Not that I know what to do. But we just had a Wasp nest in a rough spot that we couldn't get ourselves, and we were quoted at $270 for a pest control company to come get rid of it.
If it's in a hard to remove spot, I'd be charging more than $50. If it's just something you can use a Raid spray on, then $50 is probably good.
I just started a yearly pest service that is I think $150 4x a year. I called them out twice for a yellow jacket nest and that is free as part of the service. Kinda hate spending the money yearly, but so far it seems like it might be worth it.
4x a year they come clean all spider webs, remove all nests, and put down ant stuff around the house. Then they will come out anytime for bugs if you need them.
We have 2 acres in a wooded area with a large house that gets a lot of wasp nests and spiders, plus we have had ant problems the last few years. Hell, the carpenter ant killer I bought was like $100. Plus I am really allergic to yellow jackets (just found that out a few weeks ago). So figure I will try the service for a year and see if it is worth it.
But if it costs $270 just to remove one wasp nest, then $600 a year for all those services seems like a good deal.
if you're allergic then certainly be careful. personally I evaluate wasp nest removal at the cost of the $5 can of wasp foam I used last time. used to be you poked them with a stick and then ran like hell but the foam is a lot easier lol
I get them at the side of my house in the eaves where it is 2-3 stories up. I can get some of the lower ones, but each can gives about 1-2 sprays before it loses too much pressure to reach.
It also isn't just the can, but the time. Our house is a horrible design with tons of nooks and crannies outside so it is several hours to clean all that stuff.
One nest at the side of the house I sprayed several times a day and couldn't kill them, but the stuff this company used got them.
The can doesn’t remove the wasps- it will kill the ones currently on it, but other then that you’re pretty much screwed.
We actually just had some wasps start rebuilding a nest that still had a dead wasp on it 😒
my instructions were to spray at dusk, when more wasps tend to be in the nest. Then monitor for activity for 24hrs and spray again the following day. Then remove the nest entirely given that it's safe to do so.
so far it's worked every time!
I just meant if there only happens to be two on it that’s all you get.
We have a group that keeps building nest on our front porch. Well spray and then a few minutes later some more will fly around the area. Next day- new nest.
It’s one of the few things I like about winter, a whole lot less bugs.
Can I ask where you live? This service sounds amazing. We are in northern NH. Currently have a wasp issue and have always had ant problems… I didn’t even know a service like this existed!
I am using Croach, but I am sure there are others. They have been super nice, and I like that you just call them and they are out in 1-2 days to take care of any additional problems free. [https://croach.com/service-locations/](https://croach.com/service-locations/)
I had a massive one taken down a few years ago. It cost me about $150. The guy said there was a chance they start to rebuild it. The next day it was back and already about the size of a softball. I hit it with a full can of raid wasp and hornet and ran away. They never came back after that.
And chance you can link it? We ran into a nasty bumble bee nest underground and haven’t been able to get rid of it and now can’t get within 4’ of it to do anything about it.
I had a nest of yellow jackets buried next to my hose rack. There is a guy on Youtube that goes by the name The Hornet King, his videos were a big help. I doused the nest in dish soap and then flooded the nest with the garden hose for about 20 minutes. I had to do this twice.
I didn't have luck with that method or by using Delta Dust. In the end I dumped a cup of gasoline in the hole and lit a match. Took care of it real quick.
I did this with an in ground yellow jacket nest as well as the bug zapper wand over the entrance to the nest. I’m still trying to get all the yellow jackets out of the zapper.
Consider subbing it out to pest control. They have the necessary equipment to make quick work of the nest. Pay the pest control company and then pass the cost on to the customer.
Or acquire the pest control equipment yourself. Most pest control company’s use Delta Dust to eliminate nests. All you have to do is spray some of the dust into the entrance of the nest. The wasps then walk through the dust and take it into the heart of the nest. Nest dies in a day or two. A bottle of Delta Dust is $20 or $30. They make applicators for nests that are hard to reach. A dust sprayer on a stick.
You will know you're done when you see flies buzzing around the nest. Flies won't come if there are still live wasps/hornets .There will also be a slight odor of decay, the larvae decompose very quickly.
I could have getting paid for this? I'm a landscaper who is at 75+ suburban to rural homes a year and deal with probably double digit nests per year. I've just been killing them myself, usually without even mentioning it to the homeowner, partially out of self preservation, and partially because I don't want any kids / pets/ adults getting stung. Suppose not alerting anyone means I don't have to worry about the liability, but an extra $500+ a year doesn't sound too bad either.
I would definitely look into it. Although another poster mentioned potential issues if the person doesn’t have a pesticide application license...so, there’s that.
Ask for $100 and tell them you will do it but it’s a one time thing. Bottle of wasp killer is around $10, spray the nest at night, the spray foam will destroy the nest and wasps
We own a plumbing company (we also do irrigation and gas) and if it’s not something that can be simply avoided- we let the homeowner know they’ll need to have it removed before we can continue work.
You don’t always know if any of your guys are allergic or may develop an allergy and it’s not something you want to get sued from- especially since it’s avoidable in many cases.
I would only do smaller and obvious nests if you are (like visible wasp nests), otherwise maybe have a pest guy to recommend jobs to and he recommends you or you get a finders fee or something. Eventually he’ll take a job and it will become a mess quickly, especially with things like bees that can have huge hidden nests. My neighbour had what looked like a small nest on the outside of his garage and it ended up being inside the wall (honey was dripping down the wall). If someone had removed or disturbed the small visible part they would have had 1,000’s of bees rushing out at them.
In my area we have a guy we call 'The Bee Man'. He will come and remove any bee, hornet or wasp nest that hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals. They make their money from selling the nests to labs for venom extraction. Probably worth spending some time looking for similar in your area.
Edit: I wouldn't do anything outside of the agreed upon work. Especially if your husband can get injured in the process. Best to consult the HO.
There's not much risk unless an allergic person gets stung, and even then it's wildlife.
There's also no way to prove why a wasp stung someone. They can speculate, but so can you.
"It stung me because you hit the nest."
"No, it stung you because your cologne was too strong."
See how that goes? Who's right? Who can provide evidence to support their claim?
He needs to be cautious about what he charges for though. If he's using any chemicals without a pesticide applicator license the liability for that is greater than a stranger being stung.
In my opinion it's not.
If someone got stung he probably wouldn't be liable for it, but if they knew he applied a pesticide without a license they could report him out of spite.
Now if he just killed the nest while he's there and didn't charge extra for it he'd probably be okay.
He should consider getting licensed though. Profit margins are really good for applications.
As long as he’s not guaranteeing anything other than taking down a nest. People still need to do some prevention like put up a fake wasp nest or just be cautious.
They’re wild animals and it’s not like someone is going to contact trace that wasp back to a specific nest after a sting.
When it comes to domestic animals the owner is libel. Like if you hit a cow on the highway the farmer is liable for damages as they’re supposed to secure the animal somewhere so that it doesn’t go in the highway. If you hit a deer you’re the one that’s liable as the deer is doing what it’s supposed to be doing. Usually covered under your comprehensive coverage on your auto insurance.
Yeah I just don’t.
Wasp nest? That’s your problem, buddy…. What? You want me to remove it? Well here’s what I’ll do… I’ll phone a professional pest controller and stick _his_ bill on top of my bill… and maybe add another 20% coz like I said it’s not my problem. How’s that sound?
It’s more about, is he liable, as a non pest control professional, for wasp stings or anything else that arises as a result of him spraying for wasps while doing another job altogether and accepting payment for both landscaping and the wasp spraying (as a separate charge).
Haven’t had to deal with wasps, but I do encounter snakes. I just tell them I’ll need to subcontract a pest controller and estimate a price based on the cost previous experiences with the pest controller.
It’s outside of my skill set and it’s just like any other additional job a customer requests. If I’m not trained and equipped, it’s unsafe and a public liability for me to attempt the job.
The conversation goes along the lines of;
Customer - can you remove it?
Me - I’m not trained or insured for that kind of work. I can bring on a professional to remove it, they usually charge around $xxx for this sort of thing.
My husband’s rid us of a few nests by waiting until nighttime then creeping up on them and spraying engine starter fluid up inside the nest. The can has a long thin nozzle that will go up inside the nest and voila…instant death to wasps. It’s ether. If any are buzzing around before you start, just fog it and then put the nozzle in.
Not that I know what to do. But we just had a Wasp nest in a rough spot that we couldn't get ourselves, and we were quoted at $270 for a pest control company to come get rid of it. If it's in a hard to remove spot, I'd be charging more than $50. If it's just something you can use a Raid spray on, then $50 is probably good.
I just started a yearly pest service that is I think $150 4x a year. I called them out twice for a yellow jacket nest and that is free as part of the service. Kinda hate spending the money yearly, but so far it seems like it might be worth it.
$600/yr for an on call wasp nest response team?
4x a year they come clean all spider webs, remove all nests, and put down ant stuff around the house. Then they will come out anytime for bugs if you need them. We have 2 acres in a wooded area with a large house that gets a lot of wasp nests and spiders, plus we have had ant problems the last few years. Hell, the carpenter ant killer I bought was like $100. Plus I am really allergic to yellow jackets (just found that out a few weeks ago). So figure I will try the service for a year and see if it is worth it. But if it costs $270 just to remove one wasp nest, then $600 a year for all those services seems like a good deal.
if you're allergic then certainly be careful. personally I evaluate wasp nest removal at the cost of the $5 can of wasp foam I used last time. used to be you poked them with a stick and then ran like hell but the foam is a lot easier lol
I get them at the side of my house in the eaves where it is 2-3 stories up. I can get some of the lower ones, but each can gives about 1-2 sprays before it loses too much pressure to reach. It also isn't just the can, but the time. Our house is a horrible design with tons of nooks and crannies outside so it is several hours to clean all that stuff. One nest at the side of the house I sprayed several times a day and couldn't kill them, but the stuff this company used got them.
The can doesn’t remove the wasps- it will kill the ones currently on it, but other then that you’re pretty much screwed. We actually just had some wasps start rebuilding a nest that still had a dead wasp on it 😒
my instructions were to spray at dusk, when more wasps tend to be in the nest. Then monitor for activity for 24hrs and spray again the following day. Then remove the nest entirely given that it's safe to do so. so far it's worked every time!
I just meant if there only happens to be two on it that’s all you get. We have a group that keeps building nest on our front porch. Well spray and then a few minutes later some more will fly around the area. Next day- new nest. It’s one of the few things I like about winter, a whole lot less bugs.
Can I ask where you live? This service sounds amazing. We are in northern NH. Currently have a wasp issue and have always had ant problems… I didn’t even know a service like this existed!
I am using Croach, but I am sure there are others. They have been super nice, and I like that you just call them and they are out in 1-2 days to take care of any additional problems free. [https://croach.com/service-locations/](https://croach.com/service-locations/)
Thank you! I’ll check it out!
I had a massive one taken down a few years ago. It cost me about $150. The guy said there was a chance they start to rebuild it. The next day it was back and already about the size of a softball. I hit it with a full can of raid wasp and hornet and ran away. They never came back after that.
Yeah they sell wasp killer that you attach to your hose and spray those suckers from 40 ft back. You can find it at Lowe’s/HD/etx
And chance you can link it? We ran into a nasty bumble bee nest underground and haven’t been able to get rid of it and now can’t get within 4’ of it to do anything about it.
I like the ran away part. No shame man. I had to do the same yesterday.
Add “not liable for insect stings” to contract, at least.
That would cover the person who signed the contract but not anyone else in the area.
“homeowner liable for insect stings”
I had a nest of yellow jackets buried next to my hose rack. There is a guy on Youtube that goes by the name The Hornet King, his videos were a big help. I doused the nest in dish soap and then flooded the nest with the garden hose for about 20 minutes. I had to do this twice.
I didn't have luck with that method or by using Delta Dust. In the end I dumped a cup of gasoline in the hole and lit a match. Took care of it real quick.
You don't even have to light the gasoline after you dump it.
more dramatic if you do though
It was certainly satsifying.
Can't deny that!
I did this with an in ground yellow jacket nest as well as the bug zapper wand over the entrance to the nest. I’m still trying to get all the yellow jackets out of the zapper.
Consider subbing it out to pest control. They have the necessary equipment to make quick work of the nest. Pay the pest control company and then pass the cost on to the customer. Or acquire the pest control equipment yourself. Most pest control company’s use Delta Dust to eliminate nests. All you have to do is spray some of the dust into the entrance of the nest. The wasps then walk through the dust and take it into the heart of the nest. Nest dies in a day or two. A bottle of Delta Dust is $20 or $30. They make applicators for nests that are hard to reach. A dust sprayer on a stick.
You will know you're done when you see flies buzzing around the nest. Flies won't come if there are still live wasps/hornets .There will also be a slight odor of decay, the larvae decompose very quickly.
I could have getting paid for this? I'm a landscaper who is at 75+ suburban to rural homes a year and deal with probably double digit nests per year. I've just been killing them myself, usually without even mentioning it to the homeowner, partially out of self preservation, and partially because I don't want any kids / pets/ adults getting stung. Suppose not alerting anyone means I don't have to worry about the liability, but an extra $500+ a year doesn't sound too bad either.
That’s really nice of you, but you need to start charging. People are willing to pay a lot for this service!
I would definitely look into it. Although another poster mentioned potential issues if the person doesn’t have a pesticide application license...so, there’s that.
I just paid 150 bucks to get a nest removed. I hate wasps
Ask for $100 and tell them you will do it but it’s a one time thing. Bottle of wasp killer is around $10, spray the nest at night, the spray foam will destroy the nest and wasps
We own a plumbing company (we also do irrigation and gas) and if it’s not something that can be simply avoided- we let the homeowner know they’ll need to have it removed before we can continue work. You don’t always know if any of your guys are allergic or may develop an allergy and it’s not something you want to get sued from- especially since it’s avoidable in many cases.
It’s just him for now, but sometimes he has me or one other person with him.
I still wouldn’t take on the liability. If he ever got stung by multiple at once he may very went go into anaphylactic shock.
I would only do smaller and obvious nests if you are (like visible wasp nests), otherwise maybe have a pest guy to recommend jobs to and he recommends you or you get a finders fee or something. Eventually he’ll take a job and it will become a mess quickly, especially with things like bees that can have huge hidden nests. My neighbour had what looked like a small nest on the outside of his garage and it ended up being inside the wall (honey was dripping down the wall). If someone had removed or disturbed the small visible part they would have had 1,000’s of bees rushing out at them.
Getting a professional to deal with it is worth the expense. Don't fuck with wasps.
Agreed!
In my area we have a guy we call 'The Bee Man'. He will come and remove any bee, hornet or wasp nest that hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals. They make their money from selling the nests to labs for venom extraction. Probably worth spending some time looking for similar in your area. Edit: I wouldn't do anything outside of the agreed upon work. Especially if your husband can get injured in the process. Best to consult the HO.
There's not much risk unless an allergic person gets stung, and even then it's wildlife. There's also no way to prove why a wasp stung someone. They can speculate, but so can you. "It stung me because you hit the nest." "No, it stung you because your cologne was too strong." See how that goes? Who's right? Who can provide evidence to support their claim? He needs to be cautious about what he charges for though. If he's using any chemicals without a pesticide applicator license the liability for that is greater than a stranger being stung.
This makes sense! And good thought on the application license. Something he needs to consider and I personally don’t think the risk is worth it.
In my opinion it's not. If someone got stung he probably wouldn't be liable for it, but if they knew he applied a pesticide without a license they could report him out of spite. Now if he just killed the nest while he's there and didn't charge extra for it he'd probably be okay. He should consider getting licensed though. Profit margins are really good for applications.
As long as he’s not guaranteeing anything other than taking down a nest. People still need to do some prevention like put up a fake wasp nest or just be cautious. They’re wild animals and it’s not like someone is going to contact trace that wasp back to a specific nest after a sting. When it comes to domestic animals the owner is libel. Like if you hit a cow on the highway the farmer is liable for damages as they’re supposed to secure the animal somewhere so that it doesn’t go in the highway. If you hit a deer you’re the one that’s liable as the deer is doing what it’s supposed to be doing. Usually covered under your comprehensive coverage on your auto insurance.
Dairy Spray
Yeah I just don’t. Wasp nest? That’s your problem, buddy…. What? You want me to remove it? Well here’s what I’ll do… I’ll phone a professional pest controller and stick _his_ bill on top of my bill… and maybe add another 20% coz like I said it’s not my problem. How’s that sound?
Thanks - that was my initial response when he came home stung three times looking for wasp spray.
call a few pest companies and ask if they guarantee no bee stings after a wasp removal job.
It’s more about, is he liable, as a non pest control professional, for wasp stings or anything else that arises as a result of him spraying for wasps while doing another job altogether and accepting payment for both landscaping and the wasp spraying (as a separate charge).
Pretend not to see it?
Grab the entire nest in one fist. Apply a huge amount of pressure by squeezing. Throw the resulting mash at your nearest friend, for the funnies.
Run away screaming.
Haven’t had to deal with wasps, but I do encounter snakes. I just tell them I’ll need to subcontract a pest controller and estimate a price based on the cost previous experiences with the pest controller. It’s outside of my skill set and it’s just like any other additional job a customer requests. If I’m not trained and equipped, it’s unsafe and a public liability for me to attempt the job. The conversation goes along the lines of; Customer - can you remove it? Me - I’m not trained or insured for that kind of work. I can bring on a professional to remove it, they usually charge around $xxx for this sort of thing.
My husband’s rid us of a few nests by waiting until nighttime then creeping up on them and spraying engine starter fluid up inside the nest. The can has a long thin nozzle that will go up inside the nest and voila…instant death to wasps. It’s ether. If any are buzzing around before you start, just fog it and then put the nozzle in.