Per push or seasonal? What each snow plow contract pays you in a low, normal and high snow year

Which snow plow contract pays you the most per hour: per push, per inch or seasonal?

List your sites and the storms you expect in a low, a normal and a high snow year. See expected season revenue and effective hourly under every contract model, the storm count where each one stops paying, the seasonal flat price you need in a low year versus the price that loses money in a high year and a walk-away price. Paste past seasons and see which model really paid best per hour.

Your numbers, not market rates and not advice. This page knows no going rates and gives no legal, tax, insurance or contract advice: every price, depth, storm count and cost is a number you type. Nothing is uploaded: the inputs are used in this browser tab only.

1. Your sites

One row per site: name, hours to push it once at normal depth, per-push price, seasonal flat price, per-inch price, trigger depth in inches, pounds of salt per application. Up to 200 sites.

2. Storms you expect

Count storms (the same storm hits every site). A storm shallower than a site's trigger depth is not plowed there. Probabilities weight the three years for the expected figures.

Low year: light storms medium heavy

Normal year: light storms medium heavy

High year: light storms medium heavy

Light storm depth (in) Medium depth (in) Heavy depth (in) Light time multiplier Medium time multiplier Heavy time multiplier

Chance of a low year (%) Normal (%) High (%)

3. Your costs and target

Truck and driver ($/h) Fuel ($/h) Blade and equipment wear ($/h) Deadhead per site visit (min) Salt cost ($/lb) Target profit per hour ($) Walk-away floor (% of target)

4. Contract terms

Per-inch tier break (in) Price uplift past the break (%) Capped flat: storms covered per site Hybrid: base as % of the flat Hybrid: % of the per-push price

The comparison

What each snow year costs you to run

Year	Plows	Hours	Cost to run (truck, fuel, blade, salt)

Contract models on the whole route

Model	Expected revenue	Low year /h	Normal /h	High year /h	Falls under target at	Loses money at

The seasonal flat price

Site	Your flat price	Hits target: low year	Hits target: normal	Hits target: high year	Loses money in a high year below	Walk-away price

Storm counts and hours are your own estimates; real winters vary. A price here is a starting point for your contract, not a promise.

5. Audit past seasons by contract model

One row per site and season: site, contract model (any label), revenue you collected, hours you actually spent, optional season. Net hourly takes off your truck, fuel and blade cost per hour from section 3; enter revenue after the salt you bought. Up to 500 rows.

By contract model

Model	Rows	Revenue	Hours	Gross per hour	Net per hour

Site-seasons, worst first

#	Site	Model	Revenue	Hours	Net per hour	Short of target

Prefer a CLI?

Same logic, zero dependencies, one command:

node cli.mjs compare --sites sites.csv --normal 12,6,3 --target 35
node cli.mjs audit seasons.csv --target 35 --json

Get cli.mjs and engine.mjs — Node 18+, nothing to install, no network call. More: How to price a snow plow contract: per push vs seasonal.

What's recognised

Input	Handling

The answer is exact for the numbers you type. It does not know going rates, your local market, your contract terms, or how a winter will actually turn out.

Common questions

Is this a market rate or professional advice?

No. Every price, depth, storm count and cost in the answer is a number you typed. It does not look up what other contractors charge and gives no legal, tax, insurance or contract advice. It does the arithmetic on your own route so you can see what each contract model would pay you in a low, normal and high snow year.

Should I price a snow plow contract per push or seasonal?

It depends on how many storms the winter brings. A per-push price pays for every visit, so a heavy winter earns more. A seasonal flat price is fixed, so it pays best in a low-snow year and can lose money in a high one. The calculator shows effective hourly for each model in a low, normal and high year, the storm count where a model first falls under your target, and the flat price that loses money in a high year.

What is the walk-away price for a seasonal contract?

Normal-year cost to run the route plus the normal-year hours multiplied by your target hourly and a floor percent (75 percent by default). Below it the contract costs you more than it is worth to you, so you decline or switch to per-push or a capped or hybrid structure.

Does it upload my sites or past seasons?

No. The browser page works on the numbers and text you enter, in your own browser, and never sends them anywhere. The CLI reads a local file or stdin and makes no network call.