Snowplowing now on demand, via your smartphone
Toronto-based Eden app will appeal to homeowners who don't want annual snow removal contract
Add on-demand snowplowing to the ever-growing list of apps designed to make life easier for you.
Eden is a smartphone app that connects snowplow drivers with homeowners who don't want a snow-removal service contract for the entire winter — just for when they need it.
Its rates are based on the size of the property and it has a strict vetting process, working only with contractors who are insured and members of the Landscape Ontario trade association, Eden's Lucy Leiderman told CBC News.
-
Plow Me Out app allows Atlantic Canadians to clear driveways from couch
-
Montreal snow-removal app to work in 18 of 19 boroughs this coming winter
"We're also finding a lot of people who want to order the service for someone else, maybe an older parent or a child who's living at university at a house and who probably won't do it themselves," she said.
Once you open the app, enter your information, click on 'book' when you see your address on the map and a notification goes out to snow contractors in the area. Drivers have a 30-kilometre radius where they can accept a job and once they receive a notification, they'll respond, Leiderman explained.
Garrett Perry has been driving a plow for three years and gave the app a thumbs up.
"For a contractor like myself, if I have a normal route I can turn on a notification system where I can pick up calls on the go or at the end of my day when I've finished my routes," Perry told CBC News. "It's an opportunity to pick up some extra money between jobs. It's quick, it's convenient and it's got a great interface."
Marla Kamin said it takes her about an hour to shovel her driveway, steps and sidewalk.
The on-demand app, she says, is a smart idea that'll appeal to homeowners who "pay up front for the contract, then it doesn't snow and you're out of luck."