Battling beasties

View larger image Duke Compton, franchisee of Enviro-Tech Pest Services in Shenandoah, Clarke, Frederick and Warren counties, does preventive spraying on the outside windows and the base of the home of Ann Foltz west of Mt. Jackson.

By Alison Laurio
alaurio@nvdaily.com
Mice. Rats. Insects. Bats. While most homeowners cringe at the thought of confronting such creatures in their houses, some who are called in to get rid of the beasties enjoy their jobs.

Duke Compton is one of those, and he has seen a lot.

"It was a duplex in Winchester, and as I walked in, the roaches were falling off the door," he said. "I went back out, taped my sleeves and pants, put on my hat and went back in. ... I honestly enjoy helping people more than anything."

Compton is a franchisee of Enviro-Tech Pest Services, a company whose humble beginnings were a one-man, one part-timer business in Woodstock that now has corporate offices in Leesburg, Brunswick, Md., and Charles Town, W.Va. It also has 11 franchises from Virginia to Texas, including one in Georgia that launched Monday, said Nick Petti, company president and franchiser.

Compton has seen a lot of different infestations in his area, which includes Shenandoah, Clarke, Frederick and Warren counties. He's even seen bats in a belfry. They were in a church attic in New Market.

"I had to go through the bell tower, tear out all the insulation, sterilize everything and put all the insulation back," Compton said. "This area of the Shenandoah Valley is notorious for bats."

Bats also were "one of the worst infestations of critters or insects" he has seen.
That was a "little mother-in-law suite" in the backyard of a home in Bentonville, Compton said.

"I had to rip down every inside wall," he said. "The guano -- the droppings -- were everywhere. I used liquid sterilizer -- bleach and water -- and had to find all the leaks, all the holes, and seal up the entire house."

Rodents are a common problem in the area, and the National Pest Management Association says each winter an estimated 20 million rodents will enter homes nationwide.

"It's not a little problem, it's a huge problem," Petti said. "They carry all kinds of diseases and their droppings are one of the top triggers of asthma in the U.S. Although they're furry, they're not friendly."

Their instinctual gnawing even can be dangerous, especially if they get in an attic and chew through wires, he said.

"They're a common cause of electrical fires," Petti said.

Although mice are more common, their larger relatives also are present.

"There are plenty of rats around here," Petti said. "It can be a real nightmare. Honestly, rats can gnaw through even lead pipes."

If rodents get in to escape cold weather, they don't just move out when spring arrives.
"If they have food and water supplies inside, they will not leave," Petti said. "Once they set up shop, they just keep expanding it."

Signs of rodents include seeing droppings, hearing scurrying sounds and seeing the rodents themselves, he said.

"If you see them, you really should call a professional," Petti said. "The average homeowner is not equipped or prepared to deal with the problem. Most people don't realize the magnitude of the infestation."

Often a customer sees a first rodent and thinks it isn't too bad, he said.

"We get in, and we find 20, 30 -- 100," Petti said. "We often see a problem that's well into the hundreds."

He said most professional pest-services companies offer a free analysis, which includes inspecting to see what's going on and designing a plan. Sometimes exclusion, or finding and sealing holes through which pests gain entry, is included.

Cost varies. If baiting or trapping is called for, it can vary depending on the number of traps. It generally runs between $125 and $200 but can be more. The company follows up by monitoring and resetting traps, and those visits generally can run between $65 and $95 dollars, Petti said.

A Northern Virginia native who grew up in Sterling and completed high school in eastern West Virginia, Petti, 43, began in the industry at age 18 after graduating from high school. A family member worked in pest services and urged him to do the same, so he started off on the ground floor as a technician.

"It just got in my blood," he said.

In June 1994, he bought A1 Exterminating Services Inc. from Don Arnold.
"He was a longtime Woodstock resident," Petti said. "I just grew the business from there."

He bought other small pest-control businesses, including Tri-State Termite and Pest Control in Hagerstown, Md., and Enviro-Tech Termite and Pest Control in Inwood, W.Va., which he wanted so he could acquire the Enviro-Tech name.

"We're a green operation, and I wanted my name to say that," Petti said. "Our corporation culture is focused on a lower carbon footprint and being a completely green company."

That includes products used, application techniques and business processes, he said.
"For example, half our fleet is hybrid vehicles," Petti said.

Revenue growth has been close to 10 percent, he said.

"We have more than 60,000 customers, we're in the top 15 percent of pest-control companies nationwide in size of operations, and we're growing," Petti said.

But when it comes to rodents, what about the age-old standby -- the household feline?

"Some cats are great at catching rodents," Petti said. "But I wouldn't leave it all on the cat."

Besides, he said, if you aren't pleased with the job, "it's hard to fire the cat."