Charging for rabbit pest control???

Best to talk with the owner. When ive done pest control for birds at the supermarkets i charged per hour and they just wanted to see the results. But everyone is different just work with the owners and im sure you will be fine

So three weeks ago I quit my job to become a full time pest controller, focusing on rabbit control around here.
Bit of a leap of faith, but sometimes you just got to do it.

I’ve been setting up a company and building a website and getting insurance quotes and printing flyers and and and…
I’ve been “practicing” rabbit control for the last 6 months, and have shot about 450 rabbits in that time, but been doing it all for free so far. I’ve gotten used to shooting between 8 and 30 rabbits a night.

Had my first paying client tonight, and wow was it a tough night!
The client has a small property and has seen 3 or 4 rabbits in his yard, and wants them gone, but only wanted to pay for an hour of pest control.
I sat quietly in the garden for an hour and saw nothing but blackbirds.
Saw one rabbit, on the other side of the fence, don’t have permission to shoot in the neighbors property, so can’t do anything about that.
An hour passed and the only thing I saw on the property was a stray cat.
Saw a hedgehog, in the neighbors property. Client dosent like hedgehogs, but again nothing I can do about it.
Saw another cat at the other end of the property.

Another hour passed and no rabbits anywhere to be seen. Only thing Ive seen on the clients property so far is two cats.
I was about to call it for the night and not bill the client for anything, because I hadn’t shot anything in two hours, because I had’nt seen anything to shoot in two hours 😡, when a tiny little bunny hopped through the fence and came to a stop in the middle of the lawn.
I shot that little ****er stone dead before it took another hop!
Stright after the tiny bunny I picked up a big hedgehog with the thermal, on the other side of the property.
I headed over there and dispatched it too.
By that time I was 2 and a half hours in and decided that was enough. Went to go knock on the door and present my meger offerings.
Wow, what a tough night.

Was definatly a learning curve tonight. Learnt two things.
1- small property’s with only a few rabbits are going to be tough. Very much hit and miss.
2- if I didn’t like cats before I really don’t like them now. If a cat walks through an area, you’re not going to see a rabbit there for an hour.

We live and learn.
And tomorrow I’ll create and send off my first invoice 👍🏻


Edited by RangerPete - 17 Sep 2023 at 12:53am

Tough. Maybe have a base fee that gets you there, that they agree to pay regardless of results. That way you cover your costs. Just think that you have driven there using your gas and time at their request, IT HAS COST YOU MONEY TO BE THERE!

And not to get too technical, but if you had a brief terms of trade showing they agree to pay the minimum fee that could help.

As Judge Judy would say, if you order the steak, and eat the steak, even if you didn't like it, you gotta pay for it.