Winter service
Ice Management & Salting in Durham Region
Salting and de-icing so your walkways and lot don't turn into a slip-and-fall claim. We treat ahead of the storm when we can, not after someone's already gone down.
What's included
Ice is the part of winter that generates claims. Plowing is visible and easy to verify; de-icing is the work that decides whether someone goes down in your entrance at 7 a.m. It's also the work most often done too late — after the ice has already bonded to the pavement, when it takes several times the product to achieve the same result.
Every ice management & salting program is scoped to the property. Here's what we typically cover:
- Rock salt and ice-melt application
- Walkway, entrance and lot de-icing
- Pre-treatment ahead of forecast storms
- Application logs for liability records
- Billed per application at agreed rates
Why property managers choose us
One local crew, documented work
We run ice management & salting with commercial-grade standards — the same crew every visit, full insurance and WSIB coverage, and documented proof of the work.
- Fully insured & WSIB-compliant
- Documented proof-of-service
- One dependable point of contact
- Local Durham Region crew
Season by season
The winter, month by month
A winter contract isn't one job repeated. Here's what each stretch of the season demands, and what we're doing about it.
Pre-treatment ahead of forecast
Where the forecast supports it, treating before the event stops ice bonding to the surface in the first place. It's cheaper and it works better than trying to break a bond that has already formed.
Lots, walkways and entrances
Application across drive lanes, parking areas, pedestrian routes, entrances and accessible parking. Entrances and walkways get treated to a different standard than the middle of a lot, because that's where people are on foot.
Response to thaw-freeze
The dangerous events aren't always storms. A sunny day in March that melts a lot and refreezes it overnight produces a sheet of clear ice that nobody sees coming. Those get treated on their own trigger.
Application logs
Records of what was applied, where and when. For a commercial property this is liability documentation — if there's a claim, the log is the defence.
First frosts
November
The season's first ice usually beats its first plowable snow. Morning frost and refrozen surface water on lots and walkways come well before anyone is thinking about winter.
Storm cycle
December to January
Application paired with plowing — surfaces treated once they're cleared, since salting on top of snow mostly wastes product.
Deep cold
January to February
Plain rock salt loses most of its melting power below about −10 °C. Deep-cold stretches need more product, more frequent passes, and realistic expectations about what will actually melt.
Thaw-freeze
March to April
The highest-risk window of the year for a slip claim. Melt runs across lots by afternoon and sets up as clear ice overnight, often on a day with no precipitation at all.
Durham Region considerations
The Durham lakeshore is an ice region more than a snow region. Ajax, Pickering, Whitby and south Oshawa hover around the freezing mark through much of the winter, which produces freezing rain, wet snow that sets overnight, and repeated thaw-freeze cycles — the exact conditions that put ice on a lot without ever dropping enough snow to trigger a plow. For commercial properties along Harwood, Kingston Road, Dundas and King Street, de-icing is generally the more frequently used half of the winter contract, not the add-on.
Booking the season
Winter contracts get signed in the fall
Snow capacity is finite. A crew can only commit to the properties it can physically reach inside a service window, which means the route for a given winter is largely decided before the first flake falls.
August and September — scoping
Site walks, scope written, snow storage located and clearing priorities agreed while the property is still visible under grass rather than under snow.
September and October — contracts
This is when winter agreements are actually signed. Properties that come in here get their choice of service window and their trigger set the way they want it.
November — staking and setup
Curbs, hydrants, catch basins and beds staked before the ground freezes. Miss this and a plow finds them the expensive way in January.
December onward — the route is committed
We take on late properties when we genuinely have the capacity to serve them properly, and we say no when we don't. A property added to a full route in January gets cleared late, which is worse than not having taken it.
Ice Management & Salting across Durham Region
Pick your city for local details, or see all our service areas.
Good to know
Questions
We serve Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering, Bowmanville, Brooklin and the surrounding Durham Region and GTA-East communities.
Yes. We work with both homeowners and commercial properties across Durham Region.
Yes — we're fully insured and WSIB-compliant, so your property is covered on every visit.
Call us at 437-937-2122 or request a free quote online. We respond fast — usually the same day.
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