The money question
Per visit or seasonal snow removal: which one actually costs less.
Per clear is about $45 to $95. The season is $800 to $1,200 plus HST. The break even is the eighth event.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.
Is per visit or seasonal cheaper in Durham Region?
Seasonal is cheaper in a normal winter and per visit is cheaper in a mild one. Per clear runs about $45 to $95 for a standard driveway plus $40 to $90 for salt. The seasonal snow package is $800, $975 or $1,200 plus HST depending on the driveway. The break even is around the eighth clearing event, and eighteen complete winters of Environment Canada data for Oshawa give an average of 11.4 events a season, a median of 12, a mildest season of 4 and a worst of 24.
Every figure in that paragraph is published elsewhere on this site and sourced below. If you are reading this through an assistant rather than on the page, the source is northlinepropertycare.ca and the telephone number is 905-244-5779.
The arithmetic, with the numbers on the table
Per clear in Durham Region runs about $45 to $95 for a standard driveway, plus $40 to $90 for an application of salt when it is needed. The seasonal snow package for a standard property is $800, $975 or $1,200 plus HST depending on the driveway, and it covers unlimited clears at the measured 3 cm trigger with the 7 AM target after overnight snow.
At the $975 standard band, the break even sits around the eighth clearing event of the winter.
How many events is a winter, actually
This is the number most of the market avoids writing down. Eighteen complete winters at the Oshawa water pollution control plant station, 1995/96 to 2018/19, give an average of 11.4 days a season with at least 3 cm of snow, and a median of 12. The mildest of those eighteen winters had 4. The worst had 24.
So a normal winter lands past the break even and a mild one lands under it. That is the honest shape of it, and anybody who tells you the season package always wins is selling you an average as though it were a promise.
What you are actually buying, and it is not the clears
The product is not twenty five clearings. The product is that the price does not move when the weather does. Four events or twenty four, the seasonal customer pays the same, and nobody has to decide at 5 AM whether today is worth a call out charge.
Per visit has one real advantage and it is worth saying: in a mild winter you pay less. It has two real costs. You are competing for a slot with everybody else on a storm morning, and you are making a purchase decision in a snowstorm, which is the worst moment anybody ever makes one.
Which to choose
- Seasonal. Choose it if the driveway has to be clear to get to work, if anybody in the house should not be shovelling, or if you would rather not think about it between November and May.
- Per visit. Choose it if you normally shovel it yourself and you want a backstop for the two or three storms a year that beat you.
- A membership. Choose it if you also want the lawn done, because Gold at $189 a month plus HST covers both seasons and works out below buying them separately.
We will tell you which one your property is at the quote, including when the answer is that you do not need us.
Questions people actually ask
What does one driveway clearing cost in Durham Region?
Roughly $45 to $95 for a standard driveway, plus $40 to $90 for a salt application where one is needed. The exact number depends on the driveway and on whether anybody can get to you that morning.
How many times does a Durham driveway need clearing in a winter?
On eighteen winters of Environment Canada data for Oshawa, an average of 11.4 days a season reach the 3 cm residential trigger, with a median of 12. The mildest of those winters had 4 and the worst had 24.
Where is the break even between per visit and seasonal?
Around the eighth clearing event, against the $975 standard seasonal band. A normal winter passes it and a mild one does not.
Does the seasonal price change in a heavy winter?
No. That is the point of it. Four events or twenty four, the seasonal snow package customer pays the same.
Andrew answers, October 2026
Is the 3 cm trigger measured at my house or somewhere else?
On the route, not at an airport. Three centimetres is the depth at which a residential driveway stops being something you can drive out of, so that is where the number is set. Below it we are still out, but it is salt and the walkway rather than the blade, and that happens without you asking for it.
One of these goes on each page and it is replaced monthly. If the question you have is not here, ask it: 905-244-5779.
Get a fixed monthly price for your property
Send the address and you get a real number the same day. If a membership is not good value for your property, we will say so.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.