Aventura Bees in Condo Towers, Garages and Docks

Before the city existed, this stretch went by the name Turnberry, and building started in the early 1970s. Aventura did not become a city until November 1995. Today residential high rises look out over a golf course at its center, with the Intracoastal on one side and Biscayne Boulevard on the other.

That shape decides how bees show up. A scout bee hunting for a cavity does not care whether a gap sits on the ground floor or the thirtieth. Rooftop mechanical housings, garage expansion joints, planter boxes on pool decks and the hollow bases of light poles all read as shelter. What changes in Aventura is the response: the colony usually sits on shared property, several people have to sign off, and the work has to fit a building's rules about contractors, hours and elevators.

Where colonies tuck into Aventura buildings

Notes on Aventura communities

• Williams Island

  Williams Island is a section of Aventura, and a visit there starts at your building's front desk and whatever entry check your association runs. Give us the building name and who holds the contractor list, and the visit can be cleared before anyone drives over.

• Point East

  Point East buildings go by letter, and the city's Founders Day shuttle schedule lists them that way, from A through T. When you call, the letter matters as much as the street address: it tells us which manager receives our COI and which entrance the crew should use.

• Mystic Pointe

  Mystic Pointe towers carry numbers, 100 through 600. Bees reported on a balcony in one tower and a planter in another are two separate colonies until proven otherwise, so note the tower and floor for each sighting.

• Turnberry Isle and the Yacht Club

  Turnberry Isle North and South, the Turnberry Gatehouse and the Yacht Club each appear by name on the city's Founders Day shuttle schedule. If your building has a gatehouse, expect a check-in there, and if the colony is near a slip, we will ask which dock and whether a boat needs moving.

• Country Club Drive and the golf ring

  Country Club Drive circles the Turnberry course, and its paved promenade looks out over lakes and residential high rises. Swarms resting in course-side trees can move on alone; bees entering a wall or box will not.

• Biscayne Lakes Gardens

  Biscayne Lakes Gardens is another name on that shuttle schedule. If your building there has a management office, start with them so the insurance paperwork and access plan are settled before the visit.

Who calls, and who signs off

In a single-family house, the owner decides. In an Aventura condo, the decision often runs through a property manager, a board and sometimes a building engineer, and the bees do not wait for the next meeting. It helps to know where the colony sits. Bees inside your own enclosed balcony planter may be a unit issue; bees behind the exterior stucco or under the roof membrane are usually a common element that the association handles. Your declaration is the final word on that, not us.

What we can do is make the approval easy. Management can have our COI on request, the quote is free and agreed before anything is opened, and photos plus an itemized invoice can follow for the board file on request. If the colony has to come out of a wall or roof, the patch is done by our own crew of licensed contractors, roofers and painters, which spares the association from hiring and scheduling a second trade. Our high-rise removal page and association and property manager page go deeper on how that paperwork moves.

Water at the edges and in the middle

The Intracoastal and Dumfoundling Bay run along Aventura's east side, the southern boundary lies in Maule Lake, and lakes line the golf course at the center. Honey bees need water every day, especially in summer heat, so pools, fountains, irrigation drips and boat decks all draw foragers.

That creates a common mix-up. Dozens of bees sipping at the edge of a pool are usually just drinking and will fly off to a hive that may be blocks away. A cluster of bees hanging in a ball on a railing is a swarm in transit, which you can read more about on our swarm pickup page. Bees streaming steadily into one slot in a wall, a dock box or a seawall cap are the ones that have moved in. For waterfront spots, see docks, seawalls and boats.

When the unit sits empty

A unit can sit closed for long stretches while its owner is away. A quiet balcony with planters, vents and gaps nobody checks is just the kind of undisturbed spot scouts look for, and nobody is there to notice them. Owners who leave for a season can ask the front desk or engineer to glance at balconies and roof hatches now and then; our seasonal-home guide lists the signs worth reporting. When a colony is hidden behind finished surfaces, thermal imaging helps pinpoint it so only the right section is opened.

How an Aventura visit runs

1. Clear the front desk

   We confirm the building, unit or common area, and what the gatehouse or lobby needs from a contractor. Your manager has our COI in hand before the date is set.

2. Book the access

   Service elevator, roof hatch key, garage level or dock: whatever the colony needs is reserved in advance, so residents are not held up and the crew is not waiting downstairs.

3. Remove the colony alive

   The whole colony, wax included, is lifted out intact and driven to a beekeeper who keeps it. Nearby residents are asked to keep balcony doors shut while the area is open, which keeps everyone calm.

4. Seal, repair, wrap up

   The entry is closed, any opened surface is repaired by our own crews, and photos with an itemized invoice are available on request for whoever needs them for the board.

Matching removal work

Questions people ask us

Places next door