Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7002514
09/27/20 11:25 PM
09/27/20 11:25 PM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 7,990 Montana
beartooth trapr
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 7,990
Montana
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Do it pork chop, i started one 20 years + ago and I've never spent over 300.00 a year advertising. 2 things ill give you is set price and stay with it, never let them jew you down. Sign up with any and all wildlife related / d.n.r.c fish& fuzz huh. They bring more work than i want for FREE right. I still work a full time job, but has a trappers dream for a work schedule.
Let me sugar coat this
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7002623
09/28/20 07:36 AM
09/28/20 07:36 AM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 296 NY
trappermac NY
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 296
NY
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First, if you work a day job it will be tough because people will not settle for you removing captured animals when your shift ends. And its not ethical to think thats acceptable. Then you show up with your ladder to do a squirrel job and they want to see a copy of your liability insurance. So that means you had better start a business as either a DBA or LLC, get a business bank account, insurance, and start investing in $100 raccoon traps as your havahart or tractor supply traps aren't going to cut it. Now your truck needs to be well stocked with tools and materials to do exclusion work, even if only minor. You don't just remove coons, squirrels, woodchucks, etc. You exclude after you remove. Be ready for calls in the middle of the night for a bat in the house, be ready to follow all state guidelines for bats when you perform that work. You can't tell them you'll check it out this weekend when you're off work. You'll need about three different size ladders, foam gun and foams. If trap and transfer you'll need property owners permissions for release sites. You'll have to keep accurate records and submit yearly to your state agency aling with permit fees. I could go on and on here, trust me. It's one thing to do the occasional beaver removal job, far another to do this as a business. The business deserves respect. The guy who traps a few beaver and so thinks how hard can it be is going to have a hard row to hoe ahead of him. Fifty percent of the job is interacting with people, advising them, explaining why they have an issue, what can be done to prevent, what you're going to do, the cost for removal, setup and tear down, per animal cost, and the exclusion needs to be proposed up front. They want to know what its going to cost. Then what guarantee you going to give, how long is it good for, are you going to do a follow up call to ensure your work was satisfactory? Remember, there are no set hours for this work. You are essentially on call whenever the client calls. As a thing you do once in a while for someone, under your terms timewise, its fine. But, if you are going to take it in a business direction be prepared for what comes with it.
Last edited by trappermac NY; 09/28/20 07:37 AM.
Member NYSTA, NTA, FBU, ECTA
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: trappermac NY]
#7002679
09/28/20 08:35 AM
09/28/20 08:35 AM
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 16,275 ny
upstateNY
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 16,275
ny
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First, if you work a day job it will be tough because people will not settle for you removing captured animals when your shift ends. And its not ethical to think thats acceptable. Then you show up with your ladder to do a squirrel job and they want to see a copy of your liability insurance. So that means you had better start a business as either a DBA or LLC, get a business bank account, insurance, and start investing in $100 raccoon traps as your havahart or tractor supply traps aren't going to cut it. Now your truck needs to be well stocked with tools and materials to do exclusion work, even if only minor. You don't just remove coons, squirrels, woodchucks, etc. You exclude after you remove. Be ready for calls in the middle of the night for a bat in the house, be ready to follow all state guidelines for bats when you perform that work. You can't tell them you'll check it out this weekend when you're off work. You'll need about three different size ladders, foam gun and foams. If trap and transfer you'll need property owners permissions for release sites. You'll have to keep accurate records and submit yearly to your state agency aling with permit fees. I could go on and on here, trust me. It's one thing to do the occasional beaver removal job, far another to do this as a business. The business deserves respect. The guy who traps a few beaver and so thinks how hard can it be is going to have a hard row to hoe ahead of him. Fifty percent of the job is interacting with people, advising them, explaining why they have an issue, what can be done to prevent, what you're going to do, the cost for removal, setup and tear down, per animal cost, and the exclusion needs to be proposed up front. They want to know what its going to cost. Then what guarantee you going to give, how long is it good for, are you going to do a follow up call to ensure your work was satisfactory? Remember, there are no set hours for this work. You are essentially on call whenever the client calls. As a thing you do once in a while for someone, under your terms timewise, its fine. But, if you are going to take it in a business direction be prepared for what comes with it.
Well said.I would like to see what percentage of "trappers" could pass the test we have to take to be able to get our State Nuisance Control License here in N.Y. Its an eye opener.
Last edited by upstateNY; 09/28/20 08:45 AM.
the wheels of the gods turn very slowly
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7002695
09/28/20 08:51 AM
09/28/20 08:51 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,165 Central NC
traprjohn
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,165
Central NC
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nobody has mentioned a Contract yet!
The contract MUST have the clause "traps damaged or stolen from clients property are the clients responsibility to replace or repair."
Liability Insurance HAS been mentioned but deserves it again.........for when you slip on a attic truss, AND FALL THRU A CEILING INTO A BEDROOM !
I earned a good living for 7 yrs doing ADC work, mostly beavers and bats, but also a few coon, opossums, snakes, skunks.
You MUST have the customer base nearby. Being rural where I live, I had to drive 30-60 mins to large towns with pops of 50-150k for work.
And as an FYI, we have a separate ADC Forum.
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7002991
09/28/20 03:56 PM
09/28/20 03:56 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 296 NY
trappermac NY
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 296
NY
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I'd recommend a video called "Running a Nuisance Control Business", available at Wildlife Control Supplies for about $20, and a book "Wildlife Control Handbook" by Steve Vantessel, probably at Amazon. Both can show you the way.
Member NYSTA, NTA, FBU, ECTA
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7003022
09/28/20 04:27 PM
09/28/20 04:27 PM
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Mark June
Unregistered
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Mark June
Unregistered
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Some real good advice on here. If you treat it like a hobby, you'll get paid like it's a hobby. Having been in the predator control business and lure business for almost 40 years, my only advice is that trapping is a vocation. Not a vacation. If you can say few will out work you, then go for it and charge accordingly. John Q Public will track you down once you have a reputation far and wide. Or review you out of biz online if your reputation is not worthy. Good luck!
Blessings, Mark
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Re: Starting a nuisance removal business
[Re: porkchop024]
#7003402
09/28/20 10:44 PM
09/28/20 10:44 PM
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,447 Monroeville NJ
Jonesie
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,447
Monroeville NJ
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I started to do wildlife control way back in 1979. I wish I had the info then that you all can get now. The first lession I had to learn, even though the catching the animal is the same, meaning baits lures methods, the business is no where near the same. I had to learn, I have to get them all, I have to solve the problem. not leave seed. Next lession I had to learn was how to deal with what my market will pay for, not what I wanted to do. I did not set out to become known as the squirrel man or the man who talks to animals. but that is what my area gave me and I learned them. I had to develope the 6 phases of the grey squirrel, 6 coon phases and skunk phases. and I had I learn how to call a coon with pups using my mouth to get her to charge me inan attic, or call the squirrels with my mouth t get them to come. (learning the animals and how to deal with them) I had to learn that I was not in business to make friends, but to solve problem, and make money!!!!!! And to do that, I had to become a businessman and charge as a business to make money , it is not a hobbie, it is a job and business. You have to learn to be business minded and also learn the behaviors more than the habits of the animals you are hired to control. I learned that if I could answer the 4 w's what, where when and why there is not a job I can't solve. Maybe with a trap, maybe with pressure, maybe by excluding. As a fur trapper I was a location based on method trapper. After all these years as a full time ADC business, I find now I am a method based on location trapper. You have to learn to key in on one animal and get it. The dominate squirrel or coon or skunk first, then the family groups fall into place. Learn from others and realize that no matter how much you know there is 5 times that to learn. even though I give many seminars, lectures and instructions and have for years,I still take as many instructions as I can. Some days ADC is a great job, other days it sucks. I was on a 10-12 pitch roof today doing bats tomorrow I may be in a beaver swamp. next grabbing a rabied skunk or coon and catching moles in between.
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