The Pre-Season Snow Checklist Every NJ Property Manager Should Run
September 25, 2025 · JRW Services LLC
Ten things to confirm on your property and in your snow contract before the first flake falls in New Jersey.
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 on our winter readiness page.)
Looking for a contractor that is prepared for the worst?
That is the whole way we run. Fill out the form or call (973) 459-0074, and we will walk your property and build the plan before the first storm.