I’m in Calgary, Alberta and out of the 25 crews doing snow removal last year, 80% were subcontractors. Employees did some of the more delicate commercial jobs, but the main benefit of employees vs subs is I for the “no questions asked” aspect. With subs it’s up to them to take the route or the site, but I can take chances and experiment with employees.
The benefit of Subs is that most people who are responsible and reliable will end up opening their own company anyway. I take it a step further with subs who have suck for a few years and I will “trade” customers with them so they can focus more on my customers while other subs do their customers and everyone saves on travel time.