Hey All,


I am wondering if you have tips for getting those management property companies as a client. I know they can potentially be a large customer as I have worked for someone who had several companies that used him exclusively.

I've done a lot of residential and some commercial/educational properties, but recently didn't get a beaver job that I would have loved to of gotten because the property manager had to use someone they already a contract with. I had scouted the job with someone who takes care of the property that wasn't the actual property manager. Once the property manager got wind that the beaver were going to be trapped the work had to go with their nuisance wildlife company.


I guess my questions are as follows:

Do you ever drop in to offices of these companies?
Cold calling them?
Eventually, they hear about you and just happen to call?

Do you use any advertising material like a brochure?


Once you have them, does your contract state prices for certain types of work or is this still quoted like on a job by job basis?

What I mean by this is, if it's squirrels it is $XXX or raccoons are $XXX.

Any input or questions are appreciated.

Thanks,

JoeyHalk I dont know how it works up north . But in the south all the management company"s already have people contracted out that they call. I work for = Wildlife Consulting Services . I am there coyote trapper. I also am there head hog trapper. I have a friend name Danny that also works for them trapping hogs. We have 3 labors that help us with traps. Also have a guy that does beaver. All of us are covered under = Wildlife Consulting Services = 2 million dollar insurance plan AS contracting workers. So in a nut shell we all work as contracters for several different wildlife managers. THEY find the jobs keep 25% . And we do the rest . Hope this helps

Property management companies are great if you are in pest control. For wildlife, not so much, in my opinion.

However, to answer your question... we walk in their doors and hand them a brochure. No pricing on the brochures. Need to look at the job, but maybe more importantly, the onsite estimate gives them an opportunity to meet you, so you can express your understanding of their needs and your capacity to do the job.

Stopping by to introduce yourself and leaving a business card could be productive. So could sending them an email or giving them a call.

Once you do get your foot in the door with those types of people, word of mouth is king. Do a good job, take care of customers, because referrals seem to be the best way to get work in my opinion.

Pricing is tough. My experience has been that there are no one size fits all pricing, unfortunately. Even hourly rates can be tricky, because beaver work is different than other types of work. With beavers, the goal is to catch the last one, and, at times, that means doing nothing but making sure there are none left, because it’s not always black and white. There will be trips made that are only inspections. There will be times that no beavers are caught. Customers need to understand that. Also, there’s a difference between simply catching a lot of beavers and solving specific problems. Some beaver problems may only be a single beaver. Others may be a nearly constant problem with dispersals from a nearby full blown colony. A “by the beaver” pricing seldom works for customers with only a few locations, but may work for customers that are in prime beaver areas with beavers coming out of the wazoo. These would be locations that if once nuisance beavers are removed, it’ll be a matter of time before new dispersers move in.

The best way to find pricing strategies that work for you is to learn more about the customers’ particular situations. Scouting the location would be best, but sometimes customers want to know how much it’ll cost even on the first phone call. Quoting without knowing what their particular situation is, you may quote them a per trip rate and find out that they have an exceptionally difficult situation that makes you realize that you may have quoted too low, or it could be rather easy to access and make your prices seem a little too high. You just have to learn more. Examples: a customer that has 1 or 2 beaver locations, unknown number of beavers. They’re an hour drive from your house. Unless they describe extensive flooding and beaver damage, you’re more than likely only dealing with a few beavers. That doesn’t mean that they won’t be easy to access or that they haven’t been harassed, it just means that there aren’t many of them. To be profitable, you’re going to need to have something that pays for your trip, say a per trip/location rate + mileage or a daily rate that covers all that they have for you. Rate x number of days/trips.

If they have numerous full blown colonies, say a timber company that has many, many acres and a history of beaver problems or other company with numerous locations that are roadside access, I am now more willing to accept a per beaver rate, simply because both of these described situations have something in common—-volume. There will be days where nothing is caught (setup days, days spent ensuring they’re all caught, etc), BUT there will be days to hammer down on them and catch a lot. Those days will help to cover the setup days.

The more beavers they have and/OR the easier access is, the more likely a per beaver rate works. When dealing with only one or two locations at a time, it’s nearly impossible to turn a real profit with a per beaver rate, unless it’s a very high per beaver rate. Again, lots of easy to access Beavers makes a per beaver rate possible, but not when they only have limited locations, in my opinion.

I’ve seen my share of beaver jobs, and I still haven’t found a one size fits all pricing structure that works well for customers and myself in all situations. Specific pricing for specific customers, sure, but not one set way of pricing for any and all types of customers, because not all customers are the same. This is why the answer to the question of how to price is always “it depends”.

Take care of those that appreciate you and your work. As someone that helped me a lot once said about beaver work: First and foremost, it’s about people management. The actual beaver work comes second.


Good Luck

JoeyHawk - You have been given gold nugget advice from these experts with different perspectives about different issues and topics in this business. Aix sponsa gave you a full page of gold nuggets. He is an expert in the administration of this business.

This may sound extreme, but it is the only way to do business. Run your business like a business. Do excellent work for the customer. Hire a lawyer to set up a limited liability company and prepare fill in the blanks forms - trapping agreement and a receipt. Hire a good accountant who can save you a lot of money. Have business cards printed. Get liability insurance for $1 million.

If at anytime you are not actively working for a customer, go look for business. Try to schedule an appointment with the right person at each company. If that fails, drop by to deliver a letter of introduction with your business card stapled to the letter. Put the letter in an envelope and leave it with a receptionist or secretary. Find out who is the best contact person.

When you meet with the contact person, be confident but not cocky; be informative yet reserve mystery about animals and trapping, get cleaned up and wear your best duds to the meeting. Turn on the charm and charisma, but don’t be flirtatious - save that for another day when it might be appropriate. Wash your truck or car so it looks good. I will not tell you what to say to land the job because that is up to you and your style.

Thank you all for your expert advice.

A little more background on where I'm at. I updated my profile as well, I am from Ohio and when I was a kid I was very active on Tman, but I live in Tennessee now and mainly just read through Tman as much as I can.

For now, I am doing this part time (although on the busier weeks it seems like it is full time), I have a great full time job. However, I would love to transition to wildlife full time. The "boat just needs to get a little closer to the dock". I think that a property manager or two would help narrow the gap. This year I have done about 200 jobs in my evenings. A lot of 16-18 hour days for sure.

Also, with the days shortening and not getting off work until 5 makes for a lot of work in the dark. It is not a problem for me and customers are generally fine with it. Having a day time job makes stopping in to offices to meet with someone pretty difficult. I have been considering using some vacation days to make these visits.

I have the business cards made and I have been working on a brochure. I'm just waiting to pull the trigger on them. Based on your responses here I think it is a good idea.

Tennessee requires WCOs to have insurance, so that step is done, but it sounds like I may need to increase the amounts based on your responses. I have kept it low, because it is just me working and I do my best to be careful. I do understand that things/accidents happen and it is not all in my control. Once my student loans are paid off (big goal of mine and I have thankfully made some great progress so far) I can buy another truck to have a helper I will definitely increase it, if I haven't increased it already by then. (I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan, so I try to keep new debt to a minimum).

I met with an accountant this spring, and will transition from using solely quickbooks to both the accountant and quickbooks this tax season. For now I've been making the quarterly payments.

I currently have the business registered as an LLC. It was odd to me that one accountant told me I should think about getting rid of the LLC and go to a DBA type account. He said this would save me some money on extra things that are required for an LLC, but I don't think he understands where I am trying to take this.


Thank you again for all your input. I hope we can keep this thread moving, and I will try to keep you up to date on the methods I see success/failures with.

You'll do well with that work ethic and LOVE for the work. It takes time to get a feel of what prices to charge. Property management companies in my neck of the woods seem to be involved with residential structures that are in need of work. I do a lot of skunk and rodent jobs for them. Mine are slow in paying and have to be constantly reminded. Also got one that pays out of a cash account. PM me for details on that if need be. They are under staffed in the field and at times pay me to inspect locations that are obvious not in need of trapping. Hope this helps...

The reason why increased insurance is recommended is because insurance is one of those things that you hope to go your entire career without needing it, but, if you ever do need it, Buddy, you better have plenty of it.

Email is a great way to get new customers. Almost every potential customer has an email address, at least they should, and many of them post these addresses online. This means that you can contact people anywhere between next door and a world away by simply typing—that’s very important in 2020, because so many companies are working remotely.


I hope it all works out for you, as we can all use a little good luck now and again.

You are off to a good start. . . . .

200 jobs in the evenings is tremendously successful! That is a huge amount of work. Animals sitting in cage traps in the summer heat until after you complete your normal workday may become a problem. What animals make up your jobs? Do you do any exclusion work?

Question all advice and think of it as ideas until you do more research and meet with your hired professionals. Why would you rely on advice from guys you do not know on an internet trapping website? On the other hand you may receive advice from some real experts.

First off, I suggest that guys who are doing this work full time as their only vocation may have arrived there from unique or at least interesting backgrounds. Be careful about eliminating your paycheck job and its benefits. Health insurance is very expensive. As a self employed person I get no paid sick leave or paid vacations. I do occasionally fire myself, but then relent and rehire myself. Good equipment is expensive too.

Even question your own ideas. Run them through many good and bad scenarios. Why are you already planning expansion? I limit the size of my company to prevent the need of an employee for many reasons. Extra expense, extra record keeping, hassles about missed days, placing your reputation in the hands of a potentially problematic and irresponsible person, and most concerning is potentially training future competition.

How is an accountant qualified to give legal advice about business structure? Only if discussing directly with you and your lawyer how business structure may potentially affect accounting issues. Compare the liability protection of the LLC and DBA. Ask your attorney before changing.

Keep up the good work because that brings satisfaction and success.

You will find (like many of us who have been at this for a long time) that the large, nationwide management companies can be a pain in the rear to deal with. Even if you carry the required 2 mil liability insurance and have all your ducks in a row, they will stall on paying AFTER they call expecting you to take care of their animal issue "immediately". I've found the best property management folks to work with are the local ones who manage rentals for owners who don't want to deal with renters, and apartments or other commercial rental buildings. I have a very good relationship with several of the smaller property management folks within about 45 minutes from me. They don't even ask for price quotes any more.... they just say "take care of it and send me the bill". This requires you to operate an honest business, doing what you say, and not inflating costs because you think 'someone else' is paying for it. If you respond promptly and solve their problems, you can build that trusting relationship, as you're going to be dealing directly with only one or two people in the company. I have become the 'go-to' wildlife guy for several local companies by operating exactly as I've outlined. It doesn't happen due to slick advertising campaigns or outrageous promises. It's just like every other local service business.... treat people right, and add a few years into the equation. Don't shoot for the overnight sensation status..... those guys are gone in a couple years.

Thank you all for the great responses. I appreciate the input.




Amen to that first sentence.

Email also sounds like a great way to reach them. Come to think of it that is how many companies try to advertise to me, whether it is SEO or website makers. This is also cheap and doesn't require the actual printing of brochures or pamphlets. Good idea.


Thank you!






I think this is what I'm looking for. Patience is key! (from what I've learned and what I've been told)