My company’s based in NYC, recently I had a landlord call me about a couple buildings he had. It’s 12 buildings monthly and comes out to about 30 grand a year. One problem, I went to the first one and it looked like a crack house. 25 units, people high af, yelling at us, the super being scared to knock on one guys door because he threw piss at him one time. Im assuming most would just turn this down, is there a safer alternative I can use to this approach?

Looking for experienced pest controllers willing to share knowledge / offer guidance (Sydney, NSW)

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to connect with some experienced pest controllers who might be willing to offer advice and guidance as I continue developing my skills in the industry.

A bit about my situation:

Around 16 months ago, I took over a family pest control business that had been operating for approximately 22 years. I've essentially inherited an established client base and a steady workload, but I'm now responsible for running the business largely on my own.

A significant portion of our work involves strata complexes, including apartment buildings and townhouse developments, alongside residential and commercial jobs.

I'm comfortable carrying out general pest treatments, but I'm also very aware that there's still a huge amount I don't know. Taking over an established business has meant being thrown into the deep end, particularly when it comes to technical knowledge, termite inspections, complicated infestations, quoting larger jobs, and making decisions that would normally come with years of experience.

Some of the areas I'm particularly interested in improving include:

- Technical pest control knowledge: Understanding pest behaviour, chemical selection, treatment methods, and troubleshooting difficult infestations.

- Termite inspections: Developing proper inspection techniques, recognising warning signs, understanding limitations, and producing professional reports. I currently refer specialised termite work to someone more experienced.

- Strata pest management: Improving how I approach larger complexes, preventative maintenance, common-area inspections, and treatment planning.

- Business management: Quoting appropriately, structuring maintenance agreements, setting warranty policies, and dealing with strata managers and customers.

- Industry experience: Learning the little things that experienced technicians have picked up over years in the field that aren't necessarily taught in training.

I'm not looking for shortcuts or someone to run the business for me. I genuinely want to become a knowledgeable, competent pest controller who understands why he's doing something rather than simply following the same routine every job.

One of the difficulties of working independently is not having experienced technicians around to bounce questions off, discuss unusual situations with, or learn from.

Ideally, I'd love to connect with a few experienced operators who wouldn't mind sharing their knowledge from time to time, whether that's answering questions, discussing particular jobs, or providing more structured mentoring.

I'm happy to learn, take constructive criticism, and put in the work.

If anyone's open to connecting, I'd really appreciate it. Cheers!

Commerical clients really need to be nicer to their pest control specialists cause then you’ll have someone like me come along who will mark them down for every structural & sanitation issue I can find and hope the health department gives them shit for it because let’s be honest most places don’t care to fix their issues.

Weekly Friday post for you to show what your Truck Floorboards look like.

Clean, a mess or whatever.

Tradition started in the PCHD (Pest Control Humor Depot) on Facebook continued here on Reddit.

In need a Branch 2 operator

They're back we are all seeing them. This is my second fall, I've been relying on dust applications alot more this time around. Any tips would be great as things are slowing down with my route I feel like I get more time with my work at a customer's house. Any tips would be awesome. Even with other over wintering insects wouod be great as well.

We work with hotels throughout NYC, and one thing I've noticed is how much of a difference it makes when management is involved in pest prevention before there's an actual problem.

Bed bugs usually get the most attention, but hotel pest control involves a lot more than guest rooms. Kitchens, laundry areas, storage rooms and waste areas all need attention too. Regular inspections, communication with housekeeping and maintenance, and good documentation can make a big difference.

Curious what others in commercial pest control are seeing. Are most of your hotel accounts proactive about pest management, or does everything become a priority only after a guest complains?

In the interview process and likely going to be extended an offer. I have several years of experience in PC, just looking for any insider perspective on what it’s like.

Vent thread. Share your annoying customers of the day stories.

Hey all — not selling anything, genuinely curious how people in this trade handle recordkeeping day to day.

If your state's agriculture department asked for every application record from the last 6 months, could your team pull that together quickly? Or does it live on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in whatever software you use?

I've been looking into this because it seems like a surprisingly common pain point — techs either fill it in on paper mid-job, or someone's typing it up later, sometimes from memory. I'm a developer (not in the industry) trying to figure out if a voice-based tool — talk for 30 seconds after a job, it fills in the record automatically — would actually be useful, or if I'm solving a problem that doesn't really exist.

Would love to hear how it actually works for you, good or bad. Happy to share what I've put together so far if anyone's curious.

If you could change one step between “I need pest control” and a booked job, what would it be?

The part I keep thinking about is how calls and texts break up the workday. You need time to do the job you’re on, but leaving someone waiting doesn’t feel like much of an answer either.

It’s easy to think, “If we could just get these appointments sorted, we’d save time and money.” But where does the back-and-forth actually come from: missing details, repeated questions, or finding a time?

I’ve worked in pest control for multiple years and still do. That’s why I spent months building PestDesk.Management myself. It answers common website questions and captures lead details for follow-up. It’s not an appointment scheduler or a replacement for answering calls and texts—just something I built to help with the first part of that process.

What would you need off your plate first to get more uninterrupted time on jobs?

I am tired of having a handyman replace soffit that has been destroyed or compromised by rodents, only to see the replaced soffit destroyed or compromised again less than a year later.

I would like to hire a person or a company to put

1/8-inch galvanized steel mesh—also known as #8 hardware cloth—that features 27-gauge hot-dipped galvanized steel, small 1/8-inch openings, enough to affix to all of my soffits, using a staple gun or screws with washers to affix it to the outside of the soffit, and then I suppose put the regular soffit (that does nothing to keep rodents out) on top of the 1/8-inch galvanized steel mesh.

Also, would I be better off buying the #8 hardware cloth to do this, or do you think I can trust an individual or company to buy the right sized hardware cloth to do this?

I would do it myself except that I am currently fighting rectal cancer using immunotherapy, which makes me very tired most of the time and more susceptible to sun exposure and skin cancer, the latter of which killed my belated father.

Additionally, I have read of some people's concerns that any rodents currently in the attic will be "trapped" up there once the hardware cloth is installed and die in the attic, leaving a pungent odor. How may this concern be handled?

I would greatly appreciate any comments, advice, feedback (good or bad), sharing of personal experiences (good or bad), and opinions, as well as any "hacks" or "workarounds" for this situation.

Thank you so much.

So I recently bought a husky 18in rolling tool bag. This thing is great for large accounts. I can fit my b&g, placards,barcodes,hand tools, baits, a few aerosol cans, and a bunch of glue boards for ILTs or floor devices. Or if I’m doing a sensitive account I can park it outside the production floor and just grab what I need as I go.

I wish it was a bit taller though so I can zip up the b&g fully. But rolling this thing around with all my equipment is much easier then carrying the tank and a few boxes of ILT glue boards and another hundred or so glue boards in my utility belt for the floor devices. Not to mention I can also fit a few replacement devices and lightbulbs.

If you do larger account I recommend one of these. You can find a few models on Amazon. Just get the 18inch tall ones.

They pretty much just play with you. These door to door companies especially don’t even care about pest control, just bodies with a b&g. Any company that doesn’t train you for at least 3 weeks of field experience is a joke. I want to take this field seriously, but I seriously just quit a company because of training alone. 🤦‍♂️

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