Can me and my friend make a decent business shovelling ?

Question

With the holidays coming up, and people needing to go to family's houses for parties, and dinners. Me and my friend have thought of starting a small shoveling business for a few days to make some cash.

We're both 14, and 15 both we strong builds. He's tall if that gives a good impression. My question is, will people accept shovelling from us? And what a good way to charge? I was thinking charging a flat fee with $8 Canadian per hour. Please note in Canada we have heavy precipitation here (snow).

So is a flat fee + $8/hr good? Would we turned down by it? Or should we just charge per hour? Will people even accept us?

-I was also thinking about charging an extra dollar for salting, and an extra 2 dollars for scrapping ice off their cars.

What's a good flat fee?

Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

That's how my next door neighbor and I made money when we were that age in the 1960s. We even made up 'business' cards on a toy printing press he had and passed them out around the neighborhood. It worked, too, but what got us regular customers was working hard, fast, and doing an excellent job of cleaning up. We took doing a good job seriously because that's how we were raised.

I wouldn't charge by the hour, but by the job. We got 3 - 4 dollars per driveway back then. The driveways weren't huge, anywhere from 20 to 40 feet (at the most) from garage to street and most were double-wide. Adjusted for inflation, that 3 - 4 per job would be around 15 - 20 today. Snowplowing contractors charge more than that and don't come anywhere close to cleaning a driveway the right way. But charging by the hour can give some people the impression that you might drag out the work to make more money.

Answer 2

I'd say yes if there are a lot of elderly homeowners in your neighborhood. They are the least likely to want or be able to do their own shoveling. Also, homes where both parents work. Many don't have the time. When you get a job, do it well and then go knock of doors of adjacent neighbors, show what a good job you did and ask for the work. Good luck.

Answer 3

if the weather is right sure you could make some serious cash, people would rather someone else do their shoveling and scraping, i would charge somewhere between $10-$20 depending on the job