Watch Your Exterminator

My limited time only $45 base exterior-only service special is extensive. I clean all cobwebs from the exterior. I replenish your contract-required rodent bait boxes. I apply Niban granular bait around the immediate perimeter of the home if needed. I spray your windows and soffits. I then spray 3 feet up the side of your home, and 3 feet away from the foundation where practical. I spray under your porches and around patios. I check your crawlspaces, scan for entry points or signs of activity. My interior service is also intensive, asking the customer if possible about any issues they may be having before addressing those issues first and hitting any possible trouble areas while checking/replenishing mouse bait stations and checking/replacing glue traps around the inside of the entire home. This is, and should be, the industry standard. However, this is not the way I was trained.

I was trained to look for obvious issues, if any. If there was a particular issue, use the one to two ever-present, never-cycled chemicals provided for that particular pest. If there were no apparent issues, just rush through it; hit the baseboards, windowsills and around vents. Rush through the outside, fill the bait boxes, wipe cobwebs where noticeable, hit the outside windowsills with maybe a thin stream here and there between them into the crawlspace vents or foundation ledge, then stick the ticket in the door if no one was home. On to the next, because it's hurry up and wait or hurry up and forget your lunch break. It was either never enough time to make the stops with no break, or too much time in between. I quickly learned this was due to poor scheduling and business practices, and insisted that I have enough time to adequately address customer concerns and do the work properly. I forcibly reduced my daily stop count to a manageable level that I found acceptable for adequate service, and forged working relationships with my customers. This is how I built my reputation, by honestly caring about what I was doing. I took my time, went well above and beyond the parameters of my employer. Yes, I made mistakes along the way... I came out of trucking with no knowledge whatsoever of the pest control business, and did/said as I was told. There was many a situation that I did not have the information I needed about the customer pool. I have set off house alarms because I was not provided the alarm code, called/billed customers by the wrong name because that was what was written on the contract, was dispatched to the wrong address that was never updated despite texting the boss and thus had to learn the route by experience, sprayed interiors on accounts that were exterior only, stuck paper bills in the doors of digital payment accounts that were ignored for months, sat outside of locked gates waiting for lock codes that were not provided and thus put me behind on time, had to pay for gas with my personal credit card because the business credit card was constantly maxed out, repeated erroneous information to customers from my boss who, with extensive experience in the field, trusted but did not know was incorrect until I was training for my commercial applicator certifications, etc.

I think the main problem with my previous employer is that their whole aim from the outset was to build the business up and sell it out as quickly as possible. They haven't achieved that in their many years of service and attempts to sell the business and in turn, the customer pool, piecemeal or outright. No, the situation they have now is more work than they can effectively manage, creating many disgruntled customers. Their drive, care, compassion, and attention to detail has long faded. I refuse for my venture to end up in the same shape, because my aim is simply to make a living; not bloat the business as fast as possible to try and sell my business and customer base out to another medium-sized business or large and long-established big corporation that will undermine my vision. That is not to say my previous employer doesn't have their merits, or doesn't have applicable knowledge; I just learned just as much what not to do as what to do from them. I could go into far more detail, but I do not find that warranted or necessary. My hope is to make a living while changing the way things are done in pest control at this local level by providing a higher level of care and attention to detail than any other company can provide.

All this to say, watch your exterminator. Do they ask if you've had any issues since your last service? Do they take the time to adequately answer your questions within reason? Do they rush? Yes, service days will have tight scheduling, but do you feel that you are truly getting what you pay for? Do they apply an adequate barrier? Does it conform to the standards of Prizefighter Pest Solutions?