[Wildlife Control] Trapping Revenue

Many pest control companies are giving away or ignoring a valuable source of revenue that is not price sensitive, says Jerry Smith, part owner of Dial Pest Control, Inc., Caldwell, N.J. His company used to be one of many firms that ignored such opportunities and it previously referred potential customers with wildlife control requests to animal control firms that offered referral or finders’ fees. But many times these firms never paid out.

Not anymore. Dial Pest Control has offered residential nuisance wildlife control to its customers since 1997.

"Wildlife control can be very lucrative due to humans’ natural fear of wild animals," Smith said when speaking at the National Pest Management Association convention in Dallas, Texas, last year. "Real fears of physical harm, loss of sleep and perception of an unsafe home causes substantial pain to most (customers), which in turn creates a customer with less price sensitivity."

When people find "wild" animals in their homes, they want the problem taken care of immediately. Smith cited two cases. In one, a mother put her 14-month-old child in the bathtub, in which she discovered a dead bat. In the other case, a mother discovered her baby was sharing a room with a flying squirrel. Smith said that in both cases his company satisfied the customers by arriving at their homes as quickly as possible.

"Once the initial fears were extinguished, we were able to begin working on each case and solved the problems within a two-week period," he said.

EXCLUSION EQUALS PROFIT. Smith recommends that pest management professionals shy away from trapping. Instead, he suggests that they perform exclusion-only services. Trapping creates too many problems and ends up consuming the bottom line, he says. The wrong target might be captured, such as a neighbor’s cat. Traps can be tripped without successfully catching the animal, which means reset costs come into play — not to mention the fact that traps themselves can be expensive. Once the animal is caught, there are other issues, Smith says. Companies must deal with relocation and euthanasia policies, customers aren’t going to allow animals to be set free on their property and trapped animals can create unpleasant messes in service vehicles.

For example, Smith once ended up with an awful stench in his pickup truck when, despite having followed all the precautionary steps, a skunk "let loose," he said. He learned a lesson another time when one afternoon he set some squirrel traps on a roof. He planned on checking them in the morning, but a surprise snowstorm made the traps invisible. Two days later, when the snow melted, a neighbor saw a frozen trapped squirrel on the roof and reported it. Smith had to appear in municipal court.

"The judge threw the case out," he said. "But it taught me a valuable lesson…exclusion only!"

Smith offered tips on establishing animal control as a service. He said pest control technicians should take an animal control officer exam and they should receive ringworm and tetanus inoculations. Ideally, they won’t be afraid of heights because the use of ladders will be necessary.

It’s necessary to charge for ladder inspections for residential jobs, Smith said, because ladder inspections require labor costs. Dial Pest Control charges $125 and then deducts that fee off any service that’s provided. All of this is explained to customers during the initial service call. The company offers an inspection of the entire home, which is important in order to find entry holes, he said.

With its selective exclusion only, no trapping policy, Dial Pest Control generates 15 percent of its total revenue from animal control work. And the handling of wildlife has been eliminated because Smith’s company uses one-way tunnel systems, which allow animals to leave but not to return. They target gray squirrels, flying squirrels, raccoons, skunks, opossums, bats and ground hogs.

CONCLUSION. With continued urban sprawl, pest management firms would be wise to consider adding wildlife exclusion to their service offerings.

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Animal Control Equipment and Costs

Pest management professionals can use a heavy-duty truck (perhaps one they already own) to handle excess weight of the equipment listed below. They can plan to spend about $3,000 (including technician training) to put an employee on the road performing wildlife exclusion, says Jerry Smith of Dial Pest Control. Expect to recoup the total investment after a few jobs, he added.

Here’s a breakdown of the equipment needed (and costs):

• Fender washers to hold galvanized screws against steel wire — $10

• 1½-inch galvanized screws — $15

• Phillips screw tips with drill sleeve — $25

• Cordless drill with battery charges — More than $150

• 100-foot roll of 3-foot high welded steel wire — About $140

• Ladder stabilizers (remove the existing metal feet) — $25 for a pair

• 14-inch wide brown and white aluminum coil (brown on one side, white on the other) — $60

• 8-foot aluminum coil bending "break" — $600

• Heavy duty A.R.E. truck cap with stabilizer crossbar ladder racks — $1,000

• Tape measure — $15

• Leather gloves — $10

• Dust masks — $5

The author is a contributing writer to PCT magazine.