Built, Thriving on a Foundation of Education

The story of Brandon Ewals-Strain, owner of Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife Control, Greeley, Colo., is not unlike others in the pest control industry in that he did not start down a career path in this market.

He originally went to school to obtain a wildlife biology degree and become a game warden. This led to a summer job at a pest control company trapping raccoons, skunks and squirrels.

“I did that for the summer and absolutely fell in love with it,” Ewals-Strain recalled.

NEW PATH. After realizing that pest control was the industry for him, he went back to school to get his master’s degree in entomology.

Education has always been important to Ewals-Strain, so when he and wife Kristen launched Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife Control on Aug. 2, 2016, training and education were perhaps the most important blocks of its foundation. “We try to be fair with our customers. We rely a lot on education and explain to our customers exactly what’s going on. We don’t try to sell our customers on something that they don’t need,” Ewals-Strain said.

The company's service professionals don't lock customers into contracts and do all service agreements so any customers can cancel at any time.

“By doing that and maintaining our quality and making sure that we earn their business each and every single time we go out there, I think that’s what separates us from the rest,” he said.

LEARNING THE BUSINESS SIDE. “I can do pest control almost with my eyes closed, but becoming a business owner was something I’m still learning every single day,” Ewals-Strain said.

Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife Control has contracts with Denver International Airport and the city and county of Denver contract, which keeps the company plenty busy.

“It was a good opportunity, a lot of work. It’s been rewarding and challenging all at the exact same time,” he said. “We went from zero to 100 pretty darn quick.”

Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife Control has grown at 15 to 20 percent every year since it was founded. The company is now up to 12 employees.

“This year, we’re having another record year where we’re up 44 percent,” Ewals-Strain said. Recent developments include the April acquisition of a company that uses canines to detect bed bugs.

“That extra revenue and business has been exponential for us, which has been absolutely fantastic,” Ewals-Strain said.

Northern Colorado is kept busy with spiders and cockroaches on the pest side; on the wildlife side it is birds, bats and prairie dogs. “[The] northern Colorado [region] is growing at such a rapid rate. I mean, there are more customers in the market than pest control companies available to service them, at least in a timely manner,” Ewals-Strain said.

A SUCCESSFUL TEAM. Ewals-Strain’s wife, Kristen, is the co-owner of Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife control and has been working in customer service in pest and wildlife for more than 11 years. She is now also the handler for the canine bed bug detecting business.

“Without her, I absolutely would not be able to do any of this. She did all the office and admin stuff in the beginning, getting the ball off the ground,” Ewals-Strain said.

Ewals-Strain emphasized that he would not be able to run this company alone. There are several other team members that help make the business successful.

Team leader Tyler Petz helps with the day-to-day, small picture aspects of the company, which allows Ewals-Strain to focus on the bigger picture. The company’s office manager, Ashley Wagner, has been instrumental in maintaining the office, schedules, routing and getting everything off the ground, according to Ewals-Strain.

“They have definitely allowed me to spread my wings and get us to where we’re at today. I definitely can’t take all the credit for it,” he said.

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY. Since he began working in pest control, Ewals-Strain began to notice that those who most needed pest control services were often unable to pay for it. Seeing the pest problems in low-income areas opened his eyes, and he wanted to give back to these communities.

“The people that need it a lot of times can’t afford it, which is very unfortunate,” Ewals-Strain said. “All of our technicians know that if there’s a customer that really, really needs a service, like they have a bad bed bug or cockroach or rodent problem, that they can give that service for free.”

The company usually provides three or four of these free services to those in need each month.

LOOKING AHEAD. Since experiencing such success the past eight years of business, Northern Colorado Pest and Wildlife is looking to open other branches in Colorado in hopes of becoming the leaders of the pack in pest control in the state, Ewals-Strain said.

“I don’t necessarily have immediate plans of going outside of Colorado, but definitely some other branches, maybe Denver and Colorado Springs here within the next three to five years,” he said.

The author is PCT’s editorial intern and can be contacted at aforeman@gie.net.