How Much Does Rat Control Cost in Bexley?

The Published Price

Flat: £190. House: £240. There is no call-out fee sitting behind either figure and no surcharge for a loft, a cellar or a garden that needs walking. You are told which of the two applies when you describe the property, not when the technician is standing on your step.

Why a House Costs More Than a Flat

It is the ground that has to be covered, not the number of rats. A flat is usually one storey, one entrance, a kitchen and a small number of service penetrations, and the parts of the building a rat could be using mostly belong to somebody else.

A house is a loft, a ground floor, possibly a cellar, an outside perimeter with air bricks and gullies, a garden, and often a shed or garage as well. Every one of those is somewhere activity can be and somewhere a way in can be. The extra £50 is that survey time and the extra bait points it needs.

What Is Inside the Price

A survey of where the activity actually is - the runs, the harbourage and the likely entry - before anything is put down. Treatment placed against those runs in tamper-resistant housings rather than left loose in a corner. A follow-up visit to check the bait has been taken, confirm activity has stopped and make sure nothing has died where it will cause a problem.

That follow-up is part of the job and part of the price. It is not an extra visit you get asked to pay for once the first one is done.

What Is Not in the Figure

Proofing is separate, at £180 for up to an hour. That is deliberate rather than a way of adding a line to the bill: on some jobs the way in is a five-minute fix and on others it is a drain, a roof or a wall, and bundling a fixed proofing charge into every rat treatment would mean charging most people for work they do not need.

Building work is not included either, and will not be quoted as if it were. A collapsed drain run, a roof that needs re-bedding or rotten fascia boards are a drainage contractor, a roofer or a builder. We will tell you what we can see and describe it plainly so you can get the right trade in.

When the Answer Is Not a Pest Control Price at All

Rats coming up through a defective drain are common in this part of south-east London, and baiting a kitchen while an open drain connection sits under the front path is money spent on a symptom. If that is what the survey points at, you will be told, even though it means the job in front of us is smaller.

Landlords, Agents and Commercial Premises

The same two prices apply. What landlords usually need on top is a straight answer about whether what was found is a housekeeping problem or a building defect, because that decides who pays for what happens next. You will get that in plain words rather than a report that avoids the question.