Season begins November 1st and runs through April 1st; with driveway snowplowing provided an average snowplow of 2”. Service consists of unlimited daily clearings, up to 100 inches of snow, including weekends & holidays (anytime within a 24hr. period). Early morning clearings are generally completed by 6:30 A.M., w/ approaches reopened (after driveways are cleared & town plows schedules) to the best of our ability, depending on town schedules.
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Groundhog Landscaping runs a dedicated winter operation each year from approximately November 1 through April 1, plowing residential driveways and clearing commercial lots across Buffalo, Clarence, Clarence Center, Amherst, East Amherst, Williamsville, Lancaster, Cheektowaga, Getzville, Snyder, Akron, Alden, Elma, and Tonawanda. We are equipped for lake-effect Buffalo winters — not catalogue averages — and our crews work 24/7 during active storm events.
Our standard residential program covers unlimited daily clearings up to 100 inches of total seasonal snow, including weekends and holidays. Service is triggered automatically at an average accumulation of 2 inches, and early-morning clearings are typically complete by 6:30 AM so you can get out of the driveway on time. Driveway approaches (the apron at the curb) are re-opened to the best of our ability after the town plow has gone through — we work in coordination with municipal plow schedules.
For commercial properties we offer per-event and seasonal contract structures, with a focus on liability-aware service: documented arrival/departure times, salt application logs, and certificates of insurance on file with the property manager. We service office complexes, multi-tenant retail, HOAs, small businesses, and medical facilities across the Amherst, Clarence, and Williamsville corridor.
Brine is the modern, professional-grade alternative to dropping bagged rock salt after a storm. We mix and apply sodium chloride brine at roughly 23% concentration and spray-apply it to driveways, parking lots, walkways, and entries before a forecast event — typically 1 to 48 hours in advance. The brine layer prevents snow and ice from bonding to the pavement, which means the post-storm plow lifts cleanly and any remaining ice releases instead of having to be chipped off. For very cold events (below ~15°F) we step up to calcium chloride brine, which stays effective down into single digits.
Benefits over reactive salting: substantially less material used (better for surrounding turf and beds), no salt-stain windrow on the lawn edge, faster service times during active storms, and visibly cleaner pavement during and after the event. Brine is a staple service line for our commercial accounts and is available as an add-on for residential paver-driveway and stamped-concrete clients who want to protect their surface.
If you’re a snow / ice contractor, landscape company, HOA, or facility manager with your own brine handling equipment, we sell bulk sodium chloride brine direct from our Clarence Center shop. Bring-your-own-tank pickup, or delivery on a 500-gallon minimum order. See our Buy Liquid Brine page to request a quote.
Snow service goes door-to-door for our full-program clients. In addition to the driveway pass, our crews clear walkways, sidewalks, entry steps and landings, parking lots, loading docks, ADA ramps, and commercial back-of-house service paths. Walks and entries are cleared with snow blowers and shovels (not plows), then ice-melted with the appropriate de-icer for the surface. Commercial parking lots are plowed with truck-mounted V-plows and pushed to staging zones we’ve mapped pre-season with the property manager so traffic flow is never blocked.
What Buffalo and Clarence-area homeowners and property managers ask about winter snow service.
Our standard snow plowing season runs from November 1 through April 1. We’re ready earlier or later if a storm hits outside that window for clients with active seasonal contracts.
Routes fill August through October each year. Buffalo’s lake-effect can start in early November, so we strongly recommend signing up by October 15 to guarantee a slot on the route closest to your address.
Service is triggered automatically at an average accumulation of 2 inches. We don’t require a phone call for each event — once your contract is active, dispatch monitors weather and sends crews when the trigger is hit.
Crews aim to have residential driveways clear by ~6:30 AM so you can get out for work. During heavy lake-effect events with continuous overnight accumulation, crews may make multiple passes through a route in a single 24-hour period.
We re-open driveway approaches (the apron at the curb) after the town plow finishes, to the best of our ability based on town schedules. During major events this is sometimes our second pass at a property after the storm has settled.
Yes — salt service is available as an add-on for residential plow contracts and is standard for commercial accounts. We use rock salt for typical events and calcium chloride for very cold temperatures. We can also pre-treat surfaces before a forecast storm using liquid brine (see the next two questions).
Liquid brine is a saltwater solution — typically sodium chloride at about 23% concentration, or calcium chloride brine for very cold events — that we spray-apply to driveways, parking lots, walkways, and entries before a forecast storm. The brine layer prevents snow and ice from bonding to the pavement, so the post-storm plow lifts cleanly and ice releases instead of needing to be chipped off. We offer brine pre-treatment for both commercial and residential clients; it’s a standard service line for our commercial accounts.
Rock salt is solid sodium chloride dropped on top of snow/ice after it forms. It’s reactive — it has to dissolve before it does anything — and you use more of it. Calcium chloride (granular or brine) works at much colder temperatures than rock salt (down into single digits vs. ~15°F) and is what we use for true lake-effect cold events. Liquid brine is the pre-treatment version: applied before the storm, it prevents the bond between ice and pavement so cleanup is faster and uses substantially less material overall. Most modern commercial properties use a combination: brine before the storm, rock or calcium chloride during/after.
We clear all of it. Residential full-program contracts cover driveway plowing, front walks, entry landings, and the path to the side door. Commercial contracts cover the entire site: parking lots (V-plowed and pushed to pre-mapped staging zones), sidewalks, ADA ramps, loading docks, entries, and back-of-house service walks. Walkways are cleared with snow blowers and shovels rather than plows, then ice-melted with the appropriate de-icer for the surface (rock salt, calcium chloride, or paver-safe alternative).
Yes. We service office complexes, retail centers, HOAs, restaurants, and small business sites with documented logs, COI on file, and 24/7 storm response. Email info@groundhoglandscaping.com with your COI requirements and scope.
Most residential seasonal contracts in the Amherst, Clarence, and Williamsville area land in the $500–$1,200 range depending on driveway size, length, slope, and access. Salt add-ons are quoted separately. Call for a fixed-price written quote.
We use poly-edged plows and rubber-cutting-edge equipment over paver driveways to minimize wear. For high-end paver and concrete surfaces we’ll also flag any seasonal marker stakes ahead of the season so crews know exactly where edges are when snow is deep.
