Gritting is the classic answer to the grounds contractor's winter problem: the mowers stop earning in October, the van and the customer relationships don't. Commercial clients who already trust you with their grounds are the warmest possible leads for winter services. Here's how the work is structured and priced.
The three contract models
1. Fixed seasonal price. One price for the season (typically November–March), unlimited attendance when triggers are met. Client budgets easily; you carry the weather risk. Price it off long-run averages for your area — Met Office data gives you the typical number of frost nights — plus margin for a bad winter.
2. Price per attendance ("per grit"). You attend when triggered and bill per visit. Fair both ways, and the usual entry model. A typical UK commercial site runs £35–£90+ per attendance depending on area covered, with salt sometimes billed separately per 25 kg bag spread.
3. Retainer + reduced attendance rate. A standing monthly fee holds your capacity and covers monitoring; each attendance bills at a lower rate on top. This is the mature model — it recognises that being ready every night is itself the service.
Triggers: take the decision off the client
Serious gritting contracts run on a trigger protocol, not phone calls: you monitor road-surface temperature forecasts (RST, not air temperature — surfaces run colder) and attend automatically when the forecast crosses the agreed threshold, typically 0.5–1°C RST with moisture present. Buy a proper forecast service for your patch; it's the cost of doing this credibly.
The record-keeping IS the product
Gritting is bought as insurance: the client is paying to be able to show they took reasonable care when someone slips. That means your attendance record is the deliverable — date, time on site, areas treated, salt quantity, conditions, operator — produced per visit and available the morning after. Photo evidence with timestamps settles arguments before they start. If you already run digital job records for your grounds work, the same habit carries straight across; a slip claim can arrive months later, so paper in a van won't do.
Pricing pitfalls
- Night work economics: attendances happen at 3am. Price the antisocial hours, the second person where sites demand it, and the fact that a trigger night usually means every client at once — your route capacity is the real constraint.
- Salt logistics: buy early (price spikes mid-season), store dry, and know your spread rate — 10–40 g/m² depending on conditions, so a big car park eats bags fast.
- Scope creep: "while you're here, the footpath too" — map the treated areas in the contract, and price additions.
- Insurance: check your public liability actually covers winter services; some policies exclude them by default.
Selling it to your existing book
Every commercial grounds client with a car park is a gritting prospect, and autumn (September–October) is the selling window. A one-page letter to your existing clients — "we already maintain your grounds; here's our winter cover" — converts far better than cold outreach, because the trust is already built. Start with per-attendance pricing, prove the service for a winter, then move good clients to retainers.