Snow contracts
A plow route built before the first storm
Long drives, farm lanes and yards in the Bitterroot Valley, plowed on a trigger depth we write down.
A seasonal agreement spares you the phone call. The agreement names the snow depth that sends the plow, what is cleared, and where your drive sits on the route. One-time plows are taken when the route has room.
Seasonal agreement or one-time plow
Drives, lanes, turnarounds and yards
Sanding where it is in the agreement
In the agreement
What your snow agreement says
Every agreement spells out the same six things, so there's nothing to guess at in January.
Trigger depth
The snow depth that sends the truck, written in the agreement. Drifting and wind are talked through at sign-up.
What gets plowed
The drive, the turnaround, the lane to the barn, and the walk to the door if you add it. Anything we won't touch is named.
Where you sit on the route
Routes run in an order, and your place in it is written down so you know roughly when to expect the truck.
Sand or salt
Whether the agreement includes sanding, and what it covers. Many rural drives take sand, not salt.
How you pay
By the push or by the season, and when. The agreement says which, and what happens in a light winter or a heavy one.
The close date
Sign-up closes on a date written in the agreement, so the route is built ahead of time.
Plow days
Who answers on a storm day
Plow days start early and run until the drives are done.
Storm-day hours are in the schedule at the bottom of every page. Lars takes calls during those hours, and calls outside them go to voicemail, which we return when the plow day starts. Whether an early start costs extra is written in your agreement, not decided on the morning of the storm.
A person answers during plow hours
Voicemail after hours, returned first thing
Early-start charges, if any, are in the agreement
Questions
Snow questions
When does the snow contract close?
On a date written in your agreement, so the route is built before the first storm. After that we may take a one-time plow when the route has room.
What if it rains, or the ground is frozen?
Soft ground is hard on the pasture and on the machines, so we wait for it to firm up. Frozen ground is fine for some brush work and no good for others. Snow is plowed on the trigger in your agreement, rain or not.
What should I do before you come?
Move livestock to another field, unlock the gates, and mark wells, septic tanks, drain fields, buried lines and anything you want left alone. Tell us about the dog, the bull and the wet spot by the culvert.
Before the first storm
Get on the route
Tell us the road, the length of the drive and where the truck turns around.