The Pre-Season Snow Checklist Every NJ Property Manager Should Run

November 24, 2025 · JRW Services LLC

By the time the first storm is on the radar, it's too late to fix most winter problems. Run this list in November.

On the property

• Stake curbs, islands, hydrants, catch basins and speed bumps before the ground freezes. Plow drivers can't miss what they can't see.
• Walk the lot for potholes and settled trench patches. Plows find them the hard way, and freeze-thaw makes them worse by March.
• Confirm downspouts and drainage don't discharge across walkways. That's how you make a skating rink you own the liability for.
• Mark where snow piles go. Piles placed wrong block sight lines, bury hydrants or melt across pedestrian routes.
• Check exterior lighting. Crews working at 4 a.m. and customers walking at 6 p.m. both need it.

On the contract

• Confirm the trigger depth and whether walkways have a different one than the lot.
• Confirm who monitors weather and dispatches. If it's you, you don't have a snow contract, you have a phone number.
• Get the certificate of insurance for the current season, with your property listed.
• Agree on the service report format and who receives it after every event.
• Have the pre-season site walkthrough documented with photos, so spring damage conversations are short.

An hour of November beats a week of February. If your current contractor won't do the walkthrough, that tells you something too. (Want this as a printable one-pager? It lives at jrwservicesllc.com/winter-readiness.)