Snow Estimating | Best Practices

This workflow outlines the full setup and estimating process for launching Snow & Ice operations in LMN. By configuring your account with dedicated Snow divisions, services, job types, cost codes, and estimates, you’ll ensure accurate pricing, time tracking, and clear client communication for all winter services.

In this article:

Setup General Account Settings for Snow Work

Create & Build Snow Estimates

Generate Proposal

Overnight Timesheets for Snow

Setup General Account Settings for Snow Work

Create Snow Division

1. Settings > Estimates > Divisions
2. Click on + Add New
3. Click on Recommended Divisions and click the checkbox next to Snow & Ice
4. Click Save
5. Additional Steps:
   1. Click into Division to set Sales Goal + Labor Hours Goal
   2. Set expected closing rate for this division
   3. When finished, click Save

Create Snow Cost Code

1. Settings > Estimates > Divisions
2. Click on + Add New
3. Click on Recommended Cost Codes and click the checkbox next to ‘Snow’
4. Click Save

Create Snow Job Type

1. Settings > Jobs > Job Types
2. Click on + Add New
3. Job Type Settings:
   • Job Type Name: Snow
   • Job Category: Production
4. Prompt Settings Recommendations:
   • Task Notes: Optional
   • Weather Comments: Yes, Prompt
   • Equipment Comments: No
   • Drive Time Shortcut: Yes
5. Click Save

Create Snow Terms & Conditions

1. Settings > Estimates > Terms & Conditions
2. ‘Snow + Ice Control [SAMPLE]’ should be built into your account by default
   1. If you need to add additional terms, click the + Add New button.
   2. To customize or expand on the sample, click into the Snow + Ice Control [SAMPLE] entry.

Create Snow Services

1. Settings > Jobs > Services
2. Click on + Add New
3. Fill out information based on service:

Create & Build Snow Estimate

In this example we will set up this estimate as follows:

• Per Visit by Depth Increments
• Per Visit for Shoveling & Salting
• Per Visit for Salting Lot

Create Snow Estimate

1. Navigate into Estimates > Estimate List
2. Click the +Estimate button
3. Click Create under Service Estimate
4. Fill in Contact Information Details
   • Assign Division: Snow & Ice
   • Assign Salesperson & Estimator
5. When finished, click Create

Building Snow Estimate

1. Click into the Services + Pricing Tab
2. Click +Add Service
3. Fill out information based on service type:

4. Click the Client Notes tab and Add Terms & Conditions to the estimate. This explicitly states when services will be triggered and performed.

Terms & Conditions

The LMN system has a Snow + Ice Maintenance Terms & Condition sample that can be added to the estimate by clicking on Add Terms & Conditions and selecting Snow + Ice Control [Sample]

• ⚠️ Note that this is only a sample outline of what your Terms & Conditions could look like.

• Also because our sample outline does not include when per visit work will be triggered, here is an example term that can be added to the sample:

  Example Term: Services will be billed per visit and only when a snow event occurs. A "snow event" is defined as an accumulation that meets or exceeds the service trigger outlined in your agreement. No charges will be applied if service is not required. This ensures that you only pay when actual clearing is needed.

   

Generate Proposal

1. To generate a proposal, click the Print Reports tab
2. Click the dropdown under Select Report and select Service Proposal
3. Drop open Pricing Options and check the box next to 'Hide Visit Count (Extras)'. 
   This is so the proposal doesn’t show the visit count as only being 1.
4. Once the proposal meets your requirements and standards, you can click the Email/Publish Proposal button and send this off to your customer to be approved

Once the estimate has been approved and signed, it’s time to lock the estimate and create a to-do for our operations manager that a Job is ready to be generated for this Estimate

Overnight Timesheets for Snow

When snow crews work overnight, timesheets can easily get messy. Hours may land on the wrong calendar day, or a single storm event ends up split across multiple timesheets—especially when shifts cross midnight. This section explains why that happens in LMN and walks through practical ways to keep overnight snow timesheets clean, accurate, and payroll-friendly.

Snow Task - Night to Morning:

1. Login to the mobile Crew App
2. Tap on Find Jobs and search for the Job's location
    
3. Click the play button next to the specific Task, and on the following page, click the play button again to start the Task. (Tap the X in the top right corner to get back to the home screen.)
    
4. Complete the task. When finished, come back to the Crew App.
5. When the Task is completed, tap on the purple stop watch button under the Job.
   
6. Tap the next purple button with 3 horizontal lines > red stop button
    
7. Proceed to tap Next and fill out the information on each page as necessary. Fill out the correct Task End Time and click End Task.
   

Snow Task - Morning:

1. Open the Crew App
2. Find the next Job (or continue with the same Job) and tap the play buttons to start.
   
3. When the screen asks "What date should we start this Task on?" make sure to select the day you are actually starting the work on (TODAY)
    ⚠️ It's very important to NOT select the "Selected Date" option 
   
4. Repeat steps 5-6 from above to end the task. (Stopwatch button > 3 Horizontal Lines button > Next > Next > End Task)

✅ Your Tasks should show correct dates and order chronologically!

Need more help?  Contact our Support Team by email at lmn-support@granum.com, through Live Chat, or by phone at (888) 347-9864

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