South Lake Tahoe, CA
Owner-operated snow and ice clearing for South Lake Tahoe — homes, cabins, and vacation rentals. One person, one snowblower, and a route kept short enough to do every property properly.
What I handle
Tahoe winters aren't a series of small storms — they're one long event with brief pauses. The work is built around that reality rather than around a per-visit invoice.
HomeownersYour drive cleared end to end with a tracked walk-behind blower — full width, down to the pavement, including the berm the city plow leaves across the bottom.
from $90 per visit
Homes & rentalsTwo ways to buy the season: $1,000 for driveway and city berm, or $1,500 comprehensive — driveway, berm, walkways, steps, and pet-safe ice melt. Up to 15 visits either way, a guaranteed spot on the route, and no calling me every time it snows.
from $1,000 per season
Homes & rentals
The hand work a machine can’t do: the path to your door and the steps up to it. Bundled into the comprehensive contract — on per-storm visits it is an add-on priced with the storm.
Rentals & second homes
Guests arrive to a cleared drive and a safe walkway whether you are in town or not. Photo confirmation after every visit, so you can answer a guest before they ask.
How it works
The work that makes a Tahoe winter uneventful happens before the first storm — assessing, staking, and agreeing on exactly what "clear" means for your property.
Start with a walkthroughPick a time that works. I walk the property with you, evaluate hazards, and note grade, drainage, and where snow can safely go.
Two seasonal options, in writing: $1,000 for the driveway and city berm, or $1,500 comprehensive with walkways, steps, and pet-safe ice melt. Up to 15 visits at a 3-inch trigger; anything past that is billed at the standard per-visit rate.
Every edge marked before the season starts, plus a documented plan for your propane tank, septic lids, pavers, and irrigation heads.
The route runs through the storm cycle until every property on it is clear. You get a photo when yours is finished, so you never have to call and ask.
Where I work
One town, one person running the route — homes, cabins, and vacation rentals. That's deliberate: a short route is the difference between being cleared at 5am and being cleared at noon. It also means I already know your street, your turnaround, and where the snow can go.
Just outside town? Ask anyway — a limited number of properties on the edge get taken each season.
On the route
Storm cycles routinely stack four to six feet on the South Shore. These are the conditions every contract is priced against.
Mid-storm, working down a driveway
Cutting a path back to the front door after a four-foot week
Breaking through the berm the city plow left across the drive
Walkways taken to bare stone, not just skimmed
A rental cleared and photographed before check-in
Questions
Still unsure? Call us. You'll get me — the person actually doing the work — storm or not.
Ask a questionThree inches. Once accumulation reaches that, the route runs — you don’t have to call. Three inches keeps a driveway passable without over-servicing it, and it’s the same trigger for every property on the contract.
Seasonal contract customers are cleared within the storm cycle, and the route runs continuously through multi-day events. Position on that route is the main practical difference between a seasonal contract and on-demand service. This is a small operation by design — the route is short enough that everyone on it gets done properly rather than quickly. During heavy or back-to-back storms timing can move, and I would rather say that up front than promise an hour I can’t hold.
The season keeps running. Each visit past the 15th is billed at the standard per-visit rate for that storm’s depth — the same on-demand rates on the rates page, with no separate sign-up. Fifteen visits covers a normal Tahoe winter with room to spare.
Yes — a large share of the work is short-term rentals and second homes. Clearing is timed around check-in rather than a fixed weekly day, and you get a photo after each visit so you can answer a guest before they have to ask.
On the $1,500 comprehensive contract, yes — walkways, steps, and pet-safe ice melt are all included. The $1,000 driveway-only contract is exactly that: the driveway and the city berm. On per-storm visits, walkways and steps are an add-on priced with the storm: $25 a visit for 3 to 6 inches, up to $75 for a 24-inch-plus event.
No. Most of my customers are second-home owners. Once the property is staked and mapped in the fall, I work it whether you’re in town or not, and you get a completion notification with a photo.
I clear it. Being blocked in by a city plow after your driveway was already done is the single most common complaint in Tahoe, so berm breakthrough is in the base rate — on a contract and on demand alike — rather than billed as an extra.
I mark the edges, lids and heads before the first storm and work around them all winter. The contract is straight about the limit, though: once a marker is buried under several feet of snow I can’t see what’s under it, so incidental damage to features hidden by deep snow isn’t something I can take on. Marking the property in October is what keeps that from happening.
Book the season
Free on-site estimate, a fixed seasonal price, and a property map before the first flake. Fifteen minutes now saves a winter of phone calls.
