A Buzz-Worthy Year for Revenue

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Sponsored by MGK, the 2023 PCT State of the Mosquito Control Market study was conducted by Readex Research, a privately held research firm based in Stillwater, Minn. A sample of 2,657 pest control company owners and executives was systematically selected from the PCT circulation file. Data was collected from 153 respondents via an online survey from February 6-22, 2023. To best represent the audience of interest, 40 respondents were terminated from the survey after indicating their company location does not provide mosquito control services. The margin of error for percentages based on 113 respondents whose company location provides mosquito control services is plus or minus 9.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Charts may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

Mosquito control is becoming more significant to U.S. pest management companies.

More than half — 56 percent — of pest management professionals said the percentage of revenue generated from mosquito control services increased at their locations in 2022 from the year before, according to the 2023 PCT State of the Mosquito Control Market study.

On average, these services generated 19.3 percent of company revenue in 2022, up from 18.1 percent in 2021.

At Barber’s Best Termite & Pest in Tallahassee, Fla., mosquito revenue increased by about 50 percent last year. “It was a very good season. It was our biggest mosquito season yet,” said President Todd Barber.

Mosquito revenue increased modestly for Crystal Rizzo, owner/operator of Crystal Pest Control, Henderson, N.C. Consistent rain and high humidity, which kept the standing water where mosquitoes breed from evaporating, had a big impact. “With that high humidity, the breeding levels tend to increase,” explained Rizzo.

While weather helped boost mosquito control revenue in some markets, it posed a challenge to growth in others. For Tom Drapeau, president of Freedom Pest Control, Merrimac, Mass., dry weather caused mosquito revenue to decline last year.

“In the Northeast one of the key components to mosquitoes is moisture, and we were kind of in a drought. The population surge we normally get in August was not there,” he said.

Weather-related issues were aggravated by not having enough employees to do the work. The shortage of workers forced Laura Strasser, owner of the Mosquito Joe franchise in Greater St. Louis, Mo., to start working Sundays, in addition to evenings and Saturdays, to get treatments done in a timely manner.

“If you have three days of rain in the middle of the week, I can’t squeeze in 300 people in two business days,” said Strasser, whose team performs 100 to 150 treatments a day on average during mosquito season.

PMPs said backyard mosquito control was catching on with customers. Requests for the service — offered by 74 percent of pest control company locations — increased somewhat or significantly in 2022, reported 63 percent of PMPs.