Flat Rate vrs. Per Animal Again

I met someone who used one of our competitors to remove raccoons. We use a service call and per animal charge while most of our

competitors prefer the flat rate. The flat rate charge equaled what we would charge for our service call and the removal of four

animals, which is not a bad deal, if you can sell it. (I've found that a lot of customers believe they have only one animal) The

customer told us that it turned out to be a really good deal for him. He had more than a dozen raccoons in his old garage/barn.

He said that the competitor had to make lots of trips and certainly didn't get rich on that job. I thought about this and I

realized that the customer must have known about the large amount of raccoons and picked the cheapest price. If he would have

known that he only had a couple of animals, he could have gone with us and saved some money. So when you use a flat rate, how do

you protect yourself from an abundance of animals? And don't tell me you can tell over the phone. I've been fooled every year by

catching twice as many animals as I thought I would. ( But I don't lose, I win )

most of my work is set up fee plus per animal. Others are flat rate, like coons in chimney and gray squirrels (although the flat rate is base on the average job. If access to the work area more difficult or extensive damage repair, the price goes up.)

I do flat rate, and I think that it averages out. Some jobs only have one raccoon and others have a bunch but on average I am doing ok. My guess is that there are fewer times when your competitor has to catch more than four animals than when you get to catch less. All summer long I am either getting a mother with babies or two males at most in an attic. Not sure if you are charging for non mobile babies or a reduced rate but that's usually one mom per attic. If you charge 1/2 price per non mobile baby you need 6 in the litter to break even with a flat rate based on four.

If animals are in a home I am making the home animal free. Using Comstock's on a roof over the hole, two or three if they fit. I can clean out an attic pretty fast. No non targets.

If they have a problem on the ground I am flat rating for certain number of days. I have found you can get yourself in trouble using the "solve your problem speech... when you can't control the whole environment like you can when animals are in an attic.

In a house - Flat rate. I have taken as many as 6 coons from an attic. Mostly, 1-3, or female w/young. Same with chimneys.
In an outbuilding like a barn, or vagrant grubbing animals, set up + per animal (less control over how many animals there are).

Almost without exception, I trap on the outside of a house, at the entry hole. I don't like putting up a ladder multiple times for just an animal fee. Example: One coon in attic. Ladder to set up. Ladder to retrieve catch. Ladder to remove traps. One animal would get me $300 (?, set up + 1). A flate rate would be at least 2x that. If I suspect more than one animal, I multi-set as possible anyway.

There are always exceptions to the rule and will get the bad end of the deal sometimes.

I understand what you guys are saying. I have a handful of customers that would jump at the chance to have all their animals removed

for five or six hundred bucks. But I probably wouldn't get 5% of the new customers to pay that much up front. ( Of course, some of

them will end up paying that amount, but they don't know that ) Our area is known for penny pinching anyways. ( And I'm part of the

problem. I drove an extra 12 miles to get a $60 rebate on a set of tires myself. Maybe we should have coupons )

Paul, change the animal. Do you do per animal with flying squirrels? I've caught as many as 28 (twice) in one house. I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if I was charging $75-100 per squirrel (plus set up and sealing), when they can all be caught in one or two nights with a colony trap. I have competitors that do just that. I think there's a limit, before gouging my customers and getting a bad rep.
Happy customers or (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) off customers, one will refer friends, the other will tell everyone what a thief I am. I prefer the former.

We have flyers but we charge half of what you do. And they're fairly new to our area so I think 16 is the most out of one house and 5

or 6 is probably the norm. I've probably caught 16 red squirrels out of a house too and pretty close to that many greys out of one

house that the city owned. Large amounts of almost any animal is unusual and fortunately when it happens, the customer is wealthy

enough to afford it.

Flat rate. My customers don't seem to like the mystery. I also don't know this areas biology well enough. Plus, one squirrel or ten, the problem isn't solved,until it's zero. If I trap the one. And only, problem solved. If you trap 9 of ten, we still got a problem, if you are paying by the animal, you paid but still have a problem.

I am screwing up the whole industry in my area of WA,,,,,I began releasing on site........try catching that coon,,,,

There is a reason behind this madness,,,,,,,,,,,,,??????//

I flat rate voles and chipmunks...set heavy to minimize trips

All other wildlife except moles i have a set up fee and per animal

Moles i have a per animal but they dont pay me until i catch moles

I think we all have learned and decided on the best way to set up their business rates. As I have stated in the past we charge a set up fee and per trip fee. The per trap fee covers either trap maintenance or animal removal. So in other words we always set up for a multiple catches on the first trip according to the situation your experience dictates for you to do.

This covers all the areas of concern for both your business and the clients interest. The goal is to provide good service and a reasonable pricing structure.

The bottom line to this business is making a profit and being compensated for your time and vested real expense per job.

So if we catch 1 or 4 animals per job per trip the price is the same. We always set 2 or more traps per job depending upon the animal involved and the site conditions.

As in the cases where you "know" you will most likely have multiple catches over a period of time you will still be paid for a site visitation. We just explain that you may catch one animal any given day or you may catch several that is always a variable no one can predict.

The one thing you must make clear to the customer in this situation is that they must call daily for one catch or multiple catches' Not wait until all the traps are full. When or if we see someone attempting to milk this situation and doesn't call us as required and we know this "by doing a random in the area courtesy service call" we charge them for an additional service charge fee.

We don't have many problems with this but people being people try to push the envelope at times. But we can weed these out pretty easily in a few days. We all know with experience if you feel you should catch an animal in one or two days in most cases. If no call comes in when we feel it should we stop by to check on things when we are in the area.

If you catch them attempting to pull a fast one, it is noted to them one time. Then if it continues we pull the job completely or remove the extra traps and leave one only.

By pricing per trip/per day.

When I flat rate a job it's because I'm figuring on multiple animals and want to catch as many as I can. They are almost always 'population reduction' jobs.

I'm just starting a 75 acre mobile home park that is "over run" with animals. Per animal really isn't an option.

I bet at least 70 % of the urban coon in my market are trap resistant from homeowner trapping and release efforts( illegal ).

Sometimes just setting a cage trap causes them to vacate that area.

BING.......

Not in WA if released on site.........

We sell it different, Yal are focused on animals, I charge per day....the way I charge has nothing to do with the animal count...It has to do with the number of days my truck has to roll over to their house..24 hour state check law, so that means EVERYDAY...

Mike, do you have to physically check, or can your customer check and call? In CT the customer can check and call, which leaves time to set up another job instead of running around checking empty traps. Of course not all customers cooperate, then we have to do what you do, and charge for the trip.

Usually in instances like these I'm smiling like I'd hit the lottery while the customer isn't. Unless they've dome something to warrant extra charges, I tell them that the job was too easy and I'm only charging you this much. I still make some good coin for my pocket and the customer is elated for getting a discount. Customers love discounts. This is one way to get customers talk about you to their friends and has led to the most referrals.

Paul,

my main competitor charges a flat rate on most critters. They do a set fee for up to 3 traps for 5 days regardless of how many animals they catch. Last year this company did about 8.5 million dollars in business with 62 employees, but 99% of that is bugs.

On one particular job last fall they charged the customer their flat rate, which is $450 and set 3 traps sort of haphazardly around a small cabin which skunks dug under. 5 days later they hadn't caught anything and told the customer the skinks left on their own. That night they seen the skunks again in their yard so the customer called me.

I fenced off the entry point straight into 2 plasticatch's and 3 days later had all 3 skunks, their trust, and their pest control contract, and did it for the exact same price but not on flat rate. $150 set up, $100 per skunk. so now one week later these guys are into these 3 skunks $300 each! I didn't get the full story till after I got the 3rd one or I may have been a little sympathetic with them. in the end I have them for a continual customer which is always the goal I suppose.

All that said, ive been very strongly considering going to flat rate for 2 years. im not really sure why I haven't yet but for the customer who waits 2 weeks after a sighting or when im the 3rd company called the flat rate would work best for me.

there are + and - both ways I guess...

flat rate for me to solve problem. that way if I don't trap a animal because they take off I still get paid to solve the problem. For me trapping is a method to solve the problem not my service.

I'm beginning to see the makings for another column here. You guys that are sole proprietors or maybe have one guy helping you, can

do a decent job on flat rate because you care enough about the customer and your reputation. Now take a half a dozen guys that get

paid whether they catch the animal or not and I don't think things will go so well. If getting paid for catching the animal is how

they make their living, I think a lot more thought and care would be given to the initial set-up. I believe that the story

travellintrapper gave kind of proves my point. Our pest control is all flat rate because we haven't developed a foolproof way for

counting ants, mice, and flying insects yet.

I think per animal could lead to catching things that dont need to be caught.

And how would that happen any more than flat rate? We don't get paid for any non-targets unless specified.

same with paul on the non targets. you are always going to get them but never get paid for them. for me its either coon or feral cats which make up most of my non targets.

paul its none of my business how you pay your guys but I am curious. Do you go by hourly or % of gross production, etc? With a sales background im very familiar with the concept of commissions and being about ready to add another guy who is not family im trying to figure out what would work best for both of us. it is always interesting how to figure out what best motivates an employee for the most and best production.

Most of my factory life was incentive and I loved it. The company figures out what it needs to pay the bills and make a profit and

then it turns you loose. There is no limit to what you can make and as long as you do a reasonable job, everyone is happy, including

the customer. We do the same thing in our business. We pay a percentage of everything you bring in and there is no cap as to how much

you can make. The only thing I regret is that someone didn't offer me this job when I was young.

P.S. We supply vehicles, gas, hats, shirts, 70% of health premiums, and matching funds. You do need to buy your own pants, shoes, and

underwear.

Cars really help us with head counts around here, had one last week , set the traps on Monday, dead on the road on Tuesday...
Usually make positive sets, but this one was not possible, Buick got'em

Yeah, those Buicks always leave a specific tread mark.

When i was back in misery...i had a commission status that did well on moles and new sales....the mole commission was an extra $45 on each paycheck for every 10 moles caught that week prior...so if 30 moles then $135 extra on top of their hourly pay which was $15 an hour....any new sales made and they got 18% of the set up fee which averaged $125

I guess an example Paul would be the job I am on now. She is paying me to fix a problem of skunks,under her deck. I am going to seal it,off and put a one way door, money in my pocket and no animal handling. With per animal I would,imagine it may cross the techs mind to trap every skunk,coon and possum coming to her deck.

I have customers that expect me to catch every skunk, coon, possum, homeless person, etc. on their property. So amount of animals and

size of the bill is not an issue. Right off hand, I can't think of a single customer that would be happy with closing their deck and

not catching the skunk. The next time their dog got sprayed or they smelled skunk, believe me, I would hear about it!

TB, I would target the animals that are there, THEN offer the service of closing the deck. 1) Customer will be happy the skunks are gone. 2) They will be happy that no more can get under the deck. If done right, you will only target the skunks. Meaning, no bait.

Am I the one one that charges an hourly rate, door to door?
Hourly rate includes common incidental supplies. Everything else is an extra charge.

Mike, the only reason that I charge a service call ( Set-up fee ) and a per animal charge is so that when my customers talk to each

other ( And they do ) everything is fair. Customer A pays $250 because he had 2 raccoons. Customer B pays $500 because he had 7

raccoons. Now if it took me six trips to catch the 2 raccoons and only two trips to catch the 7, it's still fair. If I lost money on

the first job and made out great on the second job, that's on me and has nothing to do with the customers. Becoming more proficient

is not something you hope to achieve. It is something you have to achieve to succeed.

I sort of see it paul, I just cant bring myself to do it.

I did however, find a scenario where I could abuse MY system, where you could not. I thought my system had less room for it than yours.

The scenario: A sick skunk in the back yard.

I showed up and prodded it into a cage, charged a service fee. I COULD have, in pretty good conscience, due to risk, set a trap and came back the next day and charged her for the full block of trapping and as per the contract ended early with full payment. You would have just charged service and 1 animal

I see where both systems work and have flaws, and fixes for the flaws. so far though, it seems beneficial to me to charge flat rate. I am finding a lot of 1 animal problems and customers who are happy to pay my high price rather than gamble ( and a few who grumble at my high price).

How do you handle phantom animals Paul?
Like when a customer wants you to trap something just not there.

Okay, first the sick skunk. Let's say I charge $149 for the service call and $49 for the skunk. You charge $199 flat fee and

everybody is happy. Now we just had the phantom animal. ( Funny you should ask ) We set up cameras and got lots of pictures of her

feet. There is absolutely nothing there and she is going to report us to the Police Chief, the Mayor, the Governor, and Obama, in

that order. Since there is no such thing as bad publicity ( especially from a lunatic ) we are expecting a lot of business from just

this one phantom animal call.

I thought you guys always kept a couple of baby possums in your jacket to put in your cage trap so you can get away from the nutty people ??

The reason, this topic comes up every few months is simple. Neither is the answer.

True enough. Flexibility is important.