Snow clearing apps taking Canada by storm

[PHOTO COURTESY: CBC News]

Sean Griffith calls it the “drop dead moment” last year when 65 centimetres of snow fell in Moncton, N.B., in a day last winter. He and his business partner decided it was time to launch their business described as the Uber app for snow clearing.

Griffith, along with Joe Simms in Halifax, recently founded the Plow Me Out on-demand snow removal service, which is slated to open its virtual doors this weekend in Saint John and Halifax and then Moncton within a couple of weeks.

“We had thought about this idea for two years,” Griffith told Yahoo Canada News. “And then when Atlantic Canada was dumped for a week with a huge amount of snow — I think Charlottetown got 70 centimetres in one day — we thought we gotta’ put this into high gear.”

Plow Me Out requires customers to register on its website or through its app, answering questions about their property. Once snow clearing is requested, a quote appears and the request goes out to contractors in the area.

The company only works with companies or people who have commercial liability insurance.

“We currently have about 30 companies in the three cities (Saint John, Halifax, Moncton) and more than 1,000 people signed up already,” says Griffith.

“A lot of companies like our service because we are delivering business directly to them. Some people don’t want to commit $600 or $700 a year to a snow plowing contract but they are willing to pay when the snowfall goes above 15 centimetres.”

Griffith, whose company plans to roll out services soon in Charlottetown, St. John’s, Fredericton and Truro, N.S., says people can expect to shell out an average of $45 for a three-car driveway but that also depends on how much snow falls. Plow Me Out nabs 30 per cent of each payment.

“You can order this up from anywhere,” he explains. “We know people have told us they would like to order snow clearing for their parents or elderly relatives who live in other cities.”

Once the snow is cleared, the service provider snaps a photo and uploads it to the site along with comments. The client also rates the provider using a five-star rating.

Griffith hopes his service will have 10,000 customers by the end of the year.

Competition heating up

Plow Me Out isn’t the only snow clearing app taking the nation by storm. WeDo in Montreal and Ottawa’s TouchPlow are making tracks into this burgeoning industry.

TouchPlow, which is now available in 50 other cities in Canada, deals only with snow removal companies and functions much like Plow Me Out, in which customers notify the company through its app that they need services and then operators in the area are given the details and offer to do the job. A rating system and photo uploads are also used.

TouchPlow plans to experiment with its services in Ottawa and Edmonton, allowing individuals to become contractors — something already being done by WeDo in Montreal, which only deals with individuals as contractors and not snowplow companies.

Olivier Arcand, WeDo’s president, says some university students have been able to earn roughly $300 to $500 a week. WeDo takes a 20 per cent cut of each job.

“I have liability insurance for everyone who shovels for me and they have to be at least 16 years old,” Arcand told Yahoo Canada News. “Our aim is to help families with low-to-average incomes.”

WeDo offers different levels of service: the basic $20 service means a shoveller shows up within six hours, the fast service for $24.99 is within four hours and the emergency $29.99 service, which has a maximum two-hour wait.

“We also do cars. Often cars get blocked in with snow after roads are cleared,” says Arcand.

“Of course, we make sure the client knows there is a possibility the car could get scratched.”

The company has filled out more than 1,000 orders since the start of December. WeDo also guarantees each order. If the shoveller doesn’t show up, it sends a contractor to do the job.

In addition, shovellers must get an average rating of three out of five stars in order to continue with the company.

Requests from Florida

Arcand says WeDo covers all of Quebec and is expanding to Calgary next week with Edmonton and Winnipeg soon to follow. An English version of its app and website are expected soon.

“We looked at average snow cover in each city and targeted our services to those places with the greatest snow fall.”

Arcand said he and his co-founders had no idea they would be expanding so rapidly. WeDo was only initially supposed to service the island of Montreal this year but they got so many requests from across the country, they had to act fast.

“We have a lot of calls from Florida because people want to make sure the postman can reach their mail box,” notes Arcand.

In the summer, WeDo, which has 10,000 users now, will diversify.

“We will mow grass, clean pools — anything related to home services.”

Broadening services year-round is also something Plow Me Out is considering seriously, says Griffith.

“We may offer handyman or cleaning services,” reveals Griffith. “It’s one thing to get someone off Kijiji but with us, you know it’s a trusted professional.”

While some may wonder if the old days of young people helping out their neighbours are over, Arcand says that’s not the case.

“Sure you can shovel your neighbour’s driveway still but what if you can make some money shovelling the neighbours down the street? Instead of knocking on every door, you will know, through your cellphone, who needs your service.”