Complete Manual to the Best Commercial Snow Shovel

The best commercial snow shovel helps to prevent injuries which cost time, money, and cause a great deal of pain for your employees.

By upgrading your snow equipment, you can protect employees, increase efficiency, finish jobs faster, and keep employees happy.

Plus, if you can prevent just one of your snow professionals from throwing their back out from using a cheap snow shovel, then you've already made back your money ten times over.

Use this complete manual to choose the best commercial for your snow business based on:

• Blade size and shape
• Shaft and handle design
• Snow shovel materials

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Why You Should Buy the Best Commercial Snow Shovel

Before we get started, let's quickly talk about why you should buy the best commercial snow shovel.

First off, if you don't have a large area, then you don't necessarily need to pull out your snow blower. Snow shovels are great for smaller tasks, which would be tackled more easily with a snow shovel.

In order to maintain high-quality services and optimal pricing, a great commercial snow shovel is non-optional.

A snow shovel might passable for a homeowner to shovel their drive once a week. However, it doesn’t mean the same shovel will work for your crews’ needs for 10-14 hours a day or more during a snow event.

The best commercial snow shovel is one that limits the impact on your snow employees’ bodies. After all, even with proper form, the back gets strained with the intense work of shoveling for hours on end.

Fortunately, commercial snow shovels are designed with the best ergonomics in mind. These shovels have handles made of lightweight materials, which save time and ease physical strain.

These better ergonomic designs (e.g. curved handles, lightweight materials, etc.) are more expensive. However, they will help improve your snow experts’ well-being AND profitability.

Plus, when employees use a better shovel, they can work harder and longer due to the decreased physical strain.

Also, the best commercial snow shovel helps prevent employees from quitting or going on disability due to back problems or injuries.

Select the Right Tool for the Job

In order to select the right tool for the job, it's important to know the differences between the best commercial snow shovels.

Here's a quick breakdown of the primary differences between commercial snow shovels:

Snow Shovel Blade Size and Shape

Take a look at the various purposes of snow shovels based on blade size and shape:

• 30-inch plow-style
  • Best for pushing or scraping.
• 24-inch plow-style
  • Biggest option for true shoveling and can do double-duty as a pusher. Plus, it's great for shoveling powder.
• 18-inch plow-style
  • Best for shoveling packed, wet snow. A smaller, lighter shovel load helps protect employees from trying to lift too much snow.
• Aluminium scoop
  • It won’t rust, but it's not ideal for pushing or serious shoveling. Though, it works well for breaking up big drifts or riding down a hill.
• Square nose
  • Good for scraping frozen layers of snow off of sidewalks and driveways.
• Round nose
  • Good for breaking up the frozen berm at the base of snow plow drifts.
• Scraper
  • When a square-nosed shovel can’t break the ice, pull out the big guns (or in this case, the smaller, blade-like gun).

Snow Shovel Shaft and Handle Design

Here are a few different purposes of snow shovel shaft and handles designs:

• Straight Shaft
  • This traditional straight shaft works well for pushing and minimal usage tools (e.g. scrapers, square/round nose, 30-inch, etc.) Though, it's not ideal for lifting.
• Gooseneck shaft
  • A straight shaft, which curves like a gooseneck, works well for medium-use equipment. You can do some shoveling with it, though it gets hard on the wrists. It keeps you from hunching over when pushing or scooping.
• Curved handle
  • Much like it sounds, a curved handle curves in the middle. This reduces hunching and is ergonomically easier on the back. Heavy-use shovels should use curved handles. This allows for the most efficient shoveling and eases the physical toll of snow shoveling.
• D-grip handle
  • The d-grip handle is available on any of the above shafts. It lets the user absorb the shock of shoveling into their palm and gives them greater control over the load of snow.

Snow Shovel Materials

These are a few different types of snow shovel materials and their purposes:

• Wood
  • Heavy and commonly used in cheaper shovels.
• Aluminum
  • Doesn’t rust and is lightweight and rigid. Though, watch out for scraping decks and other soft surfaces, if you’re using an aluminum-bladed shovel.
• Plastic
  • Lightweight, but less rigid. Common in plow-style shovels. Plastic-bladed shovels will not scratch or gouge softer surfaces.
• Fiberglass
  • Lightweight, rigid, and expensive. It has less give than plastic and is lighter than metal - making this an ideal, yet expensive, material for handles.

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The Best Commercial Snow Shovels for Your Business

When choosing the best commercial snow shovel, expect to spend around $30 per snow shovel.

Though, don’t balk at the cost right away. Consider the cost benefits of a more efficient, less strained crew.

Plus, happy employees are faster employees, and faster employees are more profitable employees.

Here's a complete manual with recommendations for choosing the best commercial snow shovels for your business:

Best All-Around Shovel

True Temper’s 18-Inch Ergonomic Mountain Mover has a curved, metal handle and features an oversized d-grip for gloved hands.

The blade is plastic with a nylon strip, which starts flat for pushing and falls into a scoop for scooping. Plus, the shovel is decently light at 3 pounds.

The All-Around Runner Up

Bully Tools’ 22-Inch Combination Snow Shovel features a straight, extra long, fiberglass handle with a d-grip.

The blade is plastic and lends itself to pushing, rather than scooping. It lacks any leading edge, but is said to be exceptionally durable even without one.

At 3.6 pounds, it’s heavier than the True Temper option. However, if you need to replace a shovel midseason, these likely will be easier to locate than True Temper's.

The Pusher

Bully Tools’ 22-Inch Snow Pusher has a straight, extra long, fiberglass handle with a d-grip.

It has a 27-inch plastic blade with no leading edge and weighs 4.85 pounds. However, weight is less of a factor with a pushing shovel because you’re not lifting it as often.

Choose a High-Usage Snow Shovel Handle Attachments

You can purchase an additional handle attachment for high-usage shovels. While it may not be necessary for powder, the team might find it a lifesaver when shoveling heavy, wet snow.

Plus, these attachments are affordable and easy to find. In fact, some of the best commercial snow shovels already have this attachment included.

Also, hardware stores usually sell bolt-on assist handles that go midway down the shovel handle.

These snow shovel attachments keep you closer to upright, which reduces back strain.

If you choose a shovel without one of these high-usage, ergonomic handle attachments, these are a few of the best options:

• BackEZ Ergonomic Handle Attachment
• Heft Plus Secondary Back Saver Handle
• ProHandle Ergonomic Universal Adjustable Attachment

These attachments are designed for straight-handled shovels, though you might be able to fit them on a curved shaft.

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Get The Best Commercial Snow Shovel for Your Business

You might be able to scrape by with cheap snow shovel options.

However, the best commercial snow shovel has the ability to minimize injuries and drastically increase efficiency - allowing you to take on even more jobs.

Plus, shovels are the foundation of your snow business. Which means, job safety and performance are greatly impacted by the snow equipment you choose.

Remember, the best commercial snow shovel is designed with ergonomics and ease-of-use in mind.

Use this complete manual to find the best commercial snow shovel for your business today!

Related: The Best Commercial Snow Blower for Your Business

Originally published Sept 5, 2017 4:14 PM, updated Nov 2, 2021 8:51 AM