Before you sign anything
What is actually included in a snow removal contract.
Driveway, apron, walkways, steps, the windrow, ice control and a photograph every visit. And what is not in it.
Green in summer. Clear in winter.
What is included in a snow removal contract in Durham Region?
The driveway curb to garage at full width, the apron pulled back rather than pushed, walkways to the surface at full width of at least 90 cm, steps cleared and salted, the municipal windrow taken off the end of the driveway, ice control where it is needed, and a photograph of the property on every visit. Roof snow and clearing the car are not included, and there is no salting on the entry tier.
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.
What is in every snow contract
- The driveway, curb to garage at full width, down to the pavement where that is safe to do. The blade stops about two feet short of the garage and the last stretch is finished by hand, because a steel blade and a garage door are a bad combination however careful the operator is.
- The flat stretch in front of the garage, the apron, pulled back rather than pushed, so none of it ends up piled against your door.
- Walkways, full width, at least 90 cm, cleared to the surface rather than a shovel width path down the middle.
- Steps, cleared completely and salted. Steps are where people fall and they get the most attention.
- The ridge the city plow leaves across the end of the driveway, the windrow, taken off. In Durham that ridge is the property owner’s job, and it is the heaviest snow of the day.
- Ice control. Applied where it is needed, and logged with the product and the conditions.
- A photograph of the property, every visit, with the time.
What is not in it, and we would rather say so now
- Roof snow and ice dams. Not offered, and referred out.
- Clearing the car. Move it if you can, and if you cannot we clear around it and come back.
- Silver does not get the driveway plowed. Silver is the lawn plan with a winter backstop: salt and the walkway below the trigger, a daytime windrow pass by 5 PM, and four full clears a season saved up and used whenever you ask for them. If you want the driveway plowed after every storm, that is Gold.
- There is no salting on Silver, ever. It is in writing here because it is the thing most likely to be assumed.
The order it happens in, every storm
Commercial and medical access first, overnight, because they have hard opening times. Then Platinum, sequenced first, to a 6:30 AM target. Then Gold, to a 7 AM target. Then Silver, on a separate daytime pass, by 5 PM. Those are targets and not guarantees, and the full explanation is written once, here.
What triggers it
A measured 3 cm on a residential property, 5 cm on a commercial one. Not a forecast, and not a phone call. Below the residential trigger it is salt and the walkway rather than the blade, and that happens without anybody asking for it either.
Questions people actually ask
Is salting included in snow removal?
On Platinum it is unlimited and automatic. On Gold it is applied where it is needed and logged. On Silver there is no salting, ever, and that is stated here rather than discovered in January.
Do you clear the walkway and the steps or just the driveway?
Both, as part of the job. Walkways are cleared to the surface at full width, at least 90 cm. Steps are cleared completely and salted.
Who clears the ridge the plow leaves at the end of my driveway?
In Durham it is the property owner's responsibility. On a Northline contract we take it off.
Is there a charge per storm?
No. However many storms there are, the price does not move.
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.