How a condo board hires and bids a snow contractor in Massachusetts

Not legal advice. Ask your association attorney and your insurance agent.

1. Read your master deed and bylaws

They say who is responsible for common areas and how the board hires vendors. Read the bylaws for the clause on maintenance of the common areas and how it is paid for. Which drives, lots and walks are common areas depends on your master deed.

2. Write what you need cleared

List and mark on a photo or map: drives, parking, shared walks, front steps, mailboxes, trash area, fire access. Say who does the walks and who salts. Say where snow can be piled.

3. Ask three contractors for a bid on the same scope

Send each one the same list. Use our bid checklist to make sure no one prices a smaller job. Ask each to walk the site.

4. Compare more than the price

• The trigger depth, in inches
• The push cap and the price after the cap
• The response target and what happens in a long storm
• What salt costs and when it is applied
• What is excluded (cars, hidden obstacles, lawn and curb damage)

Unit counts can mislead. See cost per unit for how to compare fairly.

5. Check insurance before you sign

Ask for a certificate of insurance. Ask your own agent what the association needs. See snow removal insurance and liability.

6. Put it in writing

The contract should state the price, trigger, push cap, response target, salt plan, exclusions, records and term. See our sample contract. Have the association attorney review the real one.

7. Review the records during the season

Ask for the visit log: arrival and departure times and photos. If a resident says a walk was not cleared, the log is how the board checks. Read the Massachusetts snow law summary so the board knows what the duty is.

The legal ground a board stands on

Since the 2010 decision in Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., Massachusetts law no longer treats natural and unnatural buildup of snow and ice differently.¹ Whoever owns or occupies land must take reasonable care for people who are lawfully there,² and for common areas that owner is usually the association. Bring both to your association attorney when you review a contract. We are not lawyers.

Sources

Each number above links to the passage it relies on. Checked November 1, 2026. We are a snow contractor, not a law firm or an engineer; confirm legal and structural questions with your attorney, insurer or town.

1. Mass.gov, Massachusetts law about snow and ice Papadopoulos v. Target Corp. , 457 Mass. 368 (2010) This case abolished the legal distinction between natural and unnatural accumulations of snow and ice.
2. Rolli v. Burlington Residences, LLC, 18 Mass. L. Rptr. 571 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2004) owners and occupiers of land owe a common-law duty of “reasonable care in all the circumstances" to all lawful visitors.

Questions

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