When Should I Call a Snow Removal Company?

If you manage a commercial property, the best time to call a snow removal company is not when snow appears in the forecast. Ideally, your snow and ice removal contractor should already be selected and your agreement in place well before the first winter storm.

September is commonly when businesses begin getting their commercial snow removal contracts signed. Waiting too long can leave property managers with fewer choices because quality snow removal contractors may already have their routes filled for the season.

At Absolute Building Concepts, we believe commercial snow and ice removal should be planned in advance. Proper service involves much more than showing up with a plow after it starts snowing. The contractor needs to understand the property, establish service expectations, plan the route, have the right equipment and materials available, and make sure they haven’t committed to more properties than they can realistically handle.

Why September Is a Good Time to Arrange Commercial Snow Removal

September is when many businesses begin finalizing their commercial snow and ice removal contracts. There is a practical reason for starting this early: a dependable snow contractor can only commit to the number of properties that its crews and equipment can realistically service during a winter storm.

Waiting until snow is in the forecast puts a property manager at a disadvantage. By then, established contractors may already have their routes filled for the season.

If a company still has unlimited availability late in the process, it is worth asking questions. How many properties have they committed to? Do they have enough equipment and crews to service those properties? Are they relying heavily on subcontractors? What happens when the area receives significantly more snow than expected?

We have seen contractors take on as many accounts as possible during a normal winter, only to become overwhelmed during a major snow event. Absolute Building Concepts has been called by larger property management clients to take care of additional properties when their other contractors could not keep up with the amount of work.

Signing a contract early gives a property manager time to choose a contractor based on capability and reliability rather than simply hiring whoever is still available when the first storm approaches.

What Should Happen Before You Sign a Snow Removal Contract?

A commercial snow removal contractor should understand your property before winter weather arrives.

At Absolute Building Concepts, we visit the property before beginning service. Whenever possible, we walk the site with the property manager. If the property manager is located out of state, we still visit and evaluate the site.

We take photographs of the parking lot and document existing damage before the snow season begins. We also evaluate:

• The size of the parking lot

• The layout of the property

• Existing pavement damage

• Whether sidewalks need to be shoveled

• Where snow can safely be pushed and piled

• The type of parking lot surface

• Areas that may require ice treatment

Photographing existing conditions is important for both the property owner and the contractor. There should be a record of the property’s condition before plowing begins.

Determining where snow can be pushed is also important. During a significant storm, snow cannot simply be piled wherever it is most convenient. The contractor needs to know where it can be placed without unnecessarily interfering with parking, traffic flow, sidewalks, entrances, or other important areas of the property.

These decisions are much easier to make before winter than in the middle of a snowstorm.

Your Parking Lot Surface Matters

Not every parking lot should automatically be treated the same way.

One of the things we note during our initial site visit is the type of pavement we’re going to be maintaining. Concrete, for example, requires careful consideration when selecting and applying deicing products. Excessive use of deicing salts can contribute to deterioration of concrete and other hard surfaces. The University of Minnesota Extension provides additional information on the effects of deicing salts.

At Absolute Building Concepts, we take the surface into consideration when determining the appropriate ice-melt product rather than assuming the same material should be used everywhere.

This is one more reason a contractor should visit the property before the season begins. A commercial snow and ice management plan should be based on the actual property, not simply the square footage of the parking lot.

What Is a Snow Removal Trigger?

One of the most important parts of a commercial snow contract is the trigger amount.

The trigger establishes how much snow must accumulate before the contracted plowing service begins. Depending on the agreement, crews may also go out to maintain lots and sidewalks when ice develops, even when snowfall has not reached the plowing trigger.

Property managers need to understand exactly what trigger they are selecting and how it can affect service.

For example, suppose one property has a lower trigger while another has a two-inch trigger. The property with the lower trigger reaches its service threshold sooner and will generally require attention earlier.

That can affect where a property falls in the contractor’s service schedule.

There is also a common misunderstanding that the moment a two-inch trigger is reached, a plow will immediately arrive at the property. Commercial snow contractors maintain multiple properties. Even if every customer had exactly the same trigger, the contractor cannot physically be at every property at the same time.

That is why realistic service expectations need to be discussed before the contract is signed.

Your Snowfall Trigger Affects More Than When the Plow Arrives

The trigger amount can also affect how difficult the property is to clear.

The longer accumulating snow remains on a busy commercial parking lot, the more opportunity there is for vehicles to drive over it. On sidewalks and pedestrian areas, foot traffic can have a similar effect.

That traffic packs the snow down.

Depending on temperatures and weather conditions, the compacted snow can begin bonding to the pavement and develop into a hard layer of snow-packed ice. Once that happens, the lot becomes much more difficult to clear than it would have been before the snow was heavily compacted.

Deicing materials work best as part of an overall snow and ice management strategy. When there is already a thick layer of compacted snow and ice bonded to the pavement, applying ice melt may not immediately solve the problem.

The property may require additional treatment, scraping, and return visits before the packed material releases and the lot can be properly cleared.

This is something to consider when choosing a larger trigger simply to reduce the number of service visits.

The right trigger should take into account how the property is actually used, including:

• Vehicle traffic

• Employee and customer arrival times

• Pedestrian traffic

• Sidewalks and entrances

• The property’s operating hours

• How quickly accumulating snow is likely to become packed down

A lower trigger can mean earlier service, while a higher trigger allows more accumulation before plowing begins. Property managers should understand that tradeoff before making their decision.

Why the Lowest Snow Removal Bid May Not Be the Best Value

Price matters, but it should not be the only consideration when selecting a commercial snow removal contractor.

Property managers should understand what they are actually purchasing and whether the company has the capacity to provide the promised service when winter conditions become difficult.

Before signing an agreement, discuss:

• Snowfall trigger amounts

• Ice treatment

• Sidewalk service

• Equipment and crew availability

• How many properties the contractor expects to service

• How unusually large or prolonged storms are handled

• Where snow will be placed on your property

• What products will be used to treat ice

• Whether the contractor maintains an adequate supply of deicing materials

• Insurance coverage

• Expected service procedures and timing

The answers to these questions can tell you considerably more than the price at the bottom of the proposal.

Ask Who Will Actually Be Servicing Your Property

Another important question is whether the company you are hiring will actually perform the work or whether your property will be assigned to a subcontractor.

Many larger snow removal companies take on as many customers as they can and subcontract a significant amount of the work.

Subcontracting itself is not necessarily a problem. The problem occurs when a company’s ability to fulfill its contracts depends heavily on subcontractors who have snow-removal customers of their own.

During a major storm, those subcontractors may be busy taking care of their own properties.

If the company you hired cannot get its subcontractors to your property because those crews are committed elsewhere, your lot may not be serviced as efficiently as expected.

This is why asking about crews, equipment, subcontracting, and overall capacity before signing the contract is important.

You aren’t just hiring a company based on what it can promise on a clear day. You’re hiring it based on what it can actually deliver when the entire area is dealing with the same winter storm.

A Major Snowstorm Tests a Contractor’s Planning

An ordinary snowfall doesn’t always reveal weaknesses in a snow contractor’s operation. A large or prolonged winter event can.

If a contractor has accepted more properties than its crews and equipment can reasonably service, unusually heavy snowfall can quickly expose the problem.

Planning also means having enough materials available.

At Absolute Building Concepts, we purchase ice melt in large batches so we are stocked and prepared for significant winter events. We don’t want to discover during a major ice or snow event that the materials needed to service our contracted properties aren’t readily available.

Equipment matters. Labor matters. Materials matter. Route planning matters.

But so does knowing when to stop taking new customers.

A snow removal contractor needs to be realistic about the number and size of properties it can maintain effectively when conditions are worse than normal—not just when snowfall is light and everything goes according to plan.

Our Clients’ Neighbors Notice the Difference

One of the best compliments we receive doesn’t always come directly from the property manager.

We often have businesses located next to properties we maintain ask our clients who handles their snow removal because they notice how well the parking lot has been cleared.

That tells us something.

The neighboring business doesn’t know what our contract says. They don’t know how much ice melt we purchased, how the route was planned, or what conversations took place before winter.

They can simply look across the property line and see the difference.

Our reliability has also led larger property management clients to ask us to take care of additional and sometimes much larger properties when other contractors were unable to keep up with all of their customers during significant winter events.

Those experiences have reinforced our belief that good commercial snow removal starts long before the first snowflake falls.

Don’t Wait Until Snow Is in the Forecast

If you are wondering when to call a commercial snow removal company, our recommendation is simple: start before you need one.

September is a common time for businesses and commercial property managers to establish their snow and ice removal agreements. Waiting until the first winter storm is approaching can dramatically reduce your options because dependable contractors have to limit the number of properties they accept.

Use the time before winter to walk the property with your contractor, document existing conditions, identify the pavement surfaces, determine where snow can be placed, discuss sidewalks and ice treatment, choose an appropriate trigger amount, and establish realistic expectations about how the property will be serviced.

Most importantly, find out whether the company you’re hiring actually has the crews, equipment, materials, and available capacity to deliver what it is promising.

A commercial snow removal contract isn’t very valuable if the contractor can’t get to your property when you actually need them.

Absolute Building Concepts provides commercial snow and ice removal services throughout the Kansas City metro area. If your business or commercial property needs a dependable snow and ice removal plan for the upcoming winter season, contact Absolute Building Concepts at (816) 650-6000 to discuss your property and establish service before winter routes fill.