Live bee removal costs can vary according to a number of different factors. For example, the cost will depend on where the bees are located, how long they’ve been there (i.e. how well established they are) and also what species they are. There are 240 species of solitary bees in the UK, one honeybee type and 25 species of bumblebee!
Live bee removal can be expensive for the following reasons:
Live bee removal isn’t a straightforward procedure and, as such, many pest control companies won’t offer it as a service. See below what you can expect to experience when contacting companies who advertise bee removal on their websites:
A family business specialising in honeybee nest removal, Swarm Catcher will ask you to complete a comprehensive online form before they will give any kind of quote for the live bee removal – this is to try and avoid the cost of coming out to do a survey. It was not possible to get a ballpark figure for live bee removal from them over the phone and it’s also important to note, Swarm Catcher only start doing live bee removals in March.
Buzz Off, run by pest and wildlife management enthusiast Louise Chapman, won’t give indicative costs for live bee removal over the phone. It will cost roughly £300 + VAT for Louise or someone from her team to come out and have a look at the issue, that price may be knocked off the cost of the removal but this isn’t a given. Louise will only remove honey bees between April and September.
Claiming “fast response pest control” ERG do advertise bee removal on their website, however, when contacted they said they won’t do live honeybee bee removal.
Covering most of the UK through their franchise network, Pestforce is the most reviewed pest control company. However, although they will carry out live bee removal, they are unable to quote over the phone and will pass your details over to your local technician to get in touch.
JG, a family-run pest control business covering London, The Midlands, North West and the South, will offer live bee removal but are unable to provide an accurate quote over the phone. They will request photos of the honeybee colony which they may then be able to use to quote for the removal. If the photos aren’t sufficient they will visit the property to conduct a survey which costs £100 + VAT, however, this cost is taken off the price of the removal should you go ahead. When probed for a ballpark cost for the removal over the phone, an amount of £200 – £1000 + VAT was provided.
Offering live bee removal since 2017, The Hampshire Bee Company will first recommend a survey in order to produce a report with recommendations on how to remove the honeybee colony. The survey will cost £180 + VAT but this cost is refunded off the price of the live bee removal, should it go ahead. They provided a rough ballpark cost for live honeybee removal following the survey, which was between £2-3k – this includes scaffolding hire and building works, plus proofing where appropriate. They will usually only start removing honeybees in April, unless in exceptional circumstances.
Providers of pest control services in Southern England since 1985, Pest UK will try to remove honeybees live if possible. You will be asked to provide photos of the colony and their surroundings, access points etc. which they will use to quote for the removal over the phone. If the honeybees are easy to access the cost is likely to be £160 + VAT. Pest UK do not carry out any building works as part of the removal so this cost is for straightforward putting the bees in a box and rehoming them without removal of the combs. There are also no proofing works or scaffolding included.
Surrey-based Beegone Live Bee Removal, who’ve been operating since 2009, openly advertise a cost range of £1.5k – £12k + VAT for live honeybee removal. They say that £6-8K is the average. This cost will include scaffolding hire, building fabric removal, honeybee removal, comb removal, building reinstatement work and a guarantee of the work for a certain amount of years (up to 15 years depending on the job).
£1.5k of this amount is for the actual extraction of honeybees which would take roughly two days (depending on the other factors mentioned at the beginning of this article).
Beegone® specialises in the safe, environmentally friendly, live removal and rehoming of honeybee swarms and colonies, from structures or naturally occurring cavities. We cover the entire UK and have a team of trained and dedicated technicians ready to serve you.
Our aim is to educate people and businesses on honeybee identification and how to deal with them. We remove feral honeybees from structures, relocate them and prevent them from returning.
HEAD OFFICE:
Hivegrove, Kings Court,
Burrows Lane, Gomshall,
Guildford, Surrey, GU5 9QE
Phone: 01225 285 084
Email: [email protected]
HEAD OFFICE:
HIVEGROVE, Kings Court,
Burrows Ln, Gomshall,
Guildford, Surrey, GU5 9QE
Phone: 0800 9551 999
Email: [email protected]
