Commercial Pest Control in Upper Marlboro, MD

What should a business check before hiring a pest control firm?

Ask the firm for its state pesticide business and applicator credentials, and check them with the Maryland Department of Agriculture's public search tools. A firm doing structural pest work must hold the state's business credentials and must have a certified applicator for each category it works in.

Maryland's pesticide rules set the requirements for a firm doing structural pest work, including proof of general liability insurance. The state's applicator categories are numbered differently in different documents, so the question to ask is which category covers the work, not which number.

The business should ask who will hold the records, who will sign each visit and who is the contact for an inspector. A program with no named contact is harder to defend when an inspection comes.

The check takes a few minutes and is worth doing before a contract is signed. A firm that is willing to show its credentials and explain its records is one that expects to be inspected.

• Ask for the firm's state pesticide business and applicator credentials
• Check them with the state's public search tools
• Confirm which applicator covers each category of work
• Name the contact who signs the visit records

What does a commercial program record look like?

A commercial record names the premises, the points checked, the findings, the treatments placed, the exclusion work done and the next visit. The record should stand on its own, so an inspector or auditor can follow it without the technician there to explain it.

The premises map is the reference for the whole record. Each monitoring point is numbered, and the entry for each visit says what was found at each number, so a trend can be read across the year.

Treatments are listed with the location and the reason, not just the date. A reader should be able to see why a bait was placed in a particular corner and what the activity looked like before it was placed.

Exclusion work and sanitation advice are recorded too. The business is shown which openings were sealed and which conditions it is responsible for changing, so the record covers the whole cause of the activity and not only the treatment.

How is a commercial pest program kept on schedule?

The program sets its visit dates in advance and works around trading or operating hours. A standing schedule with a named contact means the business knows when visits happen, and the record shows that the schedule was kept.

Visits are planned to fit the business. A kitchen may need a visit outside service hours, while an office may be visited at a quiet time, and the plan says which applies.

The schedule also allows for activity between visits. A report from staff or a customer should be passed to the technician at once, and the program adds a check to the next visit or brings the date forward.

The price is confirmed on site, after the premises, the number of monitoring points and the frequency of visits are known. A program that changes in scope should be re-quoted before the change.