How to Price Snow Removal: Per Push Rules You Can Build a Season On
Seasonal snow contracts get signed before the first storm. After the first big snowfall, customers want someone out there today, and a plan for the whole winter is a harder sale. So the work of pricing snow removal belongs in October, when nobody is stuck in a driveway.
This post shows how to turn a snow price into rules your whole crew can follow. Every dollar figure below is a labeled hypothetical, so swap in your own numbers.
What changes the price of snow removal?
Four things move a per-push price. Check them in this order every time.
- Driveway area. The square feet you'll clear, not the size of the house.
- Snowfall depth. Heavier snow takes more passes and more time.
- Sidewalks and steps. Hand work, so it gets its own line.
- Ice melt. A product and a trip over the same ground, so it gets its own line too.
Driveway area is the one input you can estimate from a satellite view. Depth depends on the storm, so it's the one input you set at quote time with a rule instead of a guess. The customer picks the extras.
How to price snow removal with six quote rules
Write these once, then use them on every lead.
- Measure the driveway. Use a satellite view. Length times width gives you square feet. For a curved or shared drive, split it into rectangles and add them up.
- Multiply by one rate per 100 square feet. One rate, every time. A small drive and a large one then follow the same math.
- Multiply for snowfall depth. Set a multiplier for each band of snow, such as 2 to 6 inches, 6 to 12 inches and over 12 inches. Deeper snow multiplies the driveway charge.
- Check the minimum. If the driveway charge lands under your minimum, charge the minimum. It covers the drive between stops.
- Add sidewalks, steps and ice melt as separate lines. The customer sees each one and picks what they need.
- Build the seasonal price from the per-push price. Take your per-push price, multiply it by the number of pushes you expect, and adjust for the risk you take on if the winter runs heavy.
Then run one sanity check on rule 6. Look at the last few winters of your own routes and ask how many pushes a typical customer actually got. If your count is a guess, price the risk in. A seasonal customer pays the same in a quiet winter and a heavy one, and that gap is yours to carry.
How much should you charge per push?
The right rate is yours, not ours. It depends on your equipment, your fuel, your crew and how many stops fit in a storm.
Say your rate sheet looks like the one below. These are the starting numbers in the free calculator: made-up examples that show the shape of the rules, not a price to copy.
| Input | If-then rule | Hypothetical charge |
|---|---|---|
| Driveway area | Square feet divided by 100, times the rate | $5 per 100 sq ft |
| Snowfall | 2 to 6 inches, times 1. 6 to 12 inches, times 1.5. Over 12 inches, times 2. Applies to the driveway charge only | 1, 1.5 or 2 |
| Minimum | If the driveway charge is lower, charge this instead | $45 |
| Sidewalk and steps | Its own flat line, if the customer wants it | $15 |
| Ice melt | Its own flat line, if the customer wants it | $20 |
Say a driveway is 1,000 square feet and 3 inches fall. A thousand divided by 100 is 10, and 10 times $5 comes to $50. The snowfall is in the 2 to 6 inch band, so the multiplier is 1. That is over the $45 minimum, so the push comes to $50.
Say the same customer wants the sidewalk and steps shoveled and ice melt applied. Add $15 and $20. The push comes to $85.
Say 8 inches fall instead. The driveway charge is $50 times 1.5, which is $75. With the sidewalk and ice melt added, it comes to $110. The add-ons stay at $15 and $20, because the depth multiplier applies to the driveway charge only.
Say a snowfall of over 12 inches. The driveway charge is $50 times 2, which is $100. With the add-ons, $135.
Say a small drive of 600 square feet, with 3 inches of snow. Six times $5 comes to $30, which is under the $45 minimum, so the push is $45. With the sidewalk added, $60.
You can run these exact rules in the free snow removal price calculator. It opens on the first example, $50, so type in your own rates and the quote lines update as you go. To see the minimum at work, change the driveway to 600 square feet.
Per push or a seasonal price?
Both work, and the per-push price is the building block either way.
A per-push customer pays after each storm, so your income moves with the weather.
A seasonal customer pays one price up front or in installments, however you set it up. That price comes from the per-push price times the number of pushes you expect, adjusted for the risk you take on. The number of pushes and the size of the risk adjustment are yours to set from your own records. The calculator above gives you the per-push price to start from.
Whichever you offer, put both on the quote so the customer can choose, and send the seasonal offer before the first snow.
What to send a snow removal lead
Here's a reply you can copy. Fill in the capitals from your rules.
Hi NAME, here's your snow removal quote for ADDRESS. Driveway, AREA sq ft, per push: AMOUNT. Sidewalk and steps, per push: AMOUNT. Ice melt, per push: AMOUNT. Seasonal price, covering the winter: AMOUNT. This price holds until DATE. Pick a start time here: BOOKING LINK.
Screen out bad jobs, then quote the rest fast
Not every request should get a price right away. Hold the quote and take a quick look first when:
- The driveway is hidden by trees or shows badly on the satellite view, so you can't trust the area.
- It's gravel or unpaved, and a plow could scatter it.
- The drive is steep, shared with a neighbor or has a hard turn your equipment can't make.
- The customer wants a clear-by time or a response time your route can't promise.
- The address is outside the area your route covers.
- The request is for a lot or a business property instead of a home driveway.
Everything else gets priced by the rules, and speed matters here.
Say the first storm of the year hits and six requests like the $85 job above arrive. Suppose you answer all six a day late. Six times $85 is $510 from one storm, and those customers went to whoever answered first.
Workely's Price workflow handles the quoting half of this. A lead that fits your rules gets a quote from your own prices, ready with a link to book a time, or sent on its own if you turn on auto-send. A lead that doesn't fit waits for your OK, which is where the hold list above goes. Email follow-ups go out at 1 hour, 1 day and 3 days. You can read how lead capture and qualification works, or see how landscaping crews use it.
If your crew also hangs holiday lights, the same method works there: see how much to charge for Christmas light installation.
Your next step
Pick four numbers this week: your rate per 100 square feet, your depth multipliers, your minimum and the price of the two add-ons. Then test them in the snow removal calculator on three driveways on your route, and fix any rule that gives a result you'd hate to quote. After that, decide what a season costs from your own records, and write the offer down before the first snow.
Once you know how to price snow removal as rules, the work left is speed. Workely quotes from your own rules and sends a link to book a time, and email follow-ups go out at 1 hour, 1 day and 3 days. When you're ready, look at Workely plans and pricing.