Finding Qualified Workers, Low-Ball Competitors Top PCO Concerns for 2025

CLEVELAND – It’s a new calendar year for PCOs, but many of the same challenges are facing them in 2025. According to results from a recent PCT reader poll, finding qualified workers (48 percent) and low-ball competitors (23 percent) are biggest business challenge heading into 2025, followed by uncertain economy (17 percent) and Increased regulatory pressures (12 percent).

Adam Peterson, owner of Pete’s Pest Patrol, Statham, Ga., “Our market is  pretty competitive in terms of wages. Yeah. So you really have to pay a lot more to attract really high quality talent that will stick around for long term.”

Peterson said his company has had some success utilizing its current customer base to find workers. “We’ve included in our newspapers and other [communications] that we are hiring with competitive wages, and we’ve also incentivized employees to refer friends and family members.”

Reasons for optimism in 2025, Peterson said, include a still robust new home construction market in Georgia. “They are stilling building new houses and if you're in the residential market that's always exciting and I don’t see that slowing down any time soon,” he said.

Adam Brown, owner of Tidewater Pest Services, Newport News, Va., is among those who said low-ball competitors were his biggest concern heading into 2025. “The proliferation of service bundling and monthly billing has cheapened the quality and pricing of our industry's services. As an owner who is still in the field, I have observed and spoken with the technicians from the bundling companies. They have little knowledge, rarely wear PPE, don't apply the proper amount of chemicals, and don't spend enough time to follow IPM procedures. Additionally, the clients who purchase services this way often don't know what they should expect so they don't even know they are not receiving good service.”

Brown cited the new Republican administration and the potential of Federal Funds rates easing as reasons for optimism in 2025.

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