Pest Control Equipment: If It’s Critical, Back it Up!

Editor’s note: Andrew Greess, a pest control equipment expert and president of equipment website Qspray.com, submitted this feature on the importance of backing up your critical equipment.

As pest management professionals, we rely heavily on our equipment, yet in many cases we have no backup. If you have a piece of equipment that is critical to your business, then it is vital that you have a backup. 

It doesn’t matter what the equipment is, truck, trailer, power sprayer, duster or compressed air sprayer, etc.  If you can’t do your job without the item, keep a backup.   We see pest control companies of all sizes, from owner/operator to huge national fleets that seem surprised when a key piece of equipment fails.  

What happens when we don’t have the equipment needed to complete the job?   
- Missed & cancelled appointments
- Unhappy customers
- Lost revenue
- Employee downtime waiting for equipment
- Employee downtime running around town trying to find a solution
- Overtime expenses
- Higher repair expenses.

It gets worse.  Equipment fails during your busy season, when you can least afford downtime.   Everyone needs repairs now; you could be waiting for your repair.

What do we do about this problem?

Identify critical equipment. Review your equipment by vehicle, by service, by technician to identify the most important tools.

Develop a backup plan for each critical item. For some items it may be easiest to buy a replacement.  For more expensive items, you may have to get creative.   Look through that pile of used equipment in the corner and see if you can create something valuable out of it.  Keeping a trailer in reserve can be cheaper than keeping an extra vehicle in the fleet.  Select the oldest piece of equipment, replace it with new and keep the old one as the backup.

Review your plan. Review your backup plan annually to ensure it is still applicable.  Test the backup equipment periodically to ensure it is functioning properly.   Don’t assume that equipment sitting in the corner for years is still going to work.

A little time spent identifying critical equipment and developing backup plans will save time, money and stress during your busy pest control season.