The Simplest Way to Extend Pest Control Equipment Life

Pest control equipment problems can ruin your day. Missed appointments, repair expenses, overtime, can all result from pest equipment problems. Here is the key technique that if absent, guarantees problems and downtime.

Assign responsibility for each piece of pest equipment to one technician and hold them accountable.

Anyone with kids will remember this. When something breaks, I ask my kids who did it. “Not me” was the most common answer. It is the same with pest control equipment. If no one is responsible for it, it won’t last.

Here are some of the common problems we see when no single person is responsible for equipment:

Problems are unreported

Required maintenance is not performed

Equipment is not cleaned out after use

Equipment is not properly secured.

The causes of these problems could be intentional, e.g., the technician just doesn’t care, or unintentional, e.g., the technician forgets to report a problem. If a technician is not responsible, he is not likely to put in extra effort. Here’s a great analogy: no one ever washes a rental car.

Here are some types of pest control equipment that should be assigned to one technician:

Vehicle

Compressed air sprayers

Backpack sprayers

Pest control sprayers

Foggers, foamers, dusters.

Termite rods and other termite equipment.

This is the easiest way to extend equipment life. Don't pass it by. Comments?

Corollary 1 for Pest Control Owner/Operators.

By definition, you guys have no employees to share equipment with.  Here is a morsel for you.  Absolutely, positively, under no circumstances, should you ever loan your professional equipment to family, friends, neighbors or someone from Church. The equipment is almost certain to come back in worse condition then it went out in.  I have seen it happen dozens of times. The friends response, "I didn't do that. It was like that".  You rely on your equipment to put food on the table. Don't loan it out. No exceptions!