing business for 45 years. In the early 60's you could charge $25/hour with wages starting at $1.25/hour then.

Now we figure a minimum of $120/hour and like to bid the jobs (6" or less) at $200/hour if the customer wants a firm bid price. Sure there are new guys out there with only one truck and no backup who will run cheaper because they do not know what their repair costs will be. We run 2 trucks, 2 150 hp tractors with 8' blowers and one 110 hp tractor with 9.5 ft front blade and 9 ft rear blade, plus a 975 bobcat with 9 ft snowbucket for backup. My son and I are the only operators, so our equipment is not abused, but it is worked hard. The real heavy snows separate the boys from the men in this business. I just love to see a boy with a new 4 door $50,000 truck with a new $7,000 blade and a few thou in fancy accessories underbid me. I'll be able to buy his repo'ed 2 year old truck from the bank cheap. By the way, a long cab or dually truck is bad news for plowing. Neither is agile enough.

Paul in MN

wisbaker · Apr 7, 2012

Our best plow trucks we had were short bed regular cab 1/2 tons. The only thing is last time I ordered one only Chevy or GMC offered a plow package on the SWB 1/2 ton not my normal flavor.

way o/t snow plow rates

8850dave

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Cold Beer

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Daryl in PA

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Paul in MN

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wisbaker

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