The record snowfall total of close to 30 inches last month kept snow removal companies in the Inland Northwest busy clearing parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways, but caused some headaches, budget and otherwise, for other businesses here. And winter doesn't officially arrive until next week.

Business owners here could only guess at their snow removal budget for this winter season, based on past winters and an oft-changing seasonal weather outlook. To businesses that have multiple locations in the region, any amount of snow can be an unwelcome sight, especially when it can cost several hundred dollars or more to plow a single parking lot, says Tony Hall, facilities manager at Yoke's Foods Inc., which operates five Yoke's Fresh Market stores in the Spokane area.

Weather forecasters have predicted a La Nina winter for the Northwest, which would bring a much colder and snowier winter than the meek 14-inch seasonal snow accumulation during last year's El Nino winter. La Nina refers to cooler than normal water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean near the Equator, and typically occurs every two to five years. El Nino is associated with warmer than normal water temperatures in the Pacific.

"It tears your budget apart, simply put," Hall says of rough winters. "You try and take a middle-of-the-run year and throw a number on it, so it's hard to gauge for a heavy year, especially if you have to do rooftop removal. You basically just look at prior years and what the weather guys are saying."

Hall says the cost of snow removal can vary greatly from store to store, based on the size of a parking lot and its location.

"It could be several hundred to several thousand (dollars) for one location" every quarter, he says.

One business's bane can be another's boon. Snow is the lifeblood of businesses, such as landscaping and property maintenance companies, that get most of their normal work during the warmer months and turn to snow removal in the winter to grab whatever revenues they can.

"We work six months out of the year planning to get ready for what might only be 15 days" of work in the winter, says Tom Galloway, owner of Galloway Property Maintenance Inc. here.

Galloway says his company started getting ready for the snow season around Labor Day, updating its snow-removal clients' account information to know when and how clients would want snow removed this winter.

The company charges $129 an hour to plow a parking lot, and Galloway says it also bills for half-hour increments if the task can be completed in less time.

Galloway says his company has about 350 winter-season clients in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, including Triumph Composite Systems Inc. on the West Plains; some branches of Sterling Savings Bank; property owned by Black Realty Management Inc.; Trading Co. Stores; and both Deaconess Medical Center and Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital.

Sterling Savings, which has about 10 bank branches in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, says managers at those branches are key participants in the selection of the snow removal services at each location.

"We use over 50 snow removal service companies within our footprint," says Sterling spokeswoman Cara Coon.

Coon says the company's main priority during snow storms is to keep its employees and customers safe.

"Our goal is to have snow removal take place prior to opening for business each day and throughout the day if needed," she says.

Black Realty Management Inc., which owns various retail and commercial properties here, has some of its locations serviced by Galloway's company, but property manager David Wright says it also contracts with other snow plowing services to clear its various locations.

"Sometime in the fall we'll get bids for the different lots from the contractors, and they'll either do it by the hour or by the plow," Wright says. "If it snows two inches, they'll plow, but if it snows more than that, the contractor might charge more for four inches, or so on."

Wright says the company budgets for each year's snow removal during the previous summer or early fall. The remainder of this month was budgeted for last year, and since there was minimal snowfall in early 2010, he says the company has done fairly well with its budget so far this year, even with the heavy November accumulation.

"Typically, we will look at the past five years and what the winters have been like historically and then we try and guess what it might be like for the coming year," he says. "Two years ago, the huge amount of snow we had here was way over what we had budgeted. We didn't expect that much snow. In the old days before all these intense winters, we usually could figure 10 to 15 plows a season, but the past few years have thrown that off."

Wright says the amount set aside for snow removal at each of its properties varies based on size—from large commercial centers to smaller strip centers—and that each property has its own budget based on that factor, and the number of tenants there. For example, he says a single plowing of two inches of snow at the Manito Shopping Center on the South Hill could cost around $775 or more.

He says the cost for snow removal is split amongst the tenants at each center, as part of their common maintenance costs, which in the nonwinter months includes mowing, landscaping, and other work.

"It varies depending on the size, but it's all prorated based on that," he says. "Our tenants are our customers, so we work with the snow plow drivers, so they know they have to be there very early and have the lot plowed before places open."

Hall says Yoke's also typically has its lots plowed when two inches or more of snow accumulates, since any amount less than that will usually melt from de-icing fluids sprayed on the lot. He says the local grocer contracts with two separate companies for plowing and de-icing services, adding that the stores' employees are responsible for keeping walkways and entrances snow- and ice-free.

Galloway says he has about 119 contracted plow workers this winter, who mostly use their own trucks and plow blades. He says he owns some company trucks, but that most of his contracted workers are required to have their own equipment.

"My guys take on a fireman mentality," Galloway says. "They know they have to get there before the cars get to the lots and get the snow out of the way."

He recalls the winter here two years ago, when the Inland Northwest accumulated more than 93 inches of snow, breaking a record.

"On the morning of Dec. 17 (2008) we dispatched our trucks to the hospitals and they didn't finish plowing until the night of the 19th," he says. "Then I made them all go home and sleep. I have some diehards who would have kept plowing, so we've been reminiscing of that lately," with the heavy snowfall last month.

Galloway says most of his longtime plow drivers work the same scheduled routes every winter. He says the main goal is to gauge the plowing times just right so clients' lots are cleared before the businesses open in the morning.

"The trucks have to pull out just prior to the requested time, because in the continued snowfall, if you are done an hour too soon, they don't know you've even been there by the time they need to open."

He says it usually takes between four and five days of plowing each winter for his company to break even with its operating expenses, including the umbrella insurance policy that he provides for his plow drivers. A standard auto insurance policy does not cover commercial plowing, he says.

"We've had about 25 inches of snow so far, which is about half of a normal year," Galloway says. "We have been out seven times so far this winter, and we normally average about 12-15 times in one season."

Besides plowing, the company also provides snow blowing and de-icing in the winter. Galloway Property Maintenance also offers landscaping, lawn mowing, sprinkler system work, roofing, siding, and window installation, and was founded here in 1954.