Pricing in short should be figured $80-$120 per hour.

I do not figure a commercial parking lot at less than $100/hour

Driveways are hard to get to this number unless you can build a tight route so little time is spent driving.   Far more money can be bad plowing residential but with more difficulty.  A landscaper can do this because they have a built route from their lawn care business.

An independent snow plow guy can have a difficult time building a good route.  Personally i have found that all you can do is to accept most everyone and year 3-5 start saying no and weeding or trading driveways with a friend to build each others routes to your liking.

Seasonal rates are based on the number of estimated plows per season.  My town gets about 120inches per season.  Highs as much as 150inches.  I use a number of 30-35 pushes per season.

never figure less than $15 per push x your number of pushes

The three most costly issues for a driveway are: length, number of turn arounds/garages, and gravel vs. paved.  These are the main criteria used for pricing.  Other issues to consider are where the snow will need to be moved to.  Some driveways allow for a straight push past the garage.  Yet others require back-dragging from 3 garage bays and turn the snow around and push it away from the house/garage.  Pricing will be night and day.

Expect to pay:  Per Push

I personally will not plow a drive for less than $15 on a per push basis for a friend.  Anything less than this I make the choice to simply do it for free when they ask.

If you do not know your PlowGuy expect to pay close to $20-$35 for most driveways. 

Expect to Pay: seasonal contract

Most pricing by landscapers will be by contract and they will figure to cover everything so pricing will be high. Many will offer clean up of any turfing and re-seeding in the spring. They may plow 2-3 times per day for a 2″ plow rate. They may offer staking of your driveway. They will ensure the drive is plowed prior to 6 or 7am because they can have many trucks.
These contracts are based directly on historical records of snow fall and can vary from $300-$900 or more within the same city. In general the large commercial plow companies will maintain a greater service and price.

I personally provide a contract rate for $300/season. I plow a commercial parking lot around 30 times each season but these driveways i only plow 15-20 times and tell my clients i will only be plowing in the late morning early afternoon. I make sure the client has 4×4 because it is possible for us to get 6″ overnight and i have no plans to plow until i finish my other commercial lots.

A few things to think about to get a good price on plowing.
-find a plowing service who already works your street. check with neighbors
A small plowing service may give discounts or a better rate if there are driveways near each other. At least your service will be more of a priority.
-Consider what extent of service you need.

The proper way to stake a driveway is extremely opinion based.  If you are plowing your own driveway it may seem unecessary.  However, when a driveway is winding and there are obsticles that must not be pushed into the need becomes genuine.

I will start with the entrance and end at the garage:

The Entrance:  place a stake on either side of the drive where the drive becomes the consistent width.  This is normally about 10 feet from the road.  This allows enough room for snow to be pushed off the entrance to the sides if necessary.

The Drive:  stakes are only necessary 20-30 feet appart if the drive  is straight.  If the drive winds then place a stake at least at the begining of the wind, middle and end of the curve.  It is extremely important to remember these stakes must be placed at least 2 feet off the drive.  It will be impossible for the Plowguy to get right close to the stakes without hitting them so to make the drive wide enough make sure the stakes are set back at least 2 feet.

The Turnarounds:  These are the time consuming part of plowing.  simply stake the corners and if there are any obstacles which must be observed place a stake in front of them.  (Well, or power box, Driveway lights) Keep in mind the snow must be pushed to the end or back dragged.  So do not put a stake in the middle of the Turnaround just the corners.

Garage itself:  mark off the flower beds by placing a stake at the corner of each so the Plowguy knows where it ends. If no snow can be pushed in a flower bed make sure stakes are 6ft apart so a plow can not be pushed past the stakes. This will make it obvious for whoever is plowing that snow should not be pushed here. However, it will limit the ability for the snow to be pushed. - it will make the job more difficult and take more time.

Staking is easy and necessary to keep the grass from being destroyed.  Sometimes the grass will be overturned and every Plowguy hates it!  Winding drives are very hard to stay on and often will have tire marks on the edges in the spring… Unavoidable.  where the snow is being pushed is another place where  the grass will be scalped.  It only takes one push to tear it up.  Figuring the plow goes over the spot 60-80 times once is a good percentage.

Tools to keep with you while plowing:

• hammer
• Socket Wrench Set -metric and standard
• Box wrench set
• Screw drivers
• Fuses - find out what size and type the plow/truck requires.
• Snow shovel
• Square steel shovel - for chipping ice when stuck
• Extra plow hydrolic oil
• Tow chain / strap
• Gloves

Parts to have on hand

• Should keep an extra main solenoid to swap out 1 every 2 years!
• Link pins and clips
• Fuses

Getting up in the middle of the night is probably the hardest thing to do.  This is even more difficult when you dont think it snowed but it might have.  In this case you need to measure and decide if you are going to actually plow or not.

Here is a list of things to try:

• Wear long underwear to bed and a long sleeve t-shirt to make it more bearable to get up.
• Put a stick with Inch marks outside your bedroom window so you can quickly asses whether or not to proceed to measure.
• Get a remote start for your truck!  So its warm… if you keep it outside.

This list will grow but by far this is the most difficult part of plowing.

To stake or not to stake is the question you must ask yourself.  Most Plowguys will request or demand stakes if they do not put them out themselves.  The best stakes are the orange fiberglass ones with the reflective tape on the top.  They cost about $2 a piece and a tipical driveway will need 10-16 stakes ($20-$30).

Follow these rules when staking your own driveway.

• Push the stakes in at least 6-10inches to ensure stability for the entire season.
• Stakes should be about 1foot from the actual driveway at all times. (never closer)
• Always stake the entrance of the driveway.  They should be in the ground about 8-10feet from the road about where the driveway narrows down to its normal width.
• Do not put stakes where you want the snow pushed to at the end of the drive.   Instead just put them in the corners out of the way.
• If you have any stone walls or landscape artwork be sure to stake that well.
• If there is a specific issue with your yard like a wire or ground lights stake them extra.

Always tell your plowguy exactly where you want the snow put and let him tell you if he can.  Many times he will not get to look at your yard before the snow falls, so mark things well.

Understand that the stakes are for guides.  The snowplow guy makes mistakes and will probably at least once tear up your yard.  Cut him some slack, especially if you live where heavy wet snow is common.  This makes it extremely difficult to get the snow pushed off without turfing the yard.   It is also very hard to push piles out of the way without messing up some grass.   So if you get 75+ snow a year understand that he will probably have to push the pile of snow several times which means giving the truck a lot of gas and hitting the pile to move it farther off the drive.

I have come up with a list of criteria to consider about yourself before you go out and buy a snow plow truck and plow.   Many of us are simply not going to enjoy plowing and i hope to help you figure out if you will before you sink a bunch of money into it.

• Can you wake up?  Normal plowing hours are between 2 am and 8am.
• Can you fall back to sleep?
• Are you good with people?
• Can you fix equipment?
• Are you willing to pick up the Newspaper or move a shopping cart from your path?