Wild animal/pests etc.. .contract clause

[brantmacga]

Had a situation recently:

Roughed in an addition to an older home that's been added onto three times already. Work included a 100A subpanel being fed from the service which was being upgraded to a 200A. The service was on the opposite end of the house from the addition. Running the cable involved going underneath a previous addition, and when I got to that point noticed that this addition had a poured concrete floor. It was also at this point that I noticed bats hanging from this concrete. I quickly left the crawlspace and notified the owner that the bats would have to be removed before I continued on. I had nothing in my contract to cover this (and was hoping he wouldn't bring it up), but the owner was more than willing to have the bats taken out. I had to wait three days for some type of wildlife specialist from another part of the state come remove them. I'm wondering if any of you have something in your contract that covers this and have you ever had to use it? Its certainly something to think about.

 

[e57]

I had a guy under a floor many years ago - He would look and check if I was clear - I would drill - he would push the wire up....

So we're going along, and get to the last one - he calls me on the radio, and tells me to stop pounding my foot, and that there is a snake down there.... So I call back "SNAKE?! What kind of snake?" - "YEAH - SHUT UP - SNAKE!" - this goes on for a bit and I'm quiet, wondering whats going on - and he calls back and say's "I think it's sleeping - but it's right next to the hole." It was the last one and we could be done with the whole job.... "He says "I'm gonna try to get the wire in...." then I hear "Ahgggg!!!!" and scrambbling toward the crawl space entrance..... And like a flash he was out of that hole and slammed it shut....

It was a diamond back rattler. Inches from his face in 18" tall crawl space on his belly. It didn't bite him - but he woke it up and it was pissed! We called the county animal control after talking to the boss and the owner - Animal Control guys showed up and peered in there from a outside vent - "Yep - thats a rattle snake...." We asked when they could get it out.... "I aint going down there - don't advise you to either... Wait 'till Spring, he'll come out on his own..." And that's just what we did... That guy had to buy new tools in the mean time 'cause he left most of his down there.

 

[brantmacga]

i've come across their skins but luckily so far they've always been empty. still its not a good feeling when you see one.

 

[Minuteman]

I hate snakes!

Many years ago, I was crawling under a double wide that was out in the country. It was dark and my flashlight was very weak, I had to bang on it every now and again to keep it lit. I was laying on my back, trying to see the drilled hole and banging on the flashlight, when I saw a large rodent wrapped up in a enormous spider web. I bailed out. I did not want to meet up with any spider bad enough to whip a rat.

 

[jrannis]

I had a guy under a floor many years ago - He would look and check if I was clear - I would drill - he would push the wire up....

So we're going along, and get to the last one - he calls me on the radio, and tells me to stop pounding my foot, and that there is a snake down there.... So I call back "SNAKE?! What kind of snake?" - "YEAH - SHUT UP - SNAKE!" - this goes on for a bit and I'm quiet, wondering whats going on - and he calls back and say's "I think it's sleeping - but it's right next to the hole." It was the last one and we could be done with the whole job.... "He says "I'm gonna try to get the wire in...." then I hear "Ahgggg!!!!" and scrambbling toward the crawl space entrance..... And like a flash he was out of that hole and slammed it shut....

It was a diamond back rattler. Inches from his face in 18" tall crawl space on his belly. It didn't bite him - but he woke it up and it was pissed! We called the county animal control after talking to the boss and the owner - Animal Control guys showed up and peered in there from a outside vent - "Yep - thats a rattle snake...." We asked when they could get it out.... "I aint going down there - don't advise you to either... Wait 'till Spring, he'll come out on his own..." And that's just what we did... That guy had to buy new tools in the mean time 'cause he left most of his down there.

Didnt know you had rattlers up in SFO? Kinda cold for them?
Down here someone would have caught it and had it for dinner.

 

[mivey]

I've seen skins but never ran face-to-face with a snake. I have seen eyes reflecting but they were not in the direction I was going so I left well enough alone. I have run across many black widows, brown widows, and brown recluse.

The most heart wrenching episode was when we were trying to find where some squirrels were getting into an attic (part of our value added services). I was creeping through the attic with my flashlight. I did not see the squirrel but he saw me.

When I finally crossed into his (her?, there was no time to investigate) personal space, he bolted towards me and I almost left my own skin in the attic. With all the thrashing around I was doing, I probably left some.

[edit: we never had an animal clause. I always figured it was kind of an understood thing and that we would not unnecessarily endanger ourselves]

 

[HaskinsElectric]

I've seen skins but never ran face-to-face with a snake. I have seen eyes reflecting but they were not in the direction I was going so I left well enough alone. I have run across many black widows, brown widows, and brown recluse.

Here's a tip for getting rid of spiders. They always congregate near the access to the crawl space. I pull off the screen to the crawl space and look in and see many spiders and webs, I then take a tennis ball and wave it around so the spiders see it. Then I throw the tennis ball into the crawl space as far away as I can. When the spiders chase the ball I have about 20 minutes to crawl in, get my work done and crawl out before they come back. Works every time.

 

[brantmacga]

[edit: we never had an animal clause. I always figured it was kind of an understood thing and that we would not unnecessarily endanger ourselves]

I think in most cases it would be understood, but I know somewhere there's that one customer waiting to call me who doesn't care what dangers are lurking under his house. a contract is a contract to them. I'm going to have something written into mine about animals and other harmful things at the jobsite.

 

[mivey]

I think in most cases it would be understood, but I know somewhere there's that one customer waiting to call me who doesn't care what dangers are lurking under his house. a contract is a contract to them. I'm going to have something written into mine about animals and other harmful things at the jobsite.

When you get the wording hammered out, please post it, as it sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[Minuteman]

Here's a tip for getting rid of spiders. They always congregate near the access to the crawl space. I pull off the screen to the crawl space and look in and see many spiders and webs, I then take a tennis ball and wave it around so the spiders see it. Then I throw the tennis ball into the crawl space as far away as I can. When the spiders chase the ball I have about 20 minutes to crawl in, get my work done and crawl out before they come back. Works every time.

You play fetch with spiders?

 

[jrannis]

You play fetch with spiders?

I did laugh when I read it the first time.
I wonder if one has ever brought the ball back?

 

[mivey]

Here's a tip for getting rid of spiders...

I just despise a spider. I hate walking down a trail and getting a big orb web spider right in the face.

I remember having to lay on my back to squeeze under some duct work in a trench the plumbers were kind enough to have made. After several trips, I was starting to go under again and noticed a dead recluse, with a body that was at least 1/2 inch or more and huge legs laying on the ground under the duct.

Evidently, I had disloged the dead body while crawling under on one of my other trips. If that thing had fallen on me while I was pinched under the duct, I'm afraid I would have had to make a subsequent call to the HVAC folks!

 

[mivey]

Big ol' spider

Big ol' spider

From a friend of mine: There was an elderly gentleman, obviously from the country, at the seafood restaurant. The other people at the table were trying to get him to try some fresh crab. They kept insisting and he kept refusing. Finally, he got real loud: "I don't care what you call it, it still looks like a big ol' spider to me!"

 

[e57]

Didnt know you had rattlers up in SFO? Kinda cold for them?
Down here someone would have caught it and had it for dinner.

This was on Old Page Mill Road down a little further south in San Mateo - for only being an hour south depending on traffic - a dramically different climate. The same road also has a kind of a rain forest in a low laying valley, and conditions that look like San Diego on the hills.... The job was in winter hibernating season - hence the hibernating snake... The Owner wasn't going to go get the snake either so she was pretty understanding in the long job delay...

On spiders..... When I was in the service in Okinawa - we used to run into these guys all the time during training ops - Bannana Spiders

Me and another guy were hanging out hiding from a General's Inspection under the camo for our generator farm and spotted one who built a web at the egde of it. We passed the time throwing things into its web - watching it get pissed off, attack them then take them out of the web. My buddy grabbed a huge rock - which the spider saw comming - it jumped off the web and attacked the rock mid-flight and went soaring off into the foliage - ten minutes later it was back.....

 

[brantmacga]

This was on Old Page Mill Road down a little further south in San Mateo - for only being an hour south depending on traffic - a dramically different climate. The same road also has a kind of a rain forest in a low laying valley, and conditions that look like San Diego on the hills.... The job was in winter hibernating season - hence the hibernating snake... The Owner wasn't going to go get the snake either so she was pretty understanding in the long job delay...

On spiders..... When I was in the service in Okinawa - we used to run into these guys all the time during training ops - Bannana Spiders

Me and another guy were hanging out hiding from a General's Inspection under the camo for our generator farm and spotted one who built a web at the egde of it. We passed the time throwing things into its web - watching it get pissed off, attack them then take them out of the web. My buddy grabbed a huge rock - which the spider saw comming - it jumped off the web and attacked the rock mid-flight and went soaring off into the foliage - ten minutes later it was back.....

i can't tell you how many of those things i've had stuck to my face. they're hard to see when you're doing 30mph through the woods on an atv. though i don't see as many as i used to.

 

[HaskinsElectric]

Look how small that kid's hand is!

 

[mivey]

...Bannana Spiders...ten minutes later it was back

Man alive! That is just CRAZY!

 

[electricalperson]

Here's a tip for getting rid of spiders. They always congregate near the access to the crawl space. I pull off the screen to the crawl space and look in and see many spiders and webs, I then take a tennis ball and wave it around so the spiders see it. Then I throw the tennis ball into the crawl space as far away as I can. When the spiders chase the ball I have about 20 minutes to crawl in, get my work done and crawl out before they come back. Works every time.

i dont want to see a spider that you can play fetch with

 

[zdog]

I had a guy under a floor many years ago - He would look and check if I was clear - I would drill - he would push the wire up....

So we're going along, and get to the last one - he calls me on the radio, and tells me to stop pounding my foot, and that there is a snake down there.... So I call back "SNAKE?! What kind of snake?" - "YEAH - SHUT UP - SNAKE!" - this goes on for a bit and I'm quiet, wondering whats going on - and he calls back and say's "I think it's sleeping - but it's right next to the hole." It was the last one and we could be done with the whole job.... "He says "I'm gonna try to get the wire in...." then I hear "Ahgggg!!!!" and scrambbling toward the crawl space entrance..... And like a flash he was out of that hole and slammed it shut....

It was a diamond back rattler. Inches from his face in 18" tall crawl space on his belly. It didn't bite him - but he woke it up and it was pissed! We called the county animal control after talking to the boss and the owner - Animal Control guys showed up and peered in there from a outside vent - "Yep - thats a rattle snake...." We asked when they could get it out.... "I aint going down there - don't advise you to either... Wait 'till Spring, he'll come out on his own..." And that's just what we did... That guy had to buy new tools in the mean time 'cause he left most of his down there.

had that same kind of thing happen to a guy i worked with.another guy went back and got it.it was only about 4" long and everyone started laughing at him.he said yea but that suckers mama is down there somewhere.

 

[e57]

had that same kind of thing happen to a guy i worked with.another guy went back and got it.it was only about 4" long and everyone started laughing at him.he said yea but that suckers mama is down there somewhere.

From what I understand.... Which may not be much - is that the little ones are more dangerous, as they don't regulate the venom to threat level and will give you what an adult would give to a donkey. But a quick fact check says the opposite....

Juvenile rattlesnakes do have more toxic venom; however, they do not inject the large amount of venom as adult rattlesnakes do.

ref: http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/reference/snakes/snake-bites.asp