Things to consider when buying pest control equipment:

- Quality. Buy quality stuff and take care of it. It is much cheaper in the long run.

- Replacement parts. Always buy equipment for which replacement parts, repair kits, etc., are readily available. There’s nothing worse than having a piece of equipment down and a technician waiting for a $5 part.

- Standardize your equipment. This is one of the most important things a company can do to create a rational spray equipment program.

- Ease of use. The power spray equipment must be easy for spray technicians to use. Key components must be easily accessible so the tech can reach them easily. The sprayer must be easy to operate. If controls are too complex, there will be problems that cost the company money. Example: a large state agency purchased a computerized right-of-way sprayer to spray weeds along the highway. The controls were so complicated, the agency couldn’t find techs who could operate the equipment.

- Ease of maintenance. This is critical. All equipment requires maintenance. Many companies and techs don’t maintain equipment regularly. If maintenance is difficult, the odds of it getting done decline significantly.

If components are difficult to service, maintenance will take much longer, which means more downtime and higher costs. Example: A power spray rig was designed so the spray rig had to be removed from the vehicle and the hose reel unbolted from the rig to change the hose reel swivels. This is standard annual maintenance that should take 10 minutes or less. On this sprayer, it took two hours. (see photo above)

It’s much easier, faster and cheaper to think about these questions before you buy.