Per-event billing is the structure customers ask for once they have been annoyed by per-push invoices — one price per storm, however many times you showed up. It is genuinely a good middle ground. It also has exactly one point of failure, and it is a sentence: the definition of "event." Get that sentence wrong and a single three-day storm turns into a billing argument worth thousands across your book.
This is the deep version: how per-event actually pays out, how to define an event so a multi-wave storm does not become a fight, why depth tiers matter, how ice-only events fit, and the invoicing hygiene that gets a per-event bill paid without a phone call. For where per-event sits against the other structures, start with our per-push vs seasonal vs per-event breakdown.
What "per event" actually means
Per-event bills one price per storm regardless of how many visits the storm requires. A snowfall that needs a first push, a mid-storm maintenance pass, and a cleanup the next morning is three visits and one invoice. Customers like it because a two-day storm does not generate four separate charges, and because the number is predictable per storm in a way per-push is not.
You like it because it decouples your revenue from visit count. A season of frequent small storms still pays per storm, and a nasty multi-wave event that costs you three visits still bills as the event it was — priced correctly, roughly 1.5–2× your per-push rate for the same property, reflecting that most events take more than one visit. The whole thing works as long as everyone agrees what one event is.
Defining the event — the one sentence that matters
Write the definition into the contract, explicitly, in terms anyone can check against a weather record:
An event begins when accumulation reaches the trigger depth and ends when snowfall has stopped for a defined continuous window — commonly 6 to 12 hours. Snow that resumes after that window is a new, separately billable event.
Multi-wave storms: where per-event breaks without that sentence
Consider a real pattern: it snows Monday afternoon, tapers overnight, then a second band drops more Tuesday midday. Is that one event or two? Without a definition it is whatever the customer wants it to be when the invoice arrives — one event — and whatever you want it to be when you remember the two separate dispatches — two. That is a dispute you created by not writing the sentence.
With an 8-hour end-of-storm window, the answer is mechanical: if snowfall stopped for more than 8 continuous hours between the bands, it is two events and two invoices; if the lull was shorter, it is one event that happened to take visits on two days. Nobody argues, because the weather record settles it. The window length is yours to set — shorter windows mean more separate events (better for you in stormy stretches), longer windows mean fewer (easier to sell) — but it must be a specific number, not "a reasonable time."
A 4-inch event and a 14-inch event are not one price
Flat per-event pricing quietly punishes you on the big storms. A 4 cm event and a 35 cm event both take at least one visit, but the second one takes several, uses far more salt, and ties up equipment for hours. Charge them the same and the little events subsidize nothing while the monsters lose money.
The fix is depth tiers: one event price for each accumulation band. Here is the shape, anchored to a per-push rate so the tiers stay consistent with per-visit work:
| Accumulation band | Typical visits | Event price vs per-push |
|---|---|---|
| Trace – 5 cm (2") | 1 push | ~1.0 – 1.3× |
| 5 – 15 cm (2–6") | 1–2 pushes | ~1.5 – 2× |
| 15 – 30 cm (6–12") | 2–3 pushes + cleanup | ~2.5 – 3.5× |
| 30 cm+ (12"+) | Multiple passes + haul risk | Priced per storm / hourly |
The multipliers are illustrative, not a rate sheet — set your own against your per-push price and market. The principle is what matters: tie the event price to accumulation so a historic storm is not billed like a dusting. For the biggest band, many contractors switch to per-storm-negotiated or hourly, because a 40 cm event with nowhere to stack snow is genuinely unpredictable.
Ice-only and freezing-rain events
Not every billable event involves plowing. A freezing-rain or ice event may need salt and de-icing with no snow to push — and it carries real liability, since ice is the classic slip hazard. If your contract only defines "events" in terms of snow accumulation, an ice event falls into a gap: you incur cost and liability with no clean way to bill.
Define ice events separately in the contract: a de-icing/anti-icing event triggered by ice or freezing rain, billed at a stated rate. This keeps you covered for the work and, just as importantly, documents that you serviced the property during exactly the conditions most likely to produce a fall — which is the record your liability defense wants anyway.
Invoicing hygiene: bill fast, attach the record
A per-event invoice has a short memory window. Send it within 24–48 hours, while the customer still vividly remembers the storm and the plow trucks. An invoice that lands three weeks later, after the snow has melted and the sun is out, invites "did it even snow that much?" — and every day you wait is a day the service feels less real to the person approving payment.
Attach the service record to the invoice: the event dates, the visits with time in and out, depth, and materials applied. A per-event bill that shows the visits and the depth defends itself and rarely gets questioned, because there is nothing to argue with. This is also why slow, paper-based invoicing leaks money on per-event work — the same visit record that proves the event is the thing that should generate the invoice, ideally the moment the crew closes out the storm. The service record is the invoice line.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as one snow event?
Whatever your contract says — which is exactly why you define it. The standard definition: an event begins at the trigger depth and ends when snowfall has stopped for a defined continuous window (commonly 6–12 hours). Snow resuming after that window is a new billable event. Without that sentence, every multi-wave storm is a dispute.
How do I bill a multi-day storm with a lull in the middle?
Apply your end-of-storm window. If snowfall stopped for longer than your defined window (say 8 hours) between bands, it is two separate events; if the lull was shorter, it is one event that took visits across two days. The weather record decides it, so nobody has to negotiate after the fact.
Should per-event pricing have depth tiers?
Yes. A flat per-event price makes small storms subsidize nothing and big storms lose money. Tier the price by accumulation band so a foot-plus event bills for the multiple visits and salt it actually consumed, and consider per-storm or hourly pricing for the largest, least predictable events.
How fast should I send a per-event invoice?
Within 24–48 hours, while the storm is fresh in the customer's memory. Attach the service record — event dates, visits with time in and out, depth, and materials. A prompt invoice backed by the visit record rarely gets questioned; a late one invites doubt about whether the work was needed.
How is per-event different from per-push?
Per-push bills every individual visit; per-event bills once per storm no matter how many visits it takes. Per-event is typically priced at 1.5–2× the per-push rate to reflect multi-visit storms, and it shifts the counting argument from "how many pushes" to "what is one event" — which is why the event definition is everything.
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