Is a Winter Plan actually cheaper than paying per visit, or does it just feel safer? Fair question, and the usual answer is a scary story about last winter. We’d rather answer it with arithmetic you can check yourself. Short version: per visit is our emergency option for the odd storm, priced as one, and the plan wins quickly.
So here’s the whole thing, using our real prices, with the one number we can’t honestly supply left clearly marked as unknown.
The two prices
Take a 2 car driveway, the middle size on our list. Two ways to buy it:
- Winter Plan Standard: $997.36 for the whole winter, November 1 to April 15, plus HST.
- Per visit: $200 for one clearing of up to 10 cm of fresh snow, plus HST. Deeper, packed or icy snow costs more.
Winter Plan Standard is unlimited clearings at the 5 cm trigger, plus unlimited ice control after freezing rain or light snow. Both include the driveway, the front path to your door, the city sidewalk across the front of your home, and standard rock salt. Per visit is a one-off, fitted in after plan customers, so it’s priced as an emergency call, not as a cheap way round the plan. All prices here are pre-HST. HST of 13% is added as its own line.
The break-even, in one division
$997.36 divided by $200 is just under five.
So on a 2 car driveway, the plan has paid for itself by the fifth clearing, and every one after that costs you nothing extra. That’s the money half of the question.
Run the same division on every size up to 4 car:
| Driveway size | Winter Plan Standard | Per visit | Plan pays for itself by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 car | $769.36 | $200 | the 4th clearing |
| 1.5 car | $926.11 | $200 | the 5th clearing |
| 2 car | $997.36 | $200 | the 5th clearing |
| 2.5 car | $1,082.86 | $215 | the 6th clearing |
| 3 car | $1,225.36 | $230 | the 6th clearing |
| 3.5 car | $1,382.11 | $245 | the 6th clearing |
| 4 car | $1,538.86 | $260 | the 6th clearing |
Per-visit prices are for up to 10 cm of fresh snow. A deeper, packed or iced driveway costs more, which moves the break-even earlier still.
All prices plus HST. Bigger than a 4 car driveway? Both run all the way to a 10 car (the full list lives on the pricing page), or call or text 226-336-2077. The plan is explained in detail on the snow removal page.
The number we will not invent
To finish the math you need one more thing: how many times it will snow 5 cm or more on your driveway this winter.
We don’t have a sourced figure for that, so we’re not going to print one. You’ll see snow removal ads quoting a confident average number of storms with no source attached, and you can’t tell by looking whether that came from a weather service or from somebody’s memory. So we’ll say it plainly: that count is an estimate, and it’s yours to make, not ours to assert.
What we can tell you is exactly what triggers a visit, so your estimate is at least measuring the right thing. A visit happens at 5 cm or more of accumulation, usually within 12 hours of the snow stopping. Not every flurry. Not a skiff you could sweep with a broom. Five centimetres, everywhere we work, on every plan.
If you want a personal estimate rather than a borrowed one, this works: think back to last winter and count the mornings you actually went out and cleared the driveway properly, not the mornings you scraped the car and drove off. That number is close to your visit count. Compare it to the table.
What the division leaves out
Money is only half of what people are actually buying, so be honest with yourself about the other half.
Ice control is unlimited on the plan and it doesn’t show up in the break-even at all. Freezing rain in January, a slick morning after a thaw, light snow that never reaches 5 cm: on Winter Plan Standard we salt it, as often as the winter asks, at no extra charge. Per visit, a clearing is a clearing. Freezing rain happens here too, and on Winter Plan Standard the salting is covered.
A package is a known number in October. You pay once, or monthly, and winter stops surprising you. Per visit means your worst weather arrives in the same month as your credit card statement.
Per visit is for the odd storm. If you shovel it yourself all winter and just want a hand with the one big dump, or you’re away and need it done once, per visit is there for that. It costs more per clearing because it’s a one-off we fit in around the route, after plan customers.
The add-ons sit outside this math
Side and back path clearing sits outside this comparison: it’s a season add-on, quoted with your plan when you book. Your salt choice and faster clearing come with the higher tiers below. On per visit, what the driveway is like (deeper, packed or icy snow) is priced in when you book; the full list is on the pricing page. Being first on the route every storm only comes bundled into our Winter Priority plan.
The pet-safe salt upgrade is easier on paws, on concrete and on the garden beds it gets kicked into, and it follows the chemical-free thinking we bring to lawns all summer. Pink is the new green, and that goes for the driveway too.
If you want salt choice and faster clearing bundled in too
What’s described above is the Winter Plan Standard tier, standard rock salt, usually within 12 hours. Complete and Priority are the same Winter plans product, one tier up, with your salt choice (treated or pet-safe) and faster clearing built in instead of added visit by visit. They cost more because they bundle more in. On a 2-car driveway, for the whole season:
| Winter plan | What’s added on top of Standard | Season total |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | What’s described above, nothing more | $997.36 |
| Complete | Salt choice + faster clearing (within 8h) | $1,312.06 |
| Priority | Salt choice + faster clearing + first on the route (within 3h) | $1,583.41 |
Plus HST, all sizes on the Winter plans page. Priority spots are limited each winter, since being first only means something if the list stays short.
How to decide in two minutes
- Find your driveway size in the table above. If you’re between two, call and we’ll look at it on the map.
- Guess your own storm count for the winter, honestly.
- Past the clearing in the table for your size, take Winter Plan Standard: it also throws in unlimited salting and a fixed bill. Just want help with one storm? That’s per visit. Want salt choice and speed bundled in too, look at Complete or Priority instead.
That’s the whole decision. No pressure, no invented statistic.
Questions people ask about the package math
Does an unlimited package really mean unlimited?
Yes. Every snowfall of 5 cm or more from November 1 to April 15, plus unlimited ice control. Not the biggest three storms, not a capped number of visits. The full detail, including what’s included in every clearing, is on the snow removal page.
What if a storm is huge?
We work the route in order, unless a stop is on a Winter Priority plan, so a 20 cm dump takes longer than a 6 cm one. Usually within 12 hours of the snow stopping, and longer storms push that out. You don’t get skipped, and you don’t get an extra bill.
Do you clear in my area?
Kitchener and Waterloo, with Mannheim at the edge. We don’t cross into Cambridge. Check our service area, or read the city pages for Kitchener and Waterloo.
Ready to pick one? Call 226-336-2077 with your address handy, or get a quote and we’ll size the driveway before you pay anything.
