Snow Removal ideas?

1

Not that we’ve gotten any snow worth mentioning so far this winter… but we have guests coming 12/26/17 through 1/7/18. We will be away on Christmas break for a good bit of their stay.

We have what is considered a whole home listing (we live downstairs in a locked off apartment) and typically take are of shoveling the walks and driveway while guests are staying.

What do other hosts in snowy areas do in these circumstances.

  1. Leave a shovel and snow melt and let them do it themselves?

  2. Arrange for a snow removal company or a neighbor to take care of it?

  3. Cross our fingers and hope it doesn’t snow? :thinking:

Thanks in advance for your suggestions…

2

Find a high school kid and book him in advance to come and do it. High school will be on break then.

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3

Really depends where you live, Texas I would not worry too much, North Dakota maybe.

Assuming a US listing.

4

We’re in Colorado… The guests that are coming have 10- and 12-year-old boys… maybe I’ll leave out two snow shovels!

I think I just answered my own question!!

5

1 plus Konas’ suggestion of high school kid. And salt.

6

If you did not include the fact that guests are expected to remove snow while paying money to stay in your space, and it snows, you will not like the results. This family will not be pleased.

I would pay someone to be on notice to plow and/or shovel them out. Of course, you might not be able to find anyone who is willing to be on consignment. Around here, you either sign a yearly contract or they are not interested.

Perhaps you could consider finding out what a local company would charge for snow removal even if they aren’t willing to take you on as a client, and offer the guests this amount back in the event that they need to shovel?

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7

Not one high school kid in our area would be interested in this at all. They don’t rake leaves either.

8

I would tend to agree smtucker… You’re correct, kids these days aren’t much for manual labor!

There used to be lots of kids around in our neighborhood when my son was that age… now it’s either empty-nester folks (like me) or really young families. It’s interesting how communities cycle like that.

After a little more research, these guests are coming from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area… I don’t think they get much snow down that way… so maybe they’ll think it’s cool to shovel snow?! :slight_smile: I had that happen once with some people with kids from Florida!

9

In Colorado it varies significantly but even on the Front Range best to have some plan in place.,

10

I think the novelty will wear off quickly. :laughing::laughing:

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11

Personally, not being from an area that snows…but visiting 1 in a week :snowman: :snowflake: yippee!!! I would not expect to have to shovel the snow and not have the skills to do so. I think definitely hire a local or company

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12

Poor you. I have two lovely, local twelve year old lads, who have just cleared all the leaves, both front and back for me, and there were a lot of leaves. They were thrilled to find a hedgehog (put back safely) and to help with the ensuing bonfire of the leaves! As for snow, the local farmers have snow ploughs in order to get their milk off to market each day.

13

Shoveling is not a high skill task, but it does require a lot of back and arm strength. And time. How much depends on the amount of driveway, sidewalk, and front walk.

This reminds me of Mark Twain’s story of whitewashing a fence.

14

Contact a pro landscape company and contract with them. If the area is not plowed or removed, you will have bad reviews and a potential insurance issue if your guests fall.

Snow removal is fun only when you’re watching somebody else do it

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