Funding for a Snow Removal Business in Canada
The Canadian climate is the perfect place to start a snow removal business!
Considering that it is a seasonal business, it is a high-demand industry with one of the quickest returns on investment, which is quite appealing to first-time business owners.
What makes it more unique is that most of the costs involved in starting a snow removal business can be covered via government funding!
This ensures a low investment on your end with a chance of huge success!
Before we get into the funding options and how you can benefit from this, let’s review the different types of snow removal businesses you can consider.
Types of Snow Removal Businesses to Start
Starting a snow removal business can be a simple task, however, depending on what you want to do, it may get a bit more complex and costly. So let’s review some of the options:
Residential Snow Removal Business
Grab yourself a shovel or your existing snow blower and you’re off to the races – making money right away after the first snowfall. A great side gig!
However, if you want to turn this into a real business, you can offer a variety of services, such as driveway clearing, sidewalk and pathway snow removal, ice melting, salting..etc
These services can be offered to homeowners as well as landlords of various residential properties and it’s quite easy to get into, as some Canadian cities see a ton of snow each snowfall.
All you need to make it work is a shovel, snow blower, and some salt!
Commercial Snow Removal Business
If you want to get into more serious contracts, you can consider servicing retail stores, malls, office buildings, industrial facilities, property management companies and offer services like clearing large parking lots, and sidewalks for businesses and even offering ice management services.
For this, you need some promotion, connections perhaps, but also equipment, like a heavy-duty plow, loaders, salt spreaders, skid seekers, de-icing equipment, and perhaps even some more staff.
You can also go above and beyond the above options and focus on even bigger opportunities, such as municipal snow removal, where we are talking about city streets, highways, public walkways, hauling snow service, and more.
In most cases, starting with residential snow removal is always the easiest step forward in order to gain the needed experience, build up clientele, and generate solid revenue.
A typical snow removal company can generate between $30,000 to well over $100,000 during the season!
Costs of Starting a Snow Removal Business
Starting a snow removal business can be costly in some cases, but it is also one of the businesses that has one of the lowest startup costs, with the highest return on investment.
Truly, to start profiting, you can do it with just a shovel and some time.
However, to successfully start, build clientele and have a real business, some of the costs you may want to consider include:
Equipment costs:
- Shovels and manual tools – $50 to $200
- Snowblowers – $500 to $3,000
- Salt spreaders – $500 to $3,000
- De-icing equipet = $5o0 to $3,000
- Snow plows – $3,000 to $10,000
Seems like a lot; but you can definitely find used equipment to kick start the work – and remember, it can last you the entire season and following years as well.
In terms of government funding, you can easily access up to $25,000 in equipment costs using the Funding Database.
Other costs:
Depending on the type of business and how much you want to scale, other costs to consider may include:
- Fuel costs – $500 to $1,500 per month
- Business insurance – $100 to $250 per month
- Vehicle costs – $250 to $500 per month + $150 – $300 per month for vehicle insurance
- Website development $500 to $2,000 (one time)
- Marketing – $250 to $1,000 per month
- Logo design / business cards / flyers – $500 per month
You may also consider the cost of the services, especially if you are hiring staff, paying for the cost of goods sold (salt, sand, de-icing materials..etc); and of course account for any damage to equipment or unexpected costs.
The good news is that via government funding, most of the startup costs and operating costs can be obtained with ease.
Starting a Snow Removal Business First Steps
Okay, so you are already a step closer – now let’s really make it happen.
The first step in starting a snow removal business will be to build your business plan.
Start by defining the specific services you can offer. Understand the market and potential competition – to do so, look at the various pricing strategies, competition marketing as well, the demand.
Industry specifics show a significant demand for a snow removal business, so there is plenty of opportunity to make a ton of money!
Starting a snow removal business may seem pretty easy. You may have the urge to avoid building a business plan, but keep in mind that you can use your business plan to really lay out your business idea, create financial projections, prepare a marketing plan and strategy, as well, use the business plan to obtain funding for your business.
Perhaps the added funding can help you with the initial equipment, as mentioned above so that right from the start you are making money.
You can use business plan tools such as this one to develop a business plan that is in line with government funding expectations, which can really give you a kickstart towards setting up your own snow removal business in Canada.
Okay, I have the business plan ready!
Once your business plan is ready, it’s time to do a few things.
- You have to register the business.
- You have to get snow removal business insurance.
Upon doing so, you will be ready to access the funding to start your business.
Getting Funding for your Snow Removal Business
There are a number of different funding options that can help you fund the various expenses your snow removal business may have. In some cases, you can get 100% of your expenses covered – so it’s a good idea to start with the Funding Database.
Typical startups look at a variety of funding sources, including:
- bank loans
- credit cards
- private options
- but most focus on government funding due to the ease and accessibility of the funds.
Govenrment funding can come in the form of a government grant (which is free, non repayable money), or a government loan (which can often come with low interest, no interest, or be conditionally repayable).
Many opt for government loans due to the guaranteed loan aspect – meaning, if the business doesn’t do well, you are not on the hook for the full balance! Ask our experts about this for more details.
To apply for government funding, we recommend having a completed business plan, addressing your business model in full detail, along with a clear breakdown of what you need funding for.
Using our Business Plan Builder Tool will be of great help, as it will align your business plan, to the exact points that the various funding agencies want to see. From there, start by looking at the options that can give your snow removal business a great start.
In your funding request, be sure to include the needed equipment (funding for shovels, snowblowers, snow plows..etc); as well, as funding for website development, flyers and business cards) and perhaps to help you cover staff wages!
Canada Startups has helped 100’s of snow removal businesses, snow clearing startups and plow businesses startup, all by obtaining a number of funding options. Are you next?
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