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Snow removal pricing calculator: per push or season
Rosemount Plowing in Rosemount, Minnesota, charges $45 a push for a short single-car driveway and $60 for a two-car, or $450 and $600 for a November–March season, checked October 15, 2026. On every tier its season costs exactly ten pushes, with up to 12 plow-outs included. Build a contract the same way: the pushes a normal winter brings, a visit cap, and a price for every push past it.
Price a push or season
Starting point: $45.00 per push. Short single-car driveway; Rosemount, MN: $45.00 per push. Published rate, rounded to cents. Driveway plowing at the provider’s two-inch trigger. Rosemount Plowing: per-push and seasonal prices, checked 2026-10-15.
Extras, travel and minimum
For one visit, enter one push. For a season cost calculation, enter your assumed visit count and total extras for those visits. State the depth trigger, coverage dates, return visits and any cap in the contract; a calculator does not forecast snowfall.
Enter pushes / visits included.
Should you sell snow plowing per push or by the season?
Per push pays you for every storm. A season contract pays the same in a light winter and a heavy one, which buys you income you can plan around and a route that’s committed before the first flake. At Rosemount’s two-car prices, a customer with fewer than ten plowable storms pays more on contract than per push; one with 11 or 12 pays less.
The risk lands on whichever side the contract leaves exposed. An uncapped season in a big winter means plowing the late storms for nothing. Rosemount caps its season at 12 plow-outs, counts a storm of 10 inches or more as two visits, and bills extra visits past the cap. Offer both options, and let the customers who hate surprises pay for the certainty.
What counts as one push?
Write it down, because customers assume more than you mean. Rosemount plows at a two-inch trigger; anything less gets no visit. Most agreements clear once the snow stops, but a long storm can need a push partway through and another at the end. Say if the windrow the city plow leaves across the end of the driveway is yours to clear, and when that counts as a separate trip.
Be careful with time promises. “Cleared before you leave for work” sounds easy in October and can’t be kept on a full route after a heavy overnight storm. Promise an order of service instead, such as within a stated number of hours after the snow stops, with any medical or business driveways first, and put it in the agreement before the season starts.
How do you price walkways and de-icing?
As add-ons per visit. Rosemount prices walkways and de-icing apart from the driveway push, with de-icing at $15–$25 a visit. Shoveling walks and steps is slow handwork next to the plow, so price it from the time it takes, not as a token extra. Say which surfaces get treated, and on which visits: every push, or only when the customer asks.
Ice is where unpaid return trips hide. A driveway plowed clean can glaze over that night, and a customer who paid for de-icing expects you back in the morning. Decide whether coming back for a refreeze is a new visit at the de-icing price or part of the original push, and write that into the agreement before the first storm.
Example: building a two-car season from one push
A two-car driveway costs you $45 a push in truck time, fuel and wear. At a 25% margin, $45 ÷ 0.75 = $60 a push, Rosemount’s two-car price. Sell the season as ten pushes and it comes to $600, also Rosemount’s figure.
Then test it against the winter. In a seven-push season you spend $315 (7 × $45) and keep $285. If all 12 included plow-outs happen, you spend $540 and keep $60, a 10% margin on the $600. Past 12, every push is billed again.
Frequently asked questions
How do I price a season contract when I don’t know how many storms there will be?
Start from history, not hope. Count how many times your trigger depth was reached in each of the last several winters, using your local National Weather Service snowfall records, and price the season near a typical year. Then cap the visits, count very deep storms twice and bill pushes past the cap. If the winters swing widely, include fewer visits and lower the price.
Should I take payment up front for a season contract?
Yes, or at least a first installment before the season opens. Salt, fuel and repairs come due before the first storm, and payment up front stops a customer dropping the contract after a mild December. Say in the agreement what happens if your truck breaks down mid-storm: who covers the driveway and how long the customer waits.
Should a steep or gravel driveway cost more?
Yes. Rosemount puts long, steep or difficult driveways, including slopes, gravel and obstacles, at $110–$120 a push, against $60 for an ordinary two-car. Gravel means plowing with the blade raised so you don’t scrape stone into the lawn, and slopes mean slower passes and more salt. Walk it before the ground freezes and stake the edges.