A wasp's nest in the house immediately puts the residents on alert. If the wasps pose an immediate threat to small children, seniors with limited mobility or allergy sufferers, you can remove the nest. We strongly advise against removing it on your own. It requires a high level of expertise and professional equipment to remove a wasp nest without causing damage. If you hire a professional exterminator, the services provided will determine the prices. The following information table provides an overview of all costs. Read here how you can properly deal with the financial burden as a tenant, landlord or homeowners association.
These criteria determine the prices
There are 3 central criteria that influence the cost of removing a wasp burrow. This includes accessibility, local conditions and the urgency of the appointment. A reputable expert will only be able to give you a specific fixed price once he has personally inspected the nest. However, there are various options available to you in advance to reduce costs. Find out more about the influencing factors here.
Accessibility
In the initial excitement, don't choose the exterminator with the most advertising. In the worst case, it is located in a distant location, meaning you will incur high travel costs. You can easily avoid this risk by specifically searching for regional providers in the Yellow Pages or on the Internet.
Accessibility
The local conditions surrounding the wasp nest determine the actual effort required to remove it. Hidden in a concrete joint or behind crooked roof battens, the nests are difficult to remove. To relocate such a building, the prices quickly move into the upper three-digit range. This puts the environmentally and animal-friendly resident in a predicament. If the nest is attacked with poison, the costs are drastically reduced.
Urgency
Unless it is a real emergency, keep the cost risk under control by remaining calm. This means that the entire travel costs can be eliminated if the exterminator can integrate the visit to you into his normal route. Of course, this aspect immediately loses relevance if the wasps get into the children's room or a resident of the house is allergic. For these emergencies, numerous pest controllers offer a 24-hour emergency service.
Info table of all costs
In view of the various factors influencing the prices for the professional control of wasp nests, the following overview should serve as a guide.
Exterminator costs:
- Variant 1: from 119 euros for a route appointment within 7-10 days (use is integrated into the normal route)
- Variant 2: from 149 euros for a single appointment within 4-6 days (deployment takes place promptly)
- Variant 3: from 189 euros for an urgent appointment within 1-3 days (use as an emergency wasp service)
For these prices, the exterminator will come to you to give you expert advice on how to proceed. Since wasps are protected, nests may only be removed if they pose an actual danger. Sometimes it is enough to redesign a disturbing nest so that humans and insects can coexist peacefully. An exterminator is not necessarily required for these alternative methods. Environmental protection organizations or the local beekeeping association are happy to help for a small donation.
Costs of alternative methods
- Relocation by a beekeeper: from 30 euros
- Relocation of the entrance hole or similar measures by environmental protection organizations: from 50 euros
Influencing the direction of flight can be the solution to the problem without incurring high costs. But even in this case, it is strongly recommended that you seek expert help. Anyone who approaches a wasp nest by more than 3 meters without being equipped with adequate protective clothing is acting recklessly. A thick sweater or winter jacket is not nearly enough to protect you from attacks by angry wasps. As the following list shows, investing in a special suit for removing wasp nests yourself is hardly worth it:
Cost of protective suit
- Leather or rubber boots: e.g. B. in size 43 from 18, 50 euros
- Beekeeper blouse: e.g. B. in XL from 37, 90 euros
- Jacket with beaded collar: e.g. B. in XL from 42, 50 euros
- Protective trousers: e.g. B. in XL from 19.80 euros
- Safety helmet with attachment option for veil: from 14.90 euros
- Overall: e.g. B. in XL from 60.00 euros
- Gloves with long cuffs: from 12, 90 euros
So that the project doesn't take you straight to the hospital, you can't do without this protective clothing. The costs for adequate control agents and accessories must also be added.
Tip:
The roller shutter box is primarily used by wasps as a nesting place. Please do not try to block the entry hole under any circumstances. The angry wasps are guaranteed to find a way out and buzz aggressively around the house. It is better not to enter the room until the specialists are on site.
Who pays the bill?
If wasps nest in the house uninvited, neither landlords nor tenants or even the homeowners' association are to be held responsible. There is still a clear regulation as to who ultimately bears the cost burden.
Homeowner bears the costs
If a wasp nest is removed or relocated, it is an acute and one-off measure. Therefore, the exterminator issues the invoice to the homeowner. This applies regardless of whether he lives in the house in question or makes it available as a landlord. In contrast to recurring expenses related to pest control and prevention, these costs may not be passed on to the tenants as operating costs. As a landlord, the expense is only not borne by you if the following criteria are met:
- The tenant caused the settlement of the wasps himself or intentionally facilitated it
- The landlord was grossly negligent and was not informed about the infestation or was not informed promptly
In the event of a conflict, it is difficult to prove to the resident that he is responsible for a wasp's nest. The reasons why a wasp queen chooses a particular location cannot always be clearly answered, even by scientists. In principle, it is the landlord's responsibility to provide unequivocal proof that the insects were attracted negligently. Otherwise, he will not be spared from having to pay the bill from the exterminator or the fire department. If the homeowner can prove that the wasp problem is outside of his area of responsibility and duties, the tenants must provide proof of exoneration.
It is also problematic to prove to the tenants that they have violated the obligation to report. Proof would have to be provided that no notification was given even though the wasp infestation in the rental property was known. In principle, apartment tenants are obliged to notify the homeowner of a wasp nest and to give them a reasonable deadline for removal.
Tip:
Wasps only live for one year. After the first frost at the latest, the entire colony dies, except for the mated young queen. This hibernates and looks for a new location next year in order to establish a wasp colony there. The old nest will never be used by the insects again.
Owners' association shoulders the costs
If exterminators or the fire department come to remove a wasp nest from shared property, all apartment owners bear the costs. In order to avoid later disputes, the affected apartment owner should contact the property management. This takes over the commissioning of the specialist and regulates the financial expenditure centrally for the entire community of owners.
Insurance bears the cost burden
As our information table shows, having a wasp nest professionally removed can put a significant strain on your financial budget. It's good to know that you can cushion this cost risk with insurance. Various insurance companies will pay the bill if this type of damage is included in the contract terms. As a rule, this concerns residential building or household contents insurance. In addition, a separate house protection letter can regulate the assumption of costs.
Fire brigade only comes in an emergency
Removing a wasp's nest from your house is not one of the mandatory tasks for the fire department, like putting out fires or freeing trapped accident victims from a vehicle. Typically, if you hope to have firefighters deployed to remove the nest, you will receive a rejection. The emergency services only respond if the following conditions are met:
- There is a real danger for small children, allergy sufferers or helpless seniors
- Time is short and it takes too long until an exterminator is there
- There is no possibility of self-help, such as setting up a barrier, until the experts are on site
Anyone who calls the fire department without there being an emergency will have to dig deep into their pockets afterwards. If it turns out that the use was unnecessary, the effort will be billed to the person responsible. This results in sums that far exceed the effort of an exterminator, even if he rushes in as part of a 24-hour emergency service.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell the difference between a wasp's nest and a bee's nest?
Wasps build their nest out of wood. It is rounded in shape and from a distance resembles a ball made of waste paper. Accordingly, a wasp nest is colored beige or gray. In contrast, a bee's nest consists predominantly of yellowish wax. The building also provides a clear view of the interior. Here you can clearly see the vertical honeycomb panels with countless hexagonal cells.
I discovered an abandoned wasp nest in a hard-to-reach place in the attic. Should I still remove it?
A wasp's nest is never colonized by a colony a second time; Nevertheless, we recommend that you completely remove it. The next generation of queens will assume that this location has its special advantages, as a predecessor resided here with her people. There is therefore a great risk that another place in the attic will be chosen as a nesting place.
Tips for speed readers
- Prices depend on location, accessibility and urgency
- Variant 1: from 119 euros for an appointment within 7-10 days
- Variant 2: from 149 euros for an appointment within 4-6 days
- Variant 3: from 189 euros for an appointment within 1-3 days
- Beekeepers settle a nest from 30 euros or for free
- Environmental protection organizations redirect the flight path or similar from 50 euros
- Landlords bear the cost burden
- Tenants are obliged to report a wasp nest to the house owner
- In shared ownership, the owners' association pays the exterminator
- Affected apartment owners report the infestation to the property management
- Insurance sometimes pays for the bill
- Fire service only occurs in emergencies
- Unnecessary deployment of the fire brigade leads to high costs
