Market Watch

Rottler Pest Control & Lawn Care

St. Louis, Mo.

After a slow start, Rottler Pest Control & Lawn Care hit its first-quarter revenue budget and "blew away April," according to Mike Rottler, president of the second-generation, family-owned business. Rottler attributes the increase in business to an improving economy and a willingness to invest in the company’s sales department. "We hired a sales manager and increased our sales force from four to nine," he said. "We also restructured our office, so the combination of those two things have had a positive impact on the company. We geared up much faster this year than in previous years." He also attributes his company’s progress to lessons learned while visiting other pest control companies throughout the United States. This past year Rottler visited Middleton Pest Control in Orlando, Fla., and ABC Pest, Pool & Lawn Services in Houston, Texas. "I think it was time well spent," he said. "Both companies do a lot of things very well and I learned from their experiences."

Carter Services, Inc.

Farmington, N.M.

For much of the country the economy has been sluggish the last few years. Not so in the Four Corners region of the desert Southwest. Bruce Carter says northwest New Mexico has benefited from a surplus of natural gas. The region has added new jobs and businesses and as a result the population has exploded, providing new opportunities for PCOs. Carter says he is predicting 15% growth this year and that he is now to the point of turning away new business if it is not profitable enough. Requests for spider control, particularly for wolf spiders and black widow spiders, are keeping Carter and his 12-person staff busy this spring, but he also thinks the region may be on the cusp of another hantavirus outbreak. "We were at the center of the outbreak in ’96 and hantavirus is somewhat cyclical," Carter says. "We had a really wet late spring and we just finished a job where we killed 24 deer mice from a 5- by 8-foot shed. I’ve just seen a lot of signs pointing to another outbreak."

Crane Pest Control

San Francisco, Calif.

A number of Crane Pest Control’s clients depend on the Silicon Valley and its technical industries — entities hit hard by California’s economic downturn. However, Crane specializes in "critical" or "sensitive" accounts (e.g., medical centers, research facilities, biological/pharmaceutical complexes, etc.) that cannot afford a pest management failure and which pose many challenges to accomplishing this objective. "We are protected to some extent by the reputation that ‘if it has to be done, they are one of the ones who will succeed,’" said Crane President Hal Stein, who reports that first quarter revenues are up 3-5% compared to first quarter 2003. Stein says he has received more applications from unemployed "white collar" workers as a result of the troubled economy. Rats, particularly Norway and roof, are as problematic as ever in Central and Northern California. In addition to the usual pest control requests (rodents, cockroaches, birds and ants), Stein reports that field mice are beginning to share popularity with house mice, and that ants — particularly Argentine and carpenter ants — are keeping Crane’s technicians busy.