Snow clearance service advice?

[benjihubbs]

Last year a relative suggested that I go around offering to clear and grit people's paths and drives, but I didn't have the materials to do it and by the time I would have got them the snow would have melted and it would have been pointless, so I'm thinking of doing it this year to earn a little extra cash over Christmas.

Firstly, any thoughts on the idea itself?

Secondly, due to some stupid law apparently I would be liable if anyone slipped or fell over once I had cleared the snow, is this true? If so, how would I go around this insurance wise? I was thinking that I could either:

a. Get Public Liability cover (how much would this cost and where could I get it from?)

b. Get customers to sign a disclaimer stating that I accept no liability for any trips, slips or falls after snow clearance (but I think this might scare customers away)

c. Print a disclaimer on the bottom of my leaflets stating that the customer accepts that I cannot be held responsible for any slips, trips or falls

Which one of the three would be my cheapest and most 'water-tight' way to get around it?

Thirdly, when do I put out leaflets? If I put them out now then chances are they will be thrown out before the snow hits and if I leave it until the snow hits, it would have melted by the time I had finished leafleting so I was thinking end of November/beginning of December?

Thanks

 

[Christine Hough]

Its not really stupid.

It is possible to make things more slippery, but you should be able to insure and also take care that you do not leave it slippery.

 

[kulture]

You MUST do a, and I suggest at least c if not b as well

 

[benjihubbs]

You MUST do a, and I suggest at least c if not b as well

Thanks, do you not think getting customer to sign a disclaimer will discourage them from taking me up on my service?

Also, anyone have any idea what 'trade' this sort of thing would come under when I am getting a quote for public liability insurance?

 

[Christine Hough]

It depends on what you say.

Acknowledge that sub zero conditions can make any surface slippery, and you cannot be held responsible for ice which forms after you have cleared. Make it clear what you will do to prevent it (such as gritting) but make the clients aware they are responsible to check the conditions each time they venture out. As long as it doesn't sound as if you are claiming the money regardless of how well you do the job, that sounds fine to me.

In fact why not instead use a sign off sheet to say they are happy with it as you leave it but to be aware that weather conditions may still make it treacherous in the future and your advice is for them to avoid going out if possible and then only after testing to see how safe it is.

 

[jakef78]

Well firstly I think you need to work on your advertising ideas, I dont know if it's because you haven't gone into much detail, but sticking out a few leaflets won't help you much.

As for the insurance and what not, if this is private property and some one slips then the person who owns the property would be liable. I might be wrong but if you clear the snow and then grit it you will not have a problem. Lastly the disclaimer idea is a really bad one, if I saw an advertisement that for example said ' snow clearing service ( warning I can't be held liable for any injuries), then I am going to think that the likely hood of me injuring myself is high.

Hope that makes sense, and to sign off I will add that there may only be a weeks worth of snow or less, so not sure if it's worth it.

 

[BustersDogs]

How Christine phrases it is much better than how it was phrased in the original post. My first thought was 'what would I be paying for if you're telling me I might still fall over!?' I realise you need to cover yourself, but I tend to avoid people who claim no liability if there's a problem without clarifying a bit more.

 

[firstmarket]

How Christine phrases it is much better than how it was phrased in the original post. My first thought was 'what would I be paying for if you're telling me I might still fall over!?' I realise you need to cover yourself, but I tend to avoid people who claim no liability if there's a problem without clarifying a bit more.

I seem to remember reading in the paper a few years ago councils were not gritting certain areas because if they did and somebody fell then they would be liable.

Just because somebody has signed a disclaimer it doesn't mean you still won't be held liable. You may also wish to consider what the Customer's an liability is if an accident happened as well as yours.

 

[Christine Hough]

If you joined an organisation like the FSB Federation of small businesses you would probably be able to get legal help writing a fair disclaimer.

Sometimes councils go overboard in using legislation to avoid living in case it leads to death! And health and safety have had to come out on some issues to deny that there is a H & S reason for not doing it. For example kite flying on beaches has been banned due the H & S

 

[telemax]

Firstly, any thoughts on the idea itself?

Get a checkup from the doctor before you start... I lived in Canada and shovelled snow every day during the winter, it's the most physically demanding work you can do. Needless to say the cardiac wards were overflowing.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

How are you going to get to the customers' houses? Round here, only the bus routes are gritted, and last winter, anyone on side roads were basically trapped until those with 4*4s had driven a few times to create tracks, and even those turned to ice making driving treacherous. Unless you have a 4*4 or snow chains, you may find you can't get to your customers without spending hours clearing the road/track as well and who pays for you doing that? You'd also have a very tight timeslot to do all the work - probably couldn't do much the first day due to roads unpassable etc., then you could do 2-3 days of digging, but by that time people would have done it themselves, and then it thaws, so for each blanket of snow, you may only have 2-3 working days, with lots of time wasted travelling between customers, so maybe only 5 customers per day assuming it takes you an hour to clear a drive. Doesn't really seem a viable business unless you were thinking of having several other workers on "stand by" from their normal day jobs, to blitz as many houses as possible in those 2-3 days. If, say, you were a tradesman such as a builder, with a decent pick up truck and a couple of workers, then it could well be feasible as you'd not be able to do your normal day job but otherwise I can't see it working.

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Last year a relative suggested that I go around offering to clear and grit people's paths and drives, but I didn't have the materials to do it and by the time I would have got them the snow would have melted and it would have been pointless, so I'm thinking of doing it this year to earn a little extra cash over Christmas.

Firstly, any thoughts on the idea itself?

Secondly, due to some stupid law apparently I would be liable if anyone slipped or fell over once I had cleared the snow, is this true? If so, how would I go around this insurance wise? I was thinking that I could either:

a. Get Public Liability cover (how much would this cost and where could I get it from?)

b. Get customers to sign a disclaimer stating that I accept no liability for any trips, slips or falls after snow clearance (but I think this might scare customers away)

c. Print a disclaimer on the bottom of my leaflets stating that the customer accepts that I cannot be held responsible for any slips, trips or falls

Which one of the three would be my cheapest and most 'water-tight' way to get around it?

Thirdly, when do I put out leaflets? If I put them out now then chances are they will be thrown out before the snow hits and if I leave it until the snow hits, it would have melted by the time I had finished leafleting so I was thinking end of November/beginning of December?

Thanks

There was a demand.

two winters ago at my old house due to the council being what they are-there were old people who could not get out of their houses for 3 weeks due to their drives and pavements being sheet ice.

As for being sued and liability sadly yes that happened to shop keepers. The nightmare that is the UK strikes again.

I doubt the cold winters will be a long term phenomenon though we get a couple of bad winters every ten years or so.

 

[benjihubbs]

Thanks for the response everyone, seems as though I haven't thought this through as much as I probably should of done. The idea wasn't to get a massive amount of customers, I was just thinking of printing up a couple of hundred leaflets and leafleting the surrounding streets where I live and earn a few quid for doing so. I'm only 16, so whenever there's enough snow to warrant a service like this I won't have college and just thought I could do something productive with that time instead of sitting indoors or sleeping. I think I'll have to think a bit harder as to whether it's worth it for only a couple of days. But thanks anyway guys

 

[Mike tells it like it is]

Wait till there is the snow and just knock doors.

You could leave leaflets as well with you number on.

Gutter cleaning and general gardening tidying would be another option you could try.

 

[glasgowdan]

My advice to you would be turn up at doorsteps literally with a shovel in your hand and offer to clear the snow for a fiver cash. Forget the formal business planning for now. This way you can work until you are tired, you will make connections/potential clients for future work of various kinds, and you'll save up some cash. You should be able to make a fiver from a 15-min shovelling job quite easily if they see you working steadily..

You can use council-provided grit if they want that too.

Good luck! To do this work on a bigger scale you'd need to spend a lot of cash on commercial spreaders and towing vehicles.

 

[CarrickSalt]

I agree with the door knocking.

We supply rock salt grit, white salt, non-salt de-icer and snow clearing products.

We have many clients who purchase salt and grit that go round their local area knocking the doors and selling bags of grit/salt and clearing snow. Some of them are young fellas trying to make a few quid coming up to christmas. Some of them are guys who have been made unemployed and are trying to make a few pound to support their families, some of them are bona-fide businesses who slow down in the winter and are supplementing their income.

As far as the law goes, you need to make sure you dont make the ground slippier than it would normally be. Anybody walking in snow or ice has responsibility to be careful themselves. If you are de-icing, i would recommend using rock salt grit (the brown stuff). It is dirtier than the white salt but the grit provides better traction under-foot, this means that if it is so cold that the melted ice re-freezes or doesnt melt at all, at least there will still be some grip on the ground.

Definitely do it, youve nothing to lose and you never know where it will take you.

Tall oaks from little acorns grow.


Have a look on our website under the legals section for some more government issued advice.

carricksalt.co.uk/Legal_advice_on_clearing_snow.php

carricksalt.co.uk

 

[Weddingtog1980]

Dont bother with insurance or advertising. Just knock peoples doors when the snow comes. You will be guaranteed to make money because i know people that have done it before.

 

[benjihubbs]

Thanks guys, think I'll just grab a shovel and go knocking when the snow comes What d'you reckon about getting a bag or two of grit and offering gritting as extra?

 

[sands1967]

i had suggested the same to my son (assuming it snows while his on his break from college)

i suggested he offered 2 services.
1) Path cleared to front door for £x
2) path and driveway for £xx

Either way it could have something put over it (i saw a product but can't remember by name, like salt but not salt!)

What would people pay?

 

[benjihubbs]

i had suggested the same to my son (assuming it snows while his on his break from college)

i suggested he offered 2 services.
1) Path cleared to front door for £x
2) path and driveway for £xx

Either way it could have something put over it (i saw a product but can't remember by name, like salt but not salt!)

What would people pay?

That's the sort of thing I was thinking, but just wondered if to bother with gritting at all, do it in with the price or offer it as extra. But I wouldn't really know how to price it :|

 

[cjd]

The idea that you can be sued if somebody slips on the path you've cleared is a urban myth - it's simply untrue. You can forget about it so long as you don't do anything totally stupid like pile the snow up across a pavement.

It's a good idea, just get yourself a good shovel and bang on doors when there's a good lot of snow around.