Dogged Determination

As a young adult, Joey Toth thought he wanted to be an accountant, but he eventually decided to leave banking and find a new profession. His friend, who was a service technician, recommended applying for a position at Terminix. Toth was interested, even though he did not have much knowledge about the industry. After the interview, he got a position in sales at Terminix. He said, “Like a lot of stories, you know, your life changes. One door shuts and another one opens.”

After some time at Terminix, Toth switched to working for a small mom-and-pop pest control company. He thinks working for both big and small pest control companies taught him valuable lessons. He added, “I learned how Terminix, at the time one of the world’s largest pest control companies, worked. And then I went to a small mom-and-pop, and I learned how not to run a small business.”

Later on, Toth decided he wanted to start his own pest control company. In the middle of setting up the foundation for his business, 9/11 happened. He was 21 and newly married, but he decided he wanted to serve his country. At first, he was an active duty Marine but he switched to reservist duty in order to finish college and work on expanding his business simultaneously.

A BUSINESS IS BORN. Toth and his wife, Bonnie, officially founded Pitbull Pest Control in May 2003. The company name, branding and logo are inspired by their dog, Katie. When he was working for the small business, the maintenance man was looking to give away a dog, which was unable to be taken care of by its previous owners. Toth decided to step up and adopt the dog himself since he did not have children at the time. “We had her for 16 years and she became our baby,” he said.

Toth thinks memorable and unique branding is key to a successful business. This is why Pitbull’s branding is exclusively the dog instead of pests like insects, birds or rodents. He said Pitbull’s trucks are designed to draw attention. Each truck has a gray, yellow and black color scheme with the Pitbull logo on it. “It is not something you are going to miss when you see it. You cannot unsee it and we get so many calls because people see our trucks,” he said.

By October 2003, Pitbull hired its first employee and Bonnie was running the books. After a few years in business, Toth was deployed to the Al Anbar province in Iraq in 2008. As a result, Pitbull had to quickly expand its sales team and office staff before his departure. This included hiring Office Manager Kelly Scoggins, who is still working with Pitbull today. It turned out to be an important hire. During his deployment, Toth and Scoggins reviewed reports on weekly Skype calls, while he was in a combat outpost. Back home was not only his business, but his wife and newborn daughter, Parker. In 2011, he was honorably discharged from the military. “I decided that, you know, I was done getting shot at. I was, at this point, 29 with a one-year-old, and I said, we’ll let some younger kids do this, and I decided I would focus on the company,” he said.

KEY GROWTH MOMENTS. Pitbull became a Copesan partner for Nevada in 2012. (Copesan is an alliance of regional, commercial pest control companies. It was sold to Terminix in 2018.) Toth said he was happy Pitbull was given the opportunity to be a partner because he believes being a Copesan partner was a beneficial experience. It exposed Pitbull to how other companies operate, and the mistakes others made in the past. He added, “It made us want to be better. It made us want to be more professional and do things better.”

Today, Pitbull offers residential and commercial services throughout all of Nevada. About 60 percent of their clientele is residential, while 40 percent is commercial. Specialized services include prevention, removal and elimination of termites, birds, wasps, bees, rodents, bed bugs and scorpions. The most common service they provide is general pest management (ants, cockroaches, etc). Also, Pitbull is one of the few companies in Nevada that offers residential structural fumigation. “So, from the very beginning we tried to do, and tried to be, that professional pest management company that you are going to get with a larger, bigger, multinational corporation, but with a local feel,” he said.

LOOKING AHEAD. Toth thinks Pitbull being a full-service pest management company is what sets the company apart from competitors. He said many companies are one-man and one-truck doing residential service in the Las Vegas area. Meanwhile, Toth constantly wanted to learn more and continue growing ever since Pitbull’s inception. “I never wanted to be that company. I always wanted to be bigger and to be better and do more,” Toth said.

Opportunities for pest control are plentiful in Las Vegas, Toth said. The residential market in Vegas is expanding and the commercial market for quick-service restaurants is substantial. Pitbull also benefits from being one of the few fumigators in the state of Nevada. This is because Pitbull can market directly to other pest control companies in the area when bed bug problems arise. In addition, opportunities for rodent control have skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said rodents have moved into residential areas and this shift can spread disease if it is not controlled by PMPs. Toth added, “We are very happy for the work, but it is scary to see how much activity is out there.”

Yet there are challenges for companies looking to get established in Las Vegas. For instance, pest services at casinos are locked down by larger companies, including Pitbull. Therefore, it can be hard for other companies to break through into this segment. Toth said, in general, Vegas is pretty saturated by pest control companies, so it is essential for everyone to find their niche. “We need to be faster. We need to be more available. Otherwise, there are so many offerings here that, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Smith can just dump you and go find somebody else tomorrow, so you need to be better,” he said.

Pitbull recently added whole home heat for bed bugs and a scorpion control service using Averzion. Toth said the company has a variety of plans to expand for the future. They intend to broaden their sales team in order to target the residential market further. Another growth channel for the Pitbull is through the acquisition of other companies.

Toth runs his business in a market where, he said, everyone is replaceable, including himself. He said, everyone is being trained in a way to raise themselves to the next level. He advises other small business owners to hire high quality people to keep the business afloat. For example, he believes Pitbull Pest Control may not have survived during the time he was deployed in Iraq without Office Manager Kelly Scoggins. As he noted, “It is important to surround yourself with people that know more and make you better.”

The author is PCT’s editorial intern.