Most snow removal records get written after the fact. A property manager gets a demand letter eight months after a January fall and tries to remember who plowed the lot, what time, and whether anyone salted the back steps. A contractor gets an invoice dispute and has nothing but a text thread. A city sends a notice about a sidewalk nobody remembers ignoring.
A snow removal log is the fix for all three: a short record, made at the time, of what was done, where, when and by whom. This post covers what usually follows a storm, what the log should hold, and how to get a crew to fill it in.
What usually happens after a storm
The sequence is similar in most US cities and towns, even though the details change:
- The clock starts when the snow stops. Many local ordinances put the duty to clear sidewalks on the owner or occupant of the abutting property, with a deadline counted from the end of the snowfall.
- Enforcement tends to follow complaints. A neighbor, a mail carrier or a 311 report brings an inspector, and the first step is usually a notice or a fine.
- The city may do the work and send the bill. If the sidewalk still isn't clear, many places clear it themselves and charge the owner.
- A slip claim can arrive much later. It may come weeks, months or years afterward, and the first thing anyone asks for is records.
Know your clock
Deadlines vary a lot, so look up your own city or town. Two examples show the range. Worcester, Massachusetts, requires abutting sidewalks to be cleared and treated within 10 hours after snow stops falling, to a width of at least 4 feet, with a $75 daily fine; the city may clear it and seek reimbursement. Duluth, Minnesota, requires clearing within 24 hours after snowfall ends; if it isn't done, the city sends a seven-day compliance letter, can hire a contractor and charges the cost to the owner or the property, including through property tax assessments.
Read your local ordinance for four things: who is responsible, how long you have after the snow ends, how wide the cleared path must be, and whether ice has to be treated as well as snow.
Why the log needs storm start and end times
Courts don't apply one national rule to the question of how long an owner has to act. Some northeastern states follow an "ongoing storm" rule that gives owners a reasonable time after the storm ends. Massachusetts uses a general reasonable-care standard instead. New York City codifies a four-hour grace period after the storm ends, excluding 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. In these disputes, weather data is central.
You don't need to know which rule applies to you to benefit from the habit: write down when the snow started, when it stopped and where you got that information (a weather service report, a station reading, your own observation), and then log every visit after that. That gives anyone who reviews the record, including your insurer, a timeline.
What to record
Public risk-management guidance on snow and ice logs is consistent about what belongs in them. The insurer CNA publishes a maintenance log with these fields, and a snow-management contractor interviewed by Lawn & Landscape lists similar ones:
- The date, the location and the weather. Temperature, wind, and whether it was snowing, sleeting or freezing rain.
- The storm. Start time and finish time.
- Each area, separately. Parking lot, sidewalks and walkways, entrances and exits, ramps, stairs and steps, dumpster areas. One line per area, not one line per property.
- The work. Plowed, shoveled, blown, salted, sanded or treated with a deicing chemical, and how much material was used.
- The time of each task, and arrival and departure times for any contractor.
- The name of the person who did it.
- Photos. CNA recommends time-stamped photos in the comments. A before-and-after photo of each area is more convincing than a checkmark.
- Problems. Spots that refreeze, a melting pile draining across a walkway, a missed area, a vehicle that blocked the plow, and what was done about it.
- Inspections when no work was needed. A walk of the property that found it clear is also worth a line.
- Communications. An insurer's loss-control note advises owners to log calls to the contractor with the date, time, number called and who answered.
How often to log
There is no single frequency to cite. The State of Utah's risk-management guidance on snow and ice advises "frequent checks before, during, and after weather events" and says the plan should set in advance when removal and de-icing begin, using as its example before ice forms or after 2 inches of snow. Your own trigger might be different. What matters is that it is written down, that everyone knows it, and that the log shows the checks actually happened.
If you hire a contractor, check the contract for a trigger depth. The same insurer note points out that when a contract has one, the owner generally stays responsible for the property until that depth is reached, and that a few states have passed snow removal liability limitation acts that expect owner involvement in oversight and documentation. Have an attorney review the contract and ask your insurance agent what your policy expects.
Paper pad or QR code
A clipboard in the truck works until it gets wet, falls behind the seat or goes home with the wrong person. The log you can find in March is the one that was filled in on the day.
With a checklist on a phone, you put a QR code at each site, on the shed door, the lot entrance or the dumpster enclosure. The crew scans it, picks the area, adds a photo, and the entry is saved with the date, the time and who filled it in. Nobody needs to create an account to fill it in, and you can offer the checklist in English and Spanish for crews that work in both. A recurring reminder can prompt a pre-storm check so it doesn't rely on one person's memory.
If someone does slip
Utah's guidance for after an incident is to write an incident report with witness statements, record the conditions (whether it was snowing, whether the area had been salted, the temperature), photograph the scene before any cleanup, with a series leading up to the spot and close-ups from 1 to 3 feet away, and save any video promptly so it isn't overwritten. The guidance says to submit that evidence with the claim.
How long to keep the records
Claims can come long after the fact, and the time limit depends on your state and on who is making the claim. One Michigan contractor serving Indiana customers told Lawn & Landscape that it keeps records for up to 20 years because of Indiana's statute of limitations for minors. Ask an attorney or your insurer how long to keep yours.
A free starting point
You can build a snow and ice log from an editable template, or start from scratch. Browse our free templates and adapt one to your property, or sign up free and build the fields from the list above: area, work done, material used, photo and name.
What this does and doesn't do
A log helps you keep records of what you did and when. It doesn't guarantee that a claim or a citation will go your way, and it doesn't replace your local ordinance, your contract, your insurer's requirements or advice from an attorney. Rules on deadlines and liability differ by city and state, so confirm the details where you operate.
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