Step by step. Official links included.
This is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Read the official pages linked here. Partner offers are optional and labeled.
Sell driveway and sidewalk clearing for the months it actually snows. In a real snow market that demand sits in late fall through winter, often November into March, with the calls stacked on storm nights. Pair it with a warm-season trade the same truck can support: landscaping from spring through fall, or power washing once the salt is off the concrete. A plow-only company with no summer work spends the warm months hoping the truck payment waits. Say on the page which off-season service is real. Do not advertise mowing if you do not own a mower. In Ohio the first customers are in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland. Snow is a real season and it is not the whole year. Snow is a real season and it is not the whole year. Driveways, sidewalks, and alley garages are the winter business.
Ohio has humid summers, cold winters, and lake-effect snow in the north. Basements are common. Cincinnati's Kentucky side and every other river crossing is a different license. City permits sit on top of the state rule.
We could not confirm a direct filing address for Ohio. Open the SBA: state registration lookup and choose this state. We do not have a filing fee for Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
Some boxes are labeled Partner. ServiceBase has not joined those programs. The links go to each company's own homepage, not a tracking link. If a program later approves us, the address will change and we may earn a commission. You can file, insure, and bank anywhere. Official government links are not partner links. Nothing on this page is a discount code.
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The guide stays public. An account saves your state, city, and trade, and lets you mark each filing as you go. The advertising credit is reserved when you register. It can be spent after the free website is live.
Create a free account to track your progressUse a name a half-asleep customer can say at 5 a.m. Search the state filing office and the city. 'Snow' plus the city is crowded. A last name and 'snow' is enough. The invoice, the truck door, and the voicemail should match, because the person who calls during a storm will not hunt for a second spelling.
Search that name at the SBA: state registration lookup before you print shirts. Use the same spelling on the truck and on a quote in Cincinnati.
A one-truck plow route often starts as a sole proprietorship. An LLC is a reasonable filing once you hire a driver, sign a commercial-lot contract, or put the insurance in a company name. The filing does not license you to push snow into the street, and it does not replace a plow policy. Read the contractor board and the city separately. This page is not legal advice.
We do not have a filing fee for Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
An employer identification number is the business tax ID. The IRS issues it online at no charge and says you never have to pay a company to get one. If you form an LLC, file with the state first. The IRS says an EIN application can stall when the state filing is not done. A sole proprietor can often start with a Social Security number and get an EIN when a bank or a hire requires it.
Apply on the IRS page if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner beside this step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero either way.
The Ohio licensing page we could verify is the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell.
This board covers specific construction trades, not every lawn or cleaning business. Check the city for the rest.
Read the contractor board for a landscaping or snow classification and any dollar threshold on that page. Get the city business license. Ask public works whether snow may be pushed into the street or piled on a sidewalk. Do not advertise a service the board licenses unless you hold it.
A city or county can require its own registration even when the state page is quiet. The city guides name the local permit counter. Call that office and write down what they say. Do not pay a third party that promises a license until you have read the official page.
General liability before the blade touches someone else's driveway. Ask for a snow-removal or plow classification, not a summer landscaping policy that never mentions winter. The ordinary claims are a mailbox, a buried sprinkler, torn turf, a curb, and a car that was under the snow. Commercial auto is the policy people skip: a personal auto policy often excludes plowing and other business use, and the truck is how the work happens. If the vehicle has a plow mount, say so when you bind the coverage. Workers' compensation before anyone else is driving or shoveling. A property manager will ask for the certificate before the first storm.
Workers' compensation is a state program. Before anyone works with you, including a friend, ask an insurer and the state labor office whether you must carry it. This guide does not quote a headcount, because those rules differ and the state page is the source. The SBA page describes the common policies. It does not sell them. Buy the policy before you work in a house in Ohio.
Storm money arrives in lumps, then nothing for a week. Put deposits and salt receipts in a business account so a quiet January does not look like profit. Fuel, plow shoes, and a replacement cutting edge should not land on a personal card you sort out in April. Set tax money aside on the week a commercial lot pays, because that check is large and the next storm may not come.
The bank will usually ask for your ID, the EIN or your Social Security number, and the formation papers if you filed an LLC. A checking account and a habit of setting tax money aside are enough at the start.
Treat the ranges that follow as typical planning estimates, not a quote and not a survey. A short residential driveway is often discussed in a wide band, commonly somewhere around $40 to $90 for a light visit, and more when the depth, the ice, or a long drive changes the hour. A corner lot with a city sidewalk, a salting pass, and a seasonal contract are different products from a single push. Write your own three numbers before you need them in a storm: the driveway visit, the sidewalk add-on, and the seasonal route you can actually reach when it snows three nights in a row.
Those estimates move with drive time, salt, and how fast the city wants the walk cleared. A price copied from a lake-effect city will miss in a place that only snows a few times. Use the job pricing calculator on your own overhead, then time ten real drives. Do not publish a statewide 'from' price. Say the estimate is a starting point until you have seen the apron, the slope, and where the snow is allowed to go.
Cincinnati: humid summers, cold winters, freeze, and river-valley weather that keeps moisture on shaded walls Driveway and sidewalk clearing, salting only if you offer it, and a seasonal contract only for streets you can reach before work. In Cincinnati, OH, list Hyde Park and West Chester together only if one crew really covers both. Columbus: humid summers, cold winters, freeze, and ice that shows up often enough to matter for roofs and lines Driveway and sidewalk clearing, salting only if you offer it, and a seasonal contract only for streets you can reach before work. In Columbus, OH, list German Village and Westerville together only if one crew really covers both. Cleveland: lake-effect snow, hard winters, humid summers, and freeze that lasts long enough to run the heating season Driveway and sidewalk clearing, salting only if you offer it, and a seasonal contract only for streets you can reach before work. In Cleveland, OH, list Ohio City and Parma together only if one crew really covers both.
Claim the Google Business Profile before the first forecast, with hours that include the night you actually answer. The service area should be towns you can reach before driveways freeze into ruts. Ask for a review after a clean push, and ask them to name the neighborhood. The website splits driveway, sidewalk, and salting, says the truck is a commercial vehicle, and says whether summer is landscaping or power washing. ServiceBase publishes that page and keeps the quote requests. It does not mount the plow or buy the policy.
In Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, the profile, the reviews, and the site should name the neighborhoods you actually drive. ServiceBase publishes the page and keeps quote requests in a list on your account. No card. It does not file the LLC, get the EIN, or buy the insurance.
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Signup asks for an email and a password. No card. This guide opens the next step with the trade filled in. You can change every line after.
We do not have a filing fee for Ohio that we are willing to print. Use the SBA lookup, choose Ohio, and read the fee on the state office's own page. Sole proprietors who operate under their own name often skip this filing. Confirm that on the same site.
The Ohio licensing page we could verify is the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board. Open it and read the part that names the work you will sell. This board covers specific construction trades, not every lawn or cleaning business. Check the city for the rest.
Start where you can reach the stops in a day. The city guides cover Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland. Close-in customers want a crew that can handle an old house. A statewide claim is a weak service area.
Yes. Use the IRS link in the steps if you want the number yourself. LegalZoom, the partner on the EIN step, can request it while they form the company. That service is optional. The IRS fee is still zero.
All snow removal business steps · Snow removal website guide
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