How much to charge for snow removal
Residential driveways price at $40 to $110 per event at 2 to 4 inches. Small commercial lots run $150 to $500 per event. Seasonal residential contracts sit between $350 and $900 for a winter.
The formula, and why snow is different
Every other trade on this site prices work you can see. Snow prices work that may not happen.
Per event: (area × rate) × depth band multiplier + salt.
A 900 sq ft two-car driveway plus a walkway, 3 inches:
- 900 sq ft × $0.025 = $22.50 → below your minimum
- Minimum applies: $55
- Salt: 900 sq ft × $0.03 = $27
- $82 for the event
Fifteen to twenty minutes of work including setup. The minimum is doing the real work here, and that is correct — driving to a driveway is most of the cost.
Seasonal: average events per winter × your per-event price × a variance margin.
If your area averages 14 events and you would charge $82 each, that is $1,148 of work. Price the season at $850 to $950 and you have taken a discount in exchange for certainty — and you have taken on the risk of a 22-event winter.
Cap it. “Includes up to 18 events; additional events billed at $70.”
Price a snow removal job
Your numbers, the formula above. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs in your browser.
$23 base (900 square feet of surface × $0) · raised to your $55 minimum
This is a starting number, not a bid. Walk the property before you send it.
What changes the price
Depth bands. 2–4”, 4–8”, 8–12”, then hourly. The single most important structure in snow pricing.
Surfaces. Drive lanes, stalls, walkways, entrances and stairs are all different work. Stairs and walkways are hand work and slow.
Service window. A commercial client wanting the lot clear by 6am is buying priority and should pay for it.
Salt. Bill by weight or per application. Prices move too much to include blindly.
Route density. Twenty driveways in one subdivision is a fundamentally better business than twenty spread across a county, and your pricing can reflect it.
The mistakes
Uncapped seasonal contracts. A record winter turns your best accounts into your worst. Always cap the events.
Including salt at a fixed price. Chemical costs move; your contract should have a review clause or bill it separately.
No trigger depth. Without one, every borderline snowfall is a phone argument.
Pricing per event without a minimum. The drive is the cost, not the ploughing.
Not documenting service. In a trade with slip-and-fall exposure, an undocumented service is an unbillable one and an indefensible one.
Dispatching and proving the work
Housecall Pro adds route optimisation on Max and the most structured photo reports of the three — which in snow is liability documentation, not paperwork. Jobber at $49/mo handles seasonal recurring contracts and bulk-dispatches a route quickly. QuoteIQ at $29.99/mo covers a small residential round.
Questions operators actually ask
How much should I charge for snow removal?
$40 to $110 per event for a standard residential driveway at 2 to 4 inches, and $150 to $500 for a small commercial lot. Seasonal residential contracts run $350 to $900 for the whole winter. Salt is usually billed separately at $0.02 to $0.05 per square foot.
Should I price per event or seasonal?
Per event moves the weather risk to the client; seasonal moves it to you in exchange for guaranteed revenue. Commercial clients usually want seasonal for budget certainty. Residential usually prefers per event. Quote both and let them choose.
How do I price by snow depth?
In bands — 2 to 4 inches at your base rate, 4 to 8 inches at roughly 1.5×, 8 to 12 inches at 2×, and above that hourly. It is the fairest structure and the easiest to defend, because the client can see why a heavy storm cost more.
How should I charge for salt?
Separately, by weight or per application, never included silently. Salt prices move sharply and an all-in price set in October can be a losing one by February.
How do I price a seasonal contract without losing money in a heavy winter?
Price on the average number of events for your area over the last five years, add a margin for variance, and cap the number of events included with a per-event rate beyond it. An uncapped seasonal contract in a record winter is how snow contractors go out of business.