Jonathan Potter, Beekeeper

All these great reviews below me was the basis for my calling Jonathan Potter to remove bees that had created a small hive in the attic above my laundry room. And my experience was vastly different. Initially, everything was fine. I wanted to find someone local and I wanted someone who «cares» and «is kind» like these other reviewers were saying. I called Jonathan, explained the problem, and he was able to come out the next day. We decided to proceed with the humane way of smoking out the bees ($ 250) instead of exterminating them ($ 200), which Jonathan said should take care of the problem. He proceeded to smoke them out, build a funnel so they couldn’t get back into the vent, then put a cardboard box on our roof where the bees could regroup. We paid in full and he said he would come back a week later to collect the box and add it to his bee hive.
A week later, I texted him to come out because I was getting worried. Instead of going into the cardboard box, the bees had congregated on the side of my roof, meaning I still have a bee problem. Jonathan said he couldn’t come, how about Monday? Sure, I said. And it was agreed. Monday, I texted him. He said Tuesday. Tuesday I texted him. He ignored me. Wednesday I called him. He did not return my call. Thursday I called him again. He sounded annoyed but agreed to come out Friday morning. Friday morning became Friday afternoon. But he came. Mind you, I was not at all impolite in my texts or voicemails. He put some caulking, which he said would make the bees go away. The cardboard box was still on my roof.
The next day, the bees began to swarm. Then we heard bees in the ceiling. I texted Jonathan again to come out and do what we paid him to do — REMOVE THE BEES. No response. I’ve had to call a different company to resolve my bee problem. I’ve never dealt with a more irresponsible and unprofessional person. I paid him to solve a problem and not only do I still have this problem but I had to call another company to finish the job. Furthermore, his prices are not «fair.» The exterminator I called is going to charge $ 95, which was really upsetting to hear because I didn’t bother to call around and get multiple bids. Overall, very terrible experience.

Calling a beekeeper is definitely not an experience one would expect to have, but nonetheless I would say Jonathan was great! I called him in an abundance of caution when I noticed a concentration of bees on the stucco wall of my front patio porch. I meant to just leave the bees alone but my dogs were snapping at them so I knew it might be a problem, and I’m also due to deliver my newborn any day now! Jonathan took all my information and was there within 30 minutes. Sure enough bees were moving into the stucco wall through a little hole! He sprayed repellant, got the queen, and safely removed them all. Watching the whole process was actually quite fascinating!

Jonathan did a great job removing the bee hive with about 30,000 bees in it. He came to my house in the late afternoon worked into the evening, gave me a piece of the honeycomb, and said he would be back in a couple of days to retrieve the hive. Despite the distance of my house, Jonathan did return and retrieved the hive. He did what he said he would do. Honest and very nice guy!
Thank you!

Jonathan was great!!! He was on time, and professional. He had to cut into my garage and did it with ease quickly finding the hive so their wasn’t as big of a repair to be done. After removing the hive he filled it in with insulation so no bees could come back to that spot and put the siding back on my garage. I am so happy that he is able to relocate them and use them in his business. His prices are very fair. He also gave me some of their yummy honey!

Not enough stars to properly rate Jonathan! I cannot thank those of you enough who gave your comments and reviews of your experiences before as this greatly helped us in knowing who we could turn to to help keep us safe and to help relocate and not kill the bees! He’s so calm, so knowledgeable! Removed the bees, repaired the shed after removing thousands of bees who had made their home under our shed and even added protection on the vents to keep them from going back in. Educated us on how to protect the rest of our home. Very fair price by a very kind and knowledgeable gentleman. So grateful today (he’s even coming back later tonight to get the remaining bees who were out and about working when this took place)!

Jonathan was great. He explained what he would do very clearly, how to prevent future hives, and was very fair about the cost. He did fast and good work. I’d definitely recommend his services. He also let me keep the honeycombs when he was done.

Jonathan was quick, on-​time, fair and as others have mentioned, a kind man. He really cares about the bees and glad that he can use them to grow his hives. I had about a football size swam that need to be relocated and Jonathan was the first to reply from a list of emails I pulled from LA County Beekeepers Association. He was prompt and arrived as promised. Jonathan was also very informative and answered all my questions.
I was amazed that he didn’t wear any gear to shake the bees off the tree branch. He did get stung quite a bit, but just brushed it off. Dang! I’d pay to see that again.

Jonathan was was kind and attentive and helpful. He is fair and honest.
It was amazing to see the hive he cut from inside the wall. We even got some amazing honey. Jonathan took three days to properly re-​stucco our wall.
He is a good person, clearly cares about bees, and took good care of us, for the right price.

Due to last night’s winds, we had a tree limb fall down and in the limb there was a bee hive that broke in the process. I called Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association to ask for someone who could rescue the bees alive. I am allergic to bees so I didn’t want to have them swarming around for too long. They gave me Jonathan Potter’s number. Turned out he lived very close so he came over within minutes of my call to assess the situation. Later that day he collected the bees safely and transported them to their new home somewhere else. He was very efficient, thorough, kind and polite and clearly knew exactly what he was doing.