Every job follows the same five steps in the same order. The sequence is not a stylistic preference; each step depends on the one before it, and reordering them is how people end up paying twice.
Step 1 — Inspection
Typically 45 to 90 minutes. Longer for large properties, casitas, outbuildings or extensive block walls.
We walk the whole property, not just the room where you heard something:
- Exterior perimeter — foundation, stucco, weep holes, utility penetrations, hose bibs, AC line sets
- Roofline — every eave and rake termination, ridge and hip closures, valleys, plumbing and solar penetrations, vent screens, roof-to-wall junctions
- Attic — including a daylight check with torches off, which shows openings in the roof plane directly
- Interior — under sinks, behind appliances, cabinet kickboards, garage-to-house door
- Yard — middens, runways, burrows, canopy contact, woodpiles, irrigation leaks
- Vehicles and outbuildings — engine bays, sheds, casitas, workshops, stored trailers
You get photographs of everything found, and we walk you through them before anyone mentions a price. If we cannot show you the opening, we do not charge you to seal it.
Output: species confirmed, entry points located and counted, population scale estimated, damage assessed.
Step 2 — Exclusion
Usually one to two days depending on roof complexity.
Sealing the building envelope with materials that survive Tucson conditions and cannot be chewed through. Stainless mesh and hardware cloth wherever ventilation must be preserved, copper mesh packed into irregular voids, mortar or masonry patch over mesh for structural gaps, sheet metal at high-traffic gnaw points.
Two rules govern the work:
Top down. Roofline and upper penetrations before ground level. Sealing the base of a house that has roof rats solves nothing — they were coming from above.
Never seal an occupied structure. We use one-way devices at the main entry so animals can leave and not return, and confirm the space is clear before it is fully closed. Getting this wrong produces the call we get about a week later, and it is not pleasant.
Full detail on our exclusion page, including why weep holes must be screened rather than sealed solid.
Step 3 — Removal
One to three weeks for an established population; often days for a single mouse.
Trapping is placed along the routes the evidence actually shows — droppings, rub marks and insulation trails — not where it is convenient to reach. Rodents follow edges rather than crossing open floor, so traps go flush against walls and beams, trigger end toward the wall.
Density is set to outpace the reproduction rate; a dozen or more for an active attic, in pairs. We pre-bait where the species warrants it, because rats are genuinely wary of new objects and take rates rise substantially after two or three nights of unset baited traps.
Checked daily. Non-negotiable in this climate — a carcass in a hot attic becomes an odour problem within a day or two.
For pack rats, midden removal matters more than trap time, and humane capture-and-release is a genuine option for a native species.
Step 4 — Sanitation
Typically one day where it is needed.
Middens, contaminated insulation, droppings and nesting material removed with containment and proper respiratory protection. Material is wetted with disinfectant before any disturbance — this single step does most of the work in preventing aerosolisation, and it is the one homeowners doing this themselves skip.
Then disinfection of exposed surfaces, deodorising to neutralise scent marking, and re-insulation to specification where material had to be removed.
Not every job needs this. Where insulation is compressed but not contaminated, topping up is often sufficient and we will tell you so rather than defaulting to full replacement. See attic cleanup and decontamination.
Step 5 — Prevention plan
Written, property-specific, and yours to keep.
Not a leaflet. A document listing what to change and where — the specific tree needing four feet of clearance from the fascia, the emitter that is leaking, the woodpile that needs moving, the palm skirt that needs removing.
"Trim your trees" is advice. "The palo verde at the north-east corner needs 4 ft clearance from the fascia, and the queen palm behind the garage needs its skirt removed" is something you or a landscaper can actually execute.
You also keep the itemised record of every point sealed. If anything ever recurs, that record tells you immediately whether it is a new opening or a failure of previous work — which is exactly what a warranty should be judged against.
What happens afterwards
We follow up to confirm activity has stopped. If it has not, we come back under the warranty — and because you have the itemised scope, that conversation is factual rather than a dispute.
What we ask of you
The process works best when a few things happen on your side too.
Do not clean up before the inspection. Droppings, trails and rub marks are evidence. Leave middens and nesting material entirely alone — those are a safety matter, not just an inconvenience.
Give us honest access. The attic, the outbuildings, the vehicles, the room you have been keeping shut. We can only seal what we can reach, and a skipped space is where the problem persists.
Maintain the prevention plan. The single most common cause of recurrence we see is a tree allowed to grow back into contact with the roof, or a new woodpile stacked against a wall. The plan tells you what to keep on top of.
None of this is onerous, and all of it improves the odds that the job is done once.
No contract, no scheduled billing, no automatic renewal. If you want us back, you will call.
What it costs and when to book
See pricing for ranges and the seven factors that move the number. The best window for preventive work is April to June, before monsoon displacement and the autumn wave.
Book a free inspection to start at step one.
Want it confirmed properly?
A free inspection identifies the species, every entry point and the scope of work — with photographs, in writing, before anyone quotes a figure.