Nearly every residential snow contract in the GTA contains a trigger depth, usually five centimetres. Very few homeowners are told what it means in practice, and the gap between what people assume and what it says causes most of the friction in a bad winter.
It is a floor, not a schedule
A five-centimetre trigger means the crew is dispatched once accumulation reaches five centimetres. It does not mean nobody comes for a three-centimetre snowfall out of spite — it means that clearing is not contractually owed at that depth. Many contractors will still swing past on a light night if the route allows. That is goodwill, not obligation, and you should not build your winter around it.
Measured where?
This is the question almost nobody asks, and it matters more than the number itself. Accumulation measured at Pearson can differ substantially from what is sitting on a driveway in Richmond Hill, and drifting can leave a bare lawn beside a knee-high bank across the apron.
Good contracts state the reference point — an official station, an on-site measurement, or the contractor’s judgement on the route. Any of the three is fine. Silence is not.
What happens in a long storm
A storm dropping twenty centimetres over eighteen hours is the real test. There are two approaches, and both are legitimate:
- Repeat passes during the event — the crew comes through more than once so the driveway never becomes impassable. More expensive, and much better if you need to leave the house.
- One clean pass after it stops — cheaper, and fine if you can wait it out.
What you want to avoid is a contract that quietly assumes the second while you assumed the first.
Four questions worth asking
- What is the trigger depth, and where is it measured?
- How long after snowfall stops am I cleared?
- During a continuous storm, do you make repeat passes or one final pass?
- Are walkways, steps and salting included at the same trigger?
A contractor who answers all four in specific numbers is one who has thought about February. That is the one to hire.