I've been composing this review in my head for over two years, so it's time for me to finally write it and post it.
I had a Tuff Shed built in my backyard on the dirt. Because the ground was uneven, the builders leveled it out by placing one end on cinder blocks in each corner. Doing that left a gap underneath the shed which gave bees ample room to develop their hive. There is a fence at the back of the shed and on the side and another shed on the third side. That situation made it difficult to access the bees. I needed the bees to be removed because the neighbors were complaining about the bees, which means that I became financially liable if those bees were stinging them.
I called Roman and with his heat sensor he confirmed that a lot of bees were under the shed. The plan was that he would go through the floor to access the hive and remove it. However, when he came, he decided that the fence in the back would make it impossible to tell if he got the queen bee because the fence would affect the swarming behavior of the bees. He recommended at that point that the bees be killed because they will return if he doesn't get the queen bee.
I had called him because I wanted the bees to be removed alive, but he was the "expert," so I chose to follow his advice. He went to Home Depot to get the gas and some gap sealer to close off the back side of the shed so that the bees couldn't access the hive after the queen was killed. I trusted him. I have since learned that he could have known that he got the queen with the hive by observing the bees' behavior after he put the hive in the box; if the bees swarmed around the box, he had gotten the queen with the hive.
After it was done, he told me that I could get a discount if I did a review on his business. I had no reason at that time to know that the service I received was not good, so I agreed to post a review. For obvious reasons, he asked me not to mention that he killed the bees. I'm guessing that other reviewers here were offered the same discount and were also asked not to mention his killing the bees if that had happened.
Well, a few months later, the bees returned in great numbers. I contacted Roman, and he expressed surprise because he had killed the queen and had done a good job of sealing off the gap. Things dropped at that point. About 6 months later in March 2024, the neighbors were complaining again, so I pursued the matter with Roman. He did not return my messages until I reminded him that I had done a review on him and that I had a warranty. He finally responded.
He came again, and this time he cut a large rectangle in the bottom of the back of the shed to remove the hive. He told me that he had found a second honeycomb in there that weighed about 70 lbs. I don't know how he missed that. He removed both hives and then reattached the removed section of the floor of the shed. He then told me that he will not honor the warranty on his work because the bees will be back. I asked him why he thought that, and he said, "I don't know...maybe pheromones." I suggested that he put under the shed the soil I had bought for that purpose to remove the gap under the shed. He said that that wouldn't work. I wish that I had pursued that because I don't understand why removing the open space wouldn't work. I also wish that I had pursued his honoring his warranty. The warranty of his work is the sole reason I chose him.
So, at that point, I'm out about $600, and I still have the bees. I learned soon after that that pheromones are a problem only if he didn't get all of the honeycombs from underneath the shed. He had to have known that he didn't get all of them or he would not have known that the bees would be back.
I bought a beekeeper's outfit so that I could remove the fence at the back of the shed to assess the situation. After I removed the fence, I could clearly see the problem. Roman did not even come close to sealing the gap under the shed. I saw gap filler on only about 3 ft. of a 10 ft. side. Since the hole he drilled in the bottom of the shed was only about 5 in. in diameter and was on the right side of the shed, there is no way that he could have reached the gap on the other side of the shed with a can of gap filler. How could Roman not know that? He told me 6 months before when I mentioned the return of the bees that he did a good job of sealing off the shed.
If Roman had gone into the floor the first time he was there, he would have seen and removed both hives from underneath the shed. If he had done a thorough job of making sure that he got all of the honeycombs under the shed or used the dirt I had to completely fill in the gap underneath the shed, the problem would have been solved. Bees would not have been killed, and I would be writing a positive review instead of this. I don't find Roman to be competent since he didn't know about bee behavior or honorable since he did not honor his warranty or refund what I paid him. read more