6909 Glen Landing
Las Vegas, NV 89130
(702) 769 - 8588

You have a "Service" and still have bugs??? [home] [next topic]
So you have a service, or have had several, and they can't keep bugs out of your house? Hmmmmmm. We all have access to the same pesticides. Can't be that. Maybe they aren't using the right one? Probably not the right answer....we've found that almost all the pesticides on the market for Pest Control Operators kill bugs, and the only difference is that the HEAT in Las Vegas breaks some of them down faster than others. One more thing, the area where you spray does make a difference sometimes. Some pesticides absorb into the soil or into unpainted wood, or even into the concrete block used so much for fences here and other pesticides don't absorb, but stay on the surface where they'll continue to work. Still this isn't the most likely answer.

The most likely answer is.........(1.)they aren't doing the work right technically and, (2.) they are trying to do so much in a day that they don't take the time necessary to do it right when they are on your property.

First, depending on the conditions and what kind of pests are being seen, the "good" service tech will use different pesticides. In my opinion, a service tech should carry at least 2 of those pump-up sprayers, loaded with different pesticides. While this is the right way for us to work, it's still a minor problem.

Second, going through a house and spraying here and there isn't proper technical work. Treating baseboards isn't either. How many bugs have YOU seen on a baseboard? On the other end, I, a long time ago, used to "box" a house....that is, spray a light mist along the baseboards, up where the wall met the wall, and across where the wall met the ceiling. Every room. I promise you, my customers didn't have any bugs.....but, that's really overkill. It's not necessary, particularly in Las Vegas, where the insect population is lighter than in moister places, and also not necessary in light of other things we do. We treat every house thoroughly on the outside, where the bugs are coming from and we treat the garage like it was part of the outside. We really work over outside access ways. Inside, we treat inside access ways, such as doorways and windows, and what we call "destinations", food and water areas. The logic is, the bugs come in from the outside, so we work hard to prevent that. If they do get past our outside work, they get blasted again where they get inside. If they get past those two ambushes, where do you think they'll end up? On the living room wall? Sometimes, but usually in the kitchen or the bathroom, hunting food and water. We treat the destination areas and we have found that this method and way thinking works. The most important thing is the outside work. A lot of service tech don't even spray anything, don't treat with anything outside. They hit the inside and call it done. Even if what they do inside does work, and kills the "outside intruders", you still end up with "dead bug bodies" inside your house. Wonderful. One more thing on this subject. Have you seen all the pest control operators with the power sprayers and big tanks on the back of all of their trucks? Presumably, those are used when someone is having a lot of trouble.....they'll sure get out a lot of chemical......only thing is, the service tech doesn't want to use them on a regular basis. Why? It takes time which we'll talk about next, and the tech gets hot and sweaty in the heat of the summer here, the most critical time to be doing outside treatment. If, and mind you, I said, if, a service tech works outside, it is usually with the hand sprayer, which doesn't' put out a lot, it's designed for inside work. Not good enough. The only time the "Big Rig" is dragged out is when somebody is yelling at the tech about "a lot of bugs". For your information, we use "back-pack" sprayers, easy to strap on, walk around the house, pumping a little, and it puts out enough chemical to do some good. This heavy amount of sprayed pesticides is almost never needed, we have found, but when it is, we use the back packs.

When I was selling pest control services here, and "back home", I had customers call me and tell me that the tech was in and out of their home in 5 minutes. I really didn't believe them....I thought they just got interested in something else and it just seemed that way. One time when I was doing service in Oklahoma, a lady was in a rush to get to the dentist and told me to really, really, hurry. I did the inside in 7 minutes, she left and I did the outside. I had literally run through the house. I didn't believe someone would work inside for 5 minutes, literally, and call the job done. Since then, I have seen it. Obviously, the tech walked a short circle, waved at the homeowner, and said he was done. This seems to happen a lot. Flatly, you couldn't even walk through the house, just looking, much less spraying properly, in 5 minutes. We spend 20 to 30 minutes per house when we just have preventative work to do. We don't want to service 20+ houses in one day with a single service tech. I think the problem arises here in Las Vegas because of what a lot of companies charge. We all have a lot of overhead, vehicles and all their expenses, payroll, all that stuff. In order to make a profit, and that's what we have to do to stay in business, we have to have a certain amount of daily revenue. Duh. Not rocket science, huh? The rates are so low in Las Vegas compared to other places that the techs have to service more houses to bring in the same money. Thus, not taking the time to do the job right. (Read the paper on pricing on the Home Page) We are going to charge reasonable, not cheap, not expensive, but reasonable rates, and we are going to get the work done right. Easy battle plan. We've been doing exactly that for a year....so far, so good. The bottom line, our customers get what they pay for, a pest-free environment for them and their families. Period.

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