One-Time or Recurring?

When it comes to fly control services, PMPs said jobs typically fall into two broad categories: one-time work and recurring service.

One-time work involves finding and fixing the issue, which solves the client’s small fly problem. At a residential account with drain flies, this might be running water in an unused drain to fill the p-trap or cleaning the drain, which eliminates the pests.

On the commercial side, one-off work can be a way to add value to an existing client relationship. For instance, Lucas Greer, Walker Pest Management, helped a commercial client fix a sudden small fly infestation by recommending the HVAC condensation be routed away from the building, so it didn’t pool in the crawlspace.

Fruit flies were breeding in the resulting muck and following utility lines up to the wait stand in the center of the restaurant. Once the issue was fixed, the small fly problem disappeared.

“Sometimes there’s not a lot you have to do. It’s a simple fix. But sometimes you have recurring things, and you have to get cooperation and understanding and respect from somebody in charge to do what you need them to do,” said Bill Haynes of Haynes Exterminating.

Performing one-off small fly jobs has value. “You’re further cemented as their professional, and they’re more likely to call you or refer you. I do think there is great benefit in the one-off, occasionally,” said Haynes.

According to the 2024 PCT State of the Small Fly Control Market survey, 49 percent of PMPs said their location had grown a small fly-only call or customer into a recurring pest control customer.

Commercial accounts were most likely to need recurring small fly services. This market generated the greatest amount of small fly revenue in 2023, reported 64 percent of PMPs.

That’s because commercial kitchens, bars and restaurants are a high risk for small fly infestations. “For commercial accounts like food preparation, their drains come into contact with more organic matter,” explained Jashawn Anderson, owner, Divine Pest Specialists, Maplewood, N.J.

For any type of account, however, it’s important to have a strategy for handling small fly situations, because these issues can occur anywhere.

“It’s a way to lose business if you’re not good at handling it,” said Haynes. “You have to know how to deal with it and you have to know what your plan is going to be — like are you going to charge for it or are you not going to charge for it?” he asked.

Haynes charges extra for small fly service calls, like 51 percent of pest control company locations. Forty-nine percent included small fly work in their general pest service.

More than half (52 percent) of PMPs expected their location to increase prices for stand-alone small fly control services in 2024, found the PCT survey.