Snow removal estimates and invoices, per push or per season.

Per push, per season or per inch: say which.

Snow removal software has to start with the contract type, because it decides who wins in a big winter. Per push pays you for every storm. A flat seasonal price is predictable for the customer and a gamble for you: sell it too low and a heavy snow year eats you alive. Per-inch tiers and time-and-materials sit in between. Put the type on the estimate in plain words.

Then the trigger depth: at how many inches you come out, commonly an inch or two for residential and less for commercial lots with liability exposure. And the service window: how soon after the snow stops, and whether you push during a long storm. The customer's real question is whether you will show up at 4 a.m. or they will be shoveling themselves, and the service window is your answer.

In Jobkore every line has its own unit. A push is a visit, ice melt is per application or per bag, and hauling is by the load. Load the Outdoor & Grounds trade pack and your catalog starts with a driveway plowing line per visit. More on pricing snow removal.

Surfaces and ice melt, in writing.

"Snow removal" means different things to different customers. Say which surfaces are included: the drive only, the walks, the steps, the deck, the mailbox path. Each adds labor, and the one you left off is the one they call about.

Name the ice melt, because it matters to the customer's concrete and plants. Rock salt is cheap but stops working in deep cold and can damage concrete; calcium chloride works much colder; magnesium chloride is easier on pets and plants and costs more. Say whether ice melt is included in the push price or billed per application, and whether you pre-treat before a storm.

Stake the lawn edges, sprinkler heads and paver borders in the fall and put it on the estimate. It saves the spring argument about a torn-up lawn edge.

A dated record of every visit.

In snow removal, records are a legal defense. If someone slips on a walk you service, the question is whether you were there and what you did. An invoice for every push, dated, with the surfaces cleared and the ice melt applied, is a record that exists because you billed, not because you remembered to keep a log.

Add photos to the invoice when it matters: up to 20 on the document and 6 on a single line. A timestamped photo of the cleared, treated walk is worth more than your word.

Put a damage waiver on the estimate too. At some point a plow will clip a lawn edge, chip a paver or nudge a mailbox, and the estimate is where you say how that is handled. Commercial and HOA customers will ask for a certificate of insurance before the first snow.

Bill each storm, or bill the season by month.

Jobkore does not bill automatically on a schedule or when it snows, so here is how plow businesses use it. For per-push customers, send an invoice after each storm; the customer pays by card or bank transfer from the link. For a seasonal contract, put the season on one invoice with a payment schedule: a row per month, each with its own due date. The customer's Pay button offers the next month due first (they can also pay ahead), and payments fill the rows in order. A schedule holds up to six rows, so a season longer than six months goes on two invoices.

If a payment runs late, Jobkore sends reminders at 1, 7 and 14 days, then stops. Stripe charges its standard rate and Jobkore adds nothing on top.

On a flat seasonal price, protect yourself in the terms: a cap on pushes included, with a per-push rate above it, or a price adjustment for fuel and salt on a multi-year deal.

When the piles run out of room.

By February, a big lot can run out of places to put the snow, and the customer wants it hauled. That is a different job with a different price: loader time and truck loads. Write it as a change order on the invoice, or better, put a hauling rate on the original estimate so the change is just a number. The customer signs it online and the invoice total moves to include it.

Say on the estimate what happens if your truck breaks down mid-storm: a second truck, a subcontractor, or a delay. Customers accept a plan; they do not accept silence.

Invoices and payments sync one way to QuickBooks Online, so a busy storm week does not turn into a busy bookkeeping week.

Hank knows the snow removal traps.

Jobkore includes Hank AI™, an assistant that knows the trade you picked at signup. Tell him the job by typing or with a voice memo: seasonal contract for a two-car driveway and front walk, 2-inch trigger, cleared by 7 a.m., calcium chloride on the walk, cap of 15 pushes. He drafts the estimate with the contract terms, surfaces, ice melt and per-push overage, priced from your catalog first.

Turn on a review before sending and he checks it against a snow removal list: no trigger depth, a flat season with no cap, no damage waiver, walks and steps not addressed, no plan for piles. He can add the missing line and never changes your prices in a review.

Jobkore does not do route planning, dispatch, GPS or weather-triggered billing. It does estimates, change orders, invoices and payments, on your phone, in English or Spanish. Related trades: lawn care, landscaping and paving. See the pricing page.