Starting a snow business

[Austin Davis]

Hello BP,

Finding affordable and quality snow removal has been an issue for us the last few years, so we are exploring the idea of bringing it in house.  We currently have 2 larger apartment buildings, some 4 plexes and single family homes.

What equipment would you recommend getting?  We have explored leasing tractors with a blade, but didn't get very far last year.  Would you recommend a tractor with a blade, a Gator type with a blade, go for a truck, or something else?  We currently have one Toro snow blower and some shovels that got us through the rest of this year, but want to upgrade a bit to be more efficient if possible.

I appreciate the advice.

[Austin F.]

When I owned a plow truck plowing was one of my favorite things to do. Get up at 6 when no one is out, listen to the radio, push snow around, drink coffee; I love plowing snow.

As far as what equipment you should get, that depends on your vision for the service you want to provide, there are pros and cons for all of it.

Plow truck with a 9 foot straight, or a v blade would be great for plowing parking lots at multiple properties. Smaller blade for residential stuff, or a wide out blade. You can put a back blade on it to do residential driveways, or back drag if you don't get that much snow. It can easily drive at highway speed to each property, and you could put a spreader in the back, and or hand tools and blowers for walk ways.

The cons would be doing sidewalks, tight properties, or if you get a ton of snow it would be hard pressed to move snow as efficiently as a loader with a box, and you have to register and insure it.

Tractors and loaders are great for big parking lots and moving lots of snow. But they're expensive, and difficult to move around. If your properties are more than a few miles apart you'll spend more time moving equipment than plowing snow, unless you get a tractor for each property.

Same with a tool cat, but the tool cat can do walkways easily. I've never seen anyone doing parking lots with a tool cat, but walk ways and dive ways are easily done with increased maneuverability, and you can get a blower if there is nowhere to stack snow.

My personal recommendation would be a truck with a V blade. The v blade can carry snow better than a straight blade, but a wide out straight blade would be worth looking into as well, depending on what you want to do. I would stay away from diesel, and get a single rear wheel unless you're getting a spreader. Put 1500 pounds of sand in the back and some snow tires and it'll push snow as far as you want it to go. Do consider that plowing is really hard on trucks, so no need for anything fancy.