Unbelievable amount of calls this year,,,,but I aM new to a couple of areas,,,,
When do you start?

Arizona is finishing up and we will be moving to CA next week,,,

WA (islands) and CO start in 2 weeks

Hey Vinke, here in NM we use august 31 as our end of maternity season.

Latest pups we've seen here in the last few years was early august and Mexican free-tailed bat.

Have been getting plenty of wayward pup calls roosting on exterior surfaces and ending up inside, all in the last few weeks
have their full set of teeth.

Same here things are moving along.

Lining people up the last two months for sept 1 start.

Lots of activity here too !

We started our first bat contract today. Many more to do in the next few weeks. Frost is coming earlier this year I have a feeling.

should a guy doing bat work have a state NWCO license? what's your two cents

It would be written into the State laws. Check your state.

That is a complicated question jayogi. Many states have a dnr or f&wlife that reg. wildlife including bats. They then have a dept. of ag. that regulates pests which also includes bats when they are in a structure. Raising that question could be compared to smacking a bully. Your wildlife license is probabably a reg. the ag. is probably a statute and the pest control people have a strong lobby. Smacking the bully sometimes works out but sometimes you get your butt kicked. I would keep doing bat work and if the person has any kind of license that allows it I would leave it alone.

Lots of calls this year too. Started about 3 weeks ago. Mostly Mexican free tailed bats.

better to err on the side of caution and have the nwco license brad

NV man - what are the latest pups you tend to get up there? Our high desert climate has some born in
April and others not till into August. Makes it interesting to be sure you don't end up with a problem with
maternity colonies and pups in the walls.

On the license, ultimately if you are serious about what you do and the services you offer, why wouldn't you carry
it, however as trapperpaw said, there are some interesting situations with dept. of ag versus dept. of wildlife.

Best bet is to ask what is needed and be sure you have it imho...

Justin

I have one about 6 yrs now but I know of at least one if not two guys that are doing bats with out one

iayogi17,

If you include all the masons, roofers, handymen, siding/gutter, HVAC, home improvement contractors, and chimney sweeps there are a bunch more.

As for your question if a license should be required, it depends on what you're considering as bat work as to what my answer is. Does running a caulk bead qualify as bat work? What if bats aren't present when the bead is done? Does the bead need to be within a certain distance of an identified bat entrance/exit? Is it not what is being done, but why it is being done? And so on.

In Ohio, bat work activity isn't defined; however, what is defined is if a company is charging for bat work. When this happens the CNWCA license is required along with CNWACO certification for the individual performing the activity unless they are under direct visual and audio supervision of someone that has their CNWACO certification. Which means that if a non-certified person is working on the side of a structure outside of direct visual and auditory from a certified individual something is "illegal" but I've no idea WHAT is actually illegal.

In New Jersey, it is (or was as I've been told the laws recently changed) more defined as installation of a bat exclusion device along with additional requirements such as inspections, bat watches, etc. So if you're looking to make sure some sort of qualification with base knowledge is required for doing bat work, the New Jersey structure makes more sense to require a license as it is a specific action that is being regulated to prevent conflicts with sealing bats inside of structures.

Regardless, enforcement is the problem with both scenarios. Prove, that the company doing the work was hired specifically for bat work. Again, define what is bat work if it isn't defined by your regulatory authority. And ultimately, what is the problem you are having? If you feel these companies are hurting the integrity of the industry by operating without a license, call your regulatory authority and ask them if the companies in question are licensed and if not, do they would need to be if you don't know. However, if no license is required and you feel that they are taking business from you, then you need to focus on letting everyone know why you are the better company to hire if the license isn't required.

A good way to do this is to tell prospects that they should only hire a company that is properly registered in your State. In most states, there is a business name listing on the Secretary of State website making it very easy to find out. I tell all prospect that should they have an issue, it is a lot easier to try and get restitution from a properly registered company than from someone that can say the prospect offered them money to do work on the structure turning it into a he said/she said argument. This also let's you play the insurance card as you can bet that someone doing this under the table doesn't have liability or worker's comp insurance premiums to cover.

Bat "season" opens here in GA after August 15. I am slammed with bat jobs....it will be crazy the next few weeks.

Eric, you hit some of the key points that the one said "I'm just doing home repairs never mind that one way over there"