What Is a Zero-Tolerance Snow Removal Contract?

Quick answer

• What it means: crews respond to any snow or ice on the covered areas, with no trigger depth.
• What it covers: only the surfaces the contract names, such as entrances, walks, ramps or the whole lot, each with a response time.
• What it costs: more than a trigger contract for the same site, because crews come out more often and check the site between storms.
• What it can’t be: a promise that nobody will ever find ice, since ice can form between visits. The contract should say what is done and how fast.
• What to do first: define it in writing, price every visit it brings, and keep a record of each one.

Zero tolerance vs a trigger contract

The trigger depth guide covers how a trigger is set and measured.

What it means for the work

• Every snowfall is a visit. A light snow that would never reach a 5 cm trigger still needs plowing or shovelling, and usually de-icing after it.
• Ice is its own event. Freezing rain, and meltwater that refreezes after a thaw, need salt with no snow to plow. Each de-icing visit is its own event.
• Someone has to look. You can only treat ice you know about, so plan site checks at set times, such as before a store opens or a shift starts, and agree how the client tells you about a problem.
• Walks and entrances first. Name entrances, walks and ramps first, and give them the shortest response time.
• Capacity. In a light snow, every zero-tolerance site needs a crew at once, so promise response times you can keep across all of them.

How to price it

There is no standard markup for zero tolerance we can point you to. Price the visits it brings: every light snowfall, every icing night and every site check. Your own records from past winters are the best count.

• Per-event: a rate card with one price per kind of visit, such as a plowing visit, a de-icing application, a walk clearing and, if you charge for them, a site check. The snow and the de-icing after it are two events, each billed on its own, never one storm total.
• Seasonal: one price for the season, paid in instalments, that has to cover every visit zero tolerance brings. You carry the risk of a busy winter, so think about a cap with a per-visit rate above it.
• Salt: zero tolerance means more de-icing, so plan for more salt than a trigger contract on the same site uses. Whether the salt is included in the price or listed separately is your choice; say which in the contract.

What to write in the contract

1. Define it. Say in plain words what zero tolerance means for this site, for example: “Contractor will respond to any accumulation of snow or ice on the areas listed below.”
2. List the surfaces. Name each area it applies to, and any area that is on a trigger depth instead.
3. Set response times. A time to be on site and a time to finish, for each surface, counted from when snow starts or ice is found.
4. Say how ice is found. Site checks at set times, a number the client calls, or both, and whether a site check is billed.
5. Say what “clear” means. Bare pavement, or plowed and treated; walks can be held to a stricter standard than the lot.
6. Name what is outside your control. Cars parked on the area, water from roof drains, and storms faster than any crew can keep up with.

Wording you can adapt

“Zero tolerance applies to [entrances, walks and ramps]. Contractor will respond to any snow accumulation or ice on those areas within [response time] of [snowfall starting / ice being found on a site check or reported by the client]. Site checks are made at [times] and are [billed at [rate] / included]. De-icing is a separate visit at [rate per application], with salt [included in the price / listed separately]. The parking lot is plowed at [5 cm / 2 in] of new snow.”

Zero-tolerance wording promises a lot, and what it means for your liability depends on local law and the rest of the contract. Check that your insurance covers what you promise, read the contract clauses guide for the rest of the contract, and have a local lawyer review the final wording.

Keep a record of every visit

On a zero-tolerance site, every slip can come with the question “were you there?”. Keep the time, the place, the photos and the material for every visit, in your own records; the site report you send the client shows the visit and the photos. Records don’t decide a claim, but they let you show what was done and when. See how to prove your crew plowed or salted and slip-and-fall documentation.

Setting up zero tolerance in Icey Software

We make Icey Software. In Settings → How you work → Triggers & season, you can set your snow trigger to “Any snow”, so your quotes and contracts promise snow clearing at any snow, and set your de-icing temperature trigger and response time beside it. If your own contract wording says zero tolerance while your storm alerts wait for a depth, that screen points it out, so you can make the two match.

Each site’s per-event rate card prices plowing and de-icing as separate visits, with the salt included in the price or listed separately, and every completed visit makes a site report. Weather Center has a “Notify me” alert you can switch on for when the forecast crosses your snowfall trigger. Free forever up to 10 sites and 5 crew. Every feature.