Your driveway
Cleared edge to edge, down to the surface, wide enough to get a car out without a three-point turn. Snow is stacked where it will not block sightlines at the end of the drive.
Insured and permitted — twelve areas, Ottawa to Arnprior
Snow removal in Ottawa,done before you wake up
Season pass or one-time clearing for driveways, walkways and city windrows. Automatic dispatch at 5cm, written pricing before you sign, insured operators.
Insured and permitted
CGL cover and a City of Ottawa permit
Written pricing
Your range fixed before you sign
Automatic at 5cm
No call needed, no need to be home
275cm covered
Stated up front, not buried in a clause
CHOOSE YOUR PLAN
Two ways to buy snow removal in Ottawa
Most households take the season pass and stop thinking about it. If you travel through the winter or only want help after the big storms, the one-time pass is there.
Season pass
Every snowfall from November 1 to April 15
from$399for the season
Suits a household that leaves early and cannot risk a late clear.
- Automatic dispatch — no call needed
- Every snowfall of 5cm or more
- Up to 275cm of cumulative snowfall
- Driveway and the city windrow
- Return visit if the plow comes back
One-time clearing
Booked when you need it, priced per visit
from$65per visit
Suits a household that travels, or only wants help after a big storm.
- Book a single storm
- Same driveway and windrow work
- No season commitment
- Priced before we arrive
Prices shown are starting points. Your exact range depends on driveway size and area.
HOW IT WORKS
How snow removal works with BlueGuard
Three steps, and after the first one you are not involved again until spring.
Step 01
Get your price
Enter your driveway size and postal code and the calculator returns a range in a few seconds. Nothing is hidden until a phone call. When you book, that range becomes a fixed written price for the season — we confirm it after looking at your property, and it does not move afterwards.
Step 02
We watch the forecast
You do not call us and you do not need to be home. We monitor Environment Canada for the Ottawa area, and when accumulation reaches 5cm your property is dispatched automatically. The trigger is written into your agreement, so there is no argument later about whether a storm counted.
Step 03
We clear before you wake up
Crews run overnight and through the early morning so the driveway is open before the commute. If the city plow comes back afterwards and leaves a new windrow across the end of your driveway, we return for it — that return is part of the service, not an extra visit you pay for.
WHAT YOU GET
What driveway snow removal includes
Two things are in the base price and two are add-ons. It is set out here so there is no surprise on the first invoice.
The city windrow
The ridge the city plow pushes across the end of your driveway is the part people actually dread. It arrives after you have already shovelled, it is heavy and compacted, and the City is clear that clearing it is the property owner’s responsibility, not theirs. We come back for it.
Walkway and steps
Front walk and steps cleared on the same visit. Priced as an add-on because plenty of households only need the driveway, and there is no reason for them to pay for a walk they do not use.
Salting
Applied per application rather than bundled, because how often you need it depends on your slope, your shade and the freeze-thaw cycle that week. You are charged for the applications you actually get.
THE COST OF WAITING
What an uncleared driveway actually costs
Not clearing is a decision with three separate costs, and only one of them is inconvenience.
Liability on your own property
Ottawa’s Property Maintenance By-law requires an owner or occupant to keep the roof and surrounding lands free of snow or ice accumulation that might create an accident hazard. Enforcement runs through a notice with a compliance deadline. Separately from the by-law, anyone injured on your property may have a claim against you.
City of Ottawa — Property Maintenance By-law 2005-208The windrow is yours to clear
When the plow clears your street it deposits a windrow across the end of every driveway on it. The City states that removing it is the property owner’s responsibility. It is also the heaviest snow you will move all winter, because it has been compacted by the plow blade and often refrozen.
City of Ottawa — Clearing snow from your propertyA car that cannot get out
A storm that finishes overnight lands on a workday morning. Shovelling a windrow before a commute is the difference between leaving on time and not leaving at all, and it is the one cost that arrives on the worst possible morning rather than gradually.
WHY BLUEGUARD
What to check before you sign with anyone
Snow contracts get signed in September and tested in January. These are the six things worth confirming — with us or with whoever you choose.
An unnamed contractor
- No proof of insurance until you ask, if at all
- Trigger decided storm by storm, after the fact
- You find out by looking out the window
- Quote moves once the crew sees the driveway
- A cap you discover in February
- Blocked visit marked complete, no return
BlueGuard
Insured and permitted
Commercial general liability in place and a City of Ottawa snow removal permit before the season opens.
Dispatch trigger in writing
The 5cm trigger is written into your agreement, so what counts as a storm is not decided after one.
Storm alerts by SMS
A message when your route is dispatched, so you know whether to expect us before you look outside.
Fixed price before signing
Your range is confirmed after we look at the property, then it is fixed for the season.
No mid-season cap surprise
Coverage runs to 275cm of cumulative snowfall, stated up front rather than found in a clause in February.
Free callback for a blocked driveway
If a vehicle was in the way when we came, we return at no charge rather than marking the visit complete.
The left column describes gaps worth asking about — not any particular company. Ask whoever you choose to put their answers in writing.
GOOGLE REVIEWS
The company behind the snow service
BlueGuard has been working in Ottawa homes for years — duct cleaning, dryer vents and home services — and holds a 4.9-star Google rating for that work. Snow removal is new for this winter. Same company, same crews, same insurance and the same written-price approach; the reviews below are for our existing services, not for snow.
What carries over to snow
- The same insured crews and the same equipment standards.
- The same written-price approach, applied to snow contracts.
- A company with a service record you can check before you sign.
OUR COVERAGE
Snow removal service areas around Ottawa
Routes are built west and south of the core, where most contractors are thinnest. Pick your area for local detail on plow timing and street layout.
Live service area
- Our branch
- Routes we run
Not on the list? Send your postal code and we will tell you honestly whether a route reaches you this season.
OTTAWA WINTERS
What Ottawa winters do to a driveway
Ottawa does not get one long freeze. It gets a cycle: snow, a thaw that turns the bottom layer to water, then a hard refreeze that welds whatever is left to the asphalt. A driveway cleared badly in December is a driveway with an ice layer you cannot lift in February. Clearing to the surface early is what keeps the rest of the season manageable.
The city plow is the second problem. Arterials are cleared first, so residential streets often get their pass late at night or early in the morning — which means the windrow lands across your driveway after you have already shovelled. It is dense, it is compacted by the blade, and the City is explicit that clearing it is the property owner’s job. That single ridge is the reason most people who hire a contractor say they finally gave up on doing it themselves.
A 5cm trigger is what makes this predictable. Below that a driveway is usually passable and sending a machine would be charging you for nothing. At 5cm and above, tires start packing snow into a layer that ices over, so that is where dispatch begins automatically. You are not deciding storm by storm whether to call, and we are not deciding storm by storm whether to come.
QUESTIONS
Snow removal in Ottawa — common questions
Season coverage runs from November 1 to April 15. Sign-up opens in September and routes fill before the first storm, because a route has a fixed number of properties and cannot be stretched once winter starts.
Once accumulation reaches 5cm, your property is dispatched automatically — you do not call and you do not need to be home. Below 5cm a driveway is usually still passable. The trigger is written into your agreement, so nobody is deciding after the fact whether a storm counted.
Crews work overnight and into the early morning so driveways are open before the commute. During a long storm we may clear once while it is still falling and return afterwards, rather than waiting for it to end and leaving you stuck in the meantime.
Yes, and it is in the base price rather than an add-on. The City confirms that clearing the windrow is the property owner’s responsibility, and it usually arrives after your driveway has already been done — so if the plow comes back, we come back.
We clear what we can reach and leave the rest. Tell us and we return at no charge once the vehicle is moved. A blocked visit is not counted as a completed clear.
It depends on the winter. A season pass costs less than a handful of one-time visits and covers every storm above the trigger; one-time makes sense if you travel through the winter or only want help after the largest storms. The calculator shows both for your driveway.
We keep clearing at no additional charge. The 275cm figure is the coverage commitment stated up front rather than a cut-off discovered in February, which is the clause worth checking in any snow contract you are offered.
Twelve areas for the current season, from Ottawa and Kanata out to Kemptville, Almonte and Arnprior, with some surrounding areas quotable depending on route capacity. Enter your postal code in the calculator and it will tell you directly rather than making you call to find out.
GET YOUR PRICE
See your price before you commit
The calculator gives you a range in under a minute. No account, no phone call, and no obligation to book.