Sunstate Pest Management Turns 40 in February

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – As Sunstate Pest Management gets ready to celebrate 40 years in business in February, owner Steve Goff reflected on the company’s history.

After a stint working in the printing business in Hollywood, Fla., in 1978, Goff moved to Brevard county and went to work for his dad, James Lewis Goff, a manager of a pest control business. Steve Goff cut his teeth on pest and lawn work, first working as a lawn tech and then in sales.

Goff realized the potential profitability of pest control businesses while phoning customers and informing them of a price increase. During one of these phone calls he informed an elderly customer of a $1 service charge increase. “He said, ‘I will give up my beer before I give up my pest control. Being about 24 at the time I couldn’t believe someone would give up beer. At that point I went to my dad and suggested we start our own business. The rest is history.”

Sunstate has become a respected name throughout Central Florida, providing pest control solutions based heavily in Integrated Pest Management, including the use of gels, baits, and dust applied to strategic sites where pests are known to live and breed.

Goff credits the company’s success to “treating all my customers as if we are going to meet in the grocery store. I can hold my head up high knowing I did all I could do for them.”

Additionally, long-tenured employees have given the company a competitive edge. “I’ve held on to my technicians and have very little turn over. My manager has been with me since he was 18 and is now almost 50.”

Sunstate now has 15 employees.