We’re out here at office number eight, multi-partner Tyler’s location. I wanted to do a quick walkthrough of his shop and let him talk us through how he runs things. So let’s get into it.
First thing I asked Tyler was how long he’d been in this location. Turns out, about five years now. Before that, he was running out of a smaller shop about 20 minutes away.
The story of how he found this place is one of my favorites. He did a job for a landlord who had a rat problem. After the job, he sat and talked with her for a while, and as he was walking away she said, “Hey, we got this building. Nobody’s been in it for 10 years. If you want to go check it out, you can go.” So he came and checked it out. And in his words, “this place was a turd.” They completely gutted the whole inside, redid everything, and made it a home.
That’s the thing. He’s running an eight-figure company out of this building right now. They do tons of bed bug work, a lot of rodent work, a lot of exclusion work, and of course general pest control too. Tyler says they’re about 60% commercial, 40% residential, which is the total opposite of most of our other branches. And his branch is the one that goes out and does the work for the other branches. All the exclusions, the heat treatments for bed bugs. They’re running heat treatments pretty much every single day. Bed bugs are a lot more common than people think they are.
The Office and Break Area
The office area was a little disorganized when we walked through, but that’s what happens when you’re busy all the time. Tyler’s really the only one that uses the office space. They’ve got a little break area with food, and he keeps the fridge stacked with water. He buys it by the case so the guys always have water and stay hydrated. Small detail, but it matters.
The Shop
When they moved in, space was limited, so they had to get creative. They built all the shelving themselves. The whole place was covered in mold and water damage when they first got in. There was about two inches of dust on the floor that had to be cleaned up. They drywalled it, insulated the ceiling, and made it real nice.
Exclusion Supplies
One of the first things I noticed was all the tubes on the shelves. Tyler explained that this is what they use for exclusions. Bats and other rodents get in through what’s called your ridge vent at the very peak of your roof. They use something called ridge guard to seal around the edge of the ridge vent. He thinks they’ve bought 10 to 15 pallets of the stuff this year so far.
They also have backpack sprayers, the Flowzone Vortex mosquito misters (which are a lot lighter than gas-powered backpacks), and foggers for insulation work. They suck out the attic insulation, sanitize it afterwards, then reblow the insulation back in. One of our next videos is actually going to cover a big insulation job. Think bat guano piled a foot or two feet high. Those are the nasty ones, and honestly, those are the fun ones too.
His crew was actually doing a job up in Escanaba the day we visited. It was about 90 degrees the day before, so the guys are absolute troopers when they’re up in those attics.
Bait Stations
Tyler showed me how they store their bait stations. A lot of people just leave them on pallets, but since they’re limited on space, they load them up on the shelving every time a shipment comes in. They usually buy them two pallets at a time and roll through them fast. Commercial properties take a lot more than just three or four on a house. He’s got accounts with 50 to 70 bait stations sitting at a single property.
And then there’s the new pink trailer outside (more on that later), which I think was completely full of bait stations.
Deck Exclusions
I noticed some lattice leaning against the wall and asked what it was for. Turns out, they did a deck exclusion the previous Wednesday. A customer had a new deck built, raised about this high off the ground, and they were worried about critters getting underneath.
Tyler’s crew puts down a critter guard, digs about six to eight inches into the ground, buries it down, and bends it out. That way if something tries to dig underneath, it can’t get past the guard. Then they put the fancy lattice on top. They don’t usually do the lattice, but it was a high-end job and the customer wanted it.
Product Storage
All the chemical products are locked up tight, which is good to see. Tyler had some exclusion pro on the shelves and mentioned that he likes how the other branches are set up with the dog cage storage system, but it just wasn’t doable in this space. So they had to get creative. They’ve got a whole section of non-chemical products: N95 masks, gloves, glue boards, that kind of thing. And then the Slim Jims… which are normally for the rats. “Master Splinter will put them back,” Tyler joked.
Tyler’s a big believer in using the right product for the right bug. They recently switched their mosquito treatment to a product that’s also really effective against mites and silverfish. His hands-down favorite product is Taurus, which has fipronil in it and works great against ants.
I noticed he keeps different types of bait on hand too. He likes to rotate baits, partly because it’s more cost-effective (final blocks actually come out a little cheaper when you break it down) and partly because they ran their own tests and found the rodents were going for the final blocks more. Having a good rotation every six months or so is probably a smart move.
Traps
Tyler showed me two different styles of traps. The smaller ones are mouse traps. He told me to put my finger in one. It doesn’t hurt bad. But the rat traps? Those ones will break your fingers.
I asked how often they run into rats. They were at a house just last week where the rats had chewed through the sill plate and were running through the basement ceiling. They’d ripped all the insulation down.
When I asked whether he sees more rat work in the city or out on farms, Tyler said they don’t do a ton on farms. When you’ve got grain feed out there, it’s just a harder situation. They do a lot of rat work in the actual city though.
Lawn and Specialty Products
Further into the shop, Tyler showed me the granular products they put on lawns, Talpirid for killing moles, and bed bug supplies. He had just placed an order the day before, so another pallet of product was on its way.
He’s a fan of the 40-pound boxes because you can just take the whole box, scoop right out of it, and go. Way easier than ordering a bunch of shaker cans.
Exclusion Cabinet
The last section was the exclusion cabinet, and this thing had everything you’d need to seal up a house. Caulk, excluder, vent covers, chimney caps in all different sizes. They even have long-range sniper tips for the caulk guns to get into those super hard-to-reach areas. One-way doors for critters. Slick barrier, which is basically a glossy paint you put on surfaces to stop bats from being able to grab on when they’re roosting in eaves or on brick houses.
And then bed bug covers, though they’re not always using them for beds. A lot of times when people want them to get rid of infested couches and chairs, they’ll throw a mattress cover over the furniture to drag it out so the bed bugs don’t go everywhere.
That reminded me of stories I’ve heard about people who had bed bug issues in hotels. Their bright idea was to just drag the mattress outside. And all of a sudden, bed bugs across the whole hotel. Tyler said it happens all the time, especially in apartment buildings. He had a guy who dragged his mattress through a 12-unit building and infested 11 of the 12 units. They had to treat the whole building. You just don’t know what you don’t know.
The New Pink Trailers
After the shop tour, we went outside to check out one of the newest trailers. As you can see, it’s pink. Going forward, the majority of all our trailers will be pink and wrapped. The older trailers will get replaced over time too.
Inside this one? A full pallet of bait stations heading to a job at the end of the week. About 50-something bait stations, all going to one commercial account. Packed up, ready to go.
Wrapping Up
That was the quick shop tour with Tyler. Most of the technicians were already gone for the day when we shot this. Trucks were rolling out, guys were already working. We’re heading out next to a big bed bug job, so make sure you’re staying tuned for that video. Thanks for letting us hang out, Tyler. Have a pest-free day.
