Decided it was finally time to tackle my nightmare crawl space after spotting mold patches and that nasty wet-dog smell downstairs. Grabbed my phone and started googling "crawl space cleaners near me" at 7 AM last Tuesday while chugging cold coffee.

The Quote Hunt Begins

Called 5 different companies before noon – two didn’t even pick up. First dude who showed up just shone a flashlight through the access hole for 30 seconds and blurted out "$3,500 minimum" before bolting to his truck. Like bro, at least crawl in there first?

• Company A: Wanted $6k for "full encapsulation" package when I just needed cleaning
• Company B: Quoted $1,200 but refused to handle mold removal
• Company C: Tried charging $800 just for "assessment photos"

Started thinking this was hopeless till Linda from DirtBusters LLC actually suited up and crawled the whole space with me. Showed me exactly where critters chewed through vapor barriers and pointed at rodent nests with her gloved finger.

Cleaning Day Chaos

Two guys showed up Monday with shop-vacs smelling like stale cigarettes. Watched them haul out:

• 11 contractor bags of insulation scraps
• A raccoon skeleton (seriously)
• Enough dead leaves to fill a kiddie pool

Took ’em 4 hours kneeling in mud to scrub the concrete walls and replace vapor barriers. Felt kinda bad when Dave sneezed nonstop after hitting black mold behind the furnace.

The Real Damage

Final bill came to $2,850 which made my eyeballs twitch until Linda broke it down:

• Manual debris removal: $650
• Mold remediation: $900
• New vapor barrier + labor: $1,000
• That poor dead raccoon disposal: $300 ("biohazard fee" ugh)

Ended up tipping Dave extra ’cause he found my wedding ring that fell through the floorboards last summer. Still cheaper than replacing my HVAC unit from moisture damage I guess.

Honest truth? Anything under $3k feels like a steal after seeing what crawled outta there. But always make ’em suit up and show you the nastiness before signing anything.