How To Choose a Pest Control Company
When choosing a pest control company, you want to find the right one to meet your needs. You might take into consideration a company's qualifications, treatment methods, years of experience, customer reviews, and service prices.
Below, we explore the details of each factor.
Does the company have a valid license and permits to perform pest control?
Per the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), all pesticide applicators and their supervisors must be licensed at the state level. The EPA has established minimum standards of competency, and the Arizona regulatory agencies handle the issuing, maintaining, and revoking of licenses.
Is the company a member of any professional organizations?
One optional certification that could be worth looking for is the GreenPro Service Certification. In order to receive this certification, a pest control company must both demonstrate that its practices are more eco-friendly and maintain certain training standards for its technicians. Companies can earn other certifications from trade organizations like QualityPro to further back up their work.
There are certain professional organizations that a pest control company can belong to. Pest control companies can obtain membership in state-level organizations in addition to national organizations like the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). By being a member of these optional organizations, a company helps support its reputability and gains access to resources, education, and a network of other professionals with whom to compare best practices.
Professional Experience and Specialties
In general, a company will list information like its years of experience and specialities on its website. Local reviews can also inform you as to whether a company has experience dealing with a particular pest in your area. If you're unable to find the information you need online, you can reach out to the company directly to get your questions answered.
Reviews and Recommendations
Resources that can help you verify a company's reputation include the Better Business Bureau (BBB), local review sites, and social media. Additionally, you can confirm the status of a company's license via the Arizona licensing board.
Cost of Services and Guarantees
Things like the type of pest being treated, your location, the size of your house, and other factors can all influence the cost of pest control.
You can look into whether a company offers free on-site estimates (to determine if it fits in your budget), as well as what kind of guarantees it has. Often, a company will provide a guarantee that if it does not resolve your pest problem, it will continue treatment until it does.
Safety and Treatment Methods
Safety is an important consideration when choosing a pest control provider, and you might prefer a provider who uses more natural, environmentally friendly pest control services.
Safety
Be sure to ask your pest control provider if the chemicals they're using are low toxicity or non-toxic, and if not, what precautionary measures they plan to take. All pesticides that are not considered minimum-risk chemicals must be registered with the EPA. Your pest technician will be able to supply information about all of the pesticides that they plan on using.
Treatment Methods
Many companies are now trialing options for more environmentally friendly treatment methods before jumping into using harsh pesticides.
One common method for making pest control safer and greener is Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The steps of IPM are as follows:
- Figure out what pests are causing the problem and determine if immediate action is required.
- Decide on the safest course of action.
- Manage the pest problem using a combination of biological, cultural, mechanical, and physical controls.
- Employ chemical controls only if needed, and always with other solutions for effective long-term pest management.
- Observe the results and continue with additional pest control as needed.
