A season cap, or per-season cap, is a limit written into a seasonal snow removal contract: the season price covers up to a set number of visits or events, and each one past that is billed at an agreed price. It shares the risk of a record winter: the client still pays one fixed price for a normal winter, and you are paid for the extra work a much bigger one brings.
There is no standard cap that every contract uses, so the number, what counts toward it and the price past it are whatever your contract says. This is general information, not legal advice.
Quick answer
- What it is: a limit on how many visits or events the season price covers, with an agreed price for each one past it.
- Why use one: with no cap, you carry a record winter on your own. A cap shares that risk.
- What it can count: plowing visits, storm events, de-icing visits or total snowfall, as long as the contract says which.
- What happens past it: each extra visit or event is billed at the price in the contract, when the contract says.
- What to do first: count the visits a normal winter brings at the site, set the cap from that count, and write down what counts.
Seasonal with a cap, without one, and per-event
The per-push vs seasonal vs per-event guide covers the three kinds of contract side by side.
| Seasonal, no cap | Seasonal with a cap | Per-event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A light winter | The client pays the season price | The client pays the season price | The client pays for the few events there were |
| A normal winter | The season price | The season price | Each event at its rate |
| A record winter | Still the season price; you carry the extra work | The season price, plus each visit or event past the cap | Each event at its rate |
| Who carries a heavy winter | You | Shared: you up to the cap, the client past it | The client |
| What you must count for billing | Nothing | Every visit or event that counts toward the cap | Every event |
What a cap can count
- Plowing visits. Each time a crew plows the site, counted from your visit records.
- Storm events. One storm as the contract defines it, however many visits it takes. Write down when an event starts and ends, as you would for per-event billing.
- De-icing visits. Ice can need salt on nights with no snow, so de-icing runs at a different rhythm from plowing. Each de-icing visit is its own event, so you can give de-icing its own cap, or leave it out of the season price and bill each visit.
- Snow and de-icing together. One cap on every visit is simple to explain, but an icy winter with little snow uses it up differently from a snowy one.
- Total snowfall. A cap on the snow that falls over the season, such as [X cm / in], instead of on visits. Name whose measurement counts, such as a named weather station.
How to set the number
- Count the past. Use your own records for the site, or for similar sites nearby, from as many winters as you have.
- Start from a normal winter. Set the cap at or a little above what a normal winter needs, so the client rarely pays more and a heavy winter doesn’t leave you working for free.
- Price the season to match. The season price should cover the capped number of visits, any de-icing it includes, and your costs between storms.
- Set the price past the cap. Use your per-visit or per-event rate for that service from your rate card, with the salt included in the price or listed separately, as you choose.
For example: your records for a site show 18, 24 and 31 plowing visits in the last three winters. A cap of 25 plowing visits covers two of those three winters. In a winter like the third, the 6 visits past the cap are billed at the per-visit price in the contract.
What to write in the contract
- The number and the unit. For example, “up to [N] plowing visits” or “up to [N] snow events”, never just “a cap”.
- What counts. Which services and surfaces count toward the cap: plowing only, de-icing only, or both; the lot, the walks, or both.
- What a visit or an event is. A second pass in the same storm, a walks-only visit, a site check: say which of them count.
- The price past the cap. One price per visit or per event for each service, and whether the salt is included in it or listed separately.
- When the extra visits are billed. As they happen, with the next monthly instalment, or once after the season ends.
- Unused visits. Whether visits the client didn’t use in a light winter carry over, are credited, or neither. Say it either way.
- How you count. Your visit records, with dates and times, are the count, and the client can ask to see them.
Wording you can adapt
“The season price of [amount] covers up to [N] [plowing visits / snow events] between [start date] and [end date]. Each [visit / event] after the [N]th is billed at [rate], with salt [included in the price / listed separately], [on the next monthly invoice / after the season ends]. De-icing visits [count toward the cap / are not counted and are billed at [rate per application]]. Unused visits [do not carry over / are credited at [rate]].”
The snow removal estimate template has a line for an optional cap too. A cap changes what the client pays in a heavy winter, so read it with the rest of the contract: the contract clauses guide covers the other terms, and a local lawyer should review the final wording.
Keep count as the season goes
A cap only works if both sides trust the count. Keep the date, time and photos of every visit in your own records, tell the client when the site is getting close to the cap, and have each visit’s site report ready in case they ask.
Setting a season cap in Icey Software
We make Icey Software. On a Fixed monthly quote priced with your own lines, switch on “Cap the visits this fee includes”, type the visits included and the price per extra visit, and choose the visits that count: snow clearing visits, de-icing visits, or both together. The quote the client signs says the cap in plain words, and the cap is saved onto the contract when it is signed.
After the season ends, Icey counts the completed visits and drafts one invoice for the visits past the cap, at that price. Nothing goes to the client until you send it. Every completed visit also makes a site report, so each visit in the count has its own record. Free forever up to 10 sites and 5 crew. Every feature.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cap in a seasonal snow contract?
A limit on how many visits or events the season price covers. Each one past the cap is billed at a price the contract sets, so a record winter is paid for and a normal winter stays at the fixed price.
How many visits should a seasonal snow contract include?
There is no standard number. Count the visits a normal winter brings at that site from your own records, or from similar sites nearby, and set the cap at or a little above that count.
Is a capped seasonal contract the same as a per-event contract?
No. A per-event contract bills every event at its rate, so the client pays more in a heavy winter and less in a light one. A capped seasonal contract charges one season price up to the cap, and bills only the visits or events past it.
Should de-icing count toward the season cap?
That is your choice. De-icing runs at a different rhythm from plowing, because ice can need salt on nights with no snow, so you can give it its own cap, count it with plowing, or bill each de-icing visit on its own. Each de-icing visit is its own event, with the salt included in the price or listed separately.
What happens to unused visits in a light winter?
Whatever the contract says: they can carry over, be credited, or neither. With no credit, the client pays the season price in a light winter, the same as on a seasonal contract with no cap; that is the other side of a fixed price. Write it down either way.
When do I bill the visits past the cap?
When the contract says: as they happen, with the next monthly instalment, or once after the season ends. In Icey, the visits past a quote’s cap go on one draft invoice after the season ends, and nothing goes to the client until you send it.
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