Seasonal Snow Plowing Contracts in Janesville, WI

What you are buying

A seasonal contract is one price for every plowable snowfall between a start and end date, usually November or December through March. A Janesville contractor that publishes its terms runs residential contracts through March 31 as standard, with many customers extending to mid-April (its Janesville snow page). You stop deciding storm by storm, and you are on a route rather than calling in when everyone else is.

The math with Janesville's own snowfall

NOAA's 1991-2020 normals for the Janesville station average 36.6 inches of snow a year, 28.6 inches of it in December, January and February. There are 12.7 days in an average year with an inch or more, and only 2 with five inches or more (NOAA normals).

At the local per-push range of $40 to $75, plowing every one of those inch-plus days would cost $508 to $953. A seasonal contract at $400 to $900 lands in the same place, which is why the real question is the trigger depth: a contract that only plows at two inches or more makes fewer visits than one that comes out for every inch. Normals are averages; a light winter makes per push cheaper, a heavy one makes the contract the bargain. The full breakdown is in per push vs seasonal snow contract.

What to get in writing

• The start and end dates, and what happens if it snows after the end date.
• The trigger depth, and whether drifting counts.
• Whether the public sidewalk, walks, steps and salt are included or extra per visit.
• Whether the crew comes back for the windrow after the city plow passes.
• Any cap on visits, and the price for a storm past the cap.

When to sign

Routes fill before the first snow. The same contractor says pricing typically rises 5 to 10 percent in September and route capacity tightens in October (its residential page). Signing in November is still common; signing after the first big storm means taking whatever slot is left. Price ranges for every service are on the cost page.