Frank, I got out of the snow and grass business last year. There is no easy formula. I have had customers who wanted me to drive 15 miles to plow their snow or cut their grass for the same price or lower than what they were paying a local guy. No way. Grass and snow guys can only make money by having all the accounts very close to each other. Customers don't like or refuse to pay for drive time to and from the job. In our area (Detroit, southeast Mich. area) we can charge about 25 - 50% more for services than say two counties over in either direction. That said, in our area, residential grass and typically snow goes for about $60-75 an hour. Commercial jumps to $100 - $125. And that's just for smaller equipment like pickup snow plows. (incidentally, my former helper cuts the grass, trims the shrubs, waters the flower, etc. for Davey Commerical Grounds for the Ford/Mazda plant---the contract is over $350,000 a year)

If you need snow picked up and hauled away, then trucking for say a double bottom gravel train jumps from $75 an hour to $125 and up. Backhoe and loader help is about the same.

So, all that said, find a local guy and a neighbor you trust to ensure the work is being done. There can be shady guys out there that will bill you for never even doing the work.

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