Professional Opinions on Attic Cleanups

So I submitted an estimate to a client that has some bats in the attic. The cleanup is not all that extensive in terms of what needs to be removed and the job ended up being on the cheaper end as attic cleanups go.

Today I received an email from the client stating that after talking with his insurance company he was going with another company. I was confused because my bid only came out to about $500 over his deductible so it wasn't even worth putting a claim in for. Curiosity got the best of me so I called the client to let him know that I would be happy to work with his insurance and was curious as to why my bid wasn't excepted. He stated that the other company came out and stated that the entire attic needed to be completely cleaned up because some guano might be hidden in other places under the current insulation.

So basically what the other company did was bid the entire attic cleanup knowing that the client would rather pay his $1000 deductible for and entire attic restoration than pay me my bid for a partial. Am I crazy or is this kind of bad business. I guess what I am asking is do you all bid attic restorations complete even if there is only a little bit of contamination or just what really needs to be done. Just seems like bad business or am I missing something?

Chris

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Permalink Reply by Chris Bocchino on July 18, 2012 at 1:51pm

Here is a photo of the guano.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Schmidt on July 19, 2012 at 12:23pm

I'm just getting into resto's, but don't see any need for a full resto if there's guano in only a small area.

Don't quite understand your situation, but am aware that the insurance com,pany seems to call the shots in these affairs.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Sandy on July 19, 2012 at 11:54pm

Yes, I hear that chemical is magical. You spray it and the waste does a "poodini" and its gone! =D

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Permalink Reply by Chris Bocchino on July 20, 2012 at 12:09am

The client basically told me that the other company said the entire attic beeded to be cleaned in because the house was vacant for three years and there was (and get this) "no telling if there was guano under the insulation from the bats burrowing in the insulation". Are you frigging kidding me!!!!! If I tried to pull this shit I would be the guy you all watched on the news! Listen Karma and I are on neutral grounds after many years of Karma kicking my ass, so I have ZERO intentions of running my company the way the other company is. All I can hope is that in a year or two Karma catches up with the other company and puts them out of business......... In the mean time I just hope Karma doesn't show up as Histo that gets a kid on a job they have done! In the mean time I'll continue to be the honest company so in ten years I'm still in business and I'm the ones that the insurance companies reccomend.

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Moss on July 20, 2012 at 8:04am

Chris you are exactly right we have the same thing happen to us on partial attic restorations, loose a bid only to wonder why, we did not think it was too much, then I am driving by the place and see tons of trash bags in the back of a dump truck ,about 10 workers out there , an industrial vacuum truck there and an industrial insulation company. Yea I know what happened the your going to die if you don't get every bit of the guano out tactic. This happened on a job I bid 1160.00 dollars on. It looks like they ended up spending that price per hour on the job.

Tim

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Permalink Reply by Steve Oswalt on July 28, 2012 at 12:01pm

Hey Chris, I feel your pain that is why we like to build a relationship with the Insurance ajusters/companies as we become the third party second opinion for them. It lands us many leads jobs and inspection fee's regardless. Just another avenue for attic referals.

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Permalink Reply by Reginald Murray on August 7, 2012 at 1:09am

It's common Chris. The companies that will do what you are describing, have already convinced the client (scare tactic) that the possibility of the fungal spore has already spread throughout the attic, and therefore ... a complete clean out is required. However ... it is also very common for fecal material to be below the insulation. This is done by wildlife disturbing the contaminated areas, and through long term gravitational settling ... especially along the trusses.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Oren on August 10, 2012 at 11:30pm

Reginald “no disrespect intended” but I don’t understand what your point is with this photo. I don’t see bats burrowing or tunneling inside the insulation I see bats roosting along the edge of a ceiling truss to the edge of the insulation. From the conversation I had with Chris he indicated that the company told the owner that the bats were tunneling and burrowing into the insulation to which I have never seen.

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Permalink Reply by Reginald Murray on August 11, 2012 at 4:27am

No offense taken at all. The bats literally "burrowed" along side the truss in the picture, and were "backing out" as I disturbed them during the inspection. However, this is as "close" to burrowing as I have ever seen a bat "do" ... but I have personally NEVER witnessed the notorious "insulation tunneling bats" ... but then again when dealing with nature ... stranger things have happened, and nothing would prevent the bats from adapting that behavior.

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Permalink Reply by Duane Haske on August 21, 2012 at 10:21am

Up here in the north country I have seen them burrow or tunnel. In the winter time they will get in between the insulation and the drywall ceiling to stay warmer. even when I have done inspections before I have seen the bat tunnel between the insulation and the trusses on the gable ends.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Oren on August 21, 2012 at 3:25pm

I spoke with mike flick and a few other people in regards’ to this topic of bats making tunnels into the insulation. It appears that I am wrong in my information and knowledge of this particular topic. It appears that I have learned something new this week. I personally have never seen bats making tunnels in insulation in all the years I have been in ADC work. I have seen and found dead bats in insulation but never seen them tunneling or seen live ones tunnel in and out of insulation.

The big question for me at this point is how are some of you finding theses bats inside the insulation? What methods are you using that I am failing to use? Are you raking every inch of insulation with some type of rake to find bats inside the insulation? Do any of you have photos of what a bat tunnel opening looks like once they start to forum elongated tunnels inside the insulation that I can see for future reference? Do bat tunnels look different from your typical house mice tunnels that are typically in homes with insulation?