End-of-Season Snow Removal Review: Questions to Ask Your KW Contractor

Late March and April are the right time to judge a snow removal arrangement, because the evidence is fresh and next year's price is not yet set. Pull your records, put these ten questions to your contractor, and walk the property before you renew.

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Gather the evidence before you make the call

A review goes better with paper. Before you speak to anyone, collect four things:

• The contract or written quote, with its trigger for a visit, its term dates and any cap on visits.
• Invoices or a visit log, if you paid per visit.
• Your own dated photos, especially of missed spots, ice and damage.
• A short list of the storms you remember, and what happened at each one.

Then set what you were promised beside what you got. If an argument turns on how much snow fell on a given day, the weather records at weather.gc.ca settle it faster than memory does.

Ten questions to put to your contractor

1. How many visits did you make to my property? Compare the answer with your own log and with what you were billed.
2. Which storms did you skip or reach late, and why? A good answer names the dates and the reason.
3. Was the trigger for a visit applied the same way all season? Each contract sets its own, so check it against the paperwork.
4. What time window were you aiming for, and how often did you hit it?
5. How many times was ice treated, and with which product?
6. Did any equipment touch the lawn edges, pavers, curbs or mailbox? If it did, ask how it was reported.
7. Where did the snow go? Piles should not block sight lines at the driveway mouth or cover drains, meters and vents.
8. How was the ridge left by the city plow handled?
9. Is your liability insurance certificate current for next season? Ask for a copy.
10. What will next season cost, by when do you need my answer, and what changes in the terms?

Raising a problem without starting a fight

A calm, specific message gets a better response than an angry one. Keep it to four parts.

1. State the facts: the date, the time you noticed, and what was or was not cleared, with a photo.
2. Ask what happened. A missed visit often has a plain cause, such as a blocked gate, a car in the way or a storm that never reached the trigger.
3. Say what you want: a return visit, a corrected scope, a repair or a credit.
4. Ask for the answer in writing, with a date.

If the same problem returns, refer back to your earlier message. A written trail helps if you later decide to switch, or if a damage claim has to go to the contractor's insurer.

Do the arithmetic yourself first

The cleanest test of value is a cost per visit. If you paid a seasonal fee, divide it by the number of times the crew actually came. If you paid per visit, add up the invoices and divide by the same count. Either way you get a figure you can hold against a per-visit quote for next winter.

A light winter makes a seasonal fee look expensive per visit, and a heavy one makes it look cheap. Neither result says much on its own, so ask what kind of winter it was, and how the number would have moved in a different one. The snow removal contract guide explains which clauses drive that outcome.

A spring walk-round while the ground is soft

Some damage stays hidden until the banks melt. Once the snow is gone, walk the edges of the driveway and yard with your phone in hand.

• Lawn edges that are gouged, or sod that has been torn up in strips.
• Chipped, cracked or shifted pavers, and scraped curbs or concrete aprons.
• A leaning mailbox post, bent stakes or a crushed downspout extension.
• Scratches or gouges along the asphalt edge.

Photograph anything you find, note where it is, and tell the contractor in writing soon after. Claims get harder to settle with each week that passes. Once you have logged the damage, the spring exterior maintenance guide covers the rest of the walk-round.

Renew, renegotiate or switch

If you are collecting quotes for next winter, D&D Home Services offers snow removal from $80 per visit for typical Kitchener-Waterloo homes, with seasonal contracts available and free written quotes.

Devon Moore, Operations Lead Co-Founder & Operations Lead, D&D Home Services

Devon Moore is the co-founder and Operations Lead at D&D Home Services, with hands-on experience cleaning hundreds of homes across Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, and Guelph.