I have been looking through some of JP's photo series of cutouts (great photo sets by the way) and I an curious about something - the cutouts necessitate some structural modifications, like sawsalling through lathe and plaster walls or slicing through roof decking. All in all a good bit of carpentry to clean up the whole mess. Is the owner left to deal with the repairs?
when I do cut outs, I have been a framer for a few years and know what I am doing, I tell them I will do the lest amount of damage I can to get rid of the bee's, when the bee's are gone so am I, I know a couple that do removals and also fix repairs but their bottom price is $600 , I do my removals priced like this on most jobs, $100 down and $50 a hour not to stop till im done except I will take a water break and the home owner is responsible for all repairs.
my agreement is that i'll do the cutting out, hive removal, clean up of hive mess, but the putting back together is the owners job. of course, i do mine for free, so they don't mind. i get gas money this year, but that's it.
I do some of my own repairs but have two friends who are real fix it types, one is a contractor, one is skilled with his hands and can fix just about anything.
Most customers want everything put back, painted, etc...very few will put back themselves.
I prefer putting it back so I can bee proof the area. If they put back the bee proofing is usually lacking and they get bees again in the same spot.
...JP
and i should add that with very few exceptions, mine are outbuildings. i live in farm country and that's where most of them seem to end up.
When the bees are gone, I am gone. No clean up, no repairs. If the repairman doesn't make it bee proof, it is his free return, not mine.
I need to read up on cutouts... how/when do you decide 'all the bees are gone'? The reason I ask is that I think I found a wild hive in an abandoned well pump house on my land...
-T
I don't do repairs, I may seal it up, but not finish quality. Most of mine have been in old structures that are being torn down, or a contractor is waiting for the bees to be removed so they can do a job. I haven't done a whole lot of them though.