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How to price bee removal

99K views 48 replies 36 participants last post by  Beebeard 
#1 ·
I was thinking of doing some bee removal and wanted to know how everyone figures pricing.
 
#30 ·
Hello, I thought I would chime in here as a businessman that specializes in the removal of wildlife (including honeybees) from homes.
Just from the sake of pure liability it might be prudent to separate one's bee removal activities from one's personal assets as one litigous client can encumber everything remotely associated with the bee removal operation.
I can not advise on the best course of action as I am not A) an attorney B) an insurance underwriter C) an expert in anything other than the capture and control of wildlife.
Here are some things I do that I hope save me some grief if it should ever hit the fan. My business, Georgia Wildlife Services, Inc is an incorporated sub chapter S corporation filed with the secretary of state in Georgia. This nominally seperates the company assets and activities from my own personal assets and activities. NOTE; any business dealings by myself MUST be conducted as an agent/employee of the corporation even though I am the owner/president/CEO/CFO and secretary of the corporation. The corporate veil must be maintained to provide separation of assets. The corporation also maintains insurance on it's activities for the sole purpose of protecting it's clients from bad actions by the corporation (not as some would believe to protect me). The corporation also requires that all activites and work be in WRITING prior to the start of work performed WITH signatures of acknowledgement by both the client and agent of the corporation.
Again I make no claim to expertise in this area but just tossing this out for your consideration, particularly if one chooses to offer his/her services for a fee. Free service may or may not be covered under the homeowners policy (?invited guest?), I would check on that if I offered no charge services.
 
#31 ·
Yes, a 1-minute swarm at arm's reach, no charge, or gas if it's a long drive. If I have to bring a ladder - a $65 donation, or an arrangement where the beekeeper is the temporary employee of the landowner. If it involves removing wood, drywall, stucco, etc., and repairs AND YOU ARE NAMING PRICES, you are contracting without a license. Big, fat penalties in California for that, and not only that, you could be sued. It may also require permits, and some cities have tree codes.

I'm starting a not-for-profit, 501c3 corporation that accepts donations for bee rescue/removal involving structure removal/replacement to keep it legal. If you go the contract route, get your license, your bond, your insurance, and be sure to include equipment loss / damage costs in the boilerplate. It is paying work, it should not be cheap, it should be done correctly. Other people do get stung, and legal issues do pop up.

State contract laws should have an exclusion for beekeepers catching swarms, but I doubt many or any do.
 
#33 ·
I do cut outs and price them according to the location of the hive & the difficulty of accessing the hive. Usually a cut out of a wall, roof, etc. & a live removal of the bees will come out to around $450 - $600.

The structure will be repaired back to the original condition & can be painted (if needed) if the homeowner supplies the paint. I ALWAYS use contracts!
 
#36 ·
Before I got my removal license (allowing me to charge for removals in TX) I did the removal for free, but only after the property owner reimbursed my actual travel expenses to come out and examine the hive.
...Now that the state has assured me my license is "in the mail" I'll be re-editing all my ads & will have a $100 minimum + fuel surcharge (95% of my calls are from at least 25 minutes away...gas costs money), and I'm also considering adding a $100 AHB/sprayed hive/super-agressive bees surcharge.
I don't/won't charge based on my time "on scene" as I generally like to "take my time" when handling the cut-outs & would feel I was cheating the customer if I were charging by the hour. That said, I WILL charge based on the size/accessibility of the hive; still working out how to do that w/o losing the appearance of professionalism though.... ideas anyone?
 
#37 · (Edited)
I charge $75 plus travel at 50 cents a mile to come out and estimate the problem. If you like my quote I apply the $75 towards the first hour of work and then it is $60 an hour thereafter.

I make sure that they are aware that they may get stung, and that I will not be responsible for any damage done to the building or its plumbing/electrical systems nor will I be held accountable for any damages if these systems should catch something on fire or in the event of water damage. Further more I make it clear that they are responsible to ensure that all the honey is cleaned out before they have a contractor repair the structure. I do my best to be very careful when removing building materials and I get all the comb and MOST of the honey out, but if they dont want rodent or insect problems in the future, they really need to wash down the area after I leave...
 
#38 ·
I'm flexible. If it is a local, "shake 'em into the box and walk off" swarm, there is no charge. I think this is a good policy because it builds goodwill and a positive image of beekeepers in general among the community. To me, having a good reputation is worth more than the money I would charge for such a simple job.

Pest control in my area charges $100 to kill a hive, so that's pretty much my minimum. It has to be a fairly simple removal, of a non-residential structure (like a garage, shed, etc), since I won't cut on people's houses. Too much liability for my blood.

I have a "hold harmless" agreement that I have them sign.

The other day I did the first cutout of the year, and did not charge. Reason was, the owner had worked bees before (he was an old retired cowboy who had worked bees in Montana when he wasnt breaking horses), and I loaned him a suit to help me. We did the cutout (removed a sheetrock panel from a garage) and I left all the cleanup and scraping of comb, spraying with killz etc to him.

I wouldn't go get a swarm more than about 15 miles away. Too much chance they will be gone when you arrive.

Since even the simplest cutout is a nasty, sweaty, sticky mess of a job, I think starting at $100 is more than reasonable. If the bees are Africanized, I tell them to call pest control. Having done an Africanized removal, I can't imagine charging less than $500 for it.
 
#40 ·
We originally started doing removals as a way of getting bees. We did not charge and just took donations. After a while we got more calls than we could handle and it cut into our free time. We decided to make a business out of it. The truck is always loaded with a bee vac, ladder, and tools. We usually start at $150 for simple jobs like a soffit or a confined space. if we have to do cutting or the hive is higher than 6 feet up we charge more. I tend to under price and the wife gives me hell so I quote a range until we get there and see what we are actually up against.We still do freebees-swarms, bird houses that we can remove etc we let the customer make a donation. We try not to take more than one or two jobs a week since that cuts into our free time (we both have real jobs) Since our space to put the bees is limited we get the feral hive established and sell it. If we don't requeen we specify that and generally charge less. If we requeen then we get full price. We never assume that the bees have not been sprayed. No matter what the customer tells us we assume that they have been sprayed.. We usually save only a minimal about of brood and honey comb just enough to anchor the new bees.
 
#41 ·
Bees in low wall in garage with plain drywall. That's easy and around $300.
Bees in masonry 30 feet off the ground? Scaffold rental? Extra man?
Travel? We charged $1500 to remove bees from masonry and then put back like before.

There have been jobs I walked away from because it was too much. Typically it's inside and up 3 or 4 flights of stairs. Have done a few like that and you're like a zombie for three days afterwards and you can't pay me enough for that.
Have been getting very picky about which removals I will do. Get burned just once or twice and you get that way.

Wish I had twenty bucks for every time I get a call from someone with a bee tree that thinks they're going to get a free tree removal just for the bees. Have met some doozies and it happens every two weeks or so. So I'm done with bee trees. Urbana, Illinois is "Tree City USA" and dang they got a lot of feral bees. I'm well-stocked anyway. ;)
 
#42 · (Edited)
LA area we do $150 for a half hour or $250 an hour. Never charge flat rate. You never know what is inside that wall/attic, and you never know when the stupid homeowner did something really weird. "it is only a day old!" usually means it is 10+ years and they want a deal. Terminix charges $250 flat rate if they don't have to climb anything, and they leave all the poison and honey behind. If it is in a wall you then need to pay $200 toxic waste dump, and a contractor around $400 to deal with the poison. I find my prices are fair to do bee removals full time.
 
#44 ·
In my experience you need $200 monthly bee removal insurance, a solid "do not sue me" contract which costs around $600 to be written, along with all the proper tools and experience. Then, when you are done you have around a 30-50% chance to actually keep the bees. If someone wants to go through all that for free then they can be my guest. I can sit down in my apiary and make a split in 5 or so mins. I don't need the bees that badly.

Worst case scenario you get someone stung, or you accidentally hit something in the wall (pipes or wires), and now you just paid a couple grand to catch bees that took off a week later.
 
#45 ·
There are many variables in determining bee removal pricing. The size, the age, and the location all can affect the price of the removal. No two removals are ever the same. Most all of my removals have a minimum charge of $250. We charge $75 for Swarms. The most money I’ve ever charged was $1100.00 to remove and relocate the bees.
 
#47 ·
/every year we get a new crop of novice beekeepers who will do removals for free. Usually they do one and realize how much work is involved and retire from the business. I try to go look at the job before I quote. I give a firm price. Most regular removals from walls and soffits that are less than 8 or 9 feet I figure at two hours @$125.00 an hour, no repairs. Some simple things like a hive in a bush (done several of those) Compost bins etc that don't require much effort I might do for $150. We will go pick up a swarm if its near by at no charge. We usually spend at least a half hour after we are done educating the customer and neighbors who stand around observing. We did one job on a Saturday and got three more jobs by just showing all the jofos how things work. We work with a few realtors who are always finding hives in vacant houses.
 
#49 ·
For cutouts: $30 for me to come out, take a look, and write up a proposal. Like my quote and hire me?...$30 credit on final bill. That covers my time to come look at it, weeds out the "it should be free" folks, and secures the job nicely. Contract, insurance are a must.
 
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