Mice and Rat Pricing - What Am I Doing Wrong?

New to the ADC field but not trapping. Been getting a lot of request for Mice and Rat removal lately. I've probably got a dozen or so request in the last 1 to 2 weeks. Haven't booked a single job yet!

I'm trying to give them two options. One is $225 for 5 days of trapping for unlimited number of mice. Option #2 is a $65 service charge and a $15 per mouse charge and $20 per rat. Requests are within 10 miles of my home.

Is this too high or too low? I was thinking it was low but now I'm second guessing that. Luckily I have other income right now but really want to get the ADC thing going.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Odds are your competition points out that just trapping doesn't solve or control the issue. More will just enter the structure.

Sealing the house to make it difficult for them to get in and trapping them out is worth much more.

For those who don't want to pay for that you can control the issue with rodenticide.

And your prices are way too low. It makes the customer believe they can do the job with just a few traps. You're selling the presentation too. Go in, use your experience and unique skill to find and seal all the pinky sized holes a mouse could enter. Seal them. Trap out the remaining mice. Your skill is unique and you should be paid well for it.

most pest companies that I know of run bait stations, glue boards, and traps for about $30 to $45 per month and set up the jobs to be bimonthly or quarterly with a long term contract (year around)

Thanks Brad, I may try that route.

EBL, I point out the hazards of using poison to the people I'm talking to on the phone and steer them toward using traps. But you may be right about the competition. I also recommend exclusion to them but also point out that the rodents will return if they do not seal up all entry points. Still, it seems like it falls on death ears.

You're doing all this over the phone? This may be part of the issue. Try going out for an inspection. There is probably a lot of add ons that are left on the table. Bat work, squirrels, woodchucks, insulation jobs, etc.

I agree with EatenByLimestone, but not just for the add-on. For them folks who shop around, being personable and adding a face to the services with a client in my experience has sold more jobs than any scare tactic and pricing over the phone, especially if you're brand new. I'm not suggesting to take hits on all your jobs, but sometimes taking a small hit " not getting what you want" on a job or two within reason, could benefit you more than losing jobs and have your traps go idle. Even if you break even, you've gotten your name out there, and you successfully completed the job, then go from there. Some will disagree, but I personally wouldn't sit around giving price after price and losing work. JMO

Visit there house, do an inspection and pout out several points of access that you will close off

Then explain that you will do a much more detailed inspection upon agreement to perform the work

( calculate in your head how long this will take: and charge for it. )

Then include a heavy regiment of interior trapping. Say 20-30 snap traps with a weekly visit to empty traps. Charge 1/2 hour of labor for this for four weeks. At the end of those four weeks you should be catching no mice if you seLed it up right

If you are still catching mice in one area, find the access point

My customers like this because it is not a long term contract and it solves the problem, I have closed 100% of my calls for mice this year Averaging $400 per job

Hope that helps

In my area, a seal up runs about 1.5 years of a rodenticide service.

Don't the mice rot in this time frame?

Some will start to, I leave a bucket with a lid for the customer if they notice that a mouse is getting stinky. They can toss it in the bucket. I use plastic traps that wash up so they are not nasty from previous captures of obsorb moisture and frat a stink, So sar this has worked great. And if the customers are happy so am I

Is there a discount in there for the customers who have to tend the traps? They reset them too, or are the traps just sitting at that point? I could use a few customers like that! Most of the clients want no part of the job, thats why they pay for the service. Thats a good gig you got going.

No trap and mouse into bucket, yes it's a great gig. They can always pay more and have me come by more often it's their choice


Most just pick them up and put in the bucket.

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