Snow Removal Cost in Toronto: Seasonal Contract Prices

Monster Property Services and My Property Care both put a Toronto seasonal driveway contract at $500 to $1,500 for the winter, and published price lists sit inside that band: GTA Snow sells three tiers at $749, $899 and $999 per season, and Mississauga Snow Services charges $1100 for a two-car driveway rising to $1300 for a six-car one. Per-visit work runs $50 to $150, on Monster's figures. Before you sign, check what the City already does free: it cuts three-metre driveway openings on eligible streets and clears every public sidewalk once 2 cm falls, with no application.

The three ways you get billed

Quotes are not comparable until you convert them to the same unit.

Per visit. You pay each time a truck shows up. Monster Property Services puts GTA residential rates at $50 to $150 per visit; snow.ca quotes Toronto single visits at $79 to $129; Silverlight quotes $60 to $250.

Monthly. Outwash lists monthly plans at $200 to $400 for roughly four to six visits a month. Silverlight quotes monthly too: $200 to $300 for a one-to-two-car driveway, $300 to $400 for a two-to-four-car one, and $250 to $650 for a corner property, because of the extra sidewalk frontage.

Seasonal flat rate. One payment, or instalments, covers the whole winter however often it snows. This is the dominant residential product in the GTA.

Two published price lists show what the tiers buy. GTA Snow sells Basic at $749 a season for driveways up to two cars, Deluxe at $899 for up to four, Premier at $999 for up to six. Mississauga Snow Services runs a six-month season from November 1 and charges $1100 for a two-car driveway, $1200 for four and $1300 for six, payable in instalments: $1100 ÷ 6 = $183 a month. At the premium end, Monster Property Services bills two all-inclusive packages monthly: Package A from $499 and Package B from $949, both plus HST, at early-bird rates it says hold before October 15, 2026.

Seasonal or per visit: run the arithmetic

Toronto gets 15 to 25 plowable events in a typical winter, on Monster's count. That is the number that decides it. Monster does the multiplication itself: at $50 to $150 a visit, 15 to 25 events is $750 to $3,750 for the season, with no predictability month to month. snow.ca's seasonal plan is $580 to $960 and covers 12 to 20 storms, against single visits from $79; 12 × $79 = $948, so even a light winter at its cheapest per-visit rate costs more than the low end of its own season price.

Per-visit wins only if you shovel most storms yourself and want a truck for the two or three that beat you.

What the contract has to say

A price with no service definition behind it is not a quote. Insist on five lines in writing.

Trigger depth. The accumulation that dispatches a truck. Monster's packages trigger on all snowfalls over 1 cm plus freezing rain and flash freezes; snow.ca says its residential service trips at 5 cm, its commercial accounts at 2 cm. Those are different products at the same headline price.

Response window, and repeat visits. Monster's Package A guarantees first arrival before 8:59 a.m., de-icing within 2 to 4 hours of a freezing event, plowable snow within 2 to 6 hours, and a second pass on snowfalls over 8 cm; Package B tightens that to 5:59 a.m., 0 to 2 hours, 0 to 3 hours and a second pass over 5 cm. Without a repeat-visit clause, a 20 cm storm buys one visit.

Salting, and who pays. The most common hidden line. My Property Care notes a quote usually covers clearing only, with salt or calcium chloride charged separately at $15 to $30 an application; Outwash puts the de-icing add-on at $30 to $100. Monster includes ice melter in its flat rate.

What counts as "the driveway". Walkways, front steps, side paths and the city sidewalk are usually extra. Monster lists walkway clearing at $20 to $50 per visit when it is not in the base rate.

Where the snow goes. Piles block sightlines, bury hydrants and melt back across the driveway. Toronto's rule is that shovelled snow stays on your property; the City notes neighbours commonly agree in advance on a spot that suits both. Hauling it off site is a separate job: Outwash puts that at $100 to $300 per load. After the biggest storms the City does its own hauling, to five snow storage and three snow melter sites, and posts temporary orange no-parking signs while it works.

What the City already does, free

Most snow removal articles skip this. Toronto runs two services your property tax already buys.

Windrow clearing

The windrow is the ridge a plow leaves across the end of your driveway. On eligible residential streets a specialized machine follows the plows and cuts a three-metre-wide opening; on eligible collector and arterial roads it does so when the windrow exceeds 25 centimetres. The City aims to clear openings within two hours of road plowing, and says the work normally begins about 14 hours after the snow stops. There is no application and no registration.

"Eligible" is the catch, and toronto.ca publishes no map. A City spokesperson told CP24 in January 2026 that the service reaches about 262,000 households across North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke, covering "only driveways on streets where the specialty plow can operate safely, such as wide streets with limited on-street parking and no boulevard space for storage." Elsewhere in Toronto the windrow is yours. If your street qualifies and the opening was missed, file a 311 request. The City asks you to wait 24 to 48 hours after the snow stops.

Sidewalks, and the assistance program that no longer exists

Toronto used to run a registration-based snow clearing assistance program for seniors and people with disabilities. It is gone, because the service became universal. The City now clears about 98% of all sidewalks mechanically, the rest by hand, and says this city-wide service means seniors and persons with disabilities get clearing "without the need for a separate assistance program."

Crews start on every public sidewalk once snow reaches 2 cm and has stopped falling, take about 12 hours a round, and may run up to 72 hours after a storm. Roads have their own thresholds: 2.5 cm on expressways, 5 cm on major roads and transit routes, 8 cm on residential streets. For private property (driveway, steps and walk, which the City never clears), toronto.ca points residents to 211 Ontario.

Your own obligation, and the fine

Two duties survive the city-wide service, and both are in Chapter 719.

Sidewalks below 2 cm. If accumulation is 2 cm or less, you clear the public sidewalk beside your property within 12 hours of the end of snowfall. § 719-2 sets the same limit, and adds that any part that turns slippery afterwards must be covered with sand, salt or ashes as often as necessary.

Private property within 24 hours. Section 719-4.1, added in 2022, requires the owner or occupant to clear steps, landings, walks, driveways, parking spaces and ramps within 24 hours of a snowfall, and to re-treat them whenever they turn slippery.

Skip the sidewalk and § 719-3 lets the General Manager of Transportation Services clear it at your expense, recoverable like any unpaid municipal charge. A conviction under the chapter carries a Provincial Offences Act fine, which the Code's own footnote caps at $5,000.

If someone slips on your walk

Ontario law gives snow-and-ice injuries their own clock. Under section 6.1 of the Occupiers' Liability Act, added by Bill 118, no action for personal injury caused by snow or ice can be brought unless written notice of the claim (including the date, time and location) is personally served or sent by registered mail within 60 days of the injury, to the occupier or to the independent contractor hired to remove snow or ice; whoever receives it must pass a copy to the other. The bar lifts if the injured person died of the injuries, or if the failure can be reasonably excused without prejudicing the defence.

Your contractor is a named party in that statute, so its records matter: snow.ca advertises GPS-tracked, time-stamped, photo-verified visits: the documentation that settles an argument about whether a walk was cleared. Ask for proof of liability insurance and WSIB coverage before you sign; snow.ca and Silverlight each publish $5 million in general liability coverage. Hiring someone does not end your own duty of care as occupier: it adds a second party to the notice list.

Outside Toronto

The 905 has moved faster than Toronto on windrows.

• Mississauga made residential driveway windrow clearing standard service in 2025-2026, with no application or registration. It clears at least a three-metre opening at single, double and shared driveways within 4 hours of the final plow round for a 5-15 cm storm, 6 hours for 15-30 cm. Condominiums, commercial properties and homes on private roads are excluded; openings are not salted or cleared to bare pavement.
• Oakville charges. Its 2025-2026 fee was $184 plus HST ($207.92 with HST included), with priority registration for residents 65 or older or with a disability, then general registration capped at 1,100 applicants.