When should I call a pest control professional?

We're in the pest control business and we'll still tell you: a lot of pest problems can be handled with a vacuum, a tube of caulk, and an afternoon. Here's our honest line.

Calling a professional makes sense when the pest is dangerous, the population is established, or DIY has failed. For everything else, save your money. Here's how we draw the line.

Handle it yourself

• A few ants on the kitchen counter (clean the trail, find the entry point, set bait).
• One paper wasp nest under the eave, smaller than a fist, accessible from the ground.
• Occasional house spiders or cellar spiders.
• A single mouse caught in a trap with no other signs.
• Box elder bugs on the outside of the house if it's only a few dozen.
• Fruit flies (it's a drain or a piece of fruit, not an infestation).

Call a professional

• Bed bugs. Every time. DIY treatment makes infestations spread.
• Carpenter ants — see frass or large black ants indoors.
• Cockroaches — German roaches in particular reproduce faster than retail products can keep up with.
• Any rodent activity beyond a single mouse, especially in walls or attics.
• Termite swarmers, mud tubes, or any suspected termite activity.
• Bald-faced hornet nests, yellow jacket nests in walls or in the ground near foot traffic.
• Brown recluse confirmed on a sticky trap.
• Repeat infestations of the same pest year after year — that means there's a structural issue you haven't addressed.

Call us today (don't wait)

• Anyone in the household has a sting or insect allergy.
• You're seeing the pest during the day (most pests hide — daytime activity means population pressure).
• Pets or kids are getting bitten.
• You smell something dead in a wall.
• There's visible damage to wood or drywall.

What a Quarterly Plan actually does

If you're calling for a different pest two or three times a year, a quarterly maintenance plan is almost always cheaper than reactive service calls — and it prevents 90% of the issues from starting. That's why we built ours: predictable price, four exterior visits a year, and free re-service in between if anything pops up.