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Mole Trapping Prices


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£10 per mole wouldn't get me out of my own garden by the time you pay for the traps, time, travel, public liability insurance (hope you have it?) advertising costs, accountants fees, running costs for

Whatever you charge is your own business but now you have declared yourself a professional prepare for the knock on the door late at night . Or maybe a group of hooded, velvet gloved enforcers from on

But for your £70 you will need to go back at least once more maybe 3 so then its £35 or £ 23 per visit!! or is it £70 visit   I also do a local school playing field, but do it for free, my children

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Obviously a no mole no fee guarantee is easy to give if you are working fields and the like - stupidly I was thinking about peoples lawns. I only know of a couple of people that depend upon mole catching and rabbits for a living, and they seem to spend a lot of time doing other additional work. I think it would be very difficult to make much of a living in most parts of the UK if that was ones sole source of income.

No mole no fee might well work if you are on the way to the pub in the local village.

I'm happy for you if you are carrying out work based on a no mole no fee basis, and your customer base is of a similar nature to mine, its just that I prefer that my time be paid for accordingly not just dependent upon a mole being in a trap.

I'm guessing a lot of those that offer the no mole no fee also advertise themselves as Master members of the BTMR or whatever it is so as to try and gain the confidence of the customer, despite the fact it means nothing in reality.

Edited by swarmcatcher
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Some interesting points of view, we have been doing moles for a longtime and as mentioned by someone its very easy to be a busy fool.

Not sure I understand the 3 visit rule - why return a 3rd time if job is complete on 2nd visit.

Definitely don't understand the no mole no fee - has anyone tried moling in made up ground as found in a lot of properties these days, at what point do you decide to give in, not only that some moles are definitely more wary than other moles, we had a job on a couple of months ago where we took out 13 moles over 3 visits in one property and it took multiple repeat visits to catch a single mole at another property (7 or 8 visits) 1/2 mile down the road. Please someone explain why one would want to visit so many times and not charge for the visits - there needs to be a minimum visit charge.

Think someone else said it only takes a couple of minutes to put in a mole trap - really does it? You have to drive to the location, you need to go through the spiel, you need to set a minimum of what (6 traps), you need to sort out the paperwork, then you need to travel somewhere else.

Our solution is a fixed set up fee (for regular customers its reduced as the number of moles has already been controlled), visits thereafter are covered by a price per mole caught with a minimum visit charge. We charge per mole because we have set mole traps accordingly, if we don't catch sufficient moles to cover a visit our minimum visit charge is applied.

I always laugh when we get called into a job that a no mole no fee gardener has tried and failed and then had to give up because its costing too much in time and fuel to look at back filled undermined traps. We also tend to charge extra because it normally takes longer to do the setup - then again we usually have a mole in the trap on the second visit.

Mind we are not cheap - but we are good at what we do;.A bit like the chap from Cornwall I should imagine.

We don't deny that we ran round like idiots early on with the no mole no fee crap - and we still have competitors offering the same, but now we go to a job, do it right and we all know where we stand so everyone is happy.

Obviously this does not apply to farms its purely residential large or small garden same price setup.

 

Its well worth thinking about it.

Maybe only having 2 visits is due to the area you cover? As a part timer mole catcher, my area generally is no more than 30 miles, mostly much closer to home, so can do the 3rd visit, and fitted in with other things.

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Obviously a no mole no fee guarantee is easy to give if you are working fields and the like - stupidly I was thinking about peoples lawns. I only know of a couple of people that depend upon mole catching and rabbits for a living, and they seem to spend a lot of time doing other additional work. I think it would be very difficult to make much of a living in most parts of the UK if that was ones sole source of income.

No mole no fee might well work if you are on the way to the pub in the local village.

I'm happy for you if you are carrying out work based on a no mole no fee basis, and your customer base is of a similar nature to mine, its just that I prefer that my time be paid for accordingly not just dependent upon a mole being in a trap.

I'm guessing a lot of those that offer the no mole no fee also advertise themselves as Master members of the BTMR or whatever it is so as to try and gain the confidence of the customer, despite the fact it means nothing in reality.

I do like a fixed fee for most jobs - either on a per visit basis or complete job. Although there are exceptions when have charged £10 per mole, when this has suited the farmer. Domestic gardens I currently charge £90 with a 2 week guarantee, get quite a bit of repeat and recommendations from this set up.

Fixed fee ensures payment no matter what, recently had a squirrel job in as loft, nothing caught over the 4 days with Kanias, no photo/video on camera. Squirrel had simply gone and not returned, but still got paid for my services.

Being a member of any trade association does not guarantee anything, as you say lures the customer into a potential false sense of confidence.

The area I work is rural word of mouth works the best

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Obviously a no mole no fee guarantee is easy to give if you are working fields and the like - stupidly I was thinking about peoples lawns. I only know of a couple of people that depend upon mole catching and rabbits for a living, and they seem to spend a lot of time doing other additional work. I think it would be very difficult to make much of a living in most parts of the UK if that was ones sole source of income.

No mole no fee might well work if you are on the way to the pub in the local village.

I'm happy for you if you are carrying out work based on a no mole no fee basis, and your customer base is of a similar nature to mine, its just that I prefer that my time be paid for accordingly not just dependent upon a mole being in a trap.

I'm guessing a lot of those that offer the no mole no fee also advertise themselves as Master members of the BTMR or whatever it is so as to try and gain the confidence of the customer, despite the fact it means nothing in reality.

 

You make it sound like it is only the fly by night boys offering this service.

 

No mole - No fee reassures the customer and converts interest into enquiries and into work carried out that might not have got. If you are proficient in your work then you ain't going to start a job where there is no likelihood of a capture.

 

p.s. I'm glad that you are happy for me to continue working this way. That makes me very happy.

Edited by Nicepix
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Obviously a no mole no fee guarantee is easy to give if you are working fields and the like - stupidly I was thinking about peoples lawns. I only know of a couple of people that depend upon mole catching and rabbits for a living, and they seem to spend a lot of time doing other additional work. I think it would be very difficult to make much of a living in most parts of the UK if that was ones sole source of income.

No mole no fee might well work if you are on the way to the pub in the local village.

I'm happy for you if you are carrying out work based on a no mole no fee basis, and your customer base is of a similar nature to mine, its just that I prefer that my time be paid for accordingly not just dependent upon a mole being in a trap.

I'm guessing a lot of those that offer the no mole no fee also advertise themselves as Master members of the BTMR or whatever it is so as to try and gain the confidence of the customer, despite the fact it means nothing in reality.

Well, ..nothings 'set in stone', as regards 'charging', for mole work ?,....& therefore, whatever works for yourself,... is going to apply, surely ?.......... & 'masters of mole catching' !,......my a..e,...(i would say) lol

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:laugh:Feck me,...if folk ain't trying to score Brownie Points, over who catches most,.biggest, fattest, whitest mole,..then they are telling other men, how best to charge for the task... :laugh:

Truth is,.we all do what we do,...it is,.what it is..etc,.etc...

Longevity is the crux of the matter,...and the facts are,...if you can keep the wolf from the door, over several decades, by dint of mole trapping and rabbit catching,..then you must be doing something right,...or you would pretty soon go out of business... :thumbs:

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:laugh:Feck me,...if folk ain't trying to score Brownie Points, over who catches most,.biggest, fattest, whitest mole,..then they are telling other men, how best to charge for the task... :laugh:

Truth is,.we all do what we do,...it is,.what it is..etc,.etc...

Longevity is the crux of the matter,...and the facts are,...if you can keep the wolf from the door, over several decades, by dint of mole trapping and rabbit catching,..then you must be doing something right,...or you would pretty soon go out of business... :thumbs:

Have you checked out, that 'Lancashire Mole Catchers', site, Phil ?,......goodness me, i get the impression, hes lucky enough, to tackle frequently, 'heavily infested' ground,..down in those parts ?,......(good money, to be made, id bet !) lol John Noblett, is it, hes called ?

Edited by earth-thrower
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I know Mr noblett. He seems busy in an area that is more infested with mole catchers than moles.

His way of earning a living is totally different to mine, but he earns a living, long term.

Aye , i noticed how 'black' it was, with them (moles), in many parts, down there ?,....when i visited a guy, who was a mole catcher/taxidermist, at the time ?,...a good number of years, ago,.. (near 'Tarleton', i think, it was called ?),.....& that was the days, when the old 'snow', was still available,....i think there was him, (who favoured the, good old 'scissor' traps) & also a father & son, who did the moles,..not too far , from him ? (they used the 'poisoned worms', he said ?)........That , 'John Noblett ' guy,.....i liked his collection, of 'photo albums',...on his site ?,..lol,....but, he seems too be 'banging on' alot, about 'breaking his catch records',.....& all that ?,....lol lol ( well, hes impressing himself, at least, i suppose !).....be interesting to see, how 'sustainable', that will be for him, in the long run ? lol

Edited by earth-thrower
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I'm lucky that most of my moles are local ;hence the "no mole no fee" promise isn't going to cost me much if there really is no mole to be had.

On the rare occasion I'm drawn further afield(anything much over five miles from my hovel is bandit territory for me) I start considering an appearance fee to cover time and fuel and if I am busy or get a "feeling" about the job on offer this may be tailored according to my enthusiasm -even to the point of me saying "I'm sure you can find someone more local because we could be looking at a bill I would be embarrassed to hand you and you would be horrified to receive".

Then of course there have been times when I've succumbed to the £signs and relented and trekked out of my comfort zone only to regret it when a satisfied customer( Yes, I did once have one) has passed my name on and I risk being lured even further from home to the detriment of being able to offer a fast service to my local luvvies.

I think it was Nicepix mentioned the scenario of the long-gone mole and his wise advice to the customer to kick the old hills down and phone when the mole shows himself again. Its no problem and good for future business when its on your doorstep to pop a business card in the customer's hand and leave with a cheery wave but no fun when you driven a bit further than you wanted only to find a lawn full of antique anthills.

I think "No mole no fee" might not always be practical but it is unambiguously fair. Otherwise , paying by the visit, the customer risks paying for the bad luck or ineptitude of a chosen operative and by that token the worst mole-catcher in the world could end up the richest.

Hm, now I see the flaw in my present business plan :D

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I think "No mole no fee" might not always be practical but it is unambiguously fair. Otherwise , paying by the visit, the customer risks paying for the bad luck or ineptitude of a chosen operative and by that token the worst mole-catcher in the world could end up the richest.

Hm, now I see the flaw in my present business plan :D

That's my thinking too. You've got to look at it from the customer's point of view as well protect as your own interests.

 

I've only had one job where there was no mole to be caught and fortunately I had five other jobs in the same area so it didn't matter. The customer had got 'molehills' as such. But they were caused by a type of vole, not a mole. I didn't put any traps in so there was no return visit. He has since recommended me to two other clients. Usually the call or email from a new customer describes gardens resembling The Somme and there is no mistake. With returning customers, if they mention there just being a couple of molehills I advise that they flatten them and check for any further movement. If they insisted on a visit 'just to be on the safe side' they would pay whether I caught or not. That hasn't happened yet. I'm always happy to visit and offer free advice as long as they will wait until I'm next in the area.

 

I was also thinking back about the charging by the mole issue. In just under four years I can only recall three or four jobs where I only caught one mole. Two of them were the same client in jobs two year's apart. A neighbouring mole that just puts one short run across the lawn and into the flower bed. She has just contacted again and as I'm passing on other paid work on Wednesday she will get a freebie. I can spare the time to pop in two traps and collect the body next week some time. Especially as she always feeds me when I call. ;)

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Being in France doing large estates with a good quantity of molehills on display is somewhat different to dealing with moles in recently constructed properties that have gardens made up from a combination of whatever the builder brought to site and then turfed over.

It is also very different to being called into a row of detached or terraced properties and being asked to catch the mole; how are you to know if the neighbour may decide that tonight is the night he is going to put his expertise to work and catch the mole in his trap, or maybe on the other side of that high wall another mole catcher is setting traps,

These are all good reasons for not following the ancient trend of no mole no fee - times have moved on - or they have for me anyway.

Finepix at no point in time did i say those offering that supposed guarantee were cowboys.

It is annoying however to see this guarantee being offered by people that have little experience in mole catching along with their master molecatcher accolade that in reality tells the customer nothing - like I said I used to offer no mole no fee -if you had a difficult one it just meant you would leave traps in for an age and drop into job as you were passing - but that is not what I would consider to be a professional way of doing something - better to be paid properly for a proper job.

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