Managing Unexpected Home Repair Costs
We recently had a bee situation at our house. For no apparent reason, a swarm of bees decided to move into a space maybe six inches wide between the roof of our house and the roof of our shed. The shed appears to have been a DIY project constructed by a previous owner, who probably never thought that space would pose a problem. Neither did we--in fact, we'd never noticed it until the bees came. It got so bad that my husband got stung and I was afraid to go into the backyard and become the next victim.
We have an ongoing contract with a pest control company, so we were hoping they might take care of the problem for free, but no such luck. They said that bee removal costs started at $250. We were horrified.
Being the frugal gal I am, I of course researched our options for killing the bees ourselves, but the risk of getting stung appeared to be high while the odds of curing the problem appeared to be low. We were going to have to hire professional help. Meanwhile, the problem was starting to seem more urgent based on horror stories I stumbled across online about bees moving into the walls of people's homes and leaving honeycomb that could only be removed by destroying the wall. I really didn't want a bee nuisance to turn into a construction project.
After calling three more bee professionals, we found the lowest price--$175--and hired them. It wasn't fun writing that check, but it was a relief to get rid of the bees. The company provided great service--they were at our house within a couple of hours. So far, the bees haven't come back.
Our experience dealing with this situation inspired me to write an article. Visit Interest.com to read my tips on Managing Unexpected Home Repair Costs.
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