Does anyone on here do pest control? This could be a longshot

[N-Smooth]

I'm trying to find out how much our HOA should be paying for gopher murdering. My neighbor homie and I have killed 48 gophers on the HOA property but they hired someone to do it now and that guy is a jackwagon. He sucks. Because they hired him they don't want us to do it anymore, at all. My neighbor has bothered the HOA about it enough that they said "Why don't you and your neighbor get licensed and insured and we'll hire you?" and that has some wheels turning. But we really need an idea of what someone would charge for such a contract...

The "open space" parcel is 14.9 acres but not all of it is grass so it won't have to be managed.

TIA

 

[RustEoldtrux]

Start your own safari business and get paying clients to hunt big game gophers with their .458 magnums. I’m sure the HOA would strongly approve of this.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Start your own safari business and get paying clients to hunt big game gophers with their .458 magnums. I’m sure the HOA would strongly approve of this.

I would honestly pay $20 for a days worth of gopher shooting.

 

[TurboMinivan]

 

[N-Smooth]

There is no line between helpful and not-helpful responses on here, it's all gray area










I know because I'm probably the biggest offender

 

[UNSTUCK]

My BIL owns a large pest control business in AZ that just creeps into southern Utah. I know he has people that work under him and his licenses. I’m only guessing but I imagine he could help. He and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now, but I could give him your number and he could call you and talk to you about it.

 

[The_Lobbster]

I got to thinking about this, can you just straight up ask the HOA what they are paying him? If you are a member of the HOA, aren't you entitled to see what their monthly expenditures are, and where they are going?

If you could figure that out, perhaps you could undercut him, still make money, and shoot gophers?

 

[Herzog]

You could also supplement profits by selling gopher pelts at the local farmer market...?

 

[Kevin B.]

You could also supplement profits by selling gopher pelts at the local farmer market...?

And teriyaki gopher kebabs. I bet he'd make a killing.

 

[N-Smooth]

I got to thinking about this, can you just straight up ask the HOA what they are paying him? If you are a member of the HOA, aren't you entitled to see what their monthly expenditures are, and where they are going?

If you could figure that out, perhaps you could undercut him, still make money, and shoot gophers?

The HOA is still under the control of the developer since the project is far from done. So no, we get zero insight into it. They can choose to mention it at the annual meeting but would likely just add it into landscaping costs etc. They’ve never brought up the cost of pest control before. And most importantly they just now asked us to throw out a proposal and they’ll consider it. Lame. We’re interested mainly because we care about the property but we don’t want to get licensed and insured for $0 net either.

 

[TurboMinivan]

There is no line between helpful and not-helpful responses on here, it's all gray area

Dude, somebody had to post that photo--it is just too perfect for this thread. I'm surprised nobody else beat me to it.

 

[jeeper]

Saw these guys at the Home show. They do gophers. I bet they could give you a good idea on pricing.

 

[N-Smooth]

Update on this nonsense... my neighbor really took the reigns since I was busy with DCRC stuff but it's been a team effort. He's chatted with the HOA folks multiple times and they finally told him they've paid the d-bag pest guy like $5k to come out 3 times (and treat only 2 of those times) and he has made no difference. F that guy. So we made a proposal for the HOA and they told us to go ahead and get licensed and insured and then we can make an official proposal with $$$ attached to it.

So after lots of research and filling out forms, we have an LLC, are licensed with UDAF and WJ city and we're insured as of today. What a pain!

I just spent a little while calling the first 8 local pest control companies that came up in google and for one, I was only able to get ahold of 3 of them. The 3 that I did get ahold of are what I'd call expensive. I just killed two gophers at a house at the top of my street this week and I didn't even charge them. I told her when we get the company on google I want a good review! I'm also hoping that our using traps and no chemicals will be something to lean into. Using strychnine is pretty gnarly IMO, especially on residential properties. And that's what the 3 companies I got ahold of are using. Also, it's impossible to confirm the kills and that sucks.

TLDR; I guess I own a pest control company now... but don't worry, I won't ride around your neighborhood on one of those knee-segway-things and knock on your door.

 

[nnnnnate]

You won't knock doors but you'll make your kids? And if we say we aren't interested they'll put us in arm bars? Sounds like a solid business plan.

 

[N-Smooth]

You won't knock doors but you'll make your kids? And if we say we aren't interested they'll put us in arm bars? Sounds like a solid business plan.

Well I hadn't thought about that strategy but now I'm definitely using it


I don't think any door-knocking is in my future. I hate that crap. Maybe if we go treat somewhere we will hang ads on doors?

 

[Herzog]

Update on this nonsense... my neighbor really took the reigns since I was busy with DCRC stuff but it's been a team effort. He's chatted with the HOA folks multiple times and they finally told him they've paid the d-bag pest guy like $5k to come out 3 times (and treat only 2 of those times) and he has made no difference. F that guy. So we made a proposal for the HOA and they told us to go ahead and get licensed and insured and then we can make an official proposal with $$$ attached to it.

So after lots of research and filling out forms, we have an LLC, are licensed with UDAF and WJ city and we're insured as of today. What a pain!

I just spent a little while calling the first 8 local pest control companies that came up in google and for one, I was only able to get ahold of 3 of them. The 3 that I did get ahold of are what I'd call expensive. I just killed two gophers at a house at the top of my street this week and I didn't even charge them. I told her when we get the company on google I want a good review! I'm also hoping that our using traps and no chemicals will be something to lean into. Using strychnine is pretty gnarly IMO, especially on residential properties. And that's what the 3 companies I got ahold of are using. Also, it's impossible to confirm the kills and that sucks.

TLDR; I guess I own a pest control company now... but don't worry, I won't ride around your neighborhood on one of those knee-segway-things and knock on your door.

If the voles are an issue in the higher counties (Wasatch / Summit) like they are here this year, then you could make a shit ton of money up there.

 

[N-Smooth]

If the voles are an issue in the higher counties (Wasatch / Summit) like they are here this year, then you could make a shit ton of money up there.

Voles are a little more complicated since the most effective means of murdering those sneaky, little bastards seems to be poison bait traps. We need to be in business for 2 years to get into that nonsense IIRC. It's funny because that's why the moronic pest guy was originally hired to handle in the HOA open space, voles. So he sets out 4 or 5 traps and refills the baits once a month. I need to find out how much he charged "us" for that because I know it's going to be insane. There's a lot of money in this, which is why pest control sales people are always out and about.

 

[Herzog]

Voles are a little more complicated since the most effective means of murdering those sneaky, little bastards seems to be poison bait traps. We need to be in business for 2 years to get into that nonsense IIRC. It's funny because that's why the moronic pest guy was originally hired to handle in the HOA open space, voles. So he sets out 4 or 5 traps and refills the baits once a month. I need to find out how much he charged "us" for that because I know it's going to be insane. There's a lot of money in this, which is why pest control sales people are always out and about.

Dude, they suck so bad. It's been a banner year for them too. I swear they learn which traps I'm using and stop going in them.

Best of luck Nate! Cool idea to go after.

 

[nnnnnate]

So you're only authorized to kill with manual methods? I'm guessing there is a sliding scale of lethality based bait.

My co-worker across mountain view that I mentioned before says he tried all the non commercial solutions for voles and couldn't get any of them to work. A stray cat adopted him though and she (the cat) plays with her food until shes bored then kills them. Apparently the coworker hasn't had any new holes in his yard for a couple years now and the cat goes into neighbors yards to hunt. So she has a protection radius.

 

[N-Smooth]

So you're only authorized to kill with manual methods? I'm guessing there is a sliding scale of lethality based bait.

My co-worker across mountain view that I mentioned before says he tried all the non commercial solutions for voles and couldn't get any of them to work. A stray cat adopted him though and she (the cat) plays with her food until shes bored then kills them. Apparently the coworker hasn't had any new holes in his yard for a couple years now and the cat goes into neighbors yards to hunt. So she has a protection radius.

The neighbor got licensed with the UDAF for commercial pesticide application and a couple other licenses but there are still some chemicals that are on the NO-GO list for us. I need to do more research on different poisonous baits to see if we can figure out a work-around. The main issue is actually what the insurance company wants to let us use. Getting insurance was the most difficult part of this process, by a lot.

I'd rather have voles than a cat. I HATE cats, possibly even more than I hate sxs guys- to give you an idea of the severity of that hate
Funny story, just yesterday I found out from a guy in the neighborhood next to ours that he has a stray cat that's burying dead mice in his window well. He's building a crazy arduino-controlled water gun turret to keep the cat away. I can't wait to see how it works. If it were me I'd get a trap from the shelter and have them take care of the cat but his way should be entertaining.