My mornings start around 6:45 am to ensure that I am out the door by 7:30. Unlike most jobs, I don’t have to head into the office. Instead, I arrive at my first job around 8:00am. As a technician I could be anywhere in the valley from Nampa to Mountain Home, Melba or Boise.
The most common treatment I do is for spiders and bugs. Once I arrive at a home, I knock and see if I can speak with the customer before beginning. I want to know if they have any special requests or concerns. After speaking with the customer I begin to sweep off the cobwebs from the house and ensure no wasps nests have begun to form. Once I’m done, I spray the outside perimeter of the home, around doors and windows, and up in the eves and depending on the time of year I may create a barrier at the base of the home. Following the initial perimeter spray, I spread granules along the house as well. Depending on the customer’s needs I may place/refill mice bait stations for those who have them. Some customers will also request a spray session done on the inside of their home. Jobs like these can take anywhere from 7 to 20 minutes but there is a lot of variation to each job because of need, size of the structure, speaking with customers etc.
I like that there is some variation in my job. If I’m not treating a home, I may be treating a commercial building, a neighborhood common area or an apartment complex. Depending on what type of job it is, the time spent to complete the job can vary. Besides spiders and bugs I treat for mice, wasp nests, ants, bedbugs, cockroaches, fleas, gophers and voles. Once I’m done with a job it’s onto the next one. Music and gas station soda have become my vices while I drive to the next location. My day ends at different times but usually around 5:00pm. In the summertime it may be as late as 6:00pm or 7:00pm. Every day is a little different depending on the following:
- Number of treatments I’ve done
- Oddities that occur
- How quickly I get through gates and around houses carrying a backpack
- How many interior treatments I add
- Traffic
At the end of the day I’m worn out and ready to go home, see my family, and play with my newborn son.
– Written by Fernando; technician at Barrier Pest Control
