How to Convert Your Landscaping Equipment into Snow & Ice Removal Equipment for Winter

Having the right equipment and tools is key to managing snow and ice removal services. With so much uncertainty in what type of snowfall to expect throughout the winter, you’ll want to make sure you have the right mix of equipment to handle both light and heavy snowfall, and freezing rain or black ice conditions, with the flexibility to handle roads, driveways, parking lots and sidewalks.

To help you get ready for a profitable winter season, Finning and The Cat© Rental Store have prepared a quick guide on how you can convert your common landscaping equipment into a full-service snow and ice removal business:

One of the most available pieces of equipment every landscaping contractor owns is a medium-duty pickup truck. There are a few different ways you can modify your pickup truck to offer a range of snow and ice removal services. This includes mounting a snow plow package to the front frame of your pickup truck to push and remove snow, mounting a tailgate salt or sand spreader to the cargo bed to prevent snow from sticking to the pavement, with many offering a pre-wet and spraybar option for liquid de-icing.

In all instances, you’ll want to confirm with your truck’s owner’s manual, your suppliers, and your service technician that you meet the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating), front axle, and rear axle towing and payload capacity to safely upfit your truck for snow and ice removal.

Straight Blade PlowStraight Blade Plow

Ideal for clearing any paved surface, including roads, driveways, and parking lots.

On a pickup truck, this is the most common attachment for municipal road clearing, used in small side streets and alleyways to major highways. You can hydraulically angle your Straight Blade Plow to cast off snow to the side as you push, and also straighten the Plow when you’re ready to pack the snow into a pile.

V-Blade Plow

Ideal for clearing any paved surface, including roads, driveways, and parking lots.

Even more versatile than the Straight Blade Plow, the V-Blade Plow can be angled into 5 different blade configurations to move snow and pack snow in a variety of ways. In addition to a straight blade, left-angle blade, and right-angle blade, a V-Blade Plow can be positioned into a V-cut blade to break through deep snow banks and hard-pack snow, or a scoop blade configuration to carry or pack the snow into a corner.

Sand & Salt Spreader

Ideal for preventing snow from sticking to a paved surface and adding grit for more traction.

Once only available for commercial use, Sand and Salt Spreaders are now a very common add-on to the tailgate or cargo bed of a pickup truck. Most Spreaders can carry salt, sand, or a mixture of both, which adds to its versatility depending on the types of snow and ice removal jobs you want to go after.

The best time to salt the roads is immediately after they’ve been plowed or just before the snowfall begins. This prevents the snow from sticking to the paved surface, which makes it easier to plow after a snowfall. Sand is mainly used as an abrasive, gritty material to add more traction to slippery snow and ice surfaces. Sand is not recommended in some city roadways since it can clog sewers, and is more commonly used on highway mountain passes that receive extreme cold temperatures. It is recommended to mix a small percentage of salt when using sand, to prevent the sand from freezing and clumping together.

Pre-wet & Spraybar

Ideal for de-icing roadways before spreading salt or sand, to prevent snow from sticking and reduce the amount of salt or sand used.

A Pre-wet and Spraybar acts similarly to a Sand and Salt Spreader in that it prevents the snow from sticking to the road surface. While these used to be complex systems only available for commercial snow and ice removal companies, many Spreader suppliers now offer a Pre-wet and Spraybar option for a pickup truck’s cargo bed.

A Pre-wet system combines water and salt to form a brine solution. This improves the effectiveness of the salt, while using a significantly less amount of salt compared to only using a Spreader on its own. A Pre-wet solution will also make it easier for the salt or sand to stick and cling to the roadway better, which will make your de-icing more consistent while saving you money on material costs because you won’t need to spread as much salt or sand on the roads.

Snow Plows & Blades

Ideal for clearing any paved surface, including roads, driveways, sidewalks, and parking lots.

With its ability to perform a wide range of snow clearing jobs in tight spaces and long passes, a Snow Plow or Blade is one of the most versatile snow clearing attachments you can add to your landscaping fleet. You can hydraulically angle your Snow Plow or Blade to cast off snow to the side as you push, and also straighten the Plow or Blade when you’re ready to pack the snow into a pile.

Snow Pushes

Ideal for clearing parking lots, sidewalks, and large driveways.

What’s great about Snow Pushes is they are designed to roll and fold snow with their profiled mold board, which allows you to push and collect more snow in a less time. And because Snow Pushes are boxed on both ends of the plow, the snow is contained within the attachment, as opposed to rolling the snow off to the side.

We recommend you contact a Finning Rep, who can help you find the right size and capacity of Snow Push that would work best for your skid steer or compact loader, and the type of jobs you’re looking to do. Another thing to keep in mind is making sure you have the ability to transport and store your Snow Push, as they can range in size from 8-feet to 16-feet long, and weigh between 1,000 to over 3,000 lbs.

Lighting Packages

Consider adding different lighting package options that can flood light all around your machine. Not only does this provide you with more visibility when maneuvering around in darker conditions than what you may be used to during the summer, but it’ll also make it easier for you to be seen by other people walking or driving around you.

Lighting package options include LED headlights, flood or spot lights, light bars, strobe kits, warning beacons, and directional arrow sticks, with some including heating elements to prevent snow or ice buildup. You may also want to consider adding a siren to make sure people keep themselves at a safe distance away from your machine in low-visibility conditions.

Rent your winter attachments

If this is the first winter you’re considering using your landscaping equipment for snow and ice removal services, you may want to look into renting the specialized attachments you’ll need. This is a great way to learn how to use different attachments, and see what style, size, and capacity of attachments work best with your equipment for the amount of snow or ice you expect to get in your region.

Renting also makes it faster, easier, and more affordable for your snow and ice removal operations to get started, especially if you aren’t sure how much snow you’ll receive in your area. And if you suddenly find yourself in a position where your snow and ice removal services are in high demand, you can also consider renting another skid steer or compact wheel loader to quickly take advantage of more work opportunities.

Winterize your compact equipment

Before the temperature drops below 9°C (48°F), you’ll want to make sure your skid steers and wheel loaders are prepared to last throughout the cold winter months. At Finning, we have prepared some simple tips on how you can winterize your landscaping equipment, and you can always call your local Finning Service Branch if you want to bring your equipment in for our winterizing service.

After you decide what types of snow and ice removal jobs you want to go after based on the mix of vehicles, equipment, and attachments you have in your fleet, you’ll need to quickly promote yourself in order to capitalize on the approaching winter season. Many landscaping companies already have a network of clients they can reach out to, who should be interested in the snow and ice removal services offered.

Strata corporation and commercial business contracts

This includes reaching out to different strata corporations and commercial businesses to clear their sidewalks, parking lots, driveways, alleys, and roads. Many of these contracts could include routine salting and on-call snow clearing, which will keep you and your fleet busy throughout the winter months.

Residential per push contracts

Beyond your existing clients, you’ll also want to take advantage of any customers seeking per push contracts to clear snow as soon as it accumulates. A good way to keep yourself top of mind for these opportunistic jobs is to promote yourself in the local municipal papers, home owner association publications, or post business cards and flyers on local community bulletin boards, including coffee shops, hardware stores, and community centres. Being active on social media and posting about the work you’re completing is a big way to remain visible, and are easy to promote within a targeted geographic region throughout the winter.

Municipal road and highway contracts

Once you become more comfortable with snow and ice removal services and are considering updating your fleet to attract more lucrative contracts with the city, you will want to promote your business in any local road builders association publications and events throughout the year. Especially because many of these municipal road and highway maintenance contracts renew in the fall, you’ll want to let the main road building contractors know you are available for subcontracting services well before the snowfall hits.

And beyond that, you can look to join in any local snow and ice management associations. This is a strong way to show your commitment to snow and ice removal services, and can lead to long-term lucrative contracts within your city.

Looking for a more in-depth reference on how to start a Snow Removal Company? Look no further – we have a complete guidebook for you to get going.

Download our guidebook here.