[Cover Story] DIY

From plumbing to home renovations, oil changes to growing food, Americans are tightening their purse strings by doing it themselves. According to a report by Packaged Facts, 56 percent of shoppers are dabbling in some level of do-it-yourself. And, yup, pest control is one of them.
According to a 2009 report by Kline & Company, about nine percent of consumers decreased or dropped their use of pest control services during the last 12 months, and six percent plan to start using household pest control products for the first time.

Consider residents of Riverside County, Calif., where the California Economic Development Department put unemployment in July at a 16-year high of 13.9 percent: Eighty percent of customers in this county who left Lloyd Pest Control cited financial reasons and going DIY, said COO Herb Field. Most people here cannot go without pest control because of the high pest pressure, he explained. “They still have to do something.”

“In the harder hit areas, we’re seeing some of the same issues,” said Steve Good, senior vice president of business development at Terminix, Memphis, Tenn.

Due to economic conditions, 67 percent of consumers are now willing to do chores or projects they usually paid someone else to do, according to a 2009 Yankelovich Dollars & Consumer Sense survey cited by Good.

Ken Martin, sales manager for the Atlanta retail store, Do It Yourself Pest Control, and the online store, Pro Pest Products, said sales are up 20 percent from 2008. Belt-tightening and the end of a multi-year Southeast drought have helped the bottom line, he said. “The rainfall’s definitely had something to do with it but the economy is equally if not more responsible.”

Identifying the DIY-er. Those who do it themselves and those who choose to do nothing make up the majority of consumers. According to a 2008 Simmons report cited by Good, 21.6 million households do nothing to control pests, 31 million do their own pest control using indoor insecticides, 5.7 million rely solely on a professional exterminator, and 8.6 million use both DIY methods and professional services.

A same-year study by Mintel found 21 percent of respondents had a pest control specialist come to their residence in the past year, while a 2009 BASF survey found 58 percent of homeowners try to treat pest problems themselves.

With input from experts, PCT identified some categories of the market:

Users: Committed to using regular professional pest services, these customers hold service contracts for monthly, bimonthly or quarterly service. This group has a “propensity to call an expert to handle a problem of any type,” said Martha Craft, vice president of public relations and corporate communications for Rollins, parent company of Orkin.

Belt Tighteners: Once users of professional service, these consumers have dropped service due to financial reasons and are now doing it themselves. They may or may not remain DIY-ers when their economic situation rebounds.

One-Timers: This group calls a professional only when a problem arises…maybe once a year or once every few years. They don’t see the need or value of regular service.

Uh-Ohs: These DIY-ers hire professionals when their methods fail or they recognize they’re either spinning their wheels or are in over their heads. “They still aren’t totally convinced,” said Orkin Technical Director Dr. Ron Harrison.

Diehards: It’s unlikely devout DIY-ers ever will call a professional. Do the job right means doing it themselves, and at a lower cost. “There’s always been a large portion of the population that assumes they can do it less expensively than we can,” said Field. They also think they’re using the same products as professionals. “Of course, all of it is untrue.”

Do-Nothings: You guessed it. These consumers either have no pest problems — ever — or choose to ignore them, and thus have no use for professional or DIY control methods.

OTC PRODUCTS. Belt Tighteners, One-Timers and Uh-Ohs represent the “thousands of those customers who come in and out of our company over the years,” said Field. Harrison added, “We still have a lot of folks, even in a good economy, that come and go.”

A 2005 Professional Pest Management Alliance study found three quarters of non-professional-service-users purchase DIY pest control products. Even among users, 66 percent purchase over-the-counter control remedies — half mentioned “insect killer in a can” — more than once a year from a home center or big box store.

“We’re hoping that ‘can of something’ is going to be replaced with Terminix SafeShield,” said Good. The company introduced the non-aerosol spray with natural active ingredients earlier this year to complement its quarterly service. New customers and renewals receive a bottle free of charge, and it also can be purchased online. Customers like the idea of “us taking care of the big issues” outside the home and partnering with them so they can knock down the occasional invader, explained Good. Selling SafeShield at retail “remains to be seen,” he said.

Over-the-counter product sales aren’t growing like you might expect. Fourteen percent of consumers have dropped or reduced their DIY household product use, said Dennis Fugate, industry manager of specialty pesticides at Kline & Company. “The switch from PMP to do-it-yourself is probably happening, but it is not providing as much stimulus to the products market as one would think,” he said.

Saving money certainly is a consideration with DIY-ers, but “emotional drivers” also play a big role,” said Robert Brown, analyst for Packaged Facts. This may be the need for self-sufficiency, quality assurance or maintaining a secure environment. If your child is allergic to bee stings, you make sure there’s no potential for bee stings, said Bill Dickerson, corporate sales director for J.C. Ehrlich, a division of Rentokil. “People’s pest tolerance has lot to do with it.” Added Brown, “Control is the thread that weaves through it all.”

Game Changers. When DIY-ers realize they’ve lost control, the playing field changes. Fifty-five percent of homeowners surveyed by BASF admitted their DIY approach doesn’t always solve the pest problem, and more than 75 percent said they turn to pest control professionals when this approach fails.

Half of adults surveyed by Orkin said a pest problem’s severity is their number one reason to call an expert. In PPMA’s study, 67 percent of past-year and non-users said the gravity of the problem most likely will prompt them to call a pro.

A lot comes down to the pest. Orkin found 87 percent of adults are more likely to call a professional to control termites, followed by cockroaches (58 percent), rodents and bed bugs (56 percent), ants (27 percent) and spiders (24 percent).

“Bed bugs, cockroaches, fleas, mice and rats appear to be somewhat recession resistant,” said SPC Research President Gary Curl, who annually surveys more than 800 pest management firms. The hardest hit area is ant control, which declined $93 million from 2007 to 2008. “Consumers may be more tolerant of ants in and around their homes or they may be taking control measures into their own hands,” he said.

Ants are the most treated pest, but fewer than one third of homeowners rely on professionals to control them, according to the PPMA report.

In 2007, Field and John Klotz of the University of California Riverside surveyed homeowners in an ant-infested San Bernardino neighborhood and found 70 percent of residents did their own ant control, 20 percent hired a professional, and 10 percent did nothing to control the ants. About 10 percent of DIY-ers achieved complete or almost complete control, compared to 60 percent who hired a pest management professional.

What’s alarming is the amount of pesticide applied by homeowners compared to professionals, said Field. “Homeowners spray everywhere” and with increasing frequency and concentration in response to poor control results. Not only do DIY-ers expose their families to high levels of pesticides, but they often spend as much money as if they hired a professional, he explained.

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT magazine. She can be reached at anagro@giemedia.com.

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Even in Tough Times, Americans Insist on Pest-Free Homes

While many Americans have slashed home maintenance budgets in this economy, a recent independent survey by Atlanta-based Orkin reports nearly nine in ten adults (87 percent) still refuse to tolerate pests in their homes. More than half of respondents (57 percent) also agreed that, unlike services like house cleaning, pest control is not a do-it-yourself project. Pest tolerance and treatment approaches varied by type of pest and respondents’ geographic region.

“Our homes are likely our biggest investments, which is why it is important to protect them from pests,” said Ron Harrison, Orkin technical director. “A professional trained in pest identification and control can help reduce pests and the risks they pose to our homes and health.”

Survey respondents named severity of the pest problem and health concerns as the two most important reasons for calling an expert to control pests. According to Harrison, these responses are likely due to increased awareness around pests like bed bugs, which can be difficult for consumers to control on their own, and cockroaches, which can cause asthma. Half of adults surveyed ranked “severity of the issue or problem” as the number one reason to call an expert, while 26 percent ranked “concern for (their) family’s health” as their top priority.

Adults in the South were more apt to hire an expert for pest control (51 percent) than adults in the Northeast (43 percent), West (43 percent) and Midwest (41 percent), particularly when rodents, ants or spiders were involved. While Midwesterners were more tolerant of most pests than respondents from other regions, they were the most likely to call in outside help with cockroaches (67 percent).

The Orkin survey was conducted by Global Strategy Group from March 9-12, 2009. The interviews were conducted among 1,253 adults (aged 18 and over) living in private households across the continental U.S. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

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Helping DIY-ers Beat the Odds

To help do-it-yourselfers improve their success rates in controlling ants and ultimately reduce the amount of pesticides entering storm drains, Lloyd Pest Control COO Herb Field is working with the Pesticide Management Alliance to develop a new Web site.

The site will provide practical advice, such as removing pine needles from gutters where ants colonize and sealing cracks around hose bibs. “I recognize there are homeowners I will never have as customers,” he said, but “I’d rather have them be more informed about making pesticide applications so the pesticides are used in a reasonable manner.”

To help homeowners dispose of left-over chemicals from DIY projects, PPMA developed an interactive Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Map for the National Pest Management Association’s Pestworld.org web site.

The map reinforces professionals as “protectors of public health and property,” said Executive Director Missy Henriksen.

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Keep Customers from Going DIY

No surprise, consumers are looking for ways to cut spending. “When they find they can do something themselves or get a store-brand product that performs just as well, they’re not going to go back,” said OgilvyAction Managing Director Ken Featherston in Chicago.

“It’s not that people aren’t going to spend money, but what they’re looking to do is cut out spends that they don’t need to make,” he said.

With almost 72 percent of consumers not feeling better about their personal financial situation, according a May 2009 report by BIGresearch, their scrutiny on savings likely will be around for some time.

Pest management professionals need to identify what it is about their service that makes customers say, “‘This isn’t one of those areas I’m going to skimp in,’” Featherston explained.

In educating consumers how “we can solve your problem better,” Lloyd Pest Control points out the increased number of applications home-owners make compared to professionals and the higher risk of indoor pesticide exposure that results, said COO Herb Field.

Emphasize the specialized knowledge, training, tools and products required to get the job done right, added Orkin Technical Director Dr. Ron Harrison.

While you’re at it, let customers know how DIY efforts can lead to unsolved or even worse pest problems, said John Graham, president of Graham Communications in Quincy, Mass.

 Pest management firms, manufacturers and the Professional Pest Management Alliance are using surveys and news releases to get the word out that DIY pest control isn’t in consumers’ best interests.

PPMA developed an advertising kit for members emphasizing “the need for professionalism, even when the allure of DIY efforts is strong,” said Executive Director Missy Henriksen. “Hopefully by understanding the very real threat that exists to people’s health and to their property they will know when to call in the professionals.” The industry group also is working with a DIY Network production company to identify pests and pest problems best left to professionals.

The more people know what professionals do — and what they are ill-equipped to do — the greater their trust and willingness to have a conversation with you, said Graham.

If a customer does leave, make sure they’ve left happy, said Harrison. “They’ll never come back if they’ve had a negative experience.”

So, keep the lines of communication open. “Customers don’t leave because we don’t control the pests,” said Harrison. Often it’s because we’ve “stopped talking to them.” Contact customers monthly, bimonthly or quarterly with phone calls in between, said Harrison, who believes the industry’s move to exterior-only services that minimized customer contact was a “huge mistake.”

And give them options. Terminix now offers alternative payment methods, and is willing to shift service frequency or delay service calls. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep that customer and keep that customer happy,” said Steve Good, senior vice president of business development.

Lastly, don’t forget them. Marketing to this group, usually found in a company’s inactive list, is more successful than reaching out to the general population where non-users make up the majority. “We constantly remarket to customers who have left us,” Field said.

It’s much easier to get this group to become customers again, said Bill Dickerson, corporate sales director of J.C. Ehrlich, a division of Rentokil. “They’ve called us before” and there’s always the potential they’ll call again if a pest problem gets bad enough.

Good agreed. “One of our most fertile direct sales channels is selling to customers who have cancelled our services.”