For companies that offer lawn care for their clients, Lawn and Landscape magazine is recommending that while adding a pest control to the service menu seems a natural fit, before you advertise perimeter pest treatment to clients, study up on what the service demands: technical expertise, licensing, product knowledge and customer service smarts.

 

“What many lawn care companies don’t understand is that you can’t just spray and leave, Ronald Keehfus, president of Bugs 4 Less and Lawn Care 4 Less in Virginia Beach, Va told Lawn and Landscape. Lawn & Landscape talked with professionals in the pest control industry who also offer lawn care to learn how they cross-sell both services, what’s involved to offer pest control and what customers expect.

 
The good news: “We find that lawn care and pest control go hand-in-hand, and one service can drive the other,” says Randy Hulett, assistant marketing manager, Hulett Environmental Services, West Palm Beach, Fla.  “We are able to create new business for lawn care from our pest control customers, and vice versa, especially since ants that might be infesting the home are feeding on something in the landscape.”


But there is fine print: you need far more than a sprayer and a customer list to do the job right. Here, pest control professionals provide insight on what it takes to offer their service and how landscape companies can profit from adding it to their repertoire.

Spray-and-go service is no way to treat pests, says one industry expert. “Not unless you want to move to a 1950s model of pest control,” says Adam Jones, vice president and director of quality assurance, Massey Services, Orlando, Fla.


Landscape firms that do choose to add control services of any kind should prepare to do more than drench the perimeter of a home with product and leave.  That’s not “pest control.” “It’s not a business where you can be successful by just going out and spraying or spreading large amounts of insecticide around the foundation to protect the home,” Jones says. “It’s not that basic.”


Think thorough inspection rather than broadcast spray – and, with dedicated personnel, consider offering interior control along with exterior spraying. “If you are going to take care of the exterior, you have to be willing to address the interior problems as well,” he says. “Most consumers will not want to buy a pest service that disregards inside problems.”


That said, Jones suggests that companies break into pest control by bringing a qualified, licensed and trained individual who will manage these service calls. This individua should know the different ant and roach species, understand bed bugs, fleas, ticks and other pests common to the region. In Florida, a license to perform pest services requires five initial training days – essentially, 40 training hours – along with additional hours every six months. At Massey Services, technicians go through two weeks of leader-assisted on-the-job training and, from there, an additional hour per week. Twice each year, the company holds all-day training events that cover pest control fundamentals and customer service issues.

 
That’s because client expectations are also quite different on the bug side of the business. “You might tolerate a brown spot in your grass, but are you going to tolerate a roach in your kitchen?” Jones says. Responsiveness is critical. “You have to be willing to deal with problems at a moment’s notice,” he says.

As far as operations go, pest services require more manpower and lawn care requires more materials, Jones says. Massey Services budgets 5 percent for general pest control materials, while its landscape and ornamental segment has materials expenses that range from 12 to 18 percent of the division’s overall budget. Basic tools to perform pest services include pump sprayers, hand spreaders and dusters. Caulk guns and screen material are helpful for sealing cracks and crevices on the inside. “You have to be a bit of a craftsman to some degree,” Jones says.