Just wondering... if you hire someone to snowplow your driveway, how much does it cost you?

My mother hires someone, and she used to pay $350, but now he wants $489 for the season.

I'm not any good at estimating driveway length, but her driveway is 2 cars wide.

Ouch! we pay a local guy $20 each time I needed it plowed. Last winter I needed it plowed only 4 or 5 times. I have a really big u-shaped drive way.

My husband plows in the winter for a longer drive with room for 2 cars he says $35 or $40 each time. He says if you pay by the year and do not get much snow that year you loose.

There are many answers to that question. Before anyone can give you an estimate are is alot of info they need to know. Where does she live? What time of day does she expect the driveway to be plowed by? Does it include any hand shoveling? Not only how long is her driveway, but how wide is it? Is there room for the plowed snow to go to?
And then you need to know that when someone gives you the price per season, they have to estimate their projected costs. Such as fuel increases, how bad was last winter and did they loose their shirt by not estimating high enough?

Last but in my opinion this is very important-how reliable are they and how good of a job do they do? Then ask around in the area where your mom lives and get estimates and recommendations from others who pay to get their plowing done.

Good Luck,
Kat

that sounds reasonable to us (just asked DH). some charge by the job which could cost over $100 per trip. being that you live in Buffalo (the snowiest place ever), don't think you could get a better deal.

My Mom is 87 and doesn't drive anymore; she doesn't even have a car. She is primarily housebound. So it really does not matter what time of day the driveway gets plowed. It just needs to be kept sort-of-open so that the mailman can pull in and out (he is kind enough to bring the mail right to her door).

The plow driver can pull in on an angle and push the snow sideways off onto her lawn; she doesn't care about how it looks.

Oh - and Syracuse usually gets a bit more snow than Buffalo. They're somehow just not as famous for it!

This also keeps her driveway open for any emergency situations. The peace of mind of having it open could be well worth it.

Given the higher prices for fuel and insurance, he may be quite reasonable. Perhaps you can ask him to clear just one lane for a lesser price if that is an option.

DH shovels if we get snow of less than 2 inches.... over that.. we pay per time....( we pay monthly and actually get a bill per month) we pay $25 if it's alot of heavy snowand $15 for an avg amt...( I know.. how decides?) we have a drive way one car wide and two cars long... plus a small porch.

My DH has a tractor and snowblower mounted on the back and likes to make $60/hour. He usually charges $20 for a town driveway and can do four in an hour if they are close. The equipment is expensive and the liability insurance keeps going up so blowing snow will not make anyone a fortune.

This thread reminded me of a funny, but true story. A friend of mine,who grew up in North Carolina, was moving to NJ. While looking at homes, the realtor said that plowing was included with the home (dues). My friend took a good look around and said "Don't think we will need plowing, we won't be having a garden".

Wow. That is about a 40% increase!!! I think it might be time to start calling around for other estimates. I don't contract for this, but my lawn guys send me the pricing anyhow, and they wanted about $350 for the season (and wrote a clause into the contract that they would pass on a fuel surcharge only if gas went above a certain price per gallon). I live in Williamsville and my driveway is about 60' long. Are there any neighbors that could help out if she purchased the gas? I do the driveway for one of my elderly neighbors, and she gave me a gas gift card for Christmas last year and she makes me cookies when it snows.

I paid $50 to get my driveway done every time, bought a snow thrower and will do it myself now.

well....its alot but not if he has a schedule...plows her every in the morning and later in the day if needed during storms. the biggest thing is if he is dependable. many times during a storm if hard to find someone to plow right away unless you have a contract or a yearly fee. So glad we bought a snowplow..we hated waiting for the plowers to show up.

We have the same situation with my mom. We had one guy that charged $25/plowing. Sometimes he would be out 2-3 times/snowfall. got expensive. Now we have a guy that plows just as needed for $20. we give him a call and he swings by and does it.

Our driveway is 2 cars wide and at least 6 cars long...I used to do it by myself as well as down both wheelchair ramps, all of the sidewalks in the front and side of our house, the back deck and cement pad until about 3 yrs ago when I had hip replacement surgery...now, a neighborhood kid(he's now about 18) comes and helps me...he is happy with whatever I pay him...I work along with him and pay him $50 each time...as well as bottled water, sodas, cookies, etc. With as many times as we had snowstorms in NJ last year, $350 doesn't sound bad...With the price of gas even $489 doesn't sound bad and it sure beats shoveling...Naomi

We pay $125.00 for each plowing.

It varies a lot by the area and the size of your driveway. You just have to call around.

Our neighbor generously plows our driveway for nothing when we ran into mechanical problems the last 2 years because we were dealing with so much (my late Dad was very poorly and my brother is disabled). Got a new snowplow now, so that should help.

How many times a week does the $350(soon to be $489)pay for? I would definitely check around, and get some other prices. Maybe, you could persuade her to move to a more "weather friendly" area.

I'm in zone 5A, get a huge amount of snow (though not Buffalo, thank goodness) and have a really long driveway with a small parking lot at the end, and pay $50 a time.

My parents drive is one car wide and three cars long - they call as needed - only if more than 5 or 6" of snow (have good snow tires), the guy plows drive and snow blows sidewalks for $45