A nest over a door or walkway
Traffic within a few feet of a nest triggers defense eventually. This is the classic same-day call and we schedule it that way.
Spiders, Wasps & Seasonal
Wasp & Hornet Nest Removal in Seattle
A nest by a doorway, deck or play area is a same-day problem, and we treat it like one. Paper wasps under the eaves, bald-faced hornets in the hedge, nests in wall voids and sheds: we treat and remove them with proper equipment, at the hours the colony is home, so the stinging stops and stays stopped.
Call (206) 944-0849 All treatments
- Same or next day for exposed nests
- Full protective equipment
- Nest removed, not just sprayed
- Answered 24/7
Reviewed by Marjorie Tidwell, Pest Prevention Writer. Updated 2026-10-05.
In short: Call (206) 944-0849 and describe the nest: where it hangs, roughly how big, and how the insects are behaving. Exposed nests near doors, decks and play areas are usually handled same or next day. We treat at dawn or dusk when the colony is inside, remove the nest where structure allows, and treat the void where it does not, then tell you honestly whether that species would have re-used the site.
What this treatment covers
The right nest, the right hour, the right gear
Wasp work is about matching the approach to the architecture. Paper wasp nests, the open honeycomb umbrellas under eaves and deck rails, hold dozens of wasps and come down cleanly after treatment. Bald-faced hornet nests, the gray paper footballs in hedges and trees, hold several hundred aggressive defenders with a long pursuit range, and they are the nests that put do-it-yourselfers in urgent care. Void nests, built inside walls, soffits and attic spaces, are the trickiest: treat the entrance wrong and the colony chews toward the light, meaning into the house.
Timing and equipment carry the job. We work nests at dawn or dusk when foragers are home, in full sting suits, with extension tools that treat a hedge nest from outside its defensive radius. Treatment reaches the colony core, the nest is physically removed where it hangs accessible, and void nests get their cavity treated and the entrance left open until the colony is dead, then sealed so the void never hosts again.
The honest footnote we attach to every removal: these species do not re-use nests. Next year's queen starts fresh somewhere new, so the lasting value is in the exclusion and site advice, screened vents, sealed soffit gaps, the eave angles wasps favor, which we deliver with the removal rather than selling you an annual contract on fear.
What the visit includes
- Species and nest-type identification, including void nests traced to their entrance
- Dawn or dusk treatment timed to full colony presence
- Full-equipment removal of accessible nests
- Void treatment with correct open-then-seal sequencing
- Site inspection for additional nests, which late summer often hides
- Exclusion advice and sealing for the gaps that invited the void nest
Catch it early
Six nest situations ranked by urgency
A gray paper football in the hedge
Bald-faced hornets. Hundreds of defenders, a fast strike radius, and the one nest we most urge you not to attempt yourself.
Wasps streaming into a siding gap
A void colony in the wall or soffit, often far larger than its modest entrance suggests, and the wrong spray drives it indoors.
Wasps inside the house
Indoor appearances usually mean a void colony has broken through or is following light through a ceiling fixture; keep the room closed and call.
A known sting allergy in the home
Any nest on the property moves to urgent when anaphylaxis is a possibility. Say so on the call and we prioritize accordingly.
Scratching plus wasp traffic at the roofline
Sound in a soffit or attic corner with insect traffic outside marks an established void nest reaching audible size.
The Seattle angle
A good summer for wasps is most Seattle summers
Puget Sound's mild, damp springs are generous to wasp queens. Each spring, overwintered queens emerge to found new colonies, and a region with abundant eaves, mature hedges and 150 wet days feeding the insect prey they hunt gives most of them a start. Colonies build unnoticed through early summer, which is why the calls concentrate from July onward: an August nest is the same colony you walked past in June, now at a few hundred defenders and maximum attitude. Bald-faced hornets, technically yellowjacket cousins, are the region's marquee builders, hanging their gray paper footballs in laurel hedges, rhododendrons and fruit trees across the city.
Seattle's housing offers the void-nest inventory: pre-1980 soffits, gable vents with aged screens and settled siding gaps give queens cavity options every block. Those are the nests that surprise owners in late summer when a wall starts to hum, and they are also the most preventable, which is why the sealing advice that ships with every removal is the part that pays off next spring.
How the job runs
How a nest removal runs
Call with the location
Where it hangs, how big, how they are acting. Exposed nests near activity get same-day priority.
Identify and plan
Species and nest type set the method; void nests get their entrance traced before anything is sprayed.
Treat at the right hour
Dawn or dusk, full gear, treatment delivered to the colony core from outside the defensive radius.
Remove or seal correctly
Accessible nests come down; void nests are treated, confirmed dead, then the cavity entrance is sealed.
Sweep the property
Late summer often hides a second nest; we check the usual sites and leave you the exclusion list.
Honest numbers
What nest removal costs
Nest pricing follows risk and access rather than a flat menu, and you get the number before treatment starts. What sets it:
- Nest type: an open paper wasp umbrella versus a defended hornet football versus a void colony
- Height and access, since rooflines and tall hedges add ladder work
- Void complexity, where tracing and sequenced sealing extend the visit
- Colony size and season, with August nests at maximum defense
- Multiple nests found on the sweep, treated in the same mobilization
- After-hours urgency for sting-allergy households, accommodated without drama
Straightforward exposed nests are the economical end; a large void colony behind siding is the other. Either way the removal is quoted complete, with the dead-colony confirmation and sealing included rather than invoiced as surprises.
Make the visit count
Before we arrive
- Keep everyone, pets included, away from the nest's approach lines
- Close windows and doors nearest the nest
- Do not spray the nest beforehand; an agitated colony changes our approach and your afternoon
- Note where the insects are entering if it is a void nest; a one-minute video helps
- Mention any sting allergies in the household on the first call
- Clear ladder footing below eave or tree nests where you safely can
- Flag sprinkler timers so treatment surfaces stay dry for a few hours
- Leave outdoor lights off the evening of a dusk treatment
Straight answers
Wasp questions, answered before you reach for the spray can
Please do not. Even at night a disturbed colony defends, hornets especially, and the broom puts you inside the strike radius with no exit plan. The store spray cans fare little better against large nests. This is the one pest job where the protective equipment is genuinely the point.
Exposed nests near doors, decks and play areas are usually same or next day, and phones are answered around the clock, so an evening call still lands on tomorrow's early schedule. Sting-allergy households get moved to the front; say so when you call.
That is the one move worse than ignoring it: sealed in, the colony chews toward light and emerges indoors, sometimes through a ceiling fixture. The correct sequence is treat the cavity, confirm the colony is dead, then seal, and we run exactly that order.
Not to the nest; paper wasps and hornets never re-use one. But favorable sites attract new queens, so a sheltered eave or open vent can host a fresh colony. The sealing and site advice we leave behind is what breaks that cycle.
Genuinely, yes: they hunt caterpillars, aphids and flies in quantity, which is why we remove nests by conflict, not by existence. A paper wasp nest high on a shed nobody approaches can often simply stay, and we will tell you when that is the sensible call.
The northern giant hornet turned up in Washington's far northwest corner and became the target of a state eradication effort; no established presence has been found around Seattle. If you see something that truly dwarfs a bald-faced hornet, photograph it safely and report it, and we can help you tell the lookalikes apart.
Nest by the back door? A technician is answering now.
Call (206) 944-0849
Talk to a technician
Get between the nest and your family
Right species, right hour, right gear, and the nest leaves in a bag. Call any hour; exposed nests go to the top of the schedule.
Call (206) 944-0849Answered 24/7 from our Seattle service office.