Clearing a roof is dangerous work and not a do-it-yourself job.
Farmington’s snow work splits along the same line as the rest of the city. The newer subdivisions climbing toward the mountains have long driveways, big roofs and complicated rooflines; the older core has short drives and tight lots; and the commercial district near the interstate has parking lots with their own rules about timing, liability and where snow is allowed to be stored. Those three are genuinely different jobs. The one that surprises homeowners most often is the roof, because the amount of snow a modern complex roof can hold is easy to underestimate until something starts leaking.
Snow on a roof is heavier than it looks, and wet snow is far heavier than dry. On the complex rooflines common in newer Farmington houses — valleys, dormers, lower roofs beneath upper ones — snow does not sit evenly. It slides and collects, so one section can carry several times the depth that fell. That unbalanced load, not the average depth, is what matters structurally.
The related problem is ice damming. Heat escaping through the roof melts snow from underneath, the meltwater runs down to the cold eave and refreezes, and the resulting ridge of ice backs water up under the shingles and into the house. The visible symptom is icicles and a stain on a ceiling; the cause is usually attic insulation and air sealing rather than the weather.
Clearing a roof is genuinely dangerous — falls, damaged roofing, and ice coming off in sheets — and it should not be attempted from a ladder by a homeowner. Where it needs doing it needs doing properly, and where ice dams keep recurring the long-term answer is in the attic, not on the roof.
A long driveway is a volume problem. There is simply more snow to relocate and a longer distance to move it, and the piles at the end of the season get large enough that where they sit starts to matter: over a lawn they kill it, over a sprinkler manifold they damage it, at the bottom of a slope they melt back across the surface.
The practical details to settle before the season are how many passes a long drive gets during a multi-day storm, whether the far end and any turnaround are included or only the strip to the garage, and whether the walkway and the public sidewalk are part of the service. Long-driveway quotes vary enormously on exactly those points.
Access is the other one. If the driveway is gated, shares a private lane with neighbors, or has a tight turn that a truck cannot make, say so at quote time. A crew that arrives with equipment that cannot physically work the property has lost the visit, and in a storm there is no second slot.
A parking lot is not a large driveway. The obligation is different, because the people walking across it are customers and employees rather than family, and a slip in a commercial lot is a liability question. That changes what the service has to deliver: clearing before opening rather than during the day, treating walkways and entrances specifically, and keeping a record of when work was done.
Documentation is the part most small businesses do not think about until they need it. A contractor who logs the date, time and what was applied is providing something of real value if a claim is ever made, and it is reasonable to ask for that in writing as part of the arrangement.
Snow storage is the other commercial-specific issue. Lots lose parking spaces to snow piles, piles block sightlines at exits, and meltwater running across a travel lane refreezes into the most dangerous surface on the property. Deciding where piles go — and where they must not — belongs in the contract rather than to whoever is driving the loader that night.
There is no single depth, because what matters is the load rather than the depth, and wet snow weighs far more than dry. On the complex rooflines common in newer Farmington homes, snow slides and collects so one section can carry several times what actually fell. Signs worth taking seriously are doors that stick, new cracks in ceilings or walls, and sagging. Clearing a roof is dangerous work and not a ladder job.
That is an ice dam, and the root cause is usually in the attic rather than on the roof. Heat escaping through the ceiling melts snow from beneath, the water runs to the cold eave, refreezes, and backs up under the shingles. Removing the snow relieves it for one winter; insulation and air sealing in the attic is what stops it recurring.
Timing, treatment and documentation. Clearing has to happen before opening rather than around customers, walkways and entrances need treating specifically, and the contractor should log the date, time and what was applied — which matters if a slip claim is ever made. Snow storage locations should be agreed in the contract too, since piles cost parking spaces, block sightlines and send meltwater across travel lanes.
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