BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES From Pests to Profits

Les Wilshusen is glad he followed his friend’s business advice.
 
Seven years ago, Wilshusen’s buddy, a lawn care operator in Omaha, Neb., convinced him to begin offering his clients perimeter pest control services. It was a tempting notion because, on paper, perimeter pest control was a low-cost service that didn’t require additional certification in his state or a steep investment in materials or new application equipment, yet had the potential to yield attractive profits. Encouraged by the potential, Wilshusen began offering his clients the outdoor, anti-bug service.
 
“Today, it’s the fastest growing part of my business and it has become very profitable,” says Wilshusen, the manager of Mike’s Lawn Service in Storm Lake, Iowa. “In fact, I told a contractor friend of mine in Norfolk, Neb., about perimeter pest control and now that’s the fastest growing part of his business, too.”

Since Mike’s Lawn Service first began offering perimeter pest control, the service has grown by 67 percent, Wilshusen says.
 
Customer need also convinced Dan Setlak, president of Heartland Lawns in Omaha, Neb., to begin offering his lawn care clients perimeter pest control services. “I kept getting calls from clients who said they were looking for a way to keep pests, particularly box elder bugs, which are a real nuisance around here, from getting inside of their houses,” he says.
 
Setlak conducted some research on his own and then consulted with colleagues at other local lawn care companies already offering perimeter pest control services. Based on their experiences, they gave Setlak a crash course on the ins and outs of offering the service to clients. “Their success convinced me that I could begin offering the service, too,” he says. “When we first introduced the service it received tremendous amounts of interest from our clients. Since then we’ve had steady – not huge – growth, but it helps to supplement our overall income.”
 
Since Heartland Lawns began offering the service three years ago, Setlak has grown his perimeter pest control business by about 30 percent. Setlak adds he maintains a 95 percent customer retention rate for perimeter pest control services. “As my business grows I pick up more clients who want the perimeter pest control service along with their lawn service,” he says.
 
Lawn care operators like Wilshusen and Setlak are discovering that perimeter pest control can be a profitable addition to their client service menu. And customers are proving to contractors that they will pay for the additional service in order to eradicate common outdoor pests, such as ants, spiders, millipedes, crickets, box elder bugs and even Asian lady bugs, and deter them from taking up summer residence in yards, decks, patios and inside homes.
 
EASY ADD-ON. For an experienced LCO, offering perimeter pest control to clients is a fairly simple undertaking, most contractors say. With a minimal investment in equipment, materials and manpower, in addition to some savvy scheduling and strategic marketing, most contractors can begin offering  the service and collecting the profits. In fact, some contractors say it takes 2 gallons of pest control material per 1,000 square feet, which includes up into the eaves, up the side of the house 3 feet and out from the house 6 feet, and 10 gallons of pest control material can cost only $1.50.
 
“Perimeter pest control was a natural extension of the services we were already offering our clients,” says Kevin Johnson, All-American Turf Beauty in Van Meter, Iowa. “We had the existing accounts and the spray equipment to do it, and it didn’t require any additional specialized certification or expertise on our part.”
 
Wilshusen, like many LCOs considering any new offering, was apprehensive at first about adding perimeter pest control to his service menu. He didn’t want to incur the expense of hiring an additional technician, or have to take one of his five technicians away from their lawn application duties.
 
To fit in the new service, Wilshusen timed the perimeter pest spraying for the weeks in between lawn fertilizer and pesticide spraying.
 
Most LCOs say their programs offer three sprayings per season and as many as six to eight in warmer year-round climates, typically allowing for a 45- to 60 day window in between applications.
 
“We have some clients who only choose one application and are happy with it, while there are others who actually request more applications than what our program is designed to do,” Johnson says. “You have to price those accordingly.”
 
For seasonal applications, the initial spraying takes place during the first two weeks of May, followed by  the second in late June or early July and the final in early September, right around Labor Day.
 
“Those are the times of year that spiders and ants are the most noticeable,” Wilshusen says. “The last application before fall gets them when they’re looking for a warm place to stay for the winter.
 
“That schedule worked out until the service really took off with clients,” he says. “Then I had to eventually hire an additional technician to handle the amount of perimeter pest control business I was doing.”
 
While Wilshusen eventually found the need to add an additional member to his team, for most LCOs, this is not the case. Perimeter pest control services can be managed using the existing team of technicians when applied during the weeks in between routine lawn care applications.
 
“Not only is it a great add-on service for the client, but it’s also a great fill-in task in between lawn applications,”  says Pat Clayton, owner of Lawn Co. Lawn Service in Norfolk, Neb. “With perimeter pest control, I don’t have my guys just standing around during the weeks in between lawn services.”
 
Likewise, technicians don’t seem to mind the added workload, Setlak says.
 “Unlike walking an entire lawn, perimeter pest control is a relatively quick process for the technician,” Setlak says. “The guys don’t mind doing it because it is so quick. Most of the time, all it requires is one application around the house and the technician is finished.”

PRICING FOR PESTS. When pricing perimeter pest control, LCOs prefer to offer it to clients as a multiple-application program rather than as a single-spray service.
 
In fact, LCOs should encourage clients to avoid one-time service, Setlak says, because the costs associated with a single spray may outweigh the profit. Likewise, such sporadic treatments are most often ineffective, he says. “Some clients believe they can get a spray in June and that it’ll remain active in August,” he explains. “That’s not the case and they become disappointed and believe the service doesn’t work.”
 
Contractors should offer perimeter pest control as a program and educate the consumer about the benefits of receiving regular sprayings throughout the summer season, Setlak says.
 
For the average-sized residential property, LCOs charge between $30 and $50 per application. A more exact price for residential applications can be determined by factoring in labor and materials costs with the size of the area to be sprayed, Clayton says.
 
Of courses, larger-sized residential properties will require the LCO recalibrate his pricing method to account for the extra square footage, materials and time to ensure a more favorable profit margin, Clayton says. 
 
“As with any add-on service, it has to be a high-profit service to make sense,” Clayton says, adding that LCOs should aim for a 40 percent profit margin from their perimeter pest control services. In addition, Wilshusen suggests LCOs figure in the price for perimeter pest control when they calculate preseason lawn care estimates.
 
“Break down all the costs on the estimate sheet – including perimeter pest control,” he says. “When you’re talking lawn care with the client you’ll already have perimeter pest control in front of them. I’ve found clients appreciate this because it proves to them that you’re looking out for their best interests. Plus, they like the fact that they won’t have to deal with an outside company for the service.”
 
While LCOs should offer perimeter pest control services as a fixed, per-property price to residential clients, when providing applications to commercial clients, such as apartment/condo complexes and business campuses, LCOs should consider a different pricing equation.
 
“To make a profit, commercial properties should be priced by the square foot,” Clayton says. “In addition, factor in the additional time involved for the application (in comparison to a residential property) as well as how many times you may have to move your truck to treat the entire area.”
 
TREATMENT TACTICS. With perimeter pest control, LCOs treat outside the client’s property to prevent unwanted insects from getting inside the home.
 
For effective applications, LCOs say they typically employ a wide-spectrum insecticide that they apply with a tank and hand-held spray gun 2 to 4 feet up and 3 to 5 feet out from the building’s foundation. Some LCOs say they may spray as high as 5 feet up the foundations of commercial properties. In addition to the foundation, LCOs should spray doors, window wells and, if possible, roof lines and eaves.
 
In addition, LCOs can spray around a property’s wood line and around dense vegetation, such as an ivy patch. LCOs can include detached structures such as fences and sheds.
 
To increase the level of pest control and to reduce the amount of callbacks for additional applications, Wilshusen applies 2.5 gallons of pesticide per 1,000 square feet of space.
 
“In the past, when I’ve used less product my rate of callbacks were much higher,” Wilshusen says.

COMMON MISTAKES. While perimeter pest control may seem like an easy add-on service to begin offering clients, there are some common errors LCOs make that can shrink their profit margins.
 
First and foremost, disregarding common sense is one of the biggest mistakes an LCO can make when providing perimeter pest control services to his clients.
 
“You don’t want to spray these pest control products in 40- or 50-mile-per-hour winds,” Setlak says. “Not only is it a waste, but you don’t want to be wearing the product. And take the time to read all the labeling and make sure you’re up to speed on how the product should be applied correctly.”
 
Besides proper training and pesticide education, technicians need to be outfitted with the proper application gear.
 
“Don’t forget to wear the proper boots, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt,” Setlak says. “You want take the proper precautions to not get this stuff on you when you apply it.”
 
Another common error is disregarding environmental conditions during application periods. Contractors must mind local weather reports prior to their scheduled perimeter pest control spraying. Overlooking the five-day forecast can result additional follow-up applications and lost profits.
 
“You don’t want to spray before it’s forecasted to rain,” Setlak says. “If it rains right away it’ll wash the service away. I typically like to apply it 24 hours before it rains or before the lawn is scheduled to be watered.”
 
Setlak, like many contractors, says he will return to spray a property a second time, at no additional charge, if the pesticide application is weakened or rendered useless by a sudden rain or accident sprinkling.
 
Failing to treat building overhangs is another common mistake.
“Often guys forget to look up when they’re spraying,” Wilshusen says. “Forgetting to spray overhangs weakens the treatment’s effectiveness to repel pests.”
 
Clayton agrees, adding a common application error is focusing solely on the ground.
 
“Any time you look up around you and see webs, you got to nail them,” Clayton says.