The Snow Shovel Is a Job Too: Decide Who Clears the Walk Before the First Freeze

Outdoor jobs look minor until one of them fails at the wrong hour. A walk that is not cleared, a bin that is not out, a gutter that backs up onto the step: each one becomes a problem for her and for you. Decide before the weather turns who does each job, who covers when that person is away, and what the hire is insured to do.

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List every outdoor job

Walk the outside of the house with a pad. Write each job down: walk and step clearing, salt or sand, trash and recycling bins, mail, lawn or hedges, gutters, a loose railing, path lights, a gate that sticks. Most people forget the small repeated ones. Those are the ones that come up on a bad morning.

Sort each job by timing and risk

Some jobs can wait a day. Others cannot wait at all. The walk and steps are in the second group, because they decide whether she can get to the car or the clinic. Mark each job as daily, weekly, or as needed, and mark whether it is a safety job or a tidy job. Give the safety jobs first claim on your time and money.

Decide what you keep

Keep a job yourself only if you can do it safely, on the schedule it needs, without leaving her alone. A job that takes you out the door while she is in a chair or bed is not one to keep. Be honest about your own reach, balance, and stamina. Writing the job on the day sheet with a time beside it makes the honest answer clearer.

Decide what you hire

Hire the jobs that need a person on a schedule you cannot hold, or that need a tool or height you do not have. Before you hire, ask what the person needs from you: a key, a code, a place for the bin, a note about her habits. Put that in writing beside the job.

Check the hire's insurance and limits

If the person works through a company, ask whether it carries liability and workers' compensation coverage for this kind of work. If the person works alone, ask whether they carry their own coverage, and what it does not include. Your property insurer or your city can tell you what a homeowner's duty is for a clear walk, and write that answer on the sheet too. Treat this as a list of questions to ask, not a legal answer from this desk.

Set the weather rules before the weather

Agree on what happens when it snows overnight, rain freezes, or the person cannot come. Who calls whom, and by what hour? If the hire is delayed, who clears the walk? Write the call-out time on the sheet. If there is no answer by that time, the backup takes the job.

Keep one owner per job

Every job gets one name. If a job has two names, it has none. Put the name, the day, and the time on the sheet, then check the job off when it is done. Review the list once a month, and again after any change in her needs, so the list does not fall behind the house.