By R.W. Delaney, Business Writer
"Red-shafted flickers and downy woodpeckers were peppering the side of my client's vacation home with holes -perfect for nesting and for storing acorns," says Bill Hartman, owner and president of Rock Creek Construction Company. His company, a residential/light-commercial firm focused in the Napa Valley, is known for exceptional attention to detail and value.
Hartman's client was alarmed by the damage routinely inflicted by the birds pecking on the home's combination stucco and redwood siding when he and his family were not occupying their vacation home, nestled in a wooded tract in Napa Valley. When Hartman, who had performed major remodeling on the house over the years, viewed the extent of the destruction, he was similarly alarmed. "It was springtime; the birds were nesting and getting ready to breed. The woodpeckers were drilling holes bigger than a deck of cards," he says.
The attack had to be stopped or the handsome redwood siding, gables, soffits and window frames would be inexorably degraded. Thousands of dollars in damage had already occurred, Hartman notes.
The New Pecking Order.
"To scare the birds away, we first tried bells on a string and mylar flashing tape," Hartman relates. But neither the flickers nor the downies paid any attention. So they sought assistance from a local pest control firm. "The firm netted the surrounding palm trees to keep the birds out, but it didn't affect the birds at all," he says. They weren't interested in palm trees. "It was a costly experiment that failed," Hartman concedes.
Hartman next considered covering the entire house with metal siding, but the cost would be prohibitive and the aesthetics changed irrevocably. "Coincidentally, a flyer from Bird-X, Inc. in Chicago crossed my desk. I called the 800 number and chatted with the sales rep and the owner about a product called BirdXPeller PRO. They explained how the electronic unit can be adjusted to frighten birds away by selecting various bird calls to be played at different intervals and frequencies," he says.
BirdXPeller PRO replicates birds' distress calls. It is a programmable species-specific sonic repeller that operates on standard 110v electricity or via battery. Its directional speakers broadcast precise reproductions of birds' distress cries as recorded by a major U.S. university and create a perceived 'danger zone' that frightens infesting birds away
-- in their own language. The programmable bird sounds include a choice of any or all of eight varieties, depending on the type of infestation. The choices include predator sounds to help scare all the birds. With variable volume and time sequence controls, the XPeller unit fools nuisance birds into fleeing the area.
Hartman ordered one on the spot.
Scram Without "Bam!"
The unit, he says, was easy to install and program. "We located it where most of the damage had occurred. Since the house sits on large acreage, we had no concerns about neighbors noticing the noise. BirdXPeller PRO drove the birds out right away," Hartman says, "and there has been no problem ever since. The homeowner, who lives in Vancouver, Canada, says the unit absolutely worked. And he likes that his family can turn the unit off when they visit, so no sounds disrupt them."
As a California builder, Hartman is sensitive to environmentalists' concerns for birds. "The XPeller doesn't hurt the birds. It's their natural defense mechanism to flee when they hear a hawk," he says. He favors this solution over others. "BirdXPeller PRO is easy, and the results are so quick. We spent hours trying other methods that didn't work." Not to mention dollars.
Feather Fight Raises Operating Expenses.
Craig Melby, CCIM and owner of The Melby Group, a real estate firm in Stuart, Florida, had a different -- but equally severe -- problem with birds. "My partners and I invested in an office building in Daytona Beach," he says. On the top of the four-story, 27,000 square foot building was a gigantic cooling tower, intended to keep the building comfortable. But pigeons had found that spot to be totally safe, sheltered, and comfortable as a roosting area. It had been their home base for years.
"Feathers clogged the radiator," Melby explains. "This decreased the efficiency of the HVAC unit significantly and raised our operating expenses. And if the feathers caused the unit to overheat, there would be thousands of dollars' worth of damage or replacement cost," he adds. As owner/investor and property manager, Melby went to work to solve the pigeon problem.
We tried owl replicas and rubber snakes to no avail," he says. "I had heard of using fishing line to discourage the birds, but my environmentalist instincts said no to that method," he says. Instead, Melby phoned Bird-X.
"BirdXPeller PRO worked instantly and flawlessly," he says. "We've had no pigeons, no feathers, no nothing since installing it nearly a year ago." The commercial tenants in the building can hear when the BirdXPeller PRO comes on every few minutes, but it is not bothersome, Melby says. "To the tenant, it sounds like birds chirping; but it scares the pigeons away for good."
Melby's normal business is to represent commercial tenants and help them locate suitable properties and facilities. "I do the research and screen the prospective sights for large public companies; then I help them negotiate the desired deal," he says. "The magic part is that I get paid by the seller." Meanwhile, wearing his property manager's hat, Melby continues to solve nuisance problems.
"To keep pigeons and other birds from fouling the awnings on the first floor of the Daytona Beach property, we mounted Bird-X Spikes on the awning supports, just above eye level," he says. "The clear plastic Spikes work like invisible barbed wire to prevent birds from landing. They were an instant fix," Melby says. As a consummate professional who earned the Certified Commercial Investment Member designation in 1985, Melby sees no reason to keep his success a secret. "I plan on recommending Bird-X to any business client -- or even a competitor -- who has similar problems with birds," he promises.