Randomly, I have had a couple calls for this today. I didn’t know what to say but some regular clients are in bad shape and begging me to find a way to get over and shovel their roofs off to stop the ice damming and solve their problem.
Does anyone offer this service? If so, what do you charge?
I offer it. Here in NEPA it’s not every year that the snow piles up of roofs to a scary extent but this year it’s starting to shape up that way. Anyway, I’m trying to get the word out more this winter. 2 years ago I did one job for $60 or $75/hr. , I forget. But this year it’s going to be a minimum of $100 and $100/man hr.
It’s obviously risky business when you don’t have a plan and still a caution when you do have one.
Sweet. Thanks for the info Dan. I was thinking a min of $100 and go up from there depending on amount of snow and how big the roof is etc.
Hope it works out for you Matt. Keep in mind that unless you are getting to these roofs quickly, you’ll probably be dealing with a thin layer of ice on the shingles, epecially near the bottom of the span. If you need to actually get up on the roof at all you’ll want to keep this in mind.
Thanks again. One of my guys has to do this at his house every storm so he was filling me in when I gave him a call. I am checking on some domain names right now to get a website up and running before we get clobbered with snow on Wednesday. One job would pay for the hosting and domain for a year. Why not?
I purchased a Garelick rake years ago. My minimum was $100.
Awesome idea. I might do that myself. Would only cost me $10.
You have any ideas for a domain name?
Hosting and domain would only be $10 for the year? Through who?
Actually, for me it would be a matter of adding a parked or added domain(I forget which until I look at it) to my existing account. It’s with Bluehost.com. They charge $6.95/mo. It’s $10 a year to own the extra domains.
Nice. I use hostmysite for my domains. I have bought quite a few in the last couple weeks
For ice dams you need to use an industrial steam machine. PM me for rates because you are all way below what I charge. Any other questions you can pm me too.
I started looking into more efficient roof clearing and came across what I think are even better than the conventional roof rakes.
http://www.minnsnowta.com/index.html
Phillips Snow Cutter, better than a roof rake and other methods!
So Shawn, if I can do the job much quicker I agree that $100/hr is not sufficient. I will P.M. you about the ice jam part, because I would normally leave it, figuring that the the sun would evaporate what little snow ice may be left above the edges.
The best way to clean snow off a roof, is to climb up there with a shovel.
I cracked the coil on my steam pressure washer last winter, didn’t put antifreeze back in the line after an ice job:( So watch that stuff carefully!
Guys lost my Minnsnowta, it worked really well up until then. We’ve destroyed every store bought rake ever bought, they just aren’t built for the commercial use.
Agree with Dormatex, shoveling the snow (especially when it’s still snow is the best bet), but we were hitting numbers of $800-$900 per job on some last year that people let build up into ice 16" thick (and we were only charging $40 per man hour on the roof!), so now we have set up maintenance clients just like snow plowing, we go out after ever 4" storm and shovel the roof while it’s still snow, much faster and easier on the customers wallet.
We only use plastic shovels, and then the ice axes, be careful with downward strikes to avoid putting holes in the roof or cutting shingles, and might want to check your insurance, we had a large piece break free unexpectedly and it bounced back into the wall and knocked a hole in it, luckily the house was already leaking and the home owner was understanding that it would have fallen that direction naturally so they put it on their insurance instead of mine.
And decide what you are going to do with the snow once it hits the ground before hand, it is very packed when it hits the ground, and becomes solid fast, so don’t leave it to come back the next day to shovel!
Why not two shovels?
Well, I’m driving almost 3 hours into upstate NY tomorrow to get the Roof Razor- so I’ll have it in time for midweek. We’re expecting a decent sized storm and already have 6 or more inches on most roofs around here. I’ll be ready just in case we actually get this storm. All the other “big” ones have somehow missed us so far.
This tool should greatly minimize working from a ladder and eliminate the need to get up on the roof to shovel down. Several years back I foolishly got myself into a situation where I was on a thin layer of ice with no snow nearby. I fell off from 2 stories and thankfully right into a 4 foot pile I had thrown down to the ground. Stuck it and walked back up to finish unbeknownst to the owner. Not smart.
Those are some neat tools ie. the snow cutter and the roof razor. I have been doing a lot of roof raking and shoveling lately and was trying to buy a new rake here in Ct with no luck. As a matter of fact one local store that normally sell like 5 a season had sold over 5000 so far and they are still selling before they even arrive at store.
Looks like i will be ordering one or both of these today. Thanks for the info guys.
Here is a link to the roof razor site/vids. www.minnsnowta.com/instructions.html
Hi Steve.
I see CT has gotten buried big-time thus far- way more than us in NEPA.
Here’s an update from me:
I got the RoofRazr last week and put it together. Pretty simple; keep in mind that the bungee hook for the tarp connects to the third pole section(if you’re getting the 10’ tarp) facing down if you are holding it as if to use. You’ll see.
It performs as shown- very effective on deep top layers of snow. Unfortunately, it won’t cut very easily through crust separating layers of powder. I found I needed to get the good ol’ roof rake out to work on crust I had on my roof. And beginning roof height/pitch can be an issue to where you may still need to get on a ladder for better access. Obviously the safety factor comes more into play. Those videos show fairly ideal scenarios of course. And when you are at a building with existing deep ice dams at the eaves the razor can greatly help prevent further threat of water backing up into the interior but can’t eliminate it.
So I feel that the $160 I invested (this is for the 24" wide head,4 pole sections and 10’ chute) was good, especially for future deep snowfalls when I can get to it fairly quickly. I looked into other ways of dealing with enormous amounts of existing ice at the eaves besides hammers or hot water. Many have had great success with setting tablets of calcium chloride in a nylon sock or panty hose in order to allow enough melting for trapped water to have a way off the roof. I’ll be trying that today or tomorrow.
That crusty snow is plentiful here, so i am leaning towards the snow cutter. I also like that you can buy just the head and use poles i all ready have.
Steve, if you get the cutter, please let me know how it does for you.
