A two-person crew on one lot: why the minutes count twice
The minutes box is clock time on the lot with the whole crew there. One person plows and salts while the other blows and shovels the walks and three entry doors, so 47 minutes on the clock is 94 minutes of paid work.
The drive counts twice too. Both people ride in the truck, so 10 minutes between lots is 20 minutes of pay at $84 an hour. One operator doing the plowing and the walks alone in 80 minutes prices the same lot at $315.60, lower because only one person drives, but the doors open later and the next lot waits.
The 47 minutes also includes the time before the blade drops and after it lifts: loading salt, warming the truck, checking the hydraulics, and the photos and site log that prove the lot was done if someone slips.
Salt at 50% markup on every push
In the example, salt and ice melt cost $56 a push and bill at $84 after the 50% markup. That is about 28% of the cost of every push, and it changes more from storm to storm than anything else on the quote.
A heavy icing that needs $80 of salt instead of $56 takes the push to $399.12. If you quote salt inside a flat push price, those storms come out of your profit. The calculator keeps salt as its own line so you can see it move.
The truck has its own line as well. A plow truck that only earns money a few months a year still has a full year of payments and repairs, which is why its running cost per push is $44 in the example, not the few dollars of fuel it burns.
From one push to a 5-month contract
The monthly price assumes about 3 pushes a month at 1.5 to 6 inches, the example lot's average. At $355.92 a push that is $1,067.76 a month and $5,338.80 over November to March.
Your winter is not the example's. Count the pushes you actually made over the last few seasons and multiply the push price by that, not by a hopeful guess. A season price that assumes too few storms loses money in a heavy year. One that assumes too many loses the bid.
What the quick push price can't see
Deep storms need more passes, bigger piles and more time. The spreadsheet charges pushes over 6 inches and over 12 inches at a higher price, and adds a one-time charge for staking the lot before the first snow.
The $84 break-even rate is the example's, and snow rates run higher than summer rates because the truck and insurance cost the same over far fewer billable hours. See how the example builds that figure on the snow removal hourly rate page, or get yours with the true hourly rate calculator.
The spreadsheet also adds a 10% cushion for refreeze runs and surprises, which is why its version of this lot is $380.12 a push. The snow plowing pricing guide walks through that quote.