I would say for all of that at least $30.00 per kid, That is if they do a good job

I would say $20-30 depending on how well a job they do & the going rate in your area.

My BIL was just telling me about the quintessential differences in my Niece & nephew last week. They are a set of 8.5 yr old twins living in Zionsville IN and very different from each other. We were talking about the snow and he said my nephew sees snow as a $$ maker for him, my niece sees it and calls her GF to go out and play LOL. My nephew gets $25 for area just as you described, basically what they have at their home and all the neighbors. He recently went around the neighborhood giving out my sis's cell # to anyone that might want him to shovel snow, so they can txt her when they need him LOL. He had already made a few hundred $$ this season already. ~ liz

At least $30 per kid - and I also would have almost fainted if someone offered to shovel for me. Kids here won't shovel - too busy with their video games while their grandparents are out having heart attacks. We also have a long laneway - but only one car - so we shovel the sidewalk in front of the house, the front steps etc. and the area around the car during round one and then work on the rest of the laneway. I wish we had a garage. Truthfully, I would give more than asked (had they told you the amount) but I would also pay $$ hoping they would show up again. I know a woman who lives on a street where a 15 year old bought himself a snowblower and does nearly all of the properties on the street - that snowblower paid for itself during one snowfall last year. And people don't have to worry about going away and not having anyone to shovel/salt their front walks - and being sued when someone falls. My husband is in NY as I type - lots of flights cancelled from Toronto to NY today. I didn't go with him because I was afraid of said snow - and yesterday I was out shovelling and salting (animal friendly of course). Supposed to get more last night but we didn't but it is cold and lots of ice everywhere.

I am happy for you!! Living in CT for 5.5 years I did my fair share of shoveling...Would have loved it if someone had knocked on my door and wanted to shovel me out....

Glad that worked out for you. Now that they know you pay well You'll probably be top of their list!

My neighborhood sounds like yours. It's rare to find a kid who will shovel snow or rake leaves. Many of them don't even help their parents with chores around the house. Our paperboy's father drove him around the neighborhood to deliver his papers - all 22 of them.

I can't say that I blame kids for wanting to go sledding or play i the snow rather than shovel, but I do think the days of shoveling or raking for a few bucks are mostly over. I live in an area where parents can buy their kids whatever they want -- and do for the most part. As it happens the kids who shoveled my driveway, etc have parents who are both lawyers and could well afford anything the kids want but have the good sense not to indulge them.

Most of the kids on my street are good kids. I can't think of any rotten apples.

I told them to come back next time, although I did have to go out and clean up a few edges and the walk from the garage to the house, which I am sure they did not know was there.

I hope you gave them high fives (along with the paper 5's ;) and a lot of positive reinforcement....What a great start to getting them used to the idea of earning, effort out, money in.

It's hard to find a kid to even help out with lawn mowing around here, let alone shovel snow. I hope it works out to be a pleasing arrangement for them and for you.

It's the kind of thing DH would always do as a kid and still does now, but he won't take money now and his mother wouldn't let him back then. He still talks about putting up hay (if you've never put up hay, it's back breaking work) for an older neighbor, because she was older and because she was a neighbor. She paid the boys with popsicles, and DH's mom would sternly order, say Thank You for her treat and don't you dare complain :)

We pay $60 to our plow guy to plow our gravel driveway -- a 't' of about 2500 square feet. It's hard to find someone who can remove the snow without taking a lot of gravel along with it.

I love to hear about these entrepreneurial kids! Nobody -- man, woman or child -- does their own landscape work in our neighborhood. Many of the 'garden club' ladies merely direct a gardener -- rather "Downton Abbey", don't you know.

With shoveling all that plus heavy wet snow that is hard to pick up as it really makes it hard, they both deserve a good amount to be paid.
What you are offering is way too low for the amount even with two kids to have to shovel.

Dedtired is happy and the kids had ear to ear grins. Sounds like a win/win situation to me! How much would you have given them, Kathleen?

Sounds like they were happy with the amount. Win-win situation. I think you gave them the perfect amount!

Times sure have changed. When we were kids, my father told us it was our duty to help seniors by shovelling snow for our older neighbours. We never got paid in dollars but I remember treats of hot chocolate and cookies after the shovelling was done.

Mostly I have been told that I gave them too much, although I don't think so. I am surprised that you think that was not enough, Kathleen. When I posted that on my FB page, a couple people said to call them next time, they could use $40 (joking of course).

As others have said, we were all happy in the end, so all is well.

I don't think you overpaid those young boys. What a great thing they did by offering to shovel your walk and driveways for you. Shows you the true spirit of the holidays. Especially by young boys. We need more of this type of service today. We don't get snow here often if ever but we do have lawns to be mowed and leaves to be raked and since we live in an older neighborhood and our neighbors are mostly seniors we need more teens to do this type of work for us. Not services who want to be paid high prices. We would gladly pay them whatever they charge within reason to have this done. What wonderful youths you have as neighbors. We have a new family that just moved in a few houses away and the kids will sometimes stop by just to say Hi how are you. Makes us feel so good. Of course my hubby has helped the young boy, he was having a hard time cutting another's long grass with a push mower in the summer heat. He fired up our riding mower and helped him mow the lawn. The boy was so thrilled to have him help. He would have continued to struggle with the lawn mowing but the smile he gave my husband made my husband feel so good. They also always wave when they are walking by our home.
Mary

I would pay each kid 25-40 dollars.

This is a year old thread?!

Good for you, Rob. Didn't read the date but thought I had read this before. LOL

Georgysmom

Old thread but a good one. What is reasonable for a 16 year old to charge for snowblowing 12-18 inches of snow (blizzard coming) longish driveway.. will take at least 1 1/2 hours + shoveling. Crazy trucks want $250 to plow. Not sure what's reasonable, kid may need to do a second pass with that much snow. What do you think?

I'm certainly not sure, but I'd not give him less than $100. Probably more.

We just had 30" of snow and my kids are shoveling driveways with one of their friends. They have done about 10 thus far and earned between 90 to 160 per driveway (one was really huge). Anyhow, it took the 3 boys 3.5 hours to shovel a large 4 car driveway. The guy paid them 55.00. My son told him it was a $90.00 driveway and he said the most I'm going to give you is 75.00 - gave him a 20 and shut the door!

That's a life lesson your son won't forget, bowl. If the jerks have the gall to call after the next snowfall, be sure that they get paid $105.00 in advance, or no deal.

I wish I had that problem! It is sunny, clear and 70 degrees F here in south/central Texas.

The amount if snow y'all describe is something hard to imagine.

About half way through our regular winter in central Illinois. Last week we had about 3" of snow. I took care of it with ease. That has been it for the winter. Of course we have been slammed late in the past. We'll see whether to toss the snow shovels or not.

In a case like yours, it is hard to know what is the proper amount since they did not propose a price. One way to compute the charge is to estimate the amount of time it would take a reasonable able man to do the job and pay 10 to 15 dollars per hour. If you are in a high cost area, up the amount. If your job was estimated at 2 man-hours, the charge might be $30 to $40. This method equates pay to the amount of work required. It eliminates the variables of how deep the snow is, or how fast the worker is, and how many rest breaks he may take. The lowest cost is for low density, fluffy, easy to shovel snow. Cost adders are snow weight, snow depth, compacted snow, wet snow that has frozen, and how low the temperature is. It is harder to shovel at zero F than at 25 F.

Another way is to scan the ads to see what the pros are charging and use that as top dollar.

Jim....don't throw out the snow shovel! You may need it to remind yourselves that you're in a better place come spring when you're fighting sand gnats and scratching fire ant stings! Put a bow on it and hang it somewhere.

suspect post

Anoriginal - ? What am I missing? What post in this year old thread is suspect?

I agree with rhizo that Jim shouldn't throw his snow shovel away, and wondered whether the advice had been offered so much later that the horse might have left the barn already ...

... but it was on the next day, and I doubt that the unoffending/unemployed shovel might have been disposed of by then.

Howsomever ... that was crowding two years ago ... and should one "suspect" the "post" of someone who felt it important to bring it forward now?

Jes' wonderin'.

o j

Maybe the fact that is it five years old. Weird how these old posts pop up.

Sometimes someone will explain that they realize a post is old but something in the post is pertinent and they want to further discuss it.

But, for the most part, these old posts seem very oddly random.

But, as far as I know, it didn't pop up until Anoriginal posted. Unless ..... perhaps there was another post before hers that has now been removed.

Estimate how long they will have to work to do this job and pay by the hour. They seem like nice kids. A tip can be added to your estimate.

I don't see anything suspect. If you are looking for an answer to something, don't you search first before starting a new one?

There was a post that started: "I'm a kid and I shovel walks"....I don't remember the rest of it, but maybe there was a link that someone flagged as spam. The post is gone now.

My, my! Hope they're not still waiting for their pay.

Quite the delayed response, since the original post was entitled:

"Quick! What to pay kids shoveling snow?"

I'd like to know where you people live that would pay a kid $30 an hour?

It would depend on how much snow and how much property. I have 70' of frontage, not counting the walkway to the porch and the driveway. Smallish, but anything over 1' of snow is a lot. I have paid $20 each to get dug out when it was 1.5'+. Central NJ.

I'm just wondering why people feel the need to pay kids so much money? $20 sounds fine to me. Sorry going off the above responses. :)

If I could find a kid to shovel I would be so grateful and just about any price would be worth it to me. Haven't had any come by for years. I'm hoping someone comes by today, but I'll probably go out before lunch.