Ten Red Flags.

How Wildlife Companies Rip Off Homeowners With Bat Problems

And how to find the right person to bat-proof your house.

By Benjamin Vaughan/Residential Bat Specialist.

Non-Specialists Are Hacks. It’s Easy to Prove—and Their Own Work Is the Evidence.

Don’t Get Ripped Off by a Wildlife Company

Ten questions that expose jack-of-all-trades wildlife companies before they make your bat problem worse.

You wouldn’t hire your family doctor to perform heart surgery—or at least you wouldn’t think you would. But what if he quoted half the price and confidently promised he could do it just as well as the surgeon? It sounds ridiculous, yet homeowners make essentially the same decision with bat control every day. They choose cheap gadgets, quick fixes and unqualified wildlife companies because proper bat-proofing costs money—and bats are not exactly an enjoyable thing to spend money on. Unfortunately, choosing the cheapest cure often means paying twice: once for the work that fails, and again to have the problem fixed properly.

Now your family doctor may be perfectly competent at what they do, but heart surgery is a highly specialized field requiring different training, equipment and experience.

Bat control is the same.

Removing raccoons, trapping skunks and installing squirrel mesh does not make someone a bat-control specialist. Bat exclusion and complete bat-proofing are among the most technically demanding jobs in the wildlife-control industry.

Unfortunately, homeowners frequently hire jack-of-all-trades wildlife companies that treat a bat problem like another raccoon or squirrel job. They install a few pieces of mesh, hang a plastic tube over the most obvious opening and guarantee their “workmanship.”

Then the bats show up inside again.

We hear the same stories constantly:

“We hired a wildlife company, but bats are still getting into the house.”

Or:

“It seemed to work for two or three years, but now the bats are back.”

My response is usually the same:

What happened to the bat-proofing? Did it melt or evaporate?

The absence of indoor bats for several years does not prove the problem was fixed. Most bat colonies in Ontario houses are small and highly transient. They move among several buildings, and homeowners can easily go years between indoor appearances even though bats are still living in the building.

That delay between indoor appearances allows incomplete work and short warranties to appear successful.

We take a different approach.

We are the nuclear option. We do not seal a few convenient openings and hope the bats move next door. We close every primary, secondary and potential entry point we can identify, install safe one-way exits and we don’t just guarantee our work, we guarantee that the problem is fixed. Our warranty is simple and honest. If no one touches our work, the bats will never get back in.

Before hiring anyone to bat-proof your house, ask the following ten questions.

The Quick Answer: What Should a Qualified Bat-Control Company Provide?

A qualified bat-control company should be able to show you:

1. Online reviews specifically describing successful bat work.
2. Safe, professional bat excluders—not cheap plastic tubes or dangerous homemade excluders made of mesh.
3. A guarantee that the problem will be fixed, not merely a workmanship guarantee.
4. Properly fitted half-inch mesh where screening is required.
5. Several types of professional sealant for different surfaces and exposures.
6. A sheet-metal brake and the ability to fabricate custom flashings.
7. A clear understanding of drip edge, starter strip and roof-perimeter gaps.
8. A meaningful long-term or lifetime warranty.
9. Calm, factual advice instead of fear-based sales tactics.
10. A complete solution rather than a suspiciously cheap shortcut.

Their Reviews Are About Raccoons and Squirrels—not Bats

The first thing you should investigate is the company’s online reviews.

Do not look only at the star rating. Read what the customers actually hired the company to do.

A company may have hundreds of positive reviews, but if those reviews are almost entirely about:

Raccoon removal

Squirrel removal

Skunks

Birds

Mice

General pest control

then those reviews tell you nothing about the company’s ability to bat-proof a house.

A company claiming to be a bat expert should have a substantial number of reviews specifically mentioning:

Bat exclusion

Bats appearing inside the house

Complete bat-proofing

Attic or wall infestations

Follow-up service

Long-term results

Most homeowners who are ripped off never post a review describing what happened. Some are embarrassed. Others worry about legal threats or simply want to forget about the experience.

That gives many companies an artificially clean online reputation. It is not necessarily because every job was successful. It may be because the unsuccessful customers never publicly reported what happened.

Any company can also receive an occasional unfair or irrelevant negative review. The important thing is to look at the overall pattern and read the details.

Ask the company:

“Can you show me reviews from customers who specifically hired you for complete bat-proofing?”

2. They Use Plastic Tubes or Mesh Bat Excluders

A professional bat excluder is a one-way door. It allows bats to leave the building but prevents them from getting back inside.

The material and design matter.

Many wildlife companies use:

Cheap plastic tubes

Plastic cones

Loose netting

Rolled mesh tubes

The photographs below show what can happen when wildlife companies use mesh to make bat excluders. These bats became caught on sharp wires and rough edges inside the devices and died before they could escape. A one-way excluder is supposed to remove bats safely—not trap and kill them. This is why homemade mesh excluders are such a serious red flag.

Mesh Excluders Kill Bats.

Never hire a company that uses mesh for bat-exclusion

Rodent activity is an important part of bat-proofing that many companies overlook.

Bats and mice frequently use the same roof and wall openings. When those openings are sealed, mice may also attempt to leave through the one-way exits. Our night-vision cameras have repeatedly recorded mice coming through bat excluders—on some jobs, more mice than bats.

That is one reason we fabricate our excluders from aluminum. Here is what mice do to plastic excluders.

And plastic has a habit of breaking down when exposed to real life conditons like sun exposure and winter cold.

All of this is why we make our own professional aluminum excluders that are:

Resistant to sunlight

Difficult for rodents to damage

Safe for bats to pass through

Reusable on future jobs

The objective is not simply to hang something over a hole. The excluder must let bats leave safely while remaining functional throughout the exclusion period.

So ask any company you are thinking of hiring:

“What are your bat excluders made from, and can I see photographs of them?”

The red flag:

They use plastic tubes, disposable cones or mesh devices and cannot explain why the design is safe and durable.

Red Flag #3. They Guarantee Their Work—but Not That They Will Fix the Problem

A workmanship guarantee sounds reassuring until you examine what it actually means.

The company is guaranteeing the work it decided to perform.

It is not necessarily guaranteeing that it found every opening, completed the entire job or solved your bat problem.

If bats return through an opening the company ignored, it can say:

“Our original work is still intact. This is a different opening.”

The original workmanship guarantee has technically been honoured, even though bats are still getting into your house.

Then the company offers to return and perform more guaranteed work—for more money.

This is not the guarantee a homeowner needs.

You need a company willing to guarantee the result:

The bats will be removed, the house will be completely bat-proofed and you will not be charged again because the company missed something.

Be especially cautious when the proposal sounds like this:

“We will seal these areas first and see if that works.”

That means the company is experimenting with your house and your money.

There may occasionally be legitimate reasons to divide extensive construction work into stages. However in bat control, deliberately leaving any potential or probable entry points open and hoping the bats do not use them is not complete bat-proofing. Furthermore it’s foolish. Other than homeowners insisting (foolishly) that they want to “just seal a few key areas and hope it works” not bat-proofing the entire house is a disservice to homeowners. Wildlife companies don’t do it to save homeowners money anyways, they do it because they don’t know how to bat-proof properly.

We do not believe homeowners should finance repeated attempts while a contractor gradually discovers everything that should have been addressed during the original job.

Ask the company:

“Are you guaranteeing your individual repairs, or are you guaranteeing that the bat problem will be fixed?”

Then ask:

“If bats return because you missed an opening, will you correct it without charging me again?”

The red flag:

The contract guarantees workmanship but carefully avoids guaranteeing that the house will actually be bat-proof.

Red Flag #4. They Use One-Inch Mesh on Bat-Control Jobs

One-inch mesh is common in the general wildlife-control industry.

It is frequently used to prevent raccoons, squirrels and birds from re-entering damaged roof vents, soffits and other openings.

The problem is that bats are much smaller.

A bat can pass through an opening that would never admit a raccoon or squirrel. Installing one-inch mesh on a bat job can create the appearance of protection while leaving openings large enough for bats to pass through.

Mesh still has an important place in proper bat-proofing.

Correctly fitted half-inch metal mesh can be used to fabricate protective boxes and screens for certain vents, chimneys and structural openings. It can help keep out bats, mice, birds, squirrels and raccoons when it is properly designed and installed.

Here is What Properly Sized Mesh Looks Like.

The issue is not whether mesh is used.

The issue is whether the correct mesh is used in the correct application.

Ask the company:

“What size mesh will you use on the house, and why?”

The red flag:

They use the same one-inch mesh they use for squirrels and raccoons on every bat-control job.

Red Flag #5. They Use One Type of Caulking for the Entire House

Complete bat-proofing requires a considerable amount of sealant.

You need a company that uses more than one kind of caulk and knows which ones to use and where to use them.

It also requires more than one type.

Different areas of a house experience different conditions:

A sealant suitable beneath a protected soffit may be completely unsuitable for a roof exposed to direct sunlight.

One of the clearest signs of an inexperienced contractor is the use of one inexpensive caulking product everywhere.

For protected areas away from direct sunlight, we may use high-quality thermoplastic or paintable latex-based products, depending on the materials involved.

Ask the company:

“Do you use the same caulk on everything?”

The red flag:

They intend to use one tube of the same cheap silicone everywhere.

Red Flag #6. They Do Not Own a Sheet-Metal Brake

A sheet-metal brake is used to bend aluminum into custom flashings.

It is essential equipment for professional bat-proofing.

Every house is different. Many required pieces cannot be purchased from a hardware store. They must be measured, cut, bent and fitted on site.

When a company cannot fabricate custom metal, it is forced to improvise.

That is when we see:

Expanding foam sprayed into roof openings

Large patches of exposed mesh

Caulking used to bridge gaps it cannot possibly support

Poorly fitted prefabricated pieces

Repairs that collect water

Repairs that look terribleMaterials that fail after a few seasons

Custom flashing is not merely cosmetic. Properly designed metal keeps out animals, sheds water and protects vulnerable building materials.

A company without a brake cannot complete many bat-proofing jobs correctly.

Ask the company:

“Do your crews carry a sheet-metal brake and fabricate custom aluminum flashings on site?”

The red flag:

They have no metal brake, no rolls of aluminum and no photographs of custom flashing work.

Red Flag #7. They Don’t Know Or Care About Dripedge Flashings.

Fact. Roof contractors often skip on drip edge flashings to save money. It’s a disaster when they do.

Drip edge—also called starter strip in some applications—is metal flashing installed around the roof perimeter beneath the edge of the shingles.

Its primary job is water management.

Because of surface tension, rainwater does not always fall cleanly from the edge of a shingle. Water can curl beneath the roof edge and soak into the wood decking, fascia and surrounding framing.

Proper drip edge helps direct that water away from the building.

It also provides an enormous bat-proofing benefit.

When installed tightly, drip edge covers the framing gap commonly found between the roof decking and fascia board. These openings may be called:

Raccoons, squirrels and birds can also enlarge these openings, especially where moisture has caused rot.

Many existing Ontario houses have incomplete, poorly fitted or entirely missing drip edge. Based on the houses we service, we find substantial roof-edge problems with remarkable frequency.

Homeowners usually cannot see whether the flashing is present because it is hidden beneath the shingles.

When drip edge is missing, retrofitting it is difficult. It was supposed to be installed during the roofing process, not afterward. Installing it beneath existing shingles and roofing membranes can take longer than many other parts of the bat-proofing job combined. And you have to make custom drip edge flashings as well, stock off the shelf drip edge is not an option after the shingles have been installed.

It is also one of the biggest variables affecting price.

Non-specialist wildlife companies frequently ignore the roof perimeter because inspecting and repairing it is time-consuming. Others cover portions with one-inch mesh, expanding foam or excessive caulking.

That does not properly replace missing flashing.

In some cases, their work makes the eventual repair more difficult because everything must be removed before proper flashing can be installed. Contractors call that a gut job: the homeowner pays once for bad work and then pays again to have it torn out and replaced.

At the end of the day proper drip edge flashings are not optional for many reasons beyond bats. If the company you are thinking of hiring isn’t talking about it in their quotes and contracts, they don’t know what they are doing.

Ask the company:

“Will you inspect the drip edge and the gap between the roof decking and fascia around the entire house?”

The red flag:

Drip edge, starter strip and roof-perimeter gaps are not mentioned in the inspection, proposal or contract.

Red Flag #8. Their Warranty Lasts Only One to Three Years

A one-, two- or three-year bat warranty is nearly useless.

It does not prove the work was successful.

Big brown bats living in Ontario houses commonly form small, transient groups. They may move between several buildings and may not appear inside the living space every year.

A homeowner can experience several bats one summer and then see none for years.

That does not necessarily mean the bats are gone from the structure.

A company can perform incomplete work, offer a two-year warranty and be long gone before the homeowner discovers that bats still have access.

Wildlife companies are familiar with the intermittent nature of residential bat problems. Short warranties protect the contractor far more effectively than they protect the homeowner.

When someone offers you a three-year warranty, ask:

What happens to the bat-proofing after three years? Does it melt or evaporate?

A properly repaired opening should not spontaneously reopen when the warranty expires.

We generally offer lifetime warranties because we are confident in the process and materials we use. Now there are reasonable exceptions to this. A new roof, an addition, exterior renovations, storm damage or someone tearing apart our work can create new openings.

But our warranty is not designed to expire before the homeowner can determine whether the job worked. We tell our customers if no one touches our work the bats won’t get back in guaranteed.

Ask the company:

“Why does your warranty end after one, two or three years? And why?”

The red flag:

Their warranty is shorter than the normal interval between occasional bat appearances.

Why Bad Bat-Proofing Can Appear to Work for Years

We once bat-proofed a house beside another property that had been serviced by a general wildlife company several years earlier.

The neighbour believed the earlier work had been successful because bats had stopped appearing inside.

From the roof of our customer’s house, we could see that the neighbouring property was not completely bat-proofed. The company had sealed enough of the main activity areas to disturb the colony, but numerous usable openings remained.

The bats apparently decided that moving next door was easier than fighting to regain access to their previous roost.

Our customer then hired us.

We removed the bats and completely bat-proofed her house. At that point, the colony had another decision to make. Would it move farther down the street, or would it work harder to regain access to the original house next door?

Nobody can know until it happens.

That is the gamble created by partial bat-proofing. A few blocked openings may persuade bats to leave temporarily, but temporary relocation is not the same as making a house bat-proof.

We do not base our work on the hope that your bats will become somebody else’s problem.

Red Flag #9. They Use Fear Tactics

There is no need to scare people into hiring you. Most residential bat colonies are small and involve big brown bats. They cause very little damage, and small amounts of droppings inside walls or attics are not toxic and cannot somehow harm people through the ceiling. A genuinely large infestation is obvious—there is nothing subtle about large numbers of bats.

Rabies risk is not zero, but statistically it is extremely low. No Canadian rabies death has ever been attributed to a big brown bat. The greater financial danger is often wildlife companies dabbling in work they do not understand, along with crooks selling bat houses, noise machines and sprays as supposed cures.

Most callers are frightened enough already. Using fear to pressure them into signing a contract is sleazy. Not everyone can afford bat control, and it is not always an immediate emergency. As a residential bat specialist, I would rather explain the situation honestly and let homeowners make an informed decision.Rabies is serious. Potential exposure should never be dismissed.

That does not justify turning every residential bat problem into a horror story.

The annual risk of a person dying from bat-associated rabies is extraordinarily low. Most residential bat colonies are also small and cause limited physical damage compared with major raccoon, squirrel or bird infestations.

There are exceptions. We encounter severe little brown bat infestations in parts of Canadian Shield country where large colonies can create substantial contamination and structural concerns.

That is exactly why experience and nuance matter.

The red flag:

They immediately begin talking about death, disease and catastrophic contamination before learning anything meaningful about your bag issues.

Red Flag # 10. You Want A Cheap Easy Solution.

This final warning sign is partly about contractors—and partly about homeowners.

Having to pay for professional bat-proofing sucks.

Customers tell us constantly that it is one of the least enjoyable purchases they have ever made. You are spending money to repair something you did not know was wrong, cannot normally see and never wanted to think about. You believe that houses should be bat proof as a matter of course. Most resent having to deal with something like this at all. It just not right.

That makes homeowners vulnerable to all the crooks and hacks offering a cheap or simple solution.

None of it works beyond the placebo effect.

It is also why they believe the local non-specialist who says the entire problem can be fixed for a few hundred dollars.

Homeowners want there to be one obvious hole.

They imagine that the contractor only needs to find that hole, attach a tube and seal it after the bats leave.

That is rarely how a real house is constructed.

Homes are not designed to be bat-proof or mouse-proof. Contractors are thinking about appearance, weather protection, ventilation, deadlines and cost. They never look at every soffit intersection and roof transition for a gap a bat might use later.

All houses are sieves when it comes to small animals like mice or bats

Potential openings exist around:

Brick transitions

Siding

Utility penetrations

Roof-wall intersections.

People often have to move through what we call the five stages of bat control:

Denial

Bargaining

Anger

Depression

Acceptance

First, they insist the bat flew through an open door.

Then they buy a bat house or noisemaker.

Then they pay someone to seal one opening.

Then they become angry when another bat appears.

Eventually, they accept that the house requires complete bat-proofing.

I understand the temptation to try something cheaper first. But cheap failed work does not reduce the eventual cost. It increases it—especially when the failed materials must be removed before the proper job can begin.

Ask yourself:

“Am I hiring this company because its explanation makes sense, or because it is telling me what I desperately want to hear?”

The red flag:

The solution sounds too good to be true.

It is.

Bat Control Is Not Another Wildlife Job

The difficult part of bat control is not attaching a tube to the opening currently being used.

The difficult part is finding and permanently closing everything else.

A bat-control specialist must understand:

Bat behaviour

Seasonal movement

Roof construction

Soffits and fascia

Water management

Custom sheet-metal work

Sealant compatibility

Roof ventilation

Chimneys

Rodent activity

One-way exclusion

How buildings move and deteriorate over time

That is why the family-doctor comparison is appropriate.

A general wildlife company may be excellent at trapping skunks or removing raccoons. That does not mean it has the equipment, materials or experience required to make an entire house bat-proof.

Complete bat-proofing is expensive because it is difficult, time-consuming and technically demanding.

We do not offer a cheap experiment.

We offer the nuclear option: identify the openings, remove the bats humanely, make the building bat-proof and try to keep out at the same time mice, birds, squirrels and raccoons, and stand behind the result.

Do it once.

Do it properly.

Do not pay one company to make the mess and another company to tear it apart and start again.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Bat-Control Company

Use these questions during every estimate or telephone consultation:

How many of your reviews specifically involve bat-proofing?

What are your one-way bat excluders made from?

Do you guarantee the result or only your workmanship?

Will I be charged again if you miss an opening?

What size mesh will you use?

How many different sealants will be used, and where?

Do your crews carry a sheet-metal brake?

Will you inspect the drip edge around the entire roof?

How long is the warranty, and what exactly does it cover?

Are you proposing complete bat-proofing or trying a few repairs to see what happens?

A competent specialist should be able to answer every question directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I tell whether a wildlife company specializes in bats?

Read its reviews and look for detailed references to bat exclusion, complete bat-proofing and long-term results. Reviews about raccoons, squirrels and skunks do not establish expertise in bat control.

What should complete bat-proofing include?

It should include sealing primary, secondary and potential entry points; screening appropriate vents and chimneys; repairing roof-perimeter gaps; fabricating custom flashing where necessary; and installing safe one-way exits over active openings.

Is one-inch mesh suitable for bat-proofing?

Generally, no. One-inch mesh is commonly used for larger wildlife, but bats may pass through openings that size. Properly installed half-inch metal mesh is more appropriate for many bat-screening applications.

Are plastic bat excluders a problem?

They can be. Some plastic devices deteriorate in sunlight or are damaged by rodents. Loose mesh devices can also collapse or trap bats. We use smooth aluminum excluders because they are durable and difficult for rodents to destroy.

What kind of warranty should a bat-control company offer?

The warranty should cover the result, not merely the contractor’s workmanship. It should also last long enough to account for the fact that homeowners may go several years between indoor bat appearances.

Why can a bad bat-control job appear successful?

Small big brown bat colonies may move among several houses. Blocking a few preferred openings can cause them to move temporarily without making the original house bat-proof. They may return years later.

Why does a bat-control company need a sheet-metal brake?

Many roof and soffit openings cannot be repaired properly with caulking or mesh. A metal brake allows technicians to fabricate custom aluminum flashings that seal large or irregular gaps while shedding water correctly.

Does a new house need complete bat-proofing?

Possibly. New houses are not constructed specifically to exclude bats and mice. Small gaps can remain around soffits, fascia, roof vents, dormers, chimneys and other transitions.

Why are extremely cheap bat-control quotes suspicious?

Complete bat-proofing requires labour, specialized materials, custom metal fabrication and work around the entire roof. A very cheap quote often covers only a few obvious openings rather than the complete structure.

Do bats and mice use the same openings?

They frequently do. Both animals can use roof-edge gaps, soffit openings, vents and construction gaps. Proper bat-proofing often improves protection against mice and other wildlife as well.

Benjamin Vaughan, Bat Control Specialists

Benjamin Vaughan has worked exclusively with bats for more than 37 years. Bat Control Specialists provides humane bat exclusion, complete residential bat-proofing and lifetime-warranty protection across Ontario.