Snow Blowers

It is the middle of summer and who wants to even think about clearing snow and the cold winter that is coming. Yet this is the best time to start making arrangements as well as deciding whether you are going to purchase a snowblower and clear snow yourself or hires Snow Clearing Services. Calling early might net you a discount for early contract signing or a sale price on a snowblower, but make sure you do your homework in both cases.

Snow Clearing Services – Hire or Buy

For some people, the decision is pretty easy. They have no desire to be out in the cold weather clearing snow and are very willing to have someone come in whenever there is a snowfall. Other people look at the economics and for them, it is a clear decision. They want to have a snowblower and they want to do it themselves because they figure it will cost them less money over the life of the snowblower.

I fall into the latter group and would never consider hiring someone to clear the snow. But what are the economics of the decision? Once you get past the emotional part of the decision and the discomfort part of the decision it just comes down to cold hard dollars and a set of assumptions. We will try to list a few of these in our blog to help people make a decision for themselves.

Snow Clearing Services – Economics of Purchasing a Snow Blower

In making this type of analysis you really need to make a few assumptions. They will be different for each person based on where you live and how large a driveway you have. Adjust the numbers to fit your situation and recalculate to see what the trade-off is between hiring someone to do snow clearing for you vs. purchasing a snowblower.

Snow Clearing Services – Assumptions of Purchasing a Snow Blower

• The medium cost of a snowblower is around $1200
• Annual maintenance is approximately $100
• Assume that you do not do your own maintenance
• Operating cost is several tanks of gas, assume $30
• Assume $300 in repairs every five years

The cost of owning and operating a snowblower over five years based on the above would be: $1200 to purchase the snowblower, 5 times $100 for maintenance, 5 times $30 for gas, and one repair of $300 for a total of $2150 in cost spread equally over five years is $530 per year. This is probably the most unfair advantage since while your operating costs will occur every year, we have spread the capital cost of $1200 over five years when we know that your snowblower will last much longer.

So let’s break this down slightly differently. Your average annual operating cost will be 5 times $100 for maintenance, 5 times $30 for gas and one repair of $300 for a total of $950 in cost spread equally over five years is $250 per year.

Assumptions of Hiring someone to do Snow Clearing For You

• 2 car width driveway
• no clearing of snow from the steps
• snow cleared after 2 inches has fallen
• snow cleared whenever snow plow has past
• Clearing snow for months of Dec, Jan, Feb, and March
• Snow clearing contract would be in the range of $450 per season

The total cost of snow clearing over five years is $2250 or $450 per year with potential increases each year.

The cost that you may have to pay for someone to come and clear your driveway really depends on the amount of snow you get on an average year and how large a driveway you have. Also whether you want them to clear your steps as well. Ask for a written quote and ensure that it specifies how they will handle the assumptions listed above.

Deciding To Buy a Snow Blower or Hire a Snow Clearing Service

Obviously, the numbers we have chosen for this analysis show that the cost of purchase vs. the cost of snow clearing is pretty close. In your situation, the numbers may be close to what we have assumed or they may be quite different. Substitute your own numbers based on your situation and the location where you live to help you make a decision regarding what you should do from a purely economic perspective.

You can also take into account the cost of money i.e. the interest rate you could earn if you invested the money or the interest you would pay if you borrow the money. With interest rates today, these numbers are pretty small and do not play a significant role in the decision to buy vs hire.

Assuming our variables are close to your situation, you will quickly realize that the decision to buy vs hire snow clearing services really comes down to an emotional issue. Do you really want to get out there and blow snow when it is cold and windy? Imagine you are trying to get to work on time and you have to be concerned about clearing the driveway so you can get your car out.

Enjoy Using Your Machine

Personally, I enjoy getting out and playing with my snowblower. Sometimes I will also clear snow from the neighbor’s driveway to give him a break. He will often return the favor as well for us.

Finally one last comment on the buy vs. hire decision. My snowblower is over 22 years old and I might have spent $500 on repairs over the past 22 years. I do all of the work myself and purchase any parts I need from a local repair shop. In my situation the decision is obvious. Buy the snowblower and clear the snow myself even if I need to hire someone to maintain the snowblower.

Feel free to make any comments on this post. We will be glad to add them as comments providing they are not spamming comments. For more general information about snow clearing, snow tire chains, and more, click here.

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