Rat and Mouse Control Pricing Calculator (UK): how much to charge
Price a UK rat or mouse job in GBP: survey, baiting set-up, proofing per entry point, follow-ups, VAT at 20% and published council fees side by side.
How this is calculated
The quote is a straight build-up from counts and time, ex VAT, with VAT added once at the end. Four things behave deliberately: proofing is kept apart from the rest of the labour so it can be priced and reported per opening; every included follow-up adds its own round trip; drive time lands in full in your cost while only the share you nominate lands in the charge; and when you type prices inc VAT, only the selling-price boxes are divided back to ex VAT. Cost boxes are always at cost.
sell = typed price ÷ (1 + VAT) if typed inc VAT, else typed price
setupH = devices × minutesPerDevice ÷ 60
proofH = entryPoints × minutesPerEntryPoint ÷ 60
onSiteH = surveyH + setupH + proofH + followUpH* (*if included)
crewHours = onSiteH × crewSize
visits = 1 + includedFollowUps
driveCrew = drivePerVisit × visits × crewSize
baseLabour = (crewHours − proofCrew) × rate
proofing = (proofCrew × rate | entryPoints × flatPrice)
+ proofMaterials × (1 + markup)
subtotal = surveyFee − credit + baseLabour + proofing
+ billedDrive × rate + otherMaterials × (1 + markup) + addOns
jobExVat = max(subtotal, jobMinimum)
customer = jobExVat × (1 + VAT) (VAT = 0 if not registered)
vsCouncil = customer − councilFee
treatOnly = max(subtotal − proofing, jobMinimum) × (1 + VAT)
cost = (crewHours + driveCrew) × costRate + materialsAtCostWorked example. These are example inputs, not UK market rates. One technician at £60 an hour ex VAT, a £45 survey taking half an hour, four devices at 6 minutes each (£6 each), three entry points at the moderate 35-minute convention with £30 of proofing materials, £10 of bait and consumables, two included half-hour follow-ups, a half-hour round trip per visit that is not billed, and 20% on materials. That is 3.65 on-site hours: £114 of baiting and set-up labour, proofing of £105 plus £36 of marked-up materials (£47 per entry point), and £40.80 of devices and consumables. The job is £340.80 before VAT and £408.96 inc VAT at 20%, and across three visits it returns £66.17 per paid crew-hour. Held against West Dunbartonshire Council's 2026/27 domestic rat fee of £186.54 inc VAT (initial visit and up to 4 follow ups), the quote is £222.42 above it, and £53.22 above it with the proofing taken out.
Why the council fee is a reference point, not a target. A council sets its fee by its own charging decision, and the published fees vary widely: St Helens Council lists rats at £57.20 for up to 3 visits including VAT from 1 April 2026, while the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea lists rats and mice separately, each at £258.80 for four visits, without saying whether VAT is included. What the comparison is good for is the conversation a householder is likely to start: it shows the gap in total, the gap with proofing taken out, and each price spread over the visits it covers.
The time presets are not sources either. The three seeded proofing times (20, 35 and 55 minutes per entry point by access) and the 6 minutes per device are tool-local scoping conventions in editable boxes. Their only claim is ordering. Your first few timed jobs should replace them.
Everything runs in your browser. No account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent.
What changes on the UK page
The rodent control pricing calculator builds the same job: a survey, a baiting set-up, proofing priced per entry point, the follow-ups and an ongoing programme. This page keeps that build-up and changes what a UK quote actually turns on. Money is in pounds. The headline is the price the householder pays, VAT included when you are registered. Published council fees sit beside your number as cited reference points. And the vocabulary is the one your customers use: a survey rather than an inspection, proofing rather than exclusion, air bricks and door bottoms rather than sill plates.
What it still does not do is choose a rodenticide, a device or a placement. Your device count comes out of the bait station spacing calculator and arrives here as a number you already have.
VAT: the customer sees the inc-VAT figure
GOV.UK puts the standard VAT rate at 20% for most goods and services, and you must register once your taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000. The calculator prefills the 20% and leaves it editable, because a rate table is not a ruling on your supply.
Two switches matter. VAT registered decides whether a VAT line exists at all. The prices I type are ex VAT or inc VAT decides how your typed selling prices are read. If you think in inc-VAT numbers, type them that way: £72 an hour inc VAT at 20% is read as £60 ex VAT before anything is added up. Only the selling boxes convert. Materials, devices and your cost per crew-hour stay at cost, because a registered business reclaims the VAT it pays on them.
Council fees are the only published UK rodent prices
No regulator, trade body or survey publishes a UK price per entry point, per bait station or per rodent job. The figures in circulation are directories quoting each other, so every price box on this page starts empty. Councils are the exception: several publish their domestic pest control fees, and those are the reference points the tool offers.
| Council | What the fee covers | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| West Dunbartonshire, 2026/27 | Domestic rats: initial visit and up to 4 follow ups | £186.54 inc VAT (£155.45 ex VAT) |
| West Dunbartonshire, 2026/27 | Domestic mice: initial visit and up to 4 follow ups | £172.98 inc VAT (£144.15 ex VAT) |
| St Helens, from 1 April 2026 | Rats, up to 3 visits | £57.20 inc VAT (£19.24 on benefits) |
| St Helens, from 1 April 2026 | Mice, up to 3 visits | £68.64 inc VAT (£23.09 on benefits) |
| Kensington and Chelsea | Rats or mice, four visits including bait removal, up to five rooms | £258.80, VAT treatment not stated |
Lancaster City Council also publishes a fee page, but it refused connections when this page was built, so its figure is deliberately left out rather than copied from a secondary site.
Read the spread before you read any single number. A council sets its fee by its own charging decision, and across these three councils a domestic rat treatment of three to five visits runs from £57.20 to £258.80. So the comparison is not a target. It is the conversation a householder is likely to start, and the tool answers it three ways: the gap in total, the gap with your proofing taken out (a council treatment fee does not describe a proofing job), and each price spread over the visits it covers.
Kensington and Chelsea is also the one council found that prices proofing per opening: a prefabricated sub-floor air vent cover at £89.10 supply and fit, and an interceptor cap at £142.20 supply and fit. If you charge a flat price per entry point, that is a published figure to hold it against.
Competence and stewardship are overheads, not invoice lines
Professional anticoagulant rodenticides in Great Britain and Northern Ireland come with a stewardship regime. The Health and Safety Executive says professional users must follow one of the UK rodenticide stewardship regimes, and that CRRU UK developed one that meets the government’s principles, built around a Code of Best Practice. Since 1 January 2026, CRRU UK says sellers accept only a CRRU-approved certificate gained within the past 5 years, or an older certificate plus membership of an approved CPD scheme: Basis Prompt, BPCA Registered or British Pest Register.
None of that is a line the customer should see. It is the cost of being able to bait at all, which is why it belongs in your cost per crew-hour. The qualifications, their fees and the CPD routes are set out in UK pest control qualifications.
Glue boards and grey squirrels
Glue boards are not priced here. The rules differ by nation across England, Wales and Scotland, and they are covered in glue traps in the UK: what each nation allows.
Grey squirrels are not a rat or mouse job either, and councils price them separately: West Dunbartonshire lists one week of squirrel trapping at £151.65 including VAT for 2026/27, and St Helens lists squirrels at £247.10 for up to 4 visits. The rule on releasing a trapped grey squirrel could not be checked against legislation.gov.uk when this page was built, because the site refused automated requests, so it is deliberately not stated here. Read the current legislation there, or Natural England’s guidance, before you quote a squirrel job.
Everything runs in your browser: no account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent. An estimate, not a binding quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for rat removal in the UK?
Do I add VAT to a domestic rat or mouse job?
Why compare my quote with a council pest control fee?
How do I price proofing per entry point?
Does the January 2026 rodenticide competence rule change my pricing?
Sources
- VAT rates: "The standard VAT rate is 20%", applying to "Most goods and services". GOV.UK / HM Revenue & Customs. Retrieved .
- Register for VAT: you must register if "your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000 (the VAT threshold)". GOV.UK / HM Revenue & Customs. Retrieved .
- Environmental Health Charges 2026/27: Pest Control, Domestic Private, Rats (includes initial visit and up to 4 follow ups) £155.45 excl. VAT, £31.09 VAT, £186.54 total; Mice (same visits) £144.15, £28.83, £172.98; Squirrels 1 weeks trapping £151.65 total; General Pest Control Call Out Charge £46.51 total. West Dunbartonshire Council. Retrieved .
- Pest control: "Price list (Prices effective from 1st April 2026 and includes VAT)": Rats (Up to 3 visits) £57.20 (£19.24 if on benefits); Mice (Up to 3 visits) £68.64 (£23.09 if on benefits); Squirrels (Up to 4 visits) £247.10; attendance charge £46.18 where no treatment is necessary. St Helens Council. Retrieved .
- Pest control treatments and charges: Rats and Mice each £258.80 for "Four visits (Three treatment visits and a final visit to remove baits)", up to five rooms, extra rooms £36.20, extra visits £76.40; sub-floor air vent covers £89.10 supply and fit; interceptor cap £142.20 supply and fit; VAT treatment not stated; last updated 9 July 2026. Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Retrieved .
- Training and Certification: from 1 January 2026 sellers accept only "Proof of certification to a CRRU UK approved training course within the past 5 years", or an older certificate plus current membership of a CRRU UK approved CPD scheme (Basis Prompt, BPCA Registered, British Pest Register). Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use UK (CRRU UK). Retrieved .
- Code of Best Practice: "The cornerstone of the regime is a Code of Best Practice for the use of rodenticides published by CRRU UK in early 2015". Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use UK (CRRU UK). Retrieved .
- Rodenticides: professional users of anticoagulant rodenticides "must follow the requirements of one of the UK rodenticide stewardship regimes"; CRRU UK "has developed a stewardship regime in the UK that meets the regime principles set out by the UK Government" (page updated 2025-06-10). Health and Safety Executive. Retrieved .