Ugh....
I live in a very sowy part of the country. I am a single Mom and my children are grown and off to college, so they are not here to help me clear snow from my driveway and sidewalk.

I hired a person to plow my driveway by 7 am if it snows more than 2 inches. He also does the sidewalk at that point. If it is less than that, I shovel my sidewalks and a path to the street for parents to walk up to my house.
My drop offs start at 7 am, and the city plows have been coming between 7 and 8. After they plow, the end of my driveway is full of snow. There is NOTHING I can do about this. I cannot leave children inside of my house to go out and shovel again. It would cost me an additional $ 20.00 to have the person come back out and plow again.

My parents have been super whiny about this. I keep telling them that if their safety is at risk, they can always pull into my driveway. But instead they complain about how much snow the plow has dumped at the end of the driveway.

What do the rest of you do about this? I understand that it is difficult to climb over the snow, but there is not much I can do about it once children start arriving. It is also usually too cold here to bring them outside with me.

Reply

Yea, I hate it when the city plows the street and blocks my drive way, and to top it off it makes it easier to get stuck
my solution is to shovel as much snow from the street towards my driveway, that way when the city comes to plow, they won't get so much snow in front of my drive way. of course i do this before the kids show up, and if I can't then too bad. I have never had parents complain to me about parking in snow, My house isn't the ONLY place with snow

Reply

I agree with them& offer to give them a shovel if they would like to clear it for me, or it will have to wait until I get off work.

Reply

This, or raise your rates on the crabby ones to pay the extra for the snow removal guy to do it.

Reply

My mom lives on a busy street that always get plowed and she ends up with 4 feet of snow at the end of her drive! She bought a truck, 4x4, now she can just drive thru it. She can't shuvle it all by herself. I have an ally it doesn't get plowed, not sure witch is worse really lol. I vote for moving to Texas personally lol.

You could simply explain the kids can't come out while you shuvle, who'd be watching them? And they can't stay inside alone either. I love suggesting they shuvle it for you! But if it were me I'd suck it up and pay the guy to come fix it. $20 is not bad really, they'd charge lots more here. It's tax deductible.

Reply

Im thinking she means she already paid him $20, and would have to pay an additional $20. If it needs to be done 2x in a week, that's $80.

I live where it snows too (we just got 2 1/2 ft last night that took 45 minutes to clear and the city will come plow the roads in 15 minutes and leave me with a blocked driveway). I sent a notice home with parents that although you understand their frustration, there isn't much you can do about it. I have dd shovel when she gets home from school at 3, which helps with pickups in the evening. But if you arrive after 8, bring boots!

Reply

I understand what she meant. I just would prefer to pay that small fee then to lose clients or be sued because someone fell. Why not have him come right after the city? Are more kids dropped off before or after that? You could pick a time that'd please the majority and unless it snows a lot during the day it'd be clear at pickup. $20 is nothing to come plow, you couldn't get a guy or gal to even come over for $20 here. It isn't very professional to have DCF's trudging thru feet of snow with little ones in tow. That's my opinion and its not changing. The guy offered a very reasonable price to touch it up and even if she had to pay him 5 days a week to do it that's such a small fraction of your daily income, and tax deduct able.

Reply

could you call a student to come and do it. I would pay the 20 dollars and get it done. I live on a busy street and it happens here. I'm lucky dh has a atv with a plow but I have to wait till he comes home to do it. could you also pay a parent to do it.

Reply

Can you ask a neighbor to do it and you will shovel their walk when you are up before 7am doing yours?

Reply

I am literally unable to shovel, like ever. I am a single mom with 2 small children (14m and 4 years) and the little one screams her head off when I go to the basement to do laundry, let alone go outside to shovel. Luckily it has only snowed once and I shoveled while they were buckled in their carseats in the van... but i don't look forward to more snow. I'd let the parents know where the shovel and salt was if it was a huge issue. There is only so much you are able to do and shame on them for not being more understanding.

Reply

Depending on my group for the day and the temps, we may all go outside in the front drive and I shovel a path for the parents to walk through if I'm able. Otherwise, I leave shovels by the front door, parents are welcome to use them. My husband plows us out, but the plow always comes between drop off and pickup times and plows us back in...

Reply

tell the crabby ones they can pay you extra for the guy to come back and shovel or you will leave the shovel out for them to use to help the other parents. I trained a middle school boy to do it and then his parents moved LOL

Reply

Same thing happens here. NONE of my parents have ever complained.

I do however, have a really nice DCD this year who happily grabs the shovel and will make a path just big enough for everyone to walk through. My DH will plow before I open in the morning and then again when he comes back for lunch.

Some days I am really lucky and the guy that does the plowing for the city in my neighborhood will lift the blade so there is no ridge in front of my driveway, or he will just outright plow the snow away from my drive for me. (I suppose it helps that he is family )

I take my DCK's outside a majority of the time and will shovel it myself. If I could get a second job shoveling, I would! I shoveling snow! It can be peaceful and relaxing.

In all my years in business, I have really only had one child who HATED going outside. The rest of my DCK's have ALL loved going outside no matter what age they are.

Reply

I clear the snow and spread salt before anyone comes but that is really all I can do. If it snows more I will sweep of short sidewalk from my driveway to the house. None of my parents complain either. What the heck do they expect?

Reply

Can you offer the first family that shows up in the morning a small tuition break per day if they shovel a space big enough to walk through? They don't have to shovel the whole driveway opening just a break in the wall of snow that's big enough for your DC families to walk through.

I was just thinking like $4 a day only on the days that it's needed. That turns out to be a discount of $20 a week but it's better than $20 a day on top of what you already pay the other guy for snow removal. And of course you tell the DCP that it will only be paid on the days that it's needed. You can leave a shovel outside on the days that you want it cleared as a signal that it's ok to shovel. Who knows ... some clients might be tempted to take you up on your offer and whoever gets there first and does it gets the discount. If they don't want to do it then obviously they don't really care about the snow being there.

Another option would be to offer the families to have the snow removal guy come back after the city plow came to remove the snow and evenly split the cost among your families.... or at least among the families that this is a problem for.

Can you maybe change the time that the guy shows up to do your house so that he starts a little later? I know your house probably isn't his only house that the guy shovels and he probably has other clients and a schedule to keep so this might not be an option but if he can start a little later and do your driveway first, then your sidewalk during the time that the city plow comes through then he can clear the wall out last. But then again your clients might show up at 7am and the city plow not till 8am and you can't have the guy sit around for an hour waiting.

You can also ask them whet THEY do to get their driveways and sidewalks cleared. I'm curious to know how many of your families shovel or pay someone to shovel their driveways and sidewalks every morning before coming to your DC. How many of them would rather just leave the snow most mornings and simply walk in the snow to get to their cars?

I think your snow problem is just like any other DC problem. Clients may complain about something as long as it doesn't effect them but if the solution somehow involves them somehow by either having to do it themselves or having to pay a little extra out of pocket for it then you might be surprised to find that suddenly it's not such a big problem anymore.

**PS: Just thinking about your liability issues here. I could be wrong but if a client falls walking through the snow wall and you can show that you already pay for snow removal of your driveway and sidewalks and that the client fell walking through the snow wall created by the city and fell on city property I doubt your clients could win. I mean it's not like you're being negligent and if the only snow that's left for them to fall on is that wall blocking the driveway and sidewalks isn't that in the street? I mean even if the client fell on the sidewalk that's not your property ... it's city property so I'm assuming it's the city's problem. Just thinking out loud here.

Reply

I actually have a clause in my contract that states that there may be times when the snow, ice or weather may be dangerous or pose a risk to parents/children at drop off and or pick up. I let them know that I do the best I can under the circumstances and that they MUST assume some responsibility in the situation.

Living where we live (or anyone) means that there are certain precautions that must be taken. For example, I will NOT file a claim for a parent who slips on the salted, shoveled side walk if they are wearing 6 inch heels and not snowboots or appropriate footwear for the weather....kwim?

I also state that if it is snowing at the time, THEY must simply deal with it. I don't actually say those words but you know what I mean....

Reply

I have to say I'm a bit nervous about this too. My husband clears the sidewalks before he leaves for work at 4:30am, but he doesn't get home til after 6pm. So in between that time, if it snows more or if the city comes by and plows, I'm SOL. I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant and shoveling is on my not to do list from my doctor. I'm going to have to rely on my 7 year old son to shovel after school before parents get here if its an issue.

Reply

My DH clears what he can before work and I can't do anything during the day either. I had a problem family tell me once after an ice storm (which DH had cleared and spread salt on), "I hope you can clear this ice duing the day today. I had to walk in the snow to avoid it." They were termed a week later for that among other things.

Reply

It used to not be an issue, but now my son is away at college most of the time.

Here's how it works: I paid 350.00 for the snow plow guy to come and plow once by 7 am when it snows more than 2 inches. This is for the entire winter.

The problem is that I have drop offs starting at 7 and ending at 8:45. If the city plow comes between the time my plow guy comes and the last drop off, someone is stuck climbing over the snow mound that the city plow leaves at the end of my driveway. The kids old enough to shovel are already at school by 8 or so.

I like the idea of adding it to my contract that I am not liable. I already have a section in there about the snow situation and recommending they were practical shoes. Ugh...it is always the guys that complain also or the women in high heels!!

Reply

You'd think they would have enough common sense to put on a pair of boots in the snow, wouldn't you?

Reply

I feel that sometimes there is only so much a person can do. Could a car drive though the mound that the city plow pushes in? If so, let them drive in like you offered. I live out in the country with a long driveway. Last winter my husband was working out of state and I worried so much about the guy we hired to plow coming before the first drop offs. As a back up plan I thought that I might meet parents at the end of the driveway and pull the kids up in a sled or drive my 4 wheel drive down the driveway and shuttle them up. When I talked to my parents about it they told me not to worry about it. They would walk there own child up if needed. My mom told me that when my sisters were little that she often walked them up the driveway of the daycare they attended when it was snowing heavily. It snowed badly once while my husband was gone and nobody went to work that day. I think that the plow did make it before the first scheduled drop off, but he plowed my cars and front steps in 3 feet of snow. I did shovel it all out that day, but one of the DC dads told me that if it snowed again while my husband was gone to call him and he would take care of the shoveling. His wife had done DC at one point and he knew how hard it was for her to take care of things like that when he was out of town.

Reply

you are paying too much. for that price he should come back and reclean it and add salt, thats what you need to contract for. My dh drives his atv and does this (his bff acually plows for a living and he does this too, goes back and adds salt) also, I would pay maybe by the job because what happens if it only snows once during the whole year then you are out of luck. Look on craigslist, there are people out there, call around. Find someone who will come back and salt. Oh I have parents who come in high heels too.

Reply

I don't have a driveway or anyone to help with the snow, and we're supposed to get about 2-3 inches today during the day.

Anyways, I do what I can early in the AM, the rest of the day, the parents have to understand the circumstances.

Like a pp said, do they go out and shovel in the AM's when they leave or before they get their kids out of the car when they get home?

Personally, depending on what percentage of the families complain, you could just split it up evenly each week and add it to their total. I have a loading zone that I have them pay for and split up the cost for the license renewal. It's for their convenience.

It could get expensive if it snows too often and you try to eat the full cost. Again, would depend on your total situation (how many families you have, financial, how many are complaining).

Can you do what you can beforehand and then have him come a little later?

Reply

I do what I can in the morning before arrival. We are on the city bus route, so usually the plow has gone by before 7am. If it snows a lot during the day and we don't get outside, then they just have to deal. If they can pull in to the drive over it, great, if not, then it's up to them to have appropriate shoes to step in the snow bank. I will have my ds do it after school if need be, but he also has his job and homework, so he may not be able to. It snowed here last night and I didn't realize it. I never looked out the window or left the house, so when I got up this morning I was like . I did a quick shovel and got one side done. When the kids went out to play later in the morning, I did the other side.

Reply