I had to put out a call for bids to plow/salt/sand a subdivision. The plow guy we've had for 17 years has retired from plowing, he let me know at the very last minute. So I had to scramble to find contractors and request quotes. We were paying $5000/year and we were getting a great deal at that price. I got 5 quotes. The best, which I accepted this morning, was $6700 from a contractor who had ample equipment and plows many nearby commercial parking lots in the town. The worst quote I received was from a guy that used to work for the town road commissioner but had branched out on his own and had a Ford F250 with plow and a sander in the back. He was in his 40s, had arm and neck tats, a bit rough around the edges but came acoss as a nice guy. His quote was $16K! I had to catch myself before I spit out "What are you, smoking crack?!!". I'm very happy with the low quote from an experienced contractor who owns plenty of equipment. Just in the nick of time, we are supposed to get plowable snow tomorrow.