Not having owned a house, ever, I find myself clueless: do people typically have to clear their roofs of snow during the winter months in the snowy parts of Switzerland?
Let's skip flat roofed townhouses as a trivial case - looking at the roof profiles of typical mountain valley houses, it seems like they're made steep enough to simply shed any excessive snow, and on the other hand they have protrusions to prevent thin layers of ice or packed snow from falling on people the rest of the time. This is just a weak assumption on my part, though - any confirmation one way or the other?
Just for comparison: climbing to the roof to shovel/plough/push the snow off is usual after any decent snow storm up in Scandinavia.
If clearing must be done, I'll assume the practical arrangements would be similar to driveway clearing, and a cost to factor into owning a place, especially if traveling much of the time.
Normally the roofs are build so that they can withstand the normal snow which is expected at the houses location every 50 years. No need to clear the roof under normal circumstances.
The load due to snow and wind which is expected is calculated according norm SIA 261.
If the snow sliding from your roof hits someone - or something, like a car - it can become costly. article in German .
Ofcourse there is an insurance re. that (too).
My landlord doesn't seem to care about that. Basically every year we have so called roof-avalanches - and BAD ones - exactly where people come and leave. So far nobody was hit, which was pure luck.
Don’t even bother with that. The snow adds extra insolation. Also, how quickly it melts may give you an idea of whether you need extra insulation in the roof space. If your roof is clear and all your neighbours are snow covered it might be worth checking.