Why does a long driveway cost more to plow than a short one?

More plow time, more places for the snow to go in stages, more staking, and often a circle or a gate. The area's largest advertiser prices a large property at $82, $179 and $269 per visit against $49, $109 and $149 for a standard one.

Can a gravel or crushed-stone driveway be plowed?

Yes, with the blade shoes set high or with a blower. Inverness permits crushed stone driveways; South Barrington bans gravel and requires asphalt, concrete or pavers.

Do driveway edges need to be staked?

Yes, before the ground freezes at a 42-inch frost line: paver edges, culvert ends at the roadside ditch, the mailbox post, sprinkler heads and gate posts.

Long Driveways

Long Driveways, Circles, Gates and Estate Approaches

Barrington Hills zones lots at five acres; Inverness, Deer Park and South Barrington at one. The driveway on a lot like that is a road, and the contract for it is a different job from a town-lot pass.

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The plowing, shoveling and salting arranged through this page is done by an independent snow removal operator under their own business name and their own insurance. This site makes the introduction and clears nothing itself.

The Local Fact

Lots Measured in Acres, Driveways Measured in Hundreds of Feet

The defining fact of a Barrington-area snow contract is written into the zoning codes. Barrington Hills zones single-family lots at five acres in its R-1 district, and its comprehensive plan says most residences sit on five acres or more. Inverness requires one acre and 140 feet of frontage; its 1926 plan laid the roads out “to take advantage of the rolling land.” Deer Park set one acre at incorporation in 1957 and says most homes still sit on it. South Barrington requires an acre and averages about two. Lake Barrington and the older parts of North Barrington run 40,000 square feet. Only the core of Barrington village is on 7,500-square-foot town lots.

A house set back on five acres has a driveway that is a road. The listings say it plainly — “a long, winding drive,” “winding circle driveway,” “behind a coded iron entrance gate,” “a long paver drive” — and the area’s largest advertiser prices it as its own tier: $82, $179 and $269 per visit for a large property against $49, $109 and $149 for a standard one. This page is about what that tier is actually buying.

What Makes It a Different Job

Five Things a 400-Foot Approach Has That a Town Driveway Does Not

Somewhere for the snow to go, every time

A straight blade pushes a windrow the whole length of the drive. On a long approach through trees it has to be angled off to one side in stages, and by February the piles on that side are five feet high. An operator who has plowed the drive before knows which side, and where the septic field is that the pile must not sit on. Where the snow may go.

A circle

A circle drive is two aprons, an island, and a turning radius that a three-quarter-ton with an eight-foot blade handles differently from a skid steer. The island edging — often stone or brick — gets staked before the ground freezes, or it gets found in January.

A gate

A coded or remote gate at 4 a.m. is either open for the operator, on a code they hold, or the drive does not get plowed. The gate posts and the swing radius are staked; the plow does not push snow into the swing.

Pavers, stone and culverts

The estate villages have ditch-and-culvert road edges rather than curb and gutter, so every drive crosses a culvert whose ends are invisible under a foot of snow. South Barrington requires asphalt, concrete or pavers and bans gravel; Inverness permits crushed stone. Pavers mean blade shoes up and stakes at every edge; stone means a raised blade or a blower.

The fifth thing is time. Five acres of frontage with a 400-foot drive, a circle and a barn lane is not one stop on a route; it is three. A seasonal price that reflects that is an honest one.

Village by Village

Where the Long Drives Are

Barrington Hills — five-acre minimum, 1920s estates on old farms and a 1970s peak, equestrian property with barn lanes and paddock gates, 24.5 miles of private road that the drive may open onto. Barrington Hills.
Inverness — one-acre lots on rolling ground laid out in 1926, a 1980s build peak, crushed-stone drives permitted. The village fines plowed snow on a street at $200–$750 a day, on the homeowner and the operator jointly. Inverness.
South Barrington — one-acre minimum and two-acre averages, 1990s–2000s estates, gravel banned, four association-plowed subdivisions. South Barrington.
Deer Park — one-acre lots on private wells, plowed by Ela Township on the public side. Deer Park.
North Barrington — 40,000-square-foot Biltmore lots, two-acre Oaksbury, 4.66-to-9.82-acre Old Barrington Farm home sites, and Wynstone’s private roads. North Barrington.

Common Questions

What People Ask About This

Why does a long driveway cost more to plow than a short one?: More plow time, more places for the snow to go in stages, more staking, and often a circle or a gate. The area's largest advertiser prices a large property at $82, $179 and $269 per visit against $49, $109 and $149 for a standard one.
Can a gravel or crushed-stone driveway be plowed?: Yes, with the blade shoes set high or with a blower. Inverness permits crushed stone driveways; South Barrington bans gravel and requires asphalt, concrete or pavers.
Do driveway edges need to be staked?: Yes, before the ground freezes at a 42-inch frost line: paver edges, culvert ends at the roadside ditch, the mailbox post, sprinkler heads and gate posts.