I am a new NWCO here in Eastern, KY. I live in a rural area and I think some of the prices that are charged elsewhere are a little too expensive for my area. For you guys in rural areas what do you charge to ring the door bell? Per catch? and for emergency calls? Do you charge different rates for daytime/night time emergency calls? Your help is greatly appreciated.

With todays economy everyone is reaccessing there fees!
What is your mechanic chargeing? or the Maytag man? Rural doesn't mean the people can't afford service now they may not want to pay but that is a differant story.
Did you ever call a furnace repair shop at night? They get more for night calls.
You'll need to figure out WHAT IT COST YOU to RING THEIR BELL!
They will pay or live with the problem.
Good Luck
& welcome too the field.
bob evans cwcp

Great post Robert. You can NEVER let your customers set your pricing. I live in a fairly rural area, and simply do not perform much critter work for the rural dwellers. You can not survive in a rural market alone. 80% of my work is in large urban areas, all of which are 25 to 50 miles from home. I often travel over 200 miles for large bat jobs. The urbanites are those with upper income levels (often 2 professional incomes) and they are used to paying current market prices for EVERY service.

Lowering your prices until you get the locals to use your service will put you out of business before you know what happened. There will be a few who understand what it takes to operate a professional business, and you will get their business. Many of my mole jobs are for clients with 5 acre lawns that they have $25,000 invested in landscaping by a professional lawn care business.

When you get the calls from farmer Joe about a coon in his attic (in April), he thinks you are out of your mind when you give a price for solving the problem. He still thinks the fur market supports what you do, and has no idea that coon has no value in April. You can spend 2 hours trying to educate him on the difference between fur trapping and wildlife control, but it will get you nowhere.

A lot of new guys are afraid to pass on the local work, feeling that you will get a bad reputation for not handling the situation. Just because you are licensed and insured doesn't mean you are obligated to deal with every critter problem in your area. It has to be run as a business or you will be flipping burgers in 6 months.

The key is to be able to explain to the rural property owners WHY you have to charge your prices, and do so without insulting them or turning them against you. I often offer free trapping during fur season as an alternative, and sometimes it satisfies them knowing you will help them out with their problem "the old way". Nothing I love more than winter fur trapping, but nothing I hate worse than working my "real job" for free.

Ron,my insurance agent( also my tax guy) hates to see me do local low priced work. My insurance cost prohibit cheap jobs!I do on occasion free service for the older people.MY CHOICE WHO!
I'm currently trying to adjust my rates due to the raiseing costs?
Bob Evans cwcp

2ndGenTrapper,

Ron is hitting the mark. Find the higher income areas and focus on them.

Be confident and stand firm on your price. For some reason upper income people respect that.

Focus on lakeshore property. They have a lot of problems.

Good Luck,
Scott
Cologne, Minnesota

2 gentrapper,You might want to FORGET that you are aTRAPPER!GO back to class(night school) take business classes? This is more about business than it is about trapping.For skills you need more SALES skill than animal knowledge.Book keeping before lure selection.This is completly differant than running a trap line.
THINK for a moment? What TRAPPER do YOU know that traps BATS?
bob evans cwcp

This is definitely by far NOT a glamorous get rich career!!! You really have to love your work, and plan on doing a lot of it for a marginal salary. I have been doing this for 18+ years now, and I still keep asking myself WHY!!! robert evanscwcp is absolutely right, you must first "sell" the job before you ever get to do any trapping.

Thanks guys! Your help is greatly appreciated. I have been trapping since I was knee high to a grass hopper. I since have completed college with a minor in business and a major in design engineering. Since college, I have been a US Marine and a Federal Law Enforcement Officer. I have a strong drive and I know how to sell. I understand about the pricing better now as I have done some research on my own as well as listen to everbody's input. I enjoy working with animals wether it be trapping, training, or just handling. Also, as a design engineer, I have a few new trap ideas that I am currently testing and be looking for a couple in the near future.

Thanks,
Lonnie

Sounds like you have a good start? Now how big is your service area and what are the income levals?Have you looked at the fixed costs you'll have?
Next have a friend call one of the companies in your market and get a service call price.See if that is were you want to start your price structure? Adjust up or down(carefull on the down) to match the expected costs too you.
You don't want to be fixing prices and today with the costs changing hourly you need a crystal ball to set priceing for next job if booked today? Things will deffinately be interesting the next few years?
good luck
bob evans cwcp

That is the problem Bob Evans, there is no other service in my area. This is why I have decided to get into the NWCO work. There is no competition. On the down side, there is not another business here that I can get information from.
My service area is as much as I can handle at the given time. I am going to start locally, build a name and some referrences for myself. Then I will branch out to larger areas. I have 2 large cities within an hour of me, I will focus on one at a time. Having been new to the area, I have been building my name as a "good trapper" for the past 2 years. So my name and capabilities is starting to become known. I have researched several other ADC websites and looked at thier process of setting fees. For today's society, simple is better. People want more for their money. A simplier billing form is much needed I believe.

Think about it, you are a customer and I am telling you that I am going to charge you;
$75.00 to come to your door
$65.00 to set traps
$50.00 for each return visit
$50.00 for each animal I remove.

For one animal caught, that is $240.00. People are looking at the break down pricing. Why does a customer need to know the break down unless they ask for it?
Why not just list your price as;
$75.00 inspection fee
If a contract is agreed upon, the inspection fee is waived and the first animal that is caught is $240.00?
Just my .02 on that issue.

If that's the figure YOU need to do the job that's what too charge!
Yes you will get some no's but if they need u to do it they will pay!
SIMPLE SUPPLY AND DEMAND!
hope your a good salesmen?
bob evans cwcp

If a contract is agreed upon, the inspection fee is waived and the first animal that is caught is $240.00?
Just my .02 on that issue. [/quote]

Yep I do not offer a per animal cost after 25 years doing this I have a good Idea of what it takes to get it done I do not charge to catch animals I get paid to solve problems. there may be 2 coon there you get the first one is a female the other was a male looking for love he takes off your customer saw 2 you caught 1 the trap sets there another x amount of days who is going to pay you for not catching the other critter?

Figure what it is going to cost you on the average job you average 4to 7 squirrels per job at what ever per squirrel (based on overhead wages and profit) inspection and repair cost and give that as A STARTING POINT you can still go up when you get there.

Urban people are service mindsets they have who ever to to what ever. just life for them county folk do every thing them self. they don't pay if they think they can do it ot if they pay it is what they think. as urban people move to the country that mindset will change.

If you can't make what you need and profit you may as well go back to fed law inforcement same amout of stress LOL

Check the time of this post? I just returned from a job that started at 1:00Am,on the way a deer charged the car(car lost ) and hit it in the front door post then bonced down the side.I have just finished explaining to my wife and next the insurance co.
Now if I lowballed the job I couldn't pay for the deductable?
I'm not complaining this is just a wake-up call!
This just one of the unseen costs of doing business.Don't price yourself out of business charge what You need to show a profit you'll never know when you may need it?
bob evans cwcp

This is the kind of info that I was looking for. I give many thanks and slaute you guys that can make a living at this. That is my ultimate goal and I will do whatever it takes to get there. I still hold a full time job while I get my business up and rolling. I am also leanring the more advertising that I do, the more jobs are rolling in. I have a couple set backs, but they will work out in a matter of about a year.

Once again, thanks guys and I hope that more people than just myself has learned from this post.