Merrimack Valley Wildlife Control

Merrimack Valley Wildlife Control is a one-owner nuisance-wildlife company in Merrimack, NH, run by Paul Estey, that removes bats, squirrels, flying squirrels, raccoons, skunks, birds and rodents from homes across southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts and seals the entry points afterward. The Better Business Bureau lists it as a sole proprietorship started in December 2001 with an A+ grade and no accreditation, and the company's own site describes licensed, insured technicians, 24/7 emergency support, exclusion, cleanup and attic restoration. Angi and HomeAdvisor both show a 4.9-star average across 27 ratings. Every written account dates from 2008 to 2013, and they read as a consistent history of one man doing the work himself. In an October 2011 review, a landlord whose tenant had a bat in the apartment said Paul arrived within two hours of the call, removed it and sealed the house. That same month, a homeowner with noises in the walls had been quoted an expensive exclusion program by another company for bats, mice and flying squirrels; Paul, called for a second opinion, found the problem was far smaller. An August 2009 customer described one-way traps installed for flying squirrels in a cathedral ceiling, with Paul back a week later to seal the holes, and a June 2009 reviewer had a raccoon and two babies removed from a chimney. Others from 2008 to 2010 mention three squirrels taken alive from a chimney, a squirrel nest removed from an eave over a newly renovated attic, mice cleared from an attic with access points blocked, and a bat job that came with a two-year warranty. Honesty is the word reviewers use most. In June 2012 a homeowner said Paul looked at the job and declined to charge because what they wanted would not solve their problem. Several 2010 and 2011 reviews say he quoted the lowest of several bids, explained the options and costs clearly, and did small extras at no charge. The one unhappy account is from April 2011: a customer paid $235 for two baited skunk traps that were sprung and emptied without catching anything, and felt a hardware-store trap would have done the same. A 2009 reviewer also noted an early miscommunication that was later resolved to their satisfaction. For a homeowner in the Nashua–Lowell corridor with something living in the attic, chimney or walls, the decade-old reviews describe a prompt, straightforward operator who tells you when you do not need the expensive fix. Because that history ends in 2013, ask what the current process and warranty look like, and get the trapping fee and what it covers in writing.