There is a difference between dedicated commercial snow removal companies, the average snow removal service, and taking on the responsibility yourself.
At Procare, we’ve been providing professional parking lot snow removal services for businesses in the Greater Grand Rapids area for over 30 years. In that time, we’ve learned that the businesses who consider these four reasons for hiring a professional, the happier they are when they decide to hire us for their snow removal services for the season.
Covered With General Liability Insurance
Keeping your parking lot and property clear of snow and ice is beneficial for obvious reasons. You don’t want your customers or staff to slip and injure themselves while on your property, and you also don’t want anyone to hurt themselves trying to remove the snow and ice with the equipment they’re using to remove the snow and ice. Snow and Ice are dangerous by nature, so there is always a slight risk that someone gets hurt.
General liability insurance, sometimes called commercial general liability (CGL), could protect your business from another person or business’s claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs, and damage to property.
A few examples that may result in a claim are:
Property damage: While plowing your business’s parking lot, an employee accidentally sideswipes a customer’s brand new car. The customer files a claim against your business, leaving you responsible to pay for the costly repairs.
Bodily injury 1: An employee trips over your snow blowing equipment while they are coming into work for the day. The employee needs a trip to the emergency room for a broken ankle and claims that you are responsible for the medical bill because your equipment caused the injury.
Accidents happen. Don’t find yourself stuck with an expensive bill you didn’t budget for. When you hire a professional snow removal company, make sure they are adequately insured to protect your business (and theirs) against expensive claims like these.
DAMAGE REPAIR & SPRING CLEANUP
Contrary to popular belief, managing snowfall within a parking lot takes a fair amount of skill.
There are obstacles to maneuver around, such as customer and employee vehicles (again, hopefully you are insured), and landscaping features that you’ve already paid to have installed.
Eventually an accident is inevitable, like you or an employee losing sight of a marker during a snowstorm and uprooting multiple bushes in front of your business. More than likely you hired a landscaping company to put these in, so now you’ll need to pay to have it re-done in the spring.
You’ve most likely invested a lot of time and money into your commercial landscaping, why ruin that with improper snow removal during the winter months?
TIME MANAGEMENT
As a business owner, you may feel obligated to take on the responsibility of keeping your property and parking lots clear of snow for your staff and customers. But before you dive into this new endeavor, ask yourself: is this the best way to utilize my time and mental bandwidth?
Managing snow and ice removal is a full-time job in the winter months. Not to mention, you’ll be required to go out during snow storms and even holidays to keep up with the never ending work.
The best part about a professional snow removal service is that they work even during the holiday season, and they are prepared to go out and work in the worst of storms.
When you hire a professional snow removal service, you can start spending your time thinking about how to grow your business, and stop thinking about how to keep up with the accumulating snowfall.
SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT
Parking lot snow removal equipment is expensive, and there are many financial strategies for how you want to handle the depreciation and expenses of your assets.
Startup costs to acquire the equipment needed to keep your parking lot clear can vary greatly depending on the requirements of your property. For starters, a dependable truck is a necessity for getting the job done. Your business will also need a snow plow, a snow blower, salt sprayer, and a supply of salt. Costs on these pieces of equipment can range from $3,000 to $10,000 and up if you buy used, or lease new equipment.
Each strategy has its pros and cons from an accounting perspective. Don’t forget, whether you buy used or new, specialized equipment requires maintenance and upkeep to keep your operation running smoothly.
CONCLUSION
As we’ve stated, business owners and/or managers who consider these four main arguments for hiring a snow removal company generally make the right decision in the end, and are happier for it!
Outsourcing these responsibilities allows them to spend more time growing their businesses, and less time worrying about liability insurance, fixing costly damages in the spring, managing the equipment costs, or even finding the time to keep up with the snow plowing itself.
REQUEST YOUR QUOTE TODAY
We know it’s hard to decide on a parking lot snow removal service if you don’t know your numbers. That’s why we encourage you to reach out and request a custom snow removal quote for your business today!
Our experts can quickly calculate what your costs would be to keep your property free and clear of snow and ice for the season.