Really, you are going to stop in the middle of a cutout and leave your customer with a partially completed bee removal?
The way I handle it, when there is any doubt at all I assume that they have been sprayed and add $250 to my price.
Then while doing the cutout I save nothing but the brood comb and make sure to keep those boxes on the bottom of the hive as it grows and then I discard all the cutout comb early the next spring when those boxes are empty because the bees have moved up.
I'm doing a monster thriving cutout tomorrow where the homeowner bragged about all pesticides he tried on the bees and even used ether on them, all to no avail.
Good luck. ....Don