Why Mess with a Good Thing?

 

“That was my baby,” said Jeremiah Riopel, Plunkett’s multi-housing sales and marketing director who helped the company’s heat division more than triple its revenue.

 

Plunkett’s embraced heat treatment in 2009. “When heat came around it was revolutionary. We jumped on the bus and I like to think we perfected it,” he said. 

 

But eventually science caught up and Riopel began seeing new opportunities emerge to control the pests; namely the introduction of several new chemical products. 

 

One of them was MGK’s CrossFire insecticide, which has three active ingredients and features multiple modes of action to combat pyrethroid-resistant bed bugs. Plunkett’s started field-testing CrossFire in 2014 “with tremendous success,” recalled Riopel. 

 

Although a difficult decision, it was time to take a hard look at the company’s bed bug protocol. 

 

In July 2019 Plunkett’s launched Operation Turn Down the Heat. It updated its conventional bed bug treatment protocol for multi-housing clients and began rolling out the service in all of its territories.

 

As a result, the company’s heat division has significantly downsized from 16 to four full-time heat operators.

 

It was hard to pivot, but the new protocol has not only achieved the same level of control but “we can get there quicker” for clients, said Riopel. Heat rigs were often booked two weeks out, but conventional treatment is easier to schedule and can start faster.

 

It also costs about a third less than heat treatment. “We’re providing our clients with cost savings and we’re turning a higher profit because it’s less expensive to perform that work,” said Riopel.

 

One area of cost savings is labor because fewer employees are needed to perform conventional treatment. “The majority of our chemical treatments are done by one individual,” said Riopel. Heat treatment, by comparison, required multiple technicians.

 

Fleet expenses also dropped. Plunkett’s heat trucks weighed more than 10,000 pounds, which required adherence to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations. Now the company is paying for fewer DOT inspections, less diesel fuel for vehicles and generators, and it is buying fewer expensive heat rigs. 

 

Reduced liability is another benefit. While the company never had a fire resulting from heat treatment, it has paid for damages to properties. With conventional treatment, there is no more nicking walls with heavy equipment, popping wine corks on white carpeting or melting crayons in cabinet drawers.

 

As part of the new protocol, Riopel maintains a list of preferred dust, residual and aerosol products. He also constantly updates the field manual for technicians based on new research and products.

 

“The chemical treatment process has been phenomenal,” he said.