[Termite Control] Laws of Attraction

For years, pest control operators have been more than ready, willing and able to try new products as manufacturers have introduced them to the pest control marketplace — and no area has been more volatile than the termite control market.

HomeGuard Distributors Inc. recently launched a new baiting system called the HomeGuard Subterranean Termite Monitoring System to the national market after selling its product for the last few years on a regional basis in Florida.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES. The HomeGuard Monitoring System offers pest management professionals a new direction in termite baiting with its "thermal shadow" that attracts termites into the station, according to the manufacturer. Termites are attracted to the station through the use of a temperature differential of 5 degrees or more Fahrenheit that causes termites to identify a food source above them as they enter the station.

The HomeGuard Monitoring System can do this because it is a solid tube with no holes or slots on the side. But, the bottom of the station is open, which enables termites to readily move into the station.

Pest Shield of St. Petersburg, Fla., is one company that HomeGuard has been working with for the past few years. "When used in monitoring, it finds more termites, therefore, we can sell control to our customers," says Pest Shield President Hal Gordon.

Security Termite Systems, in Tampa, Fla, also has been using the HomeGuard Termite Monitors for the past few years. Before the HomeGuard Monitoring System was introduced, the two companies would offer a chemical booster treatment as part of the warranty.

Now, when the warranty expires, the company talks to the customer about installing the monitoring system. "We offer customers this option and they take it," Gordon says.

"I’ve been in this business for about 40 years, and I’ve seen a lot of termite chemicals come and go. However, when the termite baiting system came along, it was the perfect solution for pest control companies and homeowners because it finds the termites before they get into homes.

"Termite baiting has put our company on the map," Gordon adds. "The HomeGuard Termite Monitors have been very effective; We capture thousands of termites in these traps."

THE FUTURE. Pest Shield currently has about 4,000 termite baiting customers, with plans for more. Pest Shield also offers general pest control and lawn care as part of its everyday business cycle, but termite baiting has now become a major part of its pest management business. Technicians are "cloverleafing" around neighborhoods of current customers with hopes of gaining additional clients.

Gordon has cross-trained all of his company’s technicians to perform both termite and general pest control work. "We like our technicians to do 12 to 15 stops a day checking the bait stations," he says. "It depends on the locations, but I don’t like to see them do any more than that because of quality control."

He said that turning in 40 stops a day is unacceptable, as is five or six termite monitoring stops a day. Pest Shield used to pay its pest control technicians on a salary basis, but now the technicians are paid a percentage of their production.

"So far, we have had nothing but great results with the HomeGuard System," says Robert Perez, president of Security Termite Systems.

Termite renewal inspectors do much of the termite baiting system selling for Security but the company’s technicians are also trained to sell and they receive a commission on everything they sell.

Perez says that his company’s technicians spend 15 to 20 minutes monitoring the baiting system around a typical 2,500-square-foot home, but that also depends on the amount of termite activity they encounter. Steve Day, manager of Hollywood East Pest Control, Orlando, Fla., says that the HomeGuard’s biggest asset is the quickness in which it attracts termites to the station. "We install the baiting system first, but will treat if there is a live termite situation after the installation of the bait system," Day says. "There seems to be little doubt that termite baiting systems are here to stay."