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The president of our HOA just sent an email saying our landscape company would clear our driveways and sidewalks for $55 per hour. These are small houses, mostly small driveways. Mostly retired folks who really shouldn't be doing their own shovelling. Not all homes have sidewalks. They estimated each residence would take 1-2 hours to clear, depending on the amount of snowfall.
We're not accepting the offer (retirement means staying home until it melts), but the whole thing strikes us as high - both the hourly cost and the estimated time to clear. Admittedly, our history is 25+ years in Phoenix, so we're happily ignorant about heavy snow. So is this a ripoff or what?
This isn't Maine where every person and their brother has a plow mounted to the front of their vehicle for 6 months a year. $55 / hr for any service seems like a bargain, particularly for one that involves equipment, fuel costs, insurance, etc.
However, 1-2 hours seems extreme to me, unless that includes a lot of shoveling of walk-ways, stairs, etc. I can't imagine the size of driveway that would take 1 hour to plow (Biltmore?).
There is a small company that offered to clear any driveway for $40 in our neighborhood. Some high school kids are offering $25-35 a driveway. $55 an hour and two hours to clear a normal/smaller size driveway seems excessive, unless it's just one guy with a shovel.
If shoveling snow paid $55/hr* I could have retired back when I was a kid.
*Adjusted for inflation
Yes you were getting ripped off
For a small postage stamp driveway kids should do it for around $7-$10 max. It's just a few inches of snow...I used to do feet of snow...
When I was in high school my older brother and I used to do a driveway for $10. This was in the 90's. Adjusted for inflation that's around $20. These driveways were bigger than the current ones in my neighborhood.
This isn't Maine where every person and their brother has a plow mounted to the front of their vehicle for 6 months a year. $55 / hr for any service seems like a bargain, particularly for one that involves equipment, fuel costs, insurance, etc.
However, 1-2 hours seems extreme to me, unless that includes a lot of shoveling of walk-ways, stairs, etc. I can't imagine the size of driveway that would take 1 hour to plow (Biltmore?).
I figured they were using shovels not snowplows. Especially on small driveways?
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Well, it hasn't snowed yet, so it's hard to say. If 2 inches of light, fluffy snow falls, then it's a ripoff. If 22 inches of heavy, wet snow falls, it's worth it. When I lived in Virginia, high school kids were charging maybe $25-$50 for a normal snow of maybe 5-6 inches. When the big snowmaggedon happened in 2010 (about 2 feet) then $100 was normal, maybe even a bargain, but that was pretty much for people who had better snow equipment than a shovel.
And a reminder that in most jurisdictions, sidewalks are supposed to be cleared within 24 hours of the snow stopping (rules may vary slightly), even if you don't plan to go out.
According to the weather folks (that is somewhat of a joke), it will be 55 degrees on Wed., 59 on Thursday and 66 on Friday.
Unless you really need to be out before then, why not just wait for it to melt?
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