Dreading shoveling snow this weekend? These two apps can help.
On-demand snow removal apps allow customers to request snow removal services through their phone.
By: Tim Studebaker
Facebook: @TStudebakerABC6
Twitter: @TStudebakerABC6
Email: tstudebaker@abc6.com
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – If the thought of shoveling out your driveway this weekend fills you with a sense of dread, there are a couple of apps that can help. On-demand snow removal apps work very much like rideshare apps, but instead of a ride to the airport, someone comes to your house and clears snow from your property.
Wills Mahoney is the co-founder of one of those apps, called Plowz and Mowz. Mahoney says, “Essentially, a customer goes into our app that you can download on the iOS or Android store, enters a few bits of information. From there, they get a price. They can pay for it immediately, and then it gets dispatched out to the closest snow plow provider.”
Plowz and Mowz contracts with professional plowing providers, like landscaping companies, and they only provide service to residential customers.
Mahoney says, “It came from actually my mother of all people. She had a big driveway. There was a big snowstorm. [She] couldn’t do it on her own.”
Another app called SnoHub makes snow removal work available to more than just professional companies.
Ryan McDuffy is the CEO of SnoHub. McDuffy says, “Normally landscaping companies, but also private individuals or local sports teams trying to raise money.”
SnoHub will also provide service to both residential and commercial customers. Pricing is based on the dimensions of the area you need cleaned.
McDuffy says, “You enter in the dimensions, the length and width of your driveway, of your sidewalk, of your walkway, and the snow accumulation estimates are directly from NOAA.”
Both companies say that while the goal is to get your property cleared as soon as possible, during big storms, contractors can get backed up and run behind, so plan ahead.
McDuffy says, “It’s basically the sharing economy solution to snow removal.”
© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2022
