Though most pest control plans center around the treatment of an active infestation, let’s take a moment to discuss arguably the most crucial yet commonly overlooked aspect of pest control—prevention.
Regardless if you live in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, once a severe pest infestation settles in your residence or commercial business, it’ll intensify and grow, making treatment increasingly more difficult and expensive. For this reason, it’s essential to understand the importance of preventative pest control to halt a future infestation before it can even begin.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about preventative control, including what exactly it pertains to, its importance, and why you should consider it.
What is Preventative Pest Control?
Preventive pest control is a treatment method to prevent pests from entering your property.
Preventative pest control combines a mix of chemical, biological, and physical treatments designed to prevent pests from entering your property and to kill them once they do enter.
Many preventative methods can be DIY, although many exterminators offer inspections and other services designed to spot and prevent pests.
For example, many pest control companies offer monthly preventative services, such as our Pest Protect 365 plan. During our treatment, a pest control expert will visit your home or business every month to add/replace bait(s), reapply barrier treatments, and inspect your home for signs of an infestation and potential points of entry.
The Importance of Preventative Pest Control
While pests may be gross, many can be fairly dangerous to your health and home. That’s why preventative control is important for the following reasons.
Safety Concerns
While pests, like termites and cockroaches, may present health and structural concerns, it’s often the treatment of pests that can be more dangerous–if handled incorrectly. For example, many insecticides, such as termiticides, that are applied DIY can be harmful to you and your pet’s health if handled incorrectly.
While most pesticides are safe–especially if handled by a professional–preventative pest control largely avoids this worry by using safer and more effective measures to stop pests before pesticides are required.
Health Concerns
It’s no secret that some pest infestations pose health risks to you and your family (including pets.) Whether plagued with an infestation of disease-carrying pests like cockroaches and rodents or suffering from excessive venomous spiders or insects, unmanaged pest infestations can elevate your risk of disease or injury.
Prevention ensures contactless treatment, which allows you to avoid ever having contact with a diseased bug ever again.
Home Protection
Insects like termites, carpenter ants, and carpenter bees are known to consume massive amounts of organic materials, which can harm the structure of your home.
In total, the cost of termites totals in the billions, and they can be incredibly hard to manage once they infest your home. That’s why prevention is the best step to ensure your home remains safe from these pests, especially if you don’t know that they are there.
Cost Considerations
In many cases, emergency treatments, such as the cost of termite treatment, can be more than the cost of monthly preventative care. Of course, this number doesn’t factor in the cost to repair your home from a termite infestation, which is often more than homeowners think.
Reputation and Customer Service (Commercial)
Nothing will tank your business quicker than failed pest inspections or problems affecting your customers. As the old saying goes, a customer with a great experience tells one or two friends, but a customer that finds a cockroach in their salad tells everyone…or something along those lines.
Preventative pest control will ensure your customers are always satisfied and that they don’t have any horror stories about your business they can spread worth of mouth.
Is Preventative Pest Control Worth it?
Preventative pest control is the most effective pest treatment, keeping infestations and their associated damages at bay. While reactive pest control is an effective form of treatment for active infestations, it will rarely be necessary with the proper preventative barrier treatments applied by one of our experienced pest professionals.
In sum, preventative pest control ensures that your home or business is 100% pest free and can save you money and stress over the long term.
Preventative Pest Control FAQ
What is Preventative Pest Control?
Preventative control focuses on the prevention of common pests through the use of barrier treatments and baits, stopping infestations before they have the chance to take hold.
What is Reactive Pest Control?
Reactive pest control, on the other hand, is used once an active infestation is present. These services consist of concentrated, localized treatments designed to eliminate active infestations and prevent future issues.
How Can Preventative Pest Control Save You Money?
Preventative control can help prevent severe infestations that often lead to extensive property damage. Additionally, preventative pest control is often less expensive than reactive treatments.