Commercial · 2027 to 28 season
Commercial snow and ice, documented to defend a claim.
Seasonal contracts, November 15 to April 15, beginning November 2027. Unlimited visits, cleared before your doors open, logged every time.
- $5M liability, you named on it
- Site log and photos on request
- Snow from $3,450 a season
Green in summer. Clear in winter.
Now surveying for the 2027 to 28 season
Commercial contracts run November 15 to April 15, and ours begin November 2027. We survey, measure and quote year-round. Most property managers plan two to six months ahead of a contract ending, and condo boards usually longer than that.
So the useful thing to do now is get the survey done and tell us when your current contract ends. We'll time our follow-up to that rather than getting in touch before it is any use to you.
If you'd like cover sooner than that, do mention it on the form. We can take on a limited number of commercial sites ahead of schedule, where they sit on a route we already run.
Service levels
Three levels of commitment
These are contractual commitments, not marketing tiers. We'll tell you which one your site needs, and we'll tell you if we can't honestly deliver the top one at your address.
Plow & Clear: The essentials, salt billed as used
Budget-conscious sites with low foot traffic and forgiving hours: industrial units, self-storage, seasonal retail.
Includes: Lot plowed at every 5 cm accumulation, unlimited visits; Entrances, walkways and steps cleared to bare surface; Snow stacked in agreed storage areas; Time-stamped completion log for every visit.
Full Service: The standard commercial contract
The right level for the large majority of commercial sites: plazas, condo corporations, offices, churches and schools.
Includes: Everything in Plow & Clear; Unlimited salt and de-icer, applied at our discretion: no per-application invoices; Site monitored against forecast; Dispatched on the forecast, before you have to call; Photo-documented site log, delivered monthly.
Zero Tolerance: Bare pavement, continuously
Sites where a fall is a serious event or an operational stoppage is expensive: medical and dental, seniors' residences, pharmacies, high-traffic retail, 24-hour operations.
Includes: Everything in Full Service; Anti-icing pre-treatment applied ahead of every forecast event; Site maintained at bare pavement throughout the storm, not just after it; Continuous site presence through the event, with a target two-hour cycle time between passes, 24 hours a day, subject to storm severity and safe operating conditions.
What each level commits us to
| Plow & Clear | Full Service | Zero Tolerance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger | 5 cm | 5 cm | No trigger depth: forecast-driven, before accumulation |
| Pre-treatment | No | At our discretion | Before every forecast event |
| Response: overnight | 7:00 AM target | 7:00 AM target, or the site's own opening time if earlier | continuous through the event; no response window applies |
| Response: daytime | within 8 hours of snowfall ending | within 6 hours | continuous through the event, with a target two-hour cycle between passes, 24 hours a day |
| Salt & de-icer | Billed per application | Unlimited, included | Unlimited, plus anti-icing brine |
| Standard held | Safe and passable | Safe, passable, cleared to surface | Bare pavement throughout |
| Site log | On request | Monthly, photographed | Weekly, photo and GPS stamped |
| Return visits | On call | Automatic after drifting or freeze-thaw | Continuous monitoring |
Response times are measured from the cessation of snowfall, except at Zero Tolerance, where service is continuous through the event.
Pricing
Seasonal pricing
Unlimited visits. No cap, no per-storm invoices, and a brutal winter costs exactly what a mild one does: that risk is ours, which is the entire point of a seasonal contract.
| Site size | Roughly | Plow & Clear | Full Service | Zero Tolerance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compact: up to 10,000 sq ft | up to 33 stalls | $3,450 | $4,400 | $6,400 |
| Standard: 10,001 to 25,000 sq ft | 33 to 83 stalls | $5,600 | $7,200 | $10,450 |
| Large: 25,001 to 50,000 sq ft | 83 to 165 stalls | $9,650 | $12,400 | $18,000 |
| Major: 50,001 to 100,000 sq ft | 165 to 330 stalls | $16,000 | $20,500 | $29,700 |
| Campus: over 100,000 sq ft | 330+ stalls | Site visit | Site visit | Site visit |
Not sure of your tier? Count your parking stalls and multiply by 300: a stall plus its drive aisle is about that. A 60-stall plaza is roughly 18,000 sq ft. HST extra.
Per storm, or seasonal? The honest arithmetic
Some owners prefer to pay per storm, and we're happy to quote it that way. It's worth seeing the actual numbers first, though, because they tend to surprise people.
A Durham winter brings twenty to thirty snowfalls worth clearing. A commercial site, though, isn't one visit per snowfall: a single storm typically needs a pre-treat, a push while it's still falling, and a cleanup once it stops, and a freezing-rain event needs salt runs with no plowing at all. A realistic commercial winter is 45 to 60 attendances.
Take a Standard plaza of around 18,000 sq ft. Seasonal Full Service is $7,200. The same site on per-visit pricing ($285 a visit, $155 a salt application) comes to roughly $18,900 across fifty attendances with thirty salt runs. About two and a half times the seasonal price, with the breakeven landing around the nineteenth attendance, some time in January.
Per-visit only wins in an unusually mild winter. We'll put both numbers in your proposal and let you decide.
Per-visit rates, if you prefer them
| Site size | Per visit, 5 to 10 cm | Per salt application |
|---|---|---|
| Compact: up to 10,000 sq ft | $175 | $95 |
| Standard: 10,001 to 25,000 sq ft | $285 | $155 |
| Large: 25,001 to 50,000 sq ft | $470 | $260 |
| Major: 50,001 to 100,000 sq ft | $780 | $430 |
Deeper snowfalls multiply the visit rate: 5 to 10 cm = 1.0× base visit rate; 10.1 to 20 cm = 1.5×; 20.1 to 30 cm = 2.0×; Over 30 cm = Hourly rate, quoted before we start.
What we'll tell you that others may not
Rock salt stops working below about minus 10 °C. In a Durham cold snap it becomes grit sitting on ice. No contractor can salt their way around that, so we'd be cautious about anyone promising bare pavement at minus 18 °C with ordinary rock salt.
What actually works in deep cold is clearing early, clearing completely down to the surface before anything bonds, and switching to a calcium chloride blend on the walkways and entrances where the falls actually happen. That's what we do, and it is written into the contract rather than promised verbally.
What happens when it snows
Before
We watch the forecast from November 1 and text you the expected timing and our plan before it starts. You should never have to wonder whether we are coming.
During
Commercial runs before residential, always, in contracted priority order. Long storms get a mid-storm push so you're never facing a whole storm's accumulation at once.
After
Full cleanup pass: lot widened to the true edge, entrances open to full width, walkways and steps cleared to bare surface, then salt. Salt goes on after clearing, never instead of it.
The morning after
Freeze-thaw check on every site by 6 AM. Yesterday's meltwater is today's black ice, and it causes more falls than the storm did.
Common questions
What's the trigger depth?
5 cm on every contract, unless you specifically want a lower one, which we can do, and will price. Some contractors quote 8 cm and it looks cheaper on paper; a whole winter of 6 cm falls then sits on you.
Is 'unlimited' really unlimited?
Yes. No visit cap, no overage clause, no per-storm invoices. It's worth asking every contractor you speak to, because some seasonal contracts do cap the number of visits and bill beyond it, which rather defeats the purpose.
Are walkways and steps included?
Included in the scope we quote, and we'll tell you the linear metres we measured so you can compare quotes properly. This is where cheap prices usually hide: steps in particular can't be plowed, they're hand work on every single attendance.
What happens in an exceptional storm?
Over 30 cm in a single event, we prioritize safety access first (entrances, accessible spaces, fire routes), then work the site through in passes. We'll call you before billing any additional resources, and the hourly rates are in your contract from day one so there are no surprises.
Who is liable if somebody falls?
That depends on the facts, and any contractor who gives you a confident blanket answer isn't being straight with you. What we can control is this: the $5M limit is bound before your first serviced day and we name you as Additional Insured, we service to a documented standard, and we log and photograph every attendance so that the facts actually exist when somebody asks sixty days later. That's the strongest position either of us can be in.
When should we sign?
September or October. Routes are sequenced in October and where a site sits in the run depends on when it comes on. By the time it's snowing you're choosing from whoever hasn't sold out.
Get a commercial quote for your property
Send us the address and we'll survey the site at no cost: measured, photographed and priced in writing within 48 hours. Contracts run from November 2027; the survey and the quote are yours now, and yours to keep either way.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.