Retirement Condos a Haven for Pigeons Too

The owners of a retirement complex in Oakland, CA had a mess on their hands. The building's 1,000+ balconies have beautiful views and offer a nice outdoor living space for residents. The only problem was, the balconies and their hand rails were perfect roosting areas for pigeons who liked to call the condos home too. Bird droppings were on the railings, nesting areas were on the balcony floors and lights, and the sidewalks below were constantly fouled.

The problem was so extensive that most balconies were rendered unusable, upsetting residents and dropping property values.

Until, that is, the building's owners called in Hot Foot. Acting very closely with the general contractor, Hot Foot oversaw the complete operation from start to finish, providing an accurate list of materials required, time estimates, and even assisting in advising on rigging for access.

First, all balconies were carefully rid of old nests and cleaned of droppings. Then, a select crew of technicians began to install Hot Foot InvisiNet over every balcony. Each balcony had its own individual net fitted. The building was too high and set too far back from the road for the contractor to reach all the balconies with a boom truck, so the installers used a swing stage like window washers use to work down the faces of the building. Once in the exclusion netting was in place, the balconies were cleaned once again of any signs of pigeons landing in the interim, and sterilized to ensure no harmful viruses were left behind.

Pigeons were also using the window ledges than ran down the center portions of the building for nesting. This problem was solved by installing the Hot Foot Electrack system. The installers went from top to bottom installing and connecting the track to a single direct current power box to energize all levels safely. And it's green - this installation runs on a 12-volt battery-powered energizer connected to a solar panel for re-charging. Sitting less than half an inch high, the Electrack system is virtually invisible when installed.

The result: new, clean balconies that are free from pigeons, making them the enjoyable outdoor spaces once again. The birds have safely relocated, residents' satisfaction is up, and property values are up. Plus as an added bonus, the building owners learned that with the netting in place, residents felt safer about letting their cats out onto the balconies to roam.