When and How We Remove Snow

We try to take a direct approach to all the services we offer. Doing so helps us to save our clients money in the long run as well as reducing the wear and tear on our equipment and client properties. This page serves as our terms as it is linked in our quotes. It is the owners responsibility to read and understand these terms before accepting a quote. If you have questions, please ask us before the season starts so you’re not surprised by drifting (wind driven snow), roll-off, or 3” of snow left in the driveway mid-season.

Driveways

General Information For All Plowing Plans:

Please be patient and nice. We have more than one plowing contract in winter and there are always extenuating circumstances outside of our control which affect our best laid plans. Relax, enjoy the snow, scenery, scent of pines, and the quiet of your cabin. Kindness will get you further than being rude, impatient, or accusatory. Remember, we are people too.
We do not tolerate yelling at, cussing at, harassing of or threatening our drivers. Clients who behave in this way will be dropped, no exceptions.
We reserve the right to cancel any plowing contract for any reason. Refunds are at the company’s discretion.
If you are coming up, please check the weather and let us know so we can make a note and clear your driveway faster than if we followed our fuel- and time-optimized route. Also, get food in the Front Range before driving up.
Plowing season is for 6 months, from 11/1 - 4/30.
Shoulder months are October and May. We offer pushes during shoulder months for an additional fee.
No month-2-month (M2M) plans are offered.
We are fully insured. If you’d like to see our certificate, we are happy to provide it.
There is a minimum trigger of 4" of fallen snow at our home (11,100) before we plow.
We plow primarily in equipment but we sometimes clear drives using a truck.
We plow when there are 4 inches, or more, of accumulation at elevation (11,100). If 48" of snow falls during one storm that doesn't mean we will plow 12 times, that's silly.
We guarantee your driveway will be cleared within 48 hours after a storm stops.
We plow after (most) storms are over; you'll be cleared out within 48 hours after a storm stops. We use the Winter Storm Warning/Winter Weather Advisory end time to begin our 48 hour contractual window. We are usually plowing before a storm stops.
We do not return to driveways twice in one day. This is why we wait until a storm is passed or nearly passed.
Winter office hours are 8a-5p; requests for pushes outside winter office hours will be billed with an after-hours fee plus the one-time push/under-trigger fee.
We will coordinate with PMs as to whether or not you have renters, if you are an STR.
Pushes requested below the 4" trigger or outside of fallen snow (i.e. drifting) are under-trigger and are billed outside of the monthly retainer.
STR fees are charged in addition to the monthly retainer. If you are renting, you will have a rental line-item. If you rent one day a season or 100 times a season, the rate applies to every mo. of the plowing season.
There is a cap of 30 pushes over the entire season (~5/mo.). No credits given for less than 30 a season. When we go over 30 pushes we do not ask for additional per push funds.
We usually send a text notification when we are out or planning to plow. This is our full-time job in winter so we are watching the weather. You can trust us.
If you are selling your property and you are under contract, once you close we will plow through the end of the closing month. After you sell and close, we will not hold you accountable for the contract through the remainder of the season. That wouldn't be fair.
We offer a limited Priority plowing option in which your driveway will be 1 of 20 that are cleared first with the full-timers, rentals, and part-timers that are up.

Standard Plan (Monthly Contracts):

Most cost effective option for driveways above 9,500 feet.
We are not responsible for drifting nor grader roll-off. On occasion, we are our cleaning up or finishing our route and may clear heavy drifting or roll-off, but it is not part of the plan.
Clearing grader roll-off and drifting are charged as the "below trigger" fee.
We're happy to come out and clear less than the 4" trigger but we do not recommend it. Pushes requested below the 4" trigger or because of wind driven snow (i.e. drifting) are detailed in your quote base rate line-item.
If there are multi-day storms which drop 12" or more over a 24 hr.+ period we will do our best to clear the driveway at least once and then again when the storm stops to tidy up. For huge storms like this, we give priority to full-timers, part-timers we know are at their cabins, rentals, and priority clients. During big storms, we try to follow our route, but 99% of the time we have to alter the route.
We aren't responsible for shoulder month snowfall (October & May) unless you pay for a one-time push. If you wait to push October snow in November, it will be cleared at our discretion and on our timetable. Please don’t try to game the system.
Pushes roll-over M2M.
On heavy years, pushbacks to increase snow storage are billed at 2x the under-trigger fee and are in addition to the monthly retainer.

Basic Plan (2 Pushes/Month):

You will receive 2 pushes per month if the minimum 4" trigger is met.
Snow is snow on this plan, we push both fallen and drifted snow when we clear the driveway for the set monthly retainer.
Pushes will be spread out during the month. One push will be b/w the 1st & 15th. A second will be b/w the 16th and last day of the month.
Additional pushes over the 2 are possible, at half the monthly cost. See your quote for details.
If you want us to clear the driveway after the 2 included pushes, you have to request it.
If you want to use both pushes in the first 15 days of the month, you must reach out to request it.
No refunds are given if we do not use both pushes in a month.
Pushes do not roll-over M2M.

Retainer + One-Time Push Plan:

We charge a retainer to remain on the route.
The retainer pays for time tracking and billing pushes.
This plan is for lower elevations and so price per push varies on location. See your quote for details.
We automatically clear the driveway when your trigger has been met.
The full retainer is charged upfront at the beginning of the season. Each push performed after the trigger is billed a month in arrears.
When you are on a one-time contract for the season, it's up to our discretion as to which type of equipment to use when we clear a driveway. The type of equipment determines the cost per push.

On-Call Plan:

Simplest plan we offer. We only recommend this for folks who visit once or twice a season and do not rent.
These are only performed in a loader because we will not know how many storm cycles we're clearing.
Billed by the hour with a 2 hr. minimum. Price could vary depending on how many On-Call clients have requested to be cleared.
No monthly retainer to be on the route.
We will not automatically clear the driveway on this plan. You must contact us at least a week in advance to clear the driveway.

More Details About Plowing:

In the early and late months of the plowing season we will try and pick up the blade so as not to move too much driveway material. During light years we may pick up the blades nearly the entire season. This reduces the piles of material you will see come spring. It’ll also save you money as we won’t have to come back and level those piles with equipment. It can save your back as well b/c you won’t have to shovel and spread thousands of pounds of material by hand. We’d be happy to come back and regrade that material (at a reduced hourly equipment rate), but we’d prefer to resurface the driveway in road base to avoid moving material when plowing.
Establishing, and maintaining, a hard pack is important for a couple reasons: it reduces the material moved* w/ a blade or equipment and it reduces damage to our equipment and your driveway. This is why we have a 4” trigger and we try very hard to stick to it. Plowing less than the snowfall trigger typically results in a lot of driveway material movement.
Wind is a big part of South Park winters. Inevitably, some driveways drift. If we notice things that can be done to mitigate drifting (wind driven snow), we always suggest them. We will push drifted snow when we meet a snowfall trigger (4”), but (as part of our monthly retainer) we do not come out and clear drifting if we have not received the fallen snow trigger.
If a truck is out plowing, cleaning up, or checking on driveways and we notice drifting or grader roll off, we will clear it as part of the monthly retainer. If a truck is not out checking on things, for an under-trigger fee, we will come out and address drifting or grader roll-off if we have not received fallen snow.
We typically start clearing driveways after a storm stops so we’re not doing driveways multiple times during a storm. This saves us money in fuel, labor, and maintenance which we can then pass on to our clients via reasonable monthly rates.
Service companies, particularly propane and Front Range firms, tend to have a hard time in the High Country when it comes to driveway accessibility. They are not accustomed to the quantities of snow we receive and, in the case of propane trucks, are not 4x4/AWD nor do they always put on chains when required. If we have not received the trigger and a service company is having issues with driveway accessibility, the under-trigger fee applies.
We strongly suggest that renters (and contractors) be aware of the weather and if a storm is coming they need to park their cars out of the way so we may plow (possibly overnight). If vehicles are in the driveway, we will honk a few times (b/w 8a & 5p) and stick around for a couple minutes. We do not get out of our vehicles and knock. If they can’t hear a car horn honking, they likely won’t hear a knock on the door. If they don’t move the cars, we will clear as much as we can safely and then move on with the route.
We plow only when a 4” trigger (throughout the entirety of the driveway) is met. That means a consistent depth of at least 4” in the middle of the driveway along the length of the drive; not the one deepest drifted corner. We highly suggest leaving a ruler in the cabin so renters can properly measure depth. We charge additional fees (per push) for below-trigger pushes and drifting (wind driven snow).

Obstacles:

Please be sure all major obstacles (i.e. well head, septic clean out & lids, buried propane tank access, etc.) are well marked with at least 6' markers and are always visible above snow.
We are careful b/c we don't want to damage our equipment. However, we are not responsible for improperly marked (less than 6' or absent markers) obstacles that are damaged. We are not liable for reimbursement just as you will not be responsible for repairing a damaged blade or bucket.
If you’d like us to mark obstacles, please let us know as there are costs involved.

Payment & Refunds:

If you prepay for the entire season we offer a 5% discount (monthly contracts only). You may pay for the remainder of the season at any time and receive the discount only on remaining months of season.
Payment expected at beginning of month. If payment is not received by the 11th day of the month, we will stop plowing/shoveling. If there's a lot of snow build up a loader or skid steer may be needed, which could incur additional fees.
Months in which we receive little to no snow, refunds will not be given. In heavy months, such as December through March, we may be out between 10-20 days plowing. In these cases, we do not ask for more b/c, in the end, it all evens out.

Quote Acceptance:

By accepting the quote you understand that there is a 6 month plowing season (11/1 - 4/30), billed monthly; for a total of 6 invoices.
You may not switch freely b/w one-time and monthly contracts.

Closures:

CaveBuug is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day to allow us to spend time as a family with our young children. If a storm falls around one of these days, service will continue as usual on the day before, and will resume the day after the holiday in question.

Decks

Shoveling decks is an add-on service and is not included in the monthly retainer for driveway plowing services.
Offering a shoveling service is tricky considering we can get multi-day storms that could drop feet of snow at a time. We shovel whenever the 4” trigger is met, but we shovel decks, for the most part, after all our driveways are cleared.
We can shovel at your request, but those rates differ from the monthly service. One-time shoveling has a 1 hour minimum & a surcharge for snow and ice build up.
We try to save our clients money by shoveling roughly once a week after a storm has passed. We will not try to shovel as much as possible in order to run up your bill.
The main incentive, in our opinion, for clients to get their decks shoveled is to preserve their decks. Allowing several feet of snow to build up and freeze then thaw dozens of times will cause damage to your deck boards and joists. Having thousands of pounds of snow and ice on your deck can also pose a structural issue and could bring down a deck that is decaying or isn’t built to code.

Now that you’ve gone through our terms, please reach out if you have any questions.

* Road base is, in our opinion, the second best material for driveway resurfacing in the High Country. If you have 3/4” rock or pea gravel that helps reduce mud during mud season, but rock does not freeze during the winter and will move quite a bit when plowed.