| Elusive Varmints Ignite Business Start Ups |
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An eclectic group of unlikely entrepreneurs - from former Internet sales directors and Fortune 500 execs to full time firemen/paramedics - is finding explosive business growth in underground burrowing rodent control
As the former district sales manager of a now defunct Internet business, the last place Mark Ayers expected to find himself was hunting gophers before daybreak. Yet he recently found himself on a Healdsberg, California vineyard, the protector of 650 Zinfandel vines, when a string of sales/sales management positions failed to meet his requirements.
The gophers, which voraciously dine on plant roots and can produce up to three litters of young a year when food is plentiful, lay entrenched in tunnels beneath Ayers’ feet across 2.5 acres of terraced vineyard. Wielding a wandlike device that injects a mix of propane and oxygen into the rodents’ burrows then ignites it, Ayers took the fight to the troublesome varmints.
Five billable hours later, Ayers was $400 richer including a $50 tip the vineyard owner gave him for “sending the critters to gopher heaven.”
“Not bad for a first day’s work when I’d never used the equipment in the field before,” says Ayers, whose California-licensed pest management company Rodent Eradication Services is off to a roaring start in its first eight months of business.
“In a few months of part-time work, I paid for the equipment and a golf cart I bought for better mobility,” adds Ayers. “I recently made $3,700 for 5 days work. It doesn’t get much easier than this.”
While hunting gophers, ground squirrels or other pests that damage agricultural, residential, or commercial properties can be physically demanding, a growing number of entrepreneurs are trying it, including some unlikely candidates.
An Open Field for Entrepreneurs
Part of the allure of starting up a pest control business for burrowing rodents is that the field is wide open, so to speak. Anywhere plants, crops, or landscaping must be kept healthy or safe for visitors is a potential customer. This includes not only agricultural fields, orchards and nurseries but also horse stables, show arenas, cemeteries, golf courses and schools.
Opportunity stems also from drawbacks in traditional pest control methods, such as traps, poison, shooting, and introducing natural predators, which face significant limits on their effectiveness. Traps, for instance, are limited by the number available and are time-consuming to bait, set, and check.
“Poisons leave residue and can cause collateral damage such as sickening or killing pets that eat the poisoned rodents,” explains Joe Costigan, a veteran fireman/paramedic in Northeast Oregon who got into the pest control business during his off time after gophers overran his own yard. “Cumulative poisons may have unintended consequences - like DDT weakening bird populations by making their eggs fragile - so regulation on their use is tightening.”
While old standbys like shooting the offending rodents is workable on a small scale, the pests spend most of their time underground, out of sight and out of range. Similarly, bringing natural predators such as cats and birds of prey into the picture may help, but can be insufficient when the pests are underground or present in large numbers.
One glaring omission in all these traditional pest elimination methods, however, is they do nothing to remove the underground tunnel systems, which new pests can inhabit even if the original occupants are killed. New propane-oxygen injection systems like the Rodenator Pro units used by Costigan and Ayers remedy this.
“Because oxygen mixed with propane is heavier than air, the mix sinks into the rodents’ tunnels and dens. When it’s ignited it produces an expanding force traveling at 5,000 feet per second,” explains Costigan, who currently runs his company, Underground Pest Control, with the help of his family. “The concussion collapses the tunnel network and produces first pass kill rates up to 90% for me when I follow up with trapping to catch any stragglers.”
Rodent Relief for the Desperate
While Costigan is a firm believer in trapping, residents of the Willamette Valley in Oregon are clearly relieved to have his high tech pest control services.
“We’re having an unbelievable population explosion of moles and gophers this year,” explains Costigan. “I was trapping 40 gophers a week on one 10 acre property with no end in sight - instead of a lawn, there were gopher mounds. We cut that to a manageable three or four gophers a week after one pass with the Rodenator.”
Despite Costigan’s pest control success with the propane-oxygen injection equipment, many residents are unfamiliar with it. Because of this, according to Costigan, they usually go through escalating stages of frustration before they come to him for rodent relief.
“First, they’ll brush down the mounds hoping that’ll solve the problem,” says Costigan. “Then they’ll buy over-the-counter remedies like smokebombs and vibrating posts, but these rarely work. Next, they’ll hire a chemical pest control company but are typically unsatisfied with the results. By the time they reach me, they’re desperate.”
“When they understand what the Rodenator can do, most bring out lawn chairs, martinis, and invite their friends over to watch,” adds Costigan. “As far as they’re concerned, it’s payback time for the gophers who may have wrecked their two-thousand dollar hydroseeded lawns or savaged their crops.”
Even at Costigan’s standard rate of $100 per hour, his pest control business has flourished. “Initially, pest control was going to be a little spare change business to round out my day job,” he explains. “But it’s turned into such a significant business opportunity that I’m considering hiring employees.”
A Low Capital, High Margin Business
Before launching his own underground pest control business this year with a partner, Dennis Elia had already proven his business chops. Formerly a Texas Instrument executive, then a market strategist for Purex Corp., Elia later launched a joint venture with a Fortune 500 company to manufacture and market highway crash equipment nationally. Why then would Elia consider starting a local pest control business based in Fresno, California?
“It was the business opportunity,” explains Elia. “To launch a small manufacturing business can require start up capital of at least $2 million and 18 months of dealing with bankers, lawyers, and investors. Then you’re dealing with mature markets, low margins, and overseas competition. I was ready for a change.”
When Elia discovered the Rodenator at an agricultural trade show, he found it to his liking. “Originally introduced to agriculture, it’s been refined to rock-solid reliability.”
Elia also welcomed the opportunities presented by launching a low capital, high margin service business with little competition and low market penetration. Today his company DECO Systems sells its underground pest control services to markets as varied as golf courses, school districts, and wineries to horse race tracks, orchards, and cemeteries.
“Besides the aesthetics of keeping ugly rodent mounds off frequented areas, businesses want to prevent trip and fall hazards,” explains Elia. “Why wait for a racehorse to break its forefoot at pasture? Why wait for a child to twist their ankle on the playground? Why wait for a woman’s heel to punch through a gopher tunnel at the cemetery?”
Elia has improved his income stream with equipment sales in addition to his pest control maintenance service. “Considering the minimal cost of equipment and licensing, we recouped a return on our investment in just 40 days,” says Elia, who’s planning to expand marketing to include destination resorts and commercial business parks in the near future.
But the rewards of owning your own pest control business are more than financial, according to Mark Ayers, who recently scheduled two weeks off the job to spend time with his new four-month old grandson.
“I’ve never seen anything like this business for referrals,” explains Ayers, who plans to pack equipment into his RV and work from the road. “If I wanted, I could easily ramp up the business so there’s no time for me to breathe. But right now, I set the time, the pace, and recently saw a gorgeous full moon set and the sun rise on the way to work. How many others can say that?”
For more info, call 877-RODENATOR; fax 208-355-0103; visit www.rodenator.com; email sales@rodenator.com; or write to Meyer Industries at PO Box 39, Midvale, ID 83645.
