Snow plow trucks????

I live in Texas and I notice all the guys up north with the plows on their trucks. Do you have that for just your driveway or are you allowed to plow public roads or what do you use them for? Seems like a lot of money for just your driveway...

Lots of people use them to plow businesses, other people's driveways, and their own drives. If you ever had to shovel snow like what we had this week, you wouldn't think its so much money!

Not allowed to plow public roads, although I remember that during the Blizzard of '78, it was allowed.

Alot of money? I gave $800 for my 74 with the plow and drove it home. Its currently down till I can buy u-joints but used it last yr. And yes I bough it to do my driveway. Tour more than welcome to come on up for a good winner when we have snow and shovel lol

Depends on where you live. In Rockford IL the city subcontracts individuals to plow some of the narrow side streets. I'm sure other large cities might do the same thing.

Otherwise most individual plow owners do driveways for other people, and drives and parking lots for businesses. Often a group of guys will form a plowing business and line up a lot of places to plow.
Years ago, I drove for a guy that owned 7 plow trucks. Each truck had a designated driver and route. When you climbed into his truck, you were there for 24 hours to complete the route assigned to that truck! We were connected to each other by CB, and if you had any kind of problem someone was there in a few minutes. He had 2 backup trucks in case one broke down. He would buy everyone plowing breakfast, lunch, and supper, we would all meet and he would check to see how everything was going. The guy was a jerk as a person, but come plowing season, he wasn't a bad guy to work for if you didn't mind the hours. A single 3" snowfall was worth well over $10,000 to him, after expenses, and that was over 10 years ago.

The business is hard on the trucks, hard on people, you count fuel mileage by hours per tank full, and add a shovel man (or 2) for those places you can't get with a truck and a couple trucks with salt spreader that can dump a 50lbs bag in seconds, and you get an idea of the cost to do business. The going rate around here is $60-$75/ hour for the driver and the truck, the shovel guy, the salt spreader, and the salt are extra. Complex drives or ones requiring extra care are more expensive. If the driveways are close together and a simple push it off deal, a truck can do as many as 6 driveways an hour (though 4 is more realistic). $20-$25/ driveway is not out of line, more if more snow. 3" seems to be the standard.
A lot of guys that do landscaping and mowing in the summer do snow removal in the winter.

If your equipment isn't up to par, its hard to make money plowing snow. Most people contract plowing out their drive dependent on a certain amount of snowfall (like, plow if we get 2" of snow) and expect it done before they have to go to work in the morning. If your plow breaks, you might have to hire someone to do your contracted jobs. Gene

Interesting stuff... Thanks for the replies.. Never seen one in my neck of the woods but always see a lot this time of year on the forums and always wondered about them..

My first plow was 300 bucks.had it on my Jeep.I did my drive and made some cash doing driveways and a few small parking lots.My next one came on the Ram Charger and I paid 500 for it all.Used it for 3 years then swapped it to 3 other RCs that I bought.I made some good coin doing the lots at work and drives.It is hard on the truck especially if you dont know how to plow.Mileage goes way down also.That and getting up at 3.30 to plow is a pain.Sold it about 10 years ago.Times I wish I still had it as my drive is 150 feet.I just use my small tractor to plow now.Rocky

Used to plow commercially with my ctd until it got to be a pita. Everyone wanted you to carry liability insurance, it would've cost to much for the small amount of plowing I did. It was also hard to do while working a full time job.
Cut back to a couple of driveways and the family.

I usually keep the roads open to my shop and the folk's place. After 18" of snow last week it was a necessity as the county grader didn't show up until yesterday.

Ed

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I live in Texas and I notice all the guys up north with the plows on their trucks. Do you have that for just your driveway or are you allowed to plow public roads or what do you use them for? Seems like a lot of money for just your driveway...

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Look at it this way. Houghton County Mi has had 103" of snow and Keewenaw County has had 173" so far this season. 173 inches is 14.4 feet of snow, and we still have 2 1/5 months of winter to go..
My driveway is ~ 250' long. I can plow the driveway, plus the shorter driveway for my garage next door in about 15-20 minutes.

I blew the head gasket on my Chevy plow truck and damaged a brake line on my F450, so I had to use the snowblower on Tuesday.

It took about 2 1/2 hours, including time to refill the tank when I ran out of fuel from the first fill. Plus it was two degrees below zero.

Yesterday it only snowed 5", so I plowed with the F450 and no brakes. It warmed up to +3 degrees, but the 9' plow got the job done fast, and Fords have excellent heaters.

Only snowed about an inch last night so I think I'll take the day off to work on the head gasket.