Since the first plowable snow on 12/19 and today, I have already done more dollar wise than I did all last winter.

I don't even know how many hours I have in total right now, I am guessing 70 or so.

I lost about 20 hours when the plow broke that should have been on top of the 70.

Bad thing about snow plows.
The first year I bought my plow, 3500 for the plow.
I plowed one lot, made 40 dollars that winter.

By the next year I had a couple customers set up, almost paid for the plow the second year if I put everything it bought in toward the plow.
But you do break stuff, things wear out faster and you burn plenty of fuel.
So the operating expenses of a plow truck go up considerably.
Lights, batteries and alternators all take a beating, driveline is also getting a work out and tires have shorter lives as well.

So the 50 or 60 dollars an hour sounds like a lot, but when you start taking expenses out, it does come down to a lower figure.
Since I am in the dirt business, we are not working when there is snow on the ground.
So it does provide some income instead of sitting home doing nothing.
That also means I am ready to roll any time of day I need to go, not something you could do with a regular job which was part of my problem the first year.

Well the weather forcast is on right now, snow moving in again tomorrow and continuing for two days.
Sounds like I am not done yet.

 

Man and we thought you was gettin rich.

 

I would like to have a plow just for the two mile dirt/clay hill I live on but like Dave points out it sure does beat up your truck. Sounds to me with the expenses and repairs involved I will just stick to using 4 low to get up my driveway for the winter and tell my friends to come visit in the spring when it thaws out.

 

I forgot one other story.

A couple years ago I saw a guy total a plow and bend the frame on his truck when he hit a curb running about 15 MPH.

I hate plowing a lot I did not look at the summer before.
Every year I go out to the mall and walk the entire lot looking for things like curbs that have been added or moved since the winter before.

8" of snow with a little wind, you have to know where everything is from memory.

The guy above forgot a curb that only had one light pole in it that ran from the building to the outer cruise lane, and he paid for it dearly.

There is an Outback resturant on the other side of that same curb, two years ago I watched a Ford F350 crew cab dually driver come out of Outback and climb in his truck.

Hammer down spinning all 6 across the lot and he hit the same curb down where it is about one foot tall.
I had never seen a dually 6 feet in the air before.

He did not stop right there, but he sure did sit down at the stop light at the bottom of the hill for a long time.
I bet that was bent wheels and probably had to clean his shorts out.

Plowing dirt or gravel is real hard.
You wind up moving all the dirt or gravel with the snow unless you go very slow and feel the blade.
When it hits the ground up have to bump it up.
I hate to plow dirt or gravel, and I have been at it for almost 20 years.

 

My friend up in Quebec clears snow but he uses a shovel! He has one of those little blowers to;but he only does sidewalks,driveways and roofs.I guess it pays good,hes been doing it 4or 5 years.Our Florida snow chance is fading,last report was more likley sleet rain for sure.No plowing work here!

 

Go down to valdez in the fall you will see snow blowers on the top of trailer houses.

 

Sounds like Karma got that guy about 5 and half feet higher then he expected! I see guys in town here flying around parking lots acting like an idiots and showing off. I just smile at them and think to myself that the day will come when they either break or wreck their truck.

 

I hit a terrace one time trying to catch up with a coyote in a 63 binder I thought it would break in half when it hit, but all went well and even got the yote.

 

Yeah, we vacationed at Pensacola beach this July and left through Navare and Milton but didnt stop in. Our old house was on Orange st. My wife's cousin grew up in Cusseta.

 

The Outback is on a point, down a large hill on three sides with the rest of the mall on the fourth side.

Wind never stops blowing on that point, so the curb was not there looking at the snow surface.

I think he was 6 feet higher than he expected.

Since it was closing time, I would say adult beverages may have entered into that equation as well.

I am not against a sliding and spinning around in a parking lot, if you know what is out there and have plenty of room.
A parking lot is a much safer place to get a feel for how your vehicle responds when it is sliding or spinning than the highway is.

But you also have to be aware of what is around you that either you may damage or what may damage you.

When he was on the way over there, he scattered a big windrow across lot I had already plowed, I was pissed.

Karma took care of that for me though.


Every once in a while we get some kids that think running through the windrows scattering snow everywhere across plowed lot is fun.

Last one that did that had everyone plowing mad.

Then he parked and went in the mall.

I really hope he had a snow shovel in that jacked up Toyota, cause he sure was going to need it before he went anywhere.
Even with the lift kit, I bet he could not go through 6 feet of plowed and piled snow.
Also bet that was the last time he ever messed with the snow plow drivers.

We don't get mad very easy, but we do have the tools to get even.

Great, there goes the National Weather service severe storm warning alert on the TV.

Franklin if you think the western mountains of Virginia get snow, you should come out to this side of the WV mountains.
This snow we were getting this week was lake effect from Lake Michigan.
Morgantown and Pittsburg were getting lake effect from Huron and Erie since the wind was out of the north west this week.
Everything east and south from here is higher, so the moisture has to come out of the air before it goes up and over the mountains.

 

when I was a kid there was guy that had a 8' snowblower on the front of his F350 thatwas driven buy the pto on his 4speed. It was a sweet setup till he did a driveway that was a regular for him. It waas the first snow of the year and he weas rolling down the drive when all you heard was a loud crunching noise. It seems that the guy who rented that house had a concrete block laying in the drive from working on his car and didn't tell him. He hit it with that blower and it tore the blades out of it and broke the pto. He never did get it replaced. Some of thought it was his due reward as he didn't care wher the snow flew when he worked and had a habit ofputting it in other people's drives.

 

LOL On the haul road they have some humongus snowblowers, and during a blow about 3 years a truck drove headon into it. I could just imagine what the driver was thinking while it was chewing the fiberglass hood off.lol

 

Now that would be something to see! Thursday at one of the meetings I have to attend at work I was watching a guy across the street with a snowblower. It was plugging up on him and he was tilting it back and reaching in there with it turning to try and free it up! When I saw him yank his hand back real quick I thought it got him and yelled "you damn idiot". Well the boss stopped mid sentence and looked at me real hard. After I told him what I was yelling about we all stood at the window and watched that guy for the next half hour laughing and waiting for him to get cuaght.

 

Yikes, that was a close call in front of the boss

 

Hey Dave where ya been???

Haven't heard from ya in a while.

Hows it going?