Costs,,

[moxy 617]

What acreage on average are the farms which you southern fairies work on?

[3175darren 1,100]

Le Brac.

 

Fully body searches and a good old frisk may happen if you quoted a tenner a mole up here but no farmer suffers fools and your results have to speak for themselves. There is very little loyalty when money is concerned.

More the like you are told to feck off and the next chap will be in. I know!! I have made the mistake of quoting a tenner a mole and lost work in the past.

 

This year won't be the best to be radically increasing your mole rates. Well certainly not up here. Poor harvest last summer means silage, haylage, wheat and straw prices have increased. Also what crop was harvested wasn't of the best quality and combined with the wet weather milk production is also down. The list goes on.

 

The only blessing I see at the moment is the increase in mole numbers and new jobs. A lot of moles have been driven into new areas due to the saturated and often flooded fields. Along with neighbouring farms not catching moles the numbers are rising.

I know West Yorkshire well and you are right they won't suffer fool,s, same here mate £10 a mole for farm work would be the exception not the rule,

[Matt 160]

The thing is, I know that there are molecatchers in the North who charge £10 per mole, and often more.

 

How do I know that? Simple: research the web, and look at the molecatching forums.

 

For example: http://www.lancashire-molecontrol.co.uk/Pages/PricingforFarmers.aspx

 

Then there are companies (Suddenstrike for example) who specialise in wildlife management. Do you seriously think that they would turn out for peanuts?

 

As for £15 per hour, it's not enough for me. Across the spectrum of pest control work I do I average 4 hours 'site time' per day. That allows for all the travel, paperwork, meetings and other bollocks that goes with running a business these days. Most pest control business, both large and small, charge between £30 and £60 per hour.

 

THL is a busy website with lots of members. How many molecatchers are there on here that contribute regularly? 6? 10? Not much of a sample really is it.

 

If you are happy with what you do, and make a living then good for you. What I've been trying to get across throughout this thread is that people will pay a fair price for a good job. You've just got to be prepared to justify it, and stand your ground when you ask for it. Far too many people are frightened of customers and allow them to dictate what is going to be done and how much is going to be paid.

 

Just imagine what would happen if everyone demanded at least £10 per mole. Do you think that all the farmers would stop doing mole control rather than paying the price? No.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Matt the Rat

[Le Braconnier 49]

If I were a householder looking for someone to trap moles I wouldn't employ anyone advertising terms and prices like the Lancashire guy: http://www.lancashire-molecontrol.co.uk/Pages/PricingforHomeowners.aspx

 

Far too much confusion and pricing is left to chance of how many moles caught after frightening the customer to death with tales about 10+ captures. If I were a customer I'd be looking for a set price. I don't think that's too much to ask.

 

If you base your costs on three visits with a no mole, no fee safeguard, and the option of paying for extra visits if it is found to be necessary then at least the potential customers know the ceiling price of the basic service and they can control whether to pay more or put up with the moles you haven't yet caught.

[moley 115]

this pricing mullarky is harder to work out than actually catching the moles

[logun 91]

£4 a mole is a more realistic asking price in these welsh areas,

[Matt 160]

£4 a mole is a more realistic asking price in these welsh areas,

 

Rubbish!

 

Apart from the fact that the price charged should be based on the cost of doing the job plus some profit, there are plenty of Welsh farmers who are happy to pay much more than that.

 

Just take a look around the web; plenty of comments from welsh farmers on the farming forums saying that they are paying more than that, and plenty of welsh molecatchers charging more than that.

 

Hobbyists talking down the price of professionals doing the job to earn an honest living. Stick to bricks Logun.

[MR TEA POT 1,287]

So the hobbyists are undercutting the pros o well its a dog eat dog world thats life get over it

[logun 91]

i live in an arera where i controll moles maty ratty.. i have done so for 25 years maybe now and i know for a fact in my area seen as i live there no farmer give you much more than that.... but i done a good job to would work fast and put in lots of traps... dont sound a lot £4 a mole same as 35 pence a brick dont......... depends on how good you are and how fast you are....and yes im more skilled than just putting bits of steel in holes rat and better paid to.....

[Matt 160]

No Logun, no farmer would give you much more............ the reason why? It could be because you are a bricklayer doing a bit of pest control work on the side.....

 

As I wrote earlier, if you or anyone else takes the trouble to look, there is plenty of evidence on the internet of farmers in Wales and other parts of the country paying quite a whack more than £4 per mole.

 

I would hazard a guess that legitimate pest control businesses with legitimate business expenses have no problem justifying their fees, and customers have no problem paying those fees.

 

Out of work brickies on the other hand, are ten a penny...............

[MR TEA POT 1,287]

£45 for a mole bit much though,if some hobbyist said he would catch it for £4 i would snap their hand off.At the end of the day there is always somebody out there who will under cut everyone

[logun 91]

not many brick layers out of work in south wales ,, remember.. there hobbyists ,, part time pest controllers ,,,as you put it out there who knows hell of a lot more than some of the pros.every other man reading this thread is a would be mole catcher.... by all means go about your daily business as a mole catcher and i will also as a part timer.. but i get paid to to trap moles maybe on a smaller scale than you but i get paid... but as i said i got my own construction company to and pays more than catching moles ratty....each to they own tho and why the f**k do the "pros" lol think its so wrong for part timers to operate.. they can do as they like i say and often do a better job

[moxy 617]

.

[Froudy 40]

Logun the way things are going in pest control in a few years you won't be able to set mole traps with out going on a course which teaches you all the legislation of it and this is when everybody who are so called mole catches will have to make a choice either do the course, pay for insurance etc and put prices up to make a living or it won't be worth doing

 

Atb

 

Froudy

[derbylad1 293]

I know for a fact i wouldn't get enough work if i charged £10 per mole. I get plenty of mole work because my nearest competitors charge £8.25 - £8.75. I therefore go in at £7.50 per mole and take all the work from them lads. dog ate dog world, and all that.

 

I charge £45 for domestic jobs.