Home owners: Do you have some type of pest control contract ??

[CTrain]

The house I bought from my brother, he told me he paid ~$300 for a yearly contract with Terminix.
All I ever see them do is once in a while spray some stuff outside the house and thats about it.
They sent a a bill for $400 to extend that contract.

Is it worth it ??
Does it really help ??
Is it just for termite ??

How much do you pay ?

 

[iamwiz82]

I think I spent about $15 on pest control stuff at HD in the pazst year. Seems to work for me.

 

[Queasy]

$300-$400 is probably worth it if there are termite problems in the area. Last thing you want is for those little boogers to really get into your house. You'll be paying alot more at that point.

Just for general pest control, something like Ortho Home Defense is fine.

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: CTrain
The house I bought from my brother, he told me he paid ~$300 for a yearly contract with Terminix.
All I ever see them do is once in a while spray some stuff outside the house and thats about it.
They sent a a bill for $400 to extend that contract.

Is it worth it ??
Does it really help ??
Is it just for termite ??

How much do you pay ?

I've been thinking about this very thing recently. We pay just over $300 pey year to Terminix for the exact same service. They come out quarterly and spray inside the house and outside if they see any ants. The thing is, I still find ants all over the place outside and still get spiders on a regular basis inside.

I had some ants attacking one of my trees outside and I spread some Ortho Max around the base of it and the ants were gone the next day. So now I'm thinking about ditching the general pest control contract and just handling it myself.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Well, our friends used to have a service, then cancelled it and bought stuff from HD, but it doesn't work as well and his wife is pissed because of the increased number of spiders and whatnot.

 

[CTrain]

Need more opinions please.
Seems like alot of money for something we can just buy ourself and do some spraying.

I couldn't care less about spiders, ants, etc....
I care about the termites(and whatever else) that can do permanent damage to the house.

 

[olds]

It's worth it IF you have termites.

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
It's worth it IF you have termites.

I think the termite contract is usually separate and required by the insurance company.... at least that's how ours is. Terminix is our termite control company, but it's a seperate contract from the general pest control.

 

[CTrain]

Does it matter if your house is made of wood, bricks, mason, etc.. ??

 

[mooseracing]

Terminix contract is a ripoff. When we orginally got our house it had termites in the hot tub room because it leaked and kept the wood mosit and they really like it(we also have a wood stove and 3 fire places, so there i always wood up by the house), but they were eliminated. Well its been 15yrs and Terminix has gotten worse. When they come out to the property to check for any bugs, they just walk around the outside and then walk around teh inside. They don't go behind any bushes on teh outside where they might actually be or move anything that is against the wall. They just sometimes shine their little flashlight in a corner and say "looks good".

 

[mugs]

Nope. We had a ton of ants when when we moved in and some mice in the basement. Traps got rid of all of the mice, and thoroughly spraying got rid of the ants. We're starting to see some ants again though, so I guess it's time to spray again.

 

[NetGuySC]

Just get some liability insurance, pest control license (easier than you think) and then buy the good stuff that actually works

 

[Vincent]

Ask your brother if there were ever any severe or unusual pest problems. If not, cancel the contract and take care of everything yourself.