The Level Green Landscaping Blog

Expert Industry Advice and Property Enhancement Suggestions.

Almost everything you need to know about seasonal snow removal contracts can be summed up in one sentence: A seasonal contract for snow removal makes your life easier, eases your budget worries, and ensures your commercial property gets safe and dependable snow and ice management.

You could throw darts at a board, consult a psychic, or hire the first company that offers you a free cheese pizza — all pretty fun — but none of that will nab you a great snow and ice management company.

If you haven’t already lined up your commercial snow removal, the best time of year to hire a snow removal company is now.

Winter is always a wild card here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Sometimes it crashes in with multiple storms and treacherous ice slicks

Other times, you wonder why you bothered spending so much time searching for your boots. (Next time, maybe don’t store them in the garage behind the beach umbrella.)

It makes it tricky to prepare your property for commercial snow and ice management, right?

You’re probably being wisely proactive a lot without even realizing it. 

Like when you put your name on your chicken pesto panini in the break room fridge so nobody else eats it. (Hopefully. Every office has that one guy.) 

You don’t want to open the fridge, stomach growling, and find it gone. Unpleasant surprise. 

It pays to be proactive with your commercial landscaping services, too. Otherwise, you’re in for unpleasant surprises. Like when your commercial property’s lawn dies, and you have to dip into your already stretched budget to pay to replace it.

Here’s a good tip: don’t wait so long to hire snow removal that a family of penguins has moved into your parking lot.

Penguins are so cute, aren’t they?

But still. Don’t wait.

So what should you look for when you need snow removal service in northern Virginia?

Imagine it’s spring, and you’re happily strolling through your front yard to check out the cheerful daffodils and get a peek at the fresh green grass after a long snowy winter. Life is good, right?

Wait, what the heck?

There are big gouges in your nice lawn, and it looks like your prized hydrangea shrub by the driveway is dead! Ugh!

$@#%% snow plows!

The only thing worse than ugly damage from your HOA snow removal company is battling them over who should pay to replace it.

Make sure your snow management company cares.

“We realize what a big part landscaping plays in how you feel about where you live,” says David Keffer, a branch manager at Level Green Landscaping. “The HOA garden committee spends so much time on how things look. We don’t want to tear it up.”

Most snow removal damage can be prevented with a few key preventive steps, Keffer says.

Here’s a look:

Understanding all the snow and ice melting products out there can get kind of slippery.

Rock salt. Brine. And what the heck is “engineered ice melt?”

How much do property managers know about the products used on their sites to melt snow and ice?

We asked them. Area property managers took our quick survey about brine, rock salt, and engineered ice melt. Which is most expensive? Most effective? Safest for the environment?

Here are the survey results, along with some facts about these important materials that keep your property safe.

If you’re a property manager in the mid-Atlantic, you’re probably used to a pretty basic snow and ice management situation.

If it hardly snows at all, you say “yippee” and maybe celebrate by getting dessert at lunch.

If it snows a lot, you pay a lot. Lunch dessert? A handful of Tums.

If you haven’t signed your snow and ice management contract yet, Kevin Doleman gets it.

“When it’s 90 degrees outside, people aren’t thinking about snow,” says Doleman, snow manager at Level Green Landscaping.

Sure, head to the beach, grill some burgers, live in your flip flops. But take a few minutes to get your commercial property signed up for snow and ice management. When the snow starts drifting, you’ll be glad you did.