Offering a new service...

[Little's]

I have decided to add a new service to my long list of ongoing services. Gopher trapping. Some close friends of mine have a business dedicated to gopher trapping and do it exclusively. I have thought about it for a while and after some research decided it is a much needed service in my area. There are only 1 or 2 businesses (mostly pest control) offering it, and I think I could provide a better service. My friends offer training to people wanting to learn how to do it. Their normal charge is $250 for about 2 hours of training and they give you four traps to start. They manufacture their own traps and sell them for $12 each. So I worked out a great deal with them and ended up with 6 gopher traps, 6 mole traps, 1 vole trap, and special digging tools etc. They also trap. Their charge to residential customers is $200 to make 3 trips to the house. 1st trip : Look and assess type of rodent (gopher, mole, vole). Set traps. About 20-30 minutes. 2nd trip : 2 days later, check traps, reset if necessary. About 20 minutes. 3rd trip : 2 more days, pull traps, collect money. About 15 minutes. They are a couple hours from here and in wine country Napa, CA. The wineries need this service tremendously. For them they charge $175 per person per day, plus $5 per rodent. So in this case they will spend about 6 hours in one day and will catch about 50-90 gophers on average, then they are done. So I have been trained and been practicing and doing good. I think I will start offering this sometime this week at a discounted price to get some extra practice. What do you guys think? Also, here in CA, you dont need a license to trap gophers. I know, this is CA, and no lic. needed? haha

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Northern California

[justin_time]

Lawn care business tips

I say GOPHER it (Go for it) lol

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Justin Pitre
Just in Time Yard Services

[turfmaster]

Sounds like a worthwhile service addition to me.

[Little's]

I forgot to mention that they also average 10 calls per day! I know they have a high percentage of jobs from these calls.

[Steve]

I am guessing the Gopher service is more regional? Or am I wrong on this?

Could you also trap skunks and raccoons? Or even stray cats?

Any thoughts on what you could charge for this kind of service?

[Little's]

I dont think gophers are everywhere across the US, but most places they are. If you got into trapping other things, then you would need a trapping lic. and Im not sure what that involves, it probably varies state to state. There is a business around here called Critter Gitters that does larger animals.