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Company Name: 

Willie The Bee Man, Inc.

Category: 

Pest Control/Exterminating

Services Performed: 

Yes

Work Completed Date: 

April 28, 2015

Hire Again: 

Yes

Approximate Cost: 

$345.00

Home Build Year: 

1926

Description Of Work: 

Located a beehive in the roof of my detached garage, removed the hive, and gave me follow-up instructions to greatly reduce chances of a new swarm coming in & trying to re-establish the hive.

Comments: 

First, Willie the Bee Man’s system is entirely paperless.  You submit a work order on his website & are billed via your e-mail account.  I was impressed by his efforts to save trees.  The work order is thorough, easy to follow, allows you ample opportunity to describe your situation, and lets you submit photos.  I completed a work order Monday morning 4/27/15.

NOTE:  don’t be afraid of the price range & work details when you talk with them by phone.  They are very up-front & give you a realistic & kind-of worst-case scenario, basically letting you know the very worst you could be in for, but give you enough detail so you can estimate where in their range of work & price you might fall (eg, if they have to use a Genie to go 50ft up in a tree or into a 2nd or 3rd-floor attic, you will have to pay a lot more than for a 1st-floor job & they tell you the prices for their basic scenarios).

The schedule box said they were booked for 48 hours but would try to respond within 72 hours.  Even so, I asked for a 48-hour response but said in my comments that 72 hours would be okay.  They responded within 24 hours!  The rep was nearby and said he could come the morning of the 28th.  He called again a half-hour before arrival & arrived exactly on time.

From reviews here & my initial call to the company, I was already warned that they might have to create multiple holes in my wall to find the hive.  The rep looked over the site & said there were three possibilities for the hive location.  But he did a really thorough investigation, and thought between the ceiling and roof was the most likely site, not in my cinder block wall, as I thought initially.  This would also involve the least amount of destruction so he tried there first.

He was right!  He made an initial small drill hole in my garage ceiling (he was careful to try to get to it from inside rather than make holes in the outside of my garage) & out flew some bees.  He then cut a 12×8-inch hole & had the hive out & swarm eradicated within 45 minutes.  I will have to repair the hole myself, which they told me before the rep came out, but he was careful to make it an easy & small job as possible.

Another thing I like about this company, that unfortunately I was unable to use, is that they offer an option for live removal & replacement with a bee keeper.  Being mostly vegan & an animal rights supporter, I would’ve loved to do this but was told with hives in structures live removal is nearly impossible–it would strain the bees so much that many of them would die anyway.

After the job was done, the rep told me where the bees had entered,.  He said that one hive is a part of a loose community of maybe 50 hives, and that bees mark their territory, meaning, once another portion of the community senses the vacancy they might try to make a new hive after a few months so I will have to seal off the entryway, which he told me in detail how & when to do.

About billing:   they bill by size of hive.  Mine was big, 6 months old or so, but the quoted price seemed very fair based on my research.  The rep gave me a ball-park range at first, seeing the structure but not the hive, and the final price was well below the top of the range.  NOW, I saw a couple of complaints on Angie’s List about Willie the Bee Man’s reticence to honor Angie’s List coupons.   While we were discussing the post-job details, the rep mentioned he saw from the work order I’d found them through Angie’s List & he would apply the coupon to the price he’d just quoted me.  I didn’t even have to ask!

My only complaint besides having to kill the bees was that we must have wasted 20 jars worth of organic local honey!  I was going to keep the combs but the rep reminded me they were contaminated with the spray he had to use to eradicate the bees.  Sad but inevitable. . . .

I’m writing this before my bill shows up but I am confident it will reflect the agreed-on price & Angie’s List coupon.  If you’re reading this after 5/1 or so, that means the bill reflected the quote & I didn’t have to revise this paragraph.  In all respects both the company & rep were excellent.

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