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Money during winter

by amilo70 Banned
17 replies
I figured out that I was start to plow away the snow for people close to my area for a monthly fee of $77. We have snow for around 6 months here I believe. So that means If I got 100 people to use my service during the winter, that would be $7700 per month and over $50k during the 6 months. I own a tractor and I have a plow so I can easily travel and remove snow for people. Also when the summer arrives, I have a good reputation so I can offer some summer activity to help people on the summer.

What do you tihnk about the idea ? Posting flyers around the area offering plowing everyday for $77 a month ?
#money #winter
  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    You could also take this approach:

    When the first snow falls, go around to 100 houses and clear the snow in the middle of the night for free, one time, and place a flyer on their door saying something like, "Hi, I'm the c hap that just cleared your snow. I can do it regularly for you - call me at XXX". Give the message some personality and include a picture of yourself and you'll close quite a few out of reciprocity.

    Only do every third house, and put flyers on the house in the middle saying - if you want your yard cleared like your neighbor's, give me a call. Same personal approach.

    All the best,

    Sasha.
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    • Profile picture of the author abbot
      Banned
      Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

      Hi there,

      You could also take this approach:

      When the first snow falls, go around to 100 houses and clear the snow in the middle of the night for free, one time, and place a flyer on their door saying something like, "Hi, I'm the c hap that just cleared your snow. I can do it regularly for you - call me at XXX". Give the message some personality and include a picture of yourself and you'll close quite a few out of reciprocity.

      Only do every third house, and put flyers on the house in the middle saying - if you want your yard cleared like your neighbor's, give me a call. Same personal approach.

      All the best,


      Sasha.
      Great...except that's trespassing. And where I'm from, you wouldn't get very far.
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      • Profile picture of the author stanigator
        Originally Posted by abbot View Post

        Great...except that's trespassing. And where I'm from, you wouldn't get very far.
        What about just plowing the sidewalks at night? Sidewalks in front of their houses are technically public property.
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      • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
        Originally Posted by abbot View Post

        Great...except that's trespassing. And where I'm from, you wouldn't get very far.
        Hi there,

        You didn't state where you're from, but in the USA unless there's a "No trespassing" sign on the property, the issue of trespass only arises if you've been asked to leave. We looked into that for our door to door salespeople and that's what our lawyers advised.

        Of course, I would never take legal advice from a post like this or a forum like this.

        All the best,

        Sasha.
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        • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
          Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

          Hi there,

          You didn't state where you're from, but in the USA unless there's a "No trespassing" sign on the property, the issue of trespass only arises if you've been asked to leave. We looked into that for our door to door salespeople and that's what our lawyers advised.

          Of course, I would never take legal advice from a post like this or a forum like this.

          All the best,

          Sasha.
          This is how i have always understood the law. It's why people have fences and no trespass signs.
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          Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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          • Profile picture of the author umc
            I would say that you have a legal right to walk up to someone's door and knock on it. You would have no right to perform services on private property. In fact, if you were to damage anything (and when things are covered by snow you have no clue where boundaries truly are), you would be promptly sued. Bad idea to go mess with someone else's property, and comparing it to door to door sales seems like apples and oranges to me.
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            • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
              Originally Posted by umc View Post

              I would say that you have a legal right to walk up to someone's door and knock on it. You would have no right to perform services on private property. In fact, if you were to damage anything (and when things are covered by snow you have no clue where boundaries truly are), you would be promptly sued. Bad idea to go mess with someone else's property, and comparing it to door to door sales seems like apples and oranges to me.
              I see the point on the damages. Which is the best point against it. But cleaning the sidewalk vs. the drive way might be a way to do it without the risk.

              But I've had people plow my drive before without me asking. They had just always done it for the people that lived there before me when they did theirs. I miss that house for that reason.
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              Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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        • Profile picture of the author abbot
          Banned
          Originally Posted by SashaLee View Post

          Hi there,

          You didn't state where you're from, but in the USA unless there's a "No trespassing" sign on the property, the issue of trespass only arises if you've been asked to leave. We looked into that for our door to door salespeople and that's what our lawyers advised.

          Of course, I would never take legal advice from a post like this or a forum like this.

          All the best,

          Sasha.

          Knocking on someones door and causing a disruption outside their residency at 11PM are completely different.

          And no you're incorrect. Trespassing is trespassing and punishable. A fence or sign is simply a deterrence. If you give them probable cause to press charges then they are rightfully able to. That's like saying you have no land rights until you put up a sign saying you do.

          It varies from state to state, I'm in Michigan where trespassing has always been taken seriously. Being in a large tourist area, vehicles are constantly being towed because their tire was too far on someones land.

          People will go out and ask service companies to park their vans elsewhere. People around here like their land and their privacy. Now you come try to plow their driveway at midnight while they're trying to sleep. You'd be lucky to make it out alive..

          It's a good idea that you have. I'm not saying don't do it. Just mind the laws are not in your favor should something happen.
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          • Profile picture of the author shockwave
            Unless I missed it, another thing you could do is build your own leadgen site and:

            a. Keep the leads for yourself.
            b. Sell/Rent the site to some local landscaping company or sell the leads.

            I have a site ranked #1 for this niche in a city with a population over 300,000. However, besides the legalities that other people mentioned already, here's a few other practical things you many need to consider:

            1. If you go the leadgen route as I suggested, you may be in for a headache trying to rent it out or sell the leads. There isn't much profit in this niche unless it's a large seasonal contract. There are people on Craigslist with a truck and plow that will do residential driveways for $25 a push - and that is chump-change. Surely your time is worth more than that (gas, mileage,...etc).

            2. It's been my experience that homeowners are a bit skeptical about signing seasonal contracts due to all the news stories of contractor rip-offs. In this case, a company will sign a homeowner up for a seasonal contract, get them to put a down payment on it or pay for the whole season and then the contractor only does 1 push and/or never shows up again.

            3. If you do the plowing yourself, you better make sure to spell out exactly how deep the snow has to be and how often you'll do it. Seems like an obvious thing, but I've seen contractors burnt by that as well.

            4. If you still want to pursue this (for yourself or for leadgen for someone else), I suggest you get started now so you'll be well positioned by Oct/Nov. Usually landscaping companies are already tying homeowners up in seasonal contracts by then.

            - Shockwave
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Sasha's was golden for a start up snow plow service.

    The only thing I would add is to use your friends & business contacts to try and score a few paid clients early. Offer them a discount for locking in now.
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    • Profile picture of the author abbot
      Banned
      Do you have any idea how much work is involved in snow removal accounts? Have you ever plowed for other people?

      I think you're going into this blind..
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  • Profile picture of the author commonjoe
    Where I used to live we paid the guy who plowed the main subdivision road $35usd to plow our 200 foot driveway. He was using a motorgrader and it took him all of 5 minutes.

    You want to figure in home many houses you can do in a day and how often it snows enough for you to plow. Charging a monthly fee could cost you money if it is a heavy winter and you plow 5 times that is only about $14/house.

    If it was me I would charge per visit. Even if you plowed 5 times and only charged $30 you would make twice as much as charging the flat rate of $77.

    Also you don't want to get more clients than you can actually get too.

    But other than that it is a great way to earn extra cash especially if you already own the equipment.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Make sure you check permit regulations.

    Make SURE you get insurance.

    Then - I would hire someone else to use the tractor and do the actual plowing. You can focus on getting new clients, they can focus on keeping the tractor moving all day.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Your numbers are way, way off.

    People want the snow plowed immediately.
    For liability reasons, businesses need the snow plowed and ice treated immediately.
    Even if one job and transportation to the job took only one hour, there are not 100 hours in a day.

    Also, people do not want to pay for a service like this if they don't need it and
    if you have a mild winter, you don't make much.
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  • Profile picture of the author amilo70
    Banned
    Thank you all for your answers! All of you should be aware that I'm from Sweden. We're more chill and I'm sure nobody would be offended if I plowed away their snow late as long as I don't disturb them. Also, I'm a farmer so plowing few hours a day would not be a problem for me. Someone said that I should be aware how much time it takes but being a regular farmer takes over 12 hours a day. So I don't personally think that would be a problem. When I put out flyers, I'll definitely explain how high the snow has to be before I'll plow it away.
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  • Profile picture of the author webrankingseoservices2000
    Banned
    Sasha's ideas a lot ideal. These ways are not practical. Promoting your business this way could actually make you bankrupt before the season itself.
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  • Profile picture of the author amilo70
    Banned
    How can it make me bankrupt ? I'll notify the customers that the service will not start before we can make sure that enough people wants help.. Also the advertising costs me like $1 for the papers... That means that I actually invest nothing and it only turns into profit.
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