Nuisance wildlife control (Beaver) pricing?

Im new to the business. Burnt my butt once with an educated beaver and undercutting myself to get the job. How do you guys charge by animal, job, or hour? Some pros and cons of how you charge? Do you guys charge to go inspect the job and to give a quote? Or how do you figure mileage and wear and tear on your vehicle. Any input would help and greatly appreciated.

You have to find a way that works for you and go with it. I have done it a number of ways, and they all work. Well, most of the time. By the beaver alone is very tough to work with, because not every beaver is created equally. Some are more difficult to reach, some are more difficult to catch, and some have been trapped and shot before you ever entered the picture.


There are risks and benefits to each approach, either to you or the customer.

By the trip, plus mileage

By the hour, drive time and job time

By the trip without mileage (increased trip rate)

By the hour on site only (higher rate)

By the total job

Setup fee + $xxx per beaver

Other

As for what amount each one of these rates would be will be entirely up to you. As Willy firewood pointed out, if you get every job, you’re too cheap. If you don’t get any jobs, you’re too expensive. When you get most jobs, it’s just right

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If anyone has been in there before you, calculate a price and then double it. Take a very real look at overhead and calculate it for a year. You may be surprised at how much you need to generate per month or per year. Beaver trapping can be hard heavy work.

You are being asked to trap an animal that is very wary. Go into it from the beginning like you are trying to catch a wise old coyote, not a big dumb muskrat. Wear rubber gloves and wear clean boots. Catch them all before they learn that you are there.

Bed every trap so that nothing moves even with heavy pressure. As an experiment, I wired the jaws down on a trap. I bedded it at a run. I hid a trail camera close by. The videos show a beaver using that run and repeatedly walking all over the trap. The first step was front foot on the pan. That was the last beaver at a job where it used a different run later that same night and was caught. MB750 traps bed perfectly.

I don't give them a quote for the job because I do not know how long it will take to solve their problem.
I charge an hourly rate which includes driving time to and from my house (you will need to figure out that rate yourself), mileage (50 cents a mile for fuel, wear and tear, truck payment), and materials.
This approach requires trust from the customer, and it is in the best interest of both them and me. They get their money's worth since they are paying for exactly what it takes, and I won't go out of business for under-pricing any jobs.

My customers seem to trust me. They keep calling me back for wildlife issues and they spread my name around.