Editor’s Note: This article previously appeared in an issue of PCT Canada. To learn more, visit https://www.pctonline.com/page/pct-canada/.
Bed bug control is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process. Add in multiple apartments and a few uncooperative tenants, and fighting the pests can become more of an expensive mole game.
Pest control experts shared reminders to improve game day strategy to eliminate bed bugs in apartment buildings:
1. SHOW SOME RESPECT. “That’s where it starts,” says Doug Smith, president of Apex Pest Control, Milton, Ontario. Bed bug work is “much more intimate” than other pest control services, and technicians, like first responders, see a lot. “If you don’t know the whole story of the (renter), you can’t make a judgement,” he says. Even conflicting tenants are more cooperative when shown respect, says Daniel Morgan, president of GreenTech Bug Heat, Toronto. “We can easily win people over by just telling them that you don’t have to live in a place where you get bitten every night and that we’re here to help,” he says.
2. UNDERSTAND DETAILS. Controlling bed bugs requires a rigorous, almost obsessive attention to detail. “They’re going to hide in the craziest places you’ve ever seen in your life,” says Morgan, who found them in the gaps of a crescent key, a Wi-Fi router, and the creases of curtains. Jim Petty, owner of Petty Pest Control Services in Hamilton, Ontario, has asked landlords to remove baseboards — not an easy task in old buildings when heavy moldings are covered in decades-old paint — to gain better access for an insecticide dust application.
3. LOOK UP. When inspecting units, don’t overlook the ceiling. With long-term, multi-generational bed bug infestations, female bed bugs often crawl up and lay their eggs in the crease between the walls and ceiling and in the corners of the ceiling. “If you look up and see a small cluster of bed bugs up on the ceiling, it immediately tells me this isn’t a new problem, and from there I know I need to do things a little bit differently,” says Morgan on choosing a treatment strategy.
4. PREPARATION FOR PREPARATION. Poor site preparation “is the biggest barrier to good treatment,” says Petty. Before his technicians arrive on-site to begin treatment, he works with landlords and renters to secure their approval and help them understand why it’s so important to properly prepare units despite the inconvenience. Petty’s crew helps elderly and infirm tenants. “It has to be done if they want to get rid of them,” he says of the pests.
5. TEACH TENANTS. Bed bugs spread when tenants are afraid to report them. “We educate tenants on behalf of landlords and tell them #1 you don’t have any problems and #2 we want to know if you have bed bugs because the sooner you report it the easier it will be the longer it takes.” fix the problem, the cheaper it becomes for the landlord,” says Morgan. Also helpful: clearly formulated preparatory checklists and handouts that explain the treatment and prevent the pest from re-entering the area.
6. SET UP REMINDERS. People are busy and have short memories. Therefore, it is worth reminding the landlord in advance and more than once of upcoming treatment or follow-up visits. Before Apex set up a reminder system, techs might show up to find unpublished notifications or unprepared devices, and then had to charge for “untreatable.” “If a customer starts being tagged with too many of these, that’s not a good relationship,” says Smith.
7. CONSIDER MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS. “There is no holy grail in our bed bug business. It takes a whole bunch of different approaches,” says Smith, to eliminate the pests. Depending on the client’s needs and infestation, experienced PMPs use a mix of pesticides – liquids, dusts, aerosols – along with vacuuming, steaming, mattress wrapping, heat treatments and canine inspection. If cost is an issue, just tuck in the box spring, which offers more shelter for bed bugs and is harder to access, advises Smith.
8. BLOCK (AND TACKLE). “If you get a unit that’s totally infested, it’s important to inspect the adjacent units,” namely the ones next door, above, and below, says Petty. Landlords can be “very wary” of inspecting and treating neighboring units for cost reasons, as many tenants are unable to pay rent due to COVID, he says. It is important to help landlords understand the cost benefit of block inspection and treatment strategy as it will help prevent further spread of bed bug infestations.
9. CHECK ALL UNITS. Apex Pest Control recommends full house inspections for bed bugs at least once a year. This preventative approach costs money, but helps detect infestations before they spread to neighboring units. In one complex, Smith found bed bugs migrating two floors up to other units. The source was an entity to which he was consistently denied access. Inspecting each unit also provides important data that can be evaluated monthly and yearly to improve your service and prove its value to customers, he says.
10. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. In the case of a moderate or severe infestation, Apex bed bug technicians must enter detailed notes into the company’s online order tracking system. “It just can’t mean ‘found bed bugs in the closet’; It has to be “solution hints” that address what Apex, the tenant and the property manager need to do differently to achieve a successful outcome, Smith explains.
11. ELIMINATE THE MIDDLEMAN. GreenTech Bug Heat’s call center handles tenant questions and concerns regarding bed bug site preparation and treatment. Direct communication with tenants is faster, more effective and eliminates misunderstandings compared to sharing information between multiple parties. As a result, busy property managers are more available to “solve real issues that require their help,” like dealing with uncooperative tenants, Morgan explains. “We take the little things away from them and take care of them for them,” he explains.
