Snow removal · Winter
What Snow Removal Actually Costs in Durham Region
Real numbers, all three pricing models, and the one calculation that tells you which is cheaper for your driveway. We've put our own prices in the tables rather than making you ring for them.
Our own prices are in the tables below. Compare all three memberships.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.
The short answer
A residential driveway in Durham costs roughly $500 to $850 for the season on an unlimited seasonal contract, or $45 to $95 per visit pay-as-you-go. Because Durham averages twenty to thirty clearing events a winter, seasonal is cheaper in almost every normal year: the breakeven arrives at the tenth storm.
The three ways snow removal is sold
Per visit. You pay each time someone comes out. Simple, and it feels safe because a mild winter costs less. The catch is that you're last in every queue: operators clear seasonal customers first because those routes are already committed, and in a heavy winter the total gets away from you quickly.
Seasonal contract. A fixed price for the whole winter, unlimited visits. You pay the same whether it snows fifteen times or thirty-five. This is how most of the industry actually works, because it lets an operator build a route and commit to a time.
Bundled with lawn care, billed monthly. Lawn and snow together, divided into twelve equal payments. Nothing lands in one lump, the summer months pay for part of the winter, and the combined price is lower than buying the two separately. This is what we built the business around, and it's the model we recommend and lead with.
Durham Region snow pricing, 2026
Typical residential ranges across Oshawa, Whitby, Ajax, Pickering and Clarington. These are our prices; they sit in the normal band for the region.
| What you're buying | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Per-visit plow, driveway | $45 to $95 | Varies by size and by how deep the snowfall was |
| Per application salting | $40 to $90 | Charged each time; ice events can need two |
| Seasonal driveway, small | $500 | Unlimited visits, mid-November to mid-April |
| Seasonal driveway, standard | $650 | Two-car driveway, the most common Durham lot |
| Seasonal driveway, large | $850 | Triple-wide, long, or steep |
| Seasonal salting program | $200 | Added to any seasonal contract |
| Drive + walkways + salt, seasonal | $800 to $1,200 | Everything cleared, all winter |
| Gold membership (lawn + snow) | $189/month + HST: $213.57 × 12 | Weekly lawn all summer, unlimited snow all winter, one payment |
All seasonal figures are unlimited: no cap on visits, no per-storm charges, and a heavy winter costs exactly what a mild one does.
The arithmetic: which one is cheaper for you
This is the whole decision, and it takes about thirty seconds.
A standard Durham driveway is $650 for an unlimited season, or $65 a visit. $650 ÷ $65 is 10. So the tenth storm is the breakeven: below that, per-visit wins; above it, seasonal wins.
Durham gets twenty to thirty clearing events in a normal winter. Even a very mild year comes in well above ten. At twenty-five events, the same driveway on per-visit pricing costs around $1,625: two and a half times the seasonal price.
Run the same sum for your own driveway: divide the seasonal quote by the per-visit quote. If the answer is under about twelve, seasonal is the better buy. It nearly always is, and the reason the per-visit option persists is that it feels cheaper in October, when it isn't snowing.
What actually changes the price
Size and shape
Length matters less than people expect; turning room matters more. A short wide driveway is quicker than a long narrow one.
Where the snow goes is the real variable. A driveway with open lawn either side is straightforward. One boxed in by a fence, a retaining wall or the neighbour's cars means the snow has to be carried somewhere, and that's time.
Walkways and steps
This is where cheap quotes hide. Plenty of low prices are driveway-only, and the walk and steps (the part with the actual slip risk) are extra or not offered at all.
Steps in particular can't be plowed; they're hand work every single time. Ask specifically what's included before comparing two numbers.
Route density
The genuine reason prices differ between companies. An operator with eight driveways on your street has a fraction of the drive time of one with eight scattered across the region, and that shows up in the quote.
It's why we build routes subdivision by subdivision (street by street across Durham), and why we would rather sign four neighbours than four strangers. Dense routes are cheaper to run and get cleared earlier.
Questions worth asking any quote
What's the trigger depth? If it's 8 cm, a whole winter of 6 cm falls is on you. Ours is 5 cm.
Is it capped? Some 'seasonal' contracts cap the number of visits and charge beyond it. Unlimited should mean unlimited.
Walkways and steps: in or out?
What time will it be done? 'Within 24 hours' isn't a commitment you can plan a commute around. Our target is before 7 AM after overnight snow, 6:30 for Platinum.
Are they insured, and will they show you? If someone is operating machinery on your property, this isn't an awkward question to ask.
How a storm actually runs
What happens between the snow starting and your driveway being clear.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to just buy a snowblower?
It depends what you count. A decent two-stage blower is roughly $1,200 to $2,000, plus fuel, oil, shear pins and storage, so the machine alone is two to three seasons of a contract. If you enjoy it and you're home every storm, it's a reasonable buy. What it doesn't do is get you out of the driveway at 6:30 AM after 20 cm fell overnight, which is the actual thing people are paying to avoid.
Why is a bundled membership cheaper than buying lawn and snow separately?
Because it removes our two biggest costs: winter idle time and customer acquisition. A member we already visit weekly in July costs us nothing to sell to in November, and a route that runs all year keeps equipment and people working. We pass a share of that back: Gold at $189 a month plus HST, $213.57 on the card, is less than the equivalent services bought separately. The full comparison is here.
What happens in a mild winter: do I get money back?
No, and we'd be surprised to find an operator who does. A seasonal contract is insurance in both directions: you carry the risk of a mild winter, we carry the risk of a brutal one. In a heavy Durham winter with storms most weeks, a seasonal customer still pays the same $650: that is exactly what the contract is for. Over any three-year period the seasonal customer is ahead.
Can I get snow only, without lawn service?
Yes. A seasonal driveway on its own runs $500 to $850 for the winter depending on the driveway, and the driveway is all it covers.
Compare like with like before you decide. Silver is not a summer-only membership: we are not plowing your driveway, and after every storm we run we take the city windrow off the end of it by 5 PM, with four banked clears a season on request. At our medium-property rates, Silver at $1,548 a year plus a seasonal driveway-and-walkway contract at $775 plus the $200 salting program is $2,523. Gold is $2,268 a year ($189 a month plus HST, $213.57 on the card), so it saves $255 and arrives as one payment instead of two contracts. Against a driveway-only contract with no walkway and no salt, Gold is roughly the same money rather than cheaper, and we would rather say so. Everything a seasonal snow contract covers is here.
The cheapest version of this is the one that covers both seasons
Seasonal beats per-visit past the tenth storm, and Durham gets twenty to thirty. Bundling beats seasonal snow bought on its own, for the reason in the arithmetic above: a route that runs all year costs us less than two half-year ones, and that difference goes into the price.
The number at the end of that arithmetic is $189 a month plus HST, $213.57 on the card. $2,268 for the year against $2,523 buying the same services separately, and it arrives as one payment instead of two contracts with two renewal dates. The line-by-line membership comparison is here. If you want it checked against your own property, send us the address and we'll do the sums the same day, Monday to Saturday.
Keep reading
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Read the guide →Want this handled for you?
Every tip on this page is something we do for members every week, on schedule, in uniform, for one flat monthly payment. Tell us your address and we'll send a real number the same day, Monday to Saturday.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.