snow removal pricing

Started by AlS5 • 10 replies • 4307 views

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AlS5 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 6

Posted:

Does anybody have provide some snow removal pricing numbers for comparison? I'm a fairly new board member and I'm finding that we're currently paying $300 per ton of bulk rock salt used in our community. Our community is a also fairly small community with about 2 miles of total roadway and we're almost always billed for 2 to 3 tons of rock salt used per application/snow fall event.

2 tons of rock salt equals to 4,000 pounds of rock salt used in about 2 miles of roadway every time it snows Does anybody have any knowledge or comparable numbers to shed some light on this matter? Does this sounds legit or are we dealing a dubious vendor?
Thanks for any comments in advance.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Yes. I can offer comparisions. In SC we budget nothing for snow removal.

When I lived in the Boston area, my business parking lot snow removal bill varied from $120.00 (at $40.00 per plow) to $1,200.00 per year. While not a crap shoot, often it is. Based on my numbers, I had to budget $600.00 per year and carry enough forward or dip into reserves so it all came out in the end.

Hope this helps.

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Plowing and salt prices are not like ordering a dvd player on amazon. Prices are local. There has to actually be someone who needs to drive to your place and plow. Local prices will be vastly different in new york city than rural maine where everyone has a plow truck and will plow you out for a case of beer.

You want to compare prices? Call around locally. Its the only way you will be able to compare.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

AIS,

Unless your going to purchase, store and spread the salt yourself, all you can do is bid the contract every year.

As has been stated, costs vary by region.
Our current vendor is using a liquid treatment rather than salt granules.
Those costs run $425 per treatment.

Prior to that it was $175 per Ton with a 1 ton minimum. However spreading costs were additional with their own minimums and we were running 430 per actual salting.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

ALS

On the road salt issue. The cost for you to buy a bag at Lowes is quite different then what a company with the proper equipment and manpower charges to lay that bag down on the roads.

AlS5 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 6

Posted:

I realize this is difficult thing to compare. I know there has to be markups for snow vendors to make some profit but if we can buy 50 pound bags for $6 then they should be able to buy much cheaper... so even with markup, I felt $25 per bag was excessive. Plus, they charge for plow truck/salt truck time on top of that. Like I said, not an exact science.

How much rock salt are your vendor putting down on 1 acre parking lot or something about the same size? Our vendor charges us for 2 to 3 tons per application. And I estimate we're about 3 acre total, maybe 3.5 acre.

Thanks in advance to everyone for answers.

AlS5 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 6

Posted:

Do you have estimate of area they're covering? Total roadway miles or approximate acre? A football field is about an acre.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Here is a guideline from Duluth, Minnesota. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a chart.

In a report about road salt use in the United States it says that the average is between 200 and 400 lbs per lane mile of road (see page 4).

MatthewW4 (Arizona)
Posts: 500

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AlS5 on 05/19/2013 2:00 PM
Do you have estimate of area they're covering? Total roadway miles or approximate acre? A football field is about an acre.

Not even close. An acre is 43,560 square feet.

AlS5 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 6

Posted:

Right, a football field without end zones is approximately 48,000 sq ft which is close to an acre for the purposes of this discussion. How many pounds of road salt does it usually take to safely/adequately cover an area such as acre?

I also know about the 200-400 lb per mile of roadway recommended by the govt agencies. So each lane of roadway being 12 feet wide approximately, then a mile of single roadway is about(12 x 5280) 63000 square feet or 1.3 acre.

So is it safe to say it should take around 500 lbs of rock salt to cover an acre or 1 mile of single lane roadway? We are being charged for 6000 lbs (3 tons) for 3 miles total (both sides) roadway? What are you being charged for your properties?

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

AIS,

We had a similar issue and after fighting with the contractor every year, once the contract was due for renewal, we changed contractors. Yes, if you look at the numbers I provided earlier, we are still being charged about the same.

The difference is that our new contractor isn't saying that multiple applications need to be applied every snow storm. They seem to be using common sense in the issue.

I would suggest that you take up the argument with the contractor of over salting vs. the price of the salt. Cite those numbers about the government recommendation and see what they say.

Tim

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