Hello and welcome to another winter season up in the Mosquito Range! Thank you all so much for trusting us to serve you for yet another gorgeous, snowy winter. Yesterday we got our first storm of the 2022/23 plow season, dropping just about 2 inches of accumulation in Valley of the Sun. For good measure, the boys set out at 4 am to check all of the driveways on the route, because you just never know up here. If you had more than 4 inches in your driveway, your driveway was cleared. If not, you’ll only see tracks.
This is a great opportunity to explain to our newer clients how we operate and answer some frequent questions.
When Do We Plow?
Per our terms, we will automatically plow your driveway when there are 4 inches or more of freshly fallen snow accumulated in it within 48 hours of the storm ending. This does not mean drifting, or windblown snow; if you need drifting cleared, it will be counted as an additional push and could result in an additional charge. If you are on a per-push rate, you simply need to call, text, or email, and we will get you cleared, regardless of depth.
Why Do We Do It This Way?
Plowing is hard on…everything. It’s hard on trucks. It’s hard on plows. It’s hard on equipment, such as loaders and skid steers (which we prefer to use when possible). Pushing too little snow can result in unnecessary damage to our vehicles and equipment, and can absolutely destroy a plow over the course of a season, especially if your driveway is in need of resurfacing. Additionally, we don’t want to see our clients run through all of their monthly plows in one storm, and have to pay even more money to keep their driveways cleared. That’s why we don’t include drifting in our terms, and unless we have a huge storm (think like 24 inches or more), we wait until the storm is over to start our route.
Another thing to consider, plowing is also really hard on driveways. If we plow your driveway and there’s too little snow or zero snowpack, we end up pushing your driveway material (rock, gravel, road base, etc) around and you’ll have to either hire us to come out and re-spread it or you’ll be out there yourself with a shovel come Spring. No one wants that.
I Got 4 Inches and My Driveway Isn’t Cleared Yet. He’s Still Coming Right???
This is a question we get pretty regularly, and it has the simplest answer- we follow a set route that we decide on before the season starts. This maximizes our time and our fuel use, which helps us to keep costs down, for us and for you. If we ran around to every house that called when they called, it would take us days to clear out all of our clients, and we would burn through hundreds of gallons of fuel in every storm. That’s not efficient, and it is not how we roll. We know that there is little we can do about the fact that our trucks and equipment burn fossil fuels (for now, we are aiming to have an all electric fleet within 10 years), so to help lessen this environmental burden, we carefully plan our route to optimize each mile we drive. This results in less fuel burned, which ultimately results in fewer costs passed onto you.
Don’t worry. We know that there are some shady characters up here, and you may have been burned in the past. We will not abandon you, we will not take your money and not plow, and we will always do our absolute best to communicate with you quickly if there are any delays. This is a promise.
Who Do I Call If I Need Assistance or Have Questions?
This is an easy one- call Carey or Christin. We are the operating partners, the wives, the moms, and your point of contact for all your snow removal needs. You can call our main number at 970-406-2724, or you can text, call, or email either one of us directly. We respectfully ask that you do not contact either Clint or Christian while they are out plowing. Distracting them with a message or call while they are on their route can be dangerous and result in damage to our equipment or your property, or even cause them bodily harm. We don’t want that, and we know that you don’t either. We know the route and we can see their locations at all times, so it’s best to reach out to one of us and we can give you a good idea as to when you can expect them.
Additional Info
Some things to keep in mind-
It’s highly likely that we will be plowing your driveway before sunrise, especially if you are in Valley of the Sun. Typically, Christian likes to leave around midnight to start his route, and Clint sometime soon after that. If you don’t want to get out of bed in the middle of the night, it’s advisable that you move your car out of the way during the storm so that the guys can get in and get you cleared out without disruption to the route (or your sleep).
If you rent your house out as a short term rental, it’s your responsibility to communicate this to your renters. We will honk a few times to alert them to our presence if their cars are blocking the driveway (during the hours of 8 am-5 pm), but we cannot allow for the time to stop, get out, ring the bell, and wait for them to drag their hungover butts to the door. We have a full route this season, and it’s not fair to our other clients to have their service delayed due to hangups at one property. If no one comes out, we will plow around what we can, and move on.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email to any of us. Let’s have a great season, and of course, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!