Wasp and hornet control · Southeast Michigan
Wasp Control in Ann Arbor and Southeast Michigan
The nest decides the job. Paper wasps hang an open gray comb under the eaves. Yellow jackets hide in the ground or inside a wall. Bald-faced hornets build a gray paper football in a tree. Our exterminators treat all of them, and wasps are included in Honorable Shield.
Quick answers
Wasp control in Ann Arbor: the quick facts
Four wasps make most of the calls here. Paper wasps build open combs under the eaves. Yellow jackets nest in the ground or inside walls, so you see the traffic, not the nest. Bald-faced hornets build a gray paper football in a tree and defend it hard. Cicada killers dig single burrows in thin, sunny lawns and almost never sting. Nests are biggest and most defensive in August and September.
- Most common here
- Paper wasps
- Open gray comb nests under eaves, rails, grills and porch ceilings. Yellow jackets are the ones that sting most in late summer.
- Worst months
- Jul to Sep
- The months with the most sightings in Michigan, from public records anyone can check.
- How it gets in
- Eaves, holes in the ground, wall gaps
- Paper wasps want shelter up high. Yellow jackets use old rodent holes, railroad ties and gaps in the siding. Hornets build out in the open. Cicada killers dig bare, well-drained soil.
- Included in
- The Honorable Shield plan
- Covered by the plan, with free re-treatment between visits. Or book one visit.
Wasps and hornets in Michigan.
Most wasps around a Michigan house are paper wasps, with an open gray comb under an eave or rail. Yellow jackets nest in the ground or in walls, and hornets up in trees.
Not every nest needs treating. When one is by a door, in a wall or near someone with a sting allergy, we treat it and take it down once it is dead.
Seasonal pattern
When are wasps worst in Michigan?
Real Michigan sightings of paper wasps, month by month. They climb from April and peak in August and September. Yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets peak in the same two months. Cicada killers are a July and August wasp and are nearly gone by September.
Warning signs
How wasps and hornets announce themselves.
An open, gray honeycomb nest hanging under an eave or a rail
A steady line of wasps in and out of one hole in the lawn
Wasps disappearing into a gap in the siding or around a window
A gray, football-shaped paper nest in a tree, and being buzzed well before you reach it
What to look for
What a wasp problem looks like at home.
Six common ways wasps and hornets show up around a Michigan home, and what each one tells us. The nest decides the job, so a photo from a safe distance helps.
An open grey comb on a short stalk. Small ones like this are common under eaves, rails and grills by early summer.
One small hole with a steady line of wasps. Mark it and stay back; mowing over it is how most people get stung.
Wasps going in and out of one gap means a nest behind the siding. Do not seal the hole while it is live.
A grey paper football up in a tree. The hornets defend it from well back, so keep your distance.
Pale scrape lines on old wood. Wasps chew it into paper for the nest, so one is building nearby.
A half-inch hole with a fan of sandy soil, in July or August. Cicada killers look scary, but males cannot sting.
How our exterminators get rid of wasps.
Three steps. Removal and sealing come last, never first.
Find every nest and name the wasp
We walk the whole house, not just the nest you noticed: eaves, rails, shutters, grills, play sets, the siding and the lawn. We watch where they fly, because a ground or wall nest has one busy entrance. Which wasp it is, how high the nest is, what is near it, power lines included, and how you use the space decide the plan. If it turns out to be bees, we call a specialist instead.
Treat the nest
We treat it with a product labeled for that wasp and that spot, at a time of day when the wasps are home. Yellow jacket and wall nests are treated through the entrance so it reaches the nest behind. Cicada killers are treated at the live burrows, and only where there are a lot of them or they are in the way.
Check it, then take it down or seal it
We check that nothing is still flying before anything else. A dead nest we can reach safely comes down. The entrance to a ground or wall nest gets sealed only once it is dead. Then we tell you what to change so they do not rebuild in the same corner, or dig the same thin patch of lawn.
Treatment does not kill every wasp in a nest at once, so some coming and going afterward is normal, and we judge the result by what is still flying. Before treatment begins, we explain which areas will be treated, whether people or pets need to leave, what preparation is required, and when treated areas may be used again. See EPA pesticide label guidance.
Every wasp control visit
The full Honorable TriShield™, every time.
Three layers. The house, the lawn, then the property line. Not a rushed spray along your baseboards. A cheap quote usually skips two of the three.
Foundation barrier
Three feet up the wall. Three feet out from it. All the way round the house, plus windows, doors, the garage and the roofline. That strip is the road bugs use to get in.
Measured with a tape, not eyeballed
Granular yard moat
A ring of granules across the lawn. Rain wakes it back up. So does your sprinkler. In a Michigan summer that is most weeks.
Skipped by most companies. Granular costs money.
Property line
We spray the whole property line. Bugs get stopped at the edge of your yard, not at your back door.
The layer a cheaper quote quietly leaves out
How to identify the wasps around your house.
These are the wasps and hornets we treat that have confirmed sightings in Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne and Livingston counties. Each one is identified by independent naturalists, so the animal in the photo is the animal named.
Open umbrella nests under eaves, in soffits and inside grills.
The grey football nest in a tree or on a wall. Defends it hard.
Introduced, and nests in cavities: gas meters, pipes, letterboxes.
Nests in the ground. The one that finds you at a barbecue in August.
Large and alarming, but digs single burrows in thin turf and rarely stings.
Nests in wall voids and attics, so the nest is inside the structure.
All of these have confirmed sightings in Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne and Livingston counties. Records from iNaturalist research-grade observations, pulled 2026-09-25. Photos: Northern paper wasp by Vijay Barve (CC0); Bald-faced hornet by Zachary Dankowicz (CC BY); European paper wasp by Gavin Slater (CC BY); Eastern yellowjacket by Katja Schulz (CC BY); Eastern cicada killer by Tom Norton (CC BY); German yellowjacket by Cecil Smith (CC BY).
What it costs
Wasp control is included in the Honorable Shield plan.
There is no special tier to buy. Wasps are covered by the normal plan. If they come back between visits, so do we, free, within 48 hours. Your price depends on the size of your house, not on which bug you have.
| Honorable ShieldRecurring | One-time treatmentSingle visit | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Keeping them out all year | Killing off one problem now |
| You get | All three barrier layers, every visit, on a schedule | All three barrier layers, one time |
| If they come back | We treat again, free | A follow-up is $247 |
| Other pests | Over 20 pests, rodents included | This one only |
| Price | From $61 a month | From $497 |
Prices are the starting figures: a home up to 1,000 square feet, or half an acre for yard work. What is covered is set out in the plan terms.
Wasp control, answered straight.
Which wasp do I have?
Look at the nest. An open gray comb under something is paper wasps. A line of wasps into a hole in the ground or a wall is yellow jackets. A closed gray paper football in a tree is bald-faced hornets. Very large wasps flying low over bare soil with single holes in it are cicada killers. Each one is reached a different way, which is why we identify it first.
Does every wasp nest need to be treated?
No. A nest at the back of the yard can stay, and many wasps are useful. Treat it when it is somewhere you keep walking past, is hidden inside the house, is near someone with a severe sting allergy, or simply cannot be avoided.
Should I knock the nest down myself?
Not while it is live. You will be stung. Do not use fire, gasoline or boiling water, do not throw things at it, and stay off a ladder near a nest that is defending itself. A treated nest can come down once nothing is flying in or out.
What should I do if wasps are going into a wall?
Do not seal it. Block the hole while they are alive and they will chew their way out somewhere else, sometimes into the house. Get the colony treated first, then close the gap once nothing is flying.
Will you always take the nest down?
Not always. It depends on the wasp, how high the nest is, what is around it and whether we can reach it. A nest inside a wall usually cannot be reached at all. Sometimes leaving a dead hornet nest in place is simply the safer call.
Are cicada killers dangerous?
They look terrifying and they are not. Cicada killers are solitary wasps with a low sting risk. Males cannot sting, and females only do if you grab or step on one. Give the burrows room and nothing happens.
Will wasps come back next year?
Not the same colony. Paper wasp, yellow jacket and hornet colonies die out in the fall, and new queens start over in spring, often in the same corner. Treating that corner early in spring helps, and an old burrow or wall gap should be sealed once the nest is dead. Nobody can promise you will never get another one.
Are wasps covered by Honorable Shield?
Yes. Wasps are on the covered list, yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets included, and cicada killers are on it too. A new nest between visits gets treated free, within 48 hours. Check the written plan terms before you rely on it for a live nest.
Round holes in bare wood, or bees going in and out of a wall? See bee control. Not sure what it is? Tell us where it is.
Pest-Free Guarantee
They come back? So do we, free.
On Honorable Shield, see a covered pest between visits? We come back within 48 hours and treat it again. You pay nothing.
Wasp control where you live.
Old streets with big trees get different bugs than new build on cleared ground. Pick your town to see what we actually find there.
That is not all of them. See all 38 towns, or ask us if we reach your street.
Other pests we treat
One plan covers every one of these. No extra charge when something different shows up.
Every visit includes all three barrier layers. See what we treat, or ask an exterminator.
Wasp control · Licensed and insured
Wasp nest by the door?
Call (734) 519-6671 or send a request. Tell us where it is and whether you can see the nest. If it is near a door we try to get out the same day, and you hear the price before anyone starts.
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