Built to spec
Built to your engineered drawings, survey, and the real site conditions, not a one-size-fits-all approach forced to fit.
Commercial & Heavy-Civil Construction
Commercial Snow Removal
Harrowgate Group holds winter accounts for business property across the GTA and Ontario, running each site to a written service level that fixes the trigger depth, the response window, the clearing order, and the de-icing standard.
- Licensed, Insured & WSIB-Covered
- 20 Years in Business
Get a Quote
Tell us what you need and we’ll get you a quote. Licensed, insured & WSIB-covered · Free, no-obligation quote & on-site assessment.
Get a Quote
Licensed, insured & WSIB-covered · Free, no-obligation quote & on-site assessment.
20 Years in Business
Licensed, Insured & WSIB-Covered Completed to code & Ontario requirements Completed on site and built to the drawings Performed & installed on site across Ontario
Why Harrowgate Group
What to expect from commercial snow removal
Made to last
Durable materials and methods chosen for the load, traffic, and environment on site.
Quote-ready
Send specs, drawings, or photos and get a free, no-obligation site visit and estimate with no guesswork.
Code-conscious
Installation and site work completed in accordance with Ontario requirements.
Our Process
How we plan and deliver commercial snow removal
Commercial snow removal is seasonal snow and ice service for business property, run to a written service level rather than a phone call after a storm. Harrowgate Group covers the parking areas, drive aisles, fire routes, loading zones, sidewalks, entrances, and accessible routes across the GTA and Ontario, dispatched on a contracted trigger.
- 01 Send your inquiry, a few photos or a description of the site.
- 02 We come out, assess the site, take measurements, and confirm the scope.
- 03 We complete the commercial snow removal on site, to the load and finish the job needs.
- 04 We install it, finish to grade, and clean up, one accountable crew, start to finish.
Local Context
A closer look at commercial snow removal
Scope
Understanding commercial snow removal
How we build and run a commercial account
Accounts are set up in the fall, not in the storm. We walk the property, map it, assign it to a route with named crews and committed equipment, stage material, and then run the same sequence on every event.
The pre-season walk produces a site map. We stake curbs, islands, catch basins, hydrants, bollards, and anything else that disappears under snow and gets destroyed by a blade.
We set the plow pattern and the direction snow travels, and we locate storage where the piles will not take stalls the property needs, sit on catch basins, block sightlines at the exits, or occupy accessible parking. We measure sidewalk runs and count entrances so the walk crew is sized correctly rather than borrowed from the lot crew.
During an event we pre-treat ahead of the forecast where the surface and timing allow it, dispatch at the contracted trigger, and clear in the priority order the property needs.
Plow trucks and loaders with box pushers take the open lot; skid steers work the curb lines, islands, and tight corners; sidewalk machines and hand crews run the walks, entrances, stairs, and accessible routes at the same time as the lot rather than afterwards. On long events we return and keep returning, because one pass at the end leaves a packed base.
De-icer goes onto a cleared surface, at a rate matched to pavement temperature and the forecast. Then the visit is logged: trigger, arrival and departure, areas cleared, material applied and where, conditions found. That log is filed automatically, not assembled later when someone asks for it.
Service levels, materials, and Ontario obligations
Commercial trigger depths are commonly 2.5 cm or 5 cm, with pedestrian surfaces triggered lower than parking. Sodium chloride works to roughly minus 10 degrees Celsius; below that the plan moves to magnesium or calcium chloride blends. Brine applied before an event prevents the ice bond forming at all.
Service level is the specification. A site that opens at six in the morning needs an overnight trigger and a completed lot before staff arrive. A site with continuous operations needs service through the event. A site with heavy pedestrian traffic needs the walks held to a tighter standard than the parking. Priority order across the lot, the fire routes, the accessible stalls, the walks, and the entrances is written down and priced against.
Two Ontario rules sit inside every commercial plan. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requires accessible parking and the barrier-free path to the entrance to be maintained, which rules out using an accessible stall for snow storage. Municipal bylaws set clearing deadlines for the public sidewalk fronting the property, and in Toronto that is within 12 hours of the snowfall ending, with sand or salt applied if the surface stays slippery.
Chloride use is managed under the Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts, which captures organizations using over 500 tonnes a year on a five year rolling average and anyone operating in a salt vulnerable area. Calibrated spreaders, temperature-matched rates, pre-wetting, and covered storage are the practices that keep chloride out of the storm system and off the landscaping, and they also reduce the corrosion and scaling salt causes on concrete and reinforcing steel.
Have drawings for commercial snow removal? Send them over and we will scope it.
Finished On Site
Completed on site and built to last
Clean site work and a tidy finish, coordinated with your engineers, the other trades, and the surrounding site conditions, built to the engineered drawings and the applicable codes.
- Coordinated with the surrounding build
- Durable finishes for real-world wear
- Quote-ready support from scope to completion
FAQ
Commercial Snow Removal FAQ
What should a commercial snow removal contract include?
At minimum: the trigger depth that dispatches a crew, the response window from trigger to arrival, the priority order across the lot, fire routes, accessible stalls, walks and entrances, the de-icing standard, whether long events get continuous service, snow storage locations, hauling terms, and the service record you receive after each visit.
Seasonal pricing or per-event pricing?
Seasonal fixes the cost regardless of how the winter behaves, which suits budgeting and condominium reserves. Per-event tracks actual activity and suits sites that can absorb variance. Hybrid structures cap the downside both ways. Harrowgate Group prices all three against the same written service level so they are directly comparable.
How early should we book commercial snow service?
August through early October. Routes are built around committed equipment and crews and they fill. Booking early also leaves time for the pre-season site walk, staking, and route mapping, which is what makes the first storm run properly instead of being improvised.
Do you clear sidewalks and entrances as well as the lot?
Yes, and at the same time as the lot rather than afterwards. Pedestrian surfaces are where most winter injury claims originate, so walks, entrances, stairs, and accessible routes are staffed as their own scope with sidewalk machines and hand crews, usually at a lower trigger depth than the parking areas.
What happens during a storm that runs for two days?
The site is serviced continuously rather than once at the end, because a single late pass leaves a packed, refrozen base. The contract states this explicitly. Crews return on the contracted interval, keep the lot and the walks open through the event, and treat once the surface is actually cleared.
Who is responsible if a customer slips in our parking lot?
Under Ontario's Occupiers' Liability Act the occupier carries the duty, and section 6.1 requires written notice of a snow or ice injury within 60 days, served on the occupier or on the snow contractor. Both are in the chain. Documented service records are what determine how that plays out.
Do you service multiple sites under one agreement?
Yes. Portfolios are run to one written service standard with per-site plans, one point of contact, and consolidated reporting, so the same trigger depths and documentation apply everywhere. See Property Management Snow Removal for how multi-site accounts are structured.
What do you need to price our property?
A site plan or aerial and the address starts it. Lot area, sidewalk lengths, entrance count, opening hours, whether there is room to stack snow, and any history of ice complaints let us price accurately. We walk the site before finalizing.
Still have a question about commercial snow removal? Ask our team directly.
Explore
Related Harrowgate services
Snow Removal, the full winter service line and how it is structured.
Property Management Snow Removal, one standard across a managed portfolio.
Parking Lot Snow Removal, stacking, drainage protection, and stall recovery.
Salting and De-Icing, anti-icing and material rates matched to pavement temperature.
Seasonal Snow Contracts, contract structures and what belongs in the scope.
Emergency Snow Response, when existing coverage fails mid-storm.
Our Work
View Our Projects See real projects across Toronto & Ontario
Commercial and heavy-civil construction delivered for developers, contractors, property managers, and municipalities.
Get a quote for commercial snow removal
Send drawings, a site plan, or a description of the scope. Harrowgate Group is licensed, insured, and WSIB-covered.
Licensed, Insured & WSIB-Covered, work managed and documented on every job
Send your project details
Tell us what you need and we’ll get you a quote. Licensed, insured & WSIB-covered · Free, no-obligation quote & on-site assessment.
Commercial Snow Removal Across the GTA
View all service areas →Harrowgate Group provides commercial snow removal, delivered and installed with quote-ready support across Toronto and surrounding Ontario communities.
