How has the pest control industry faired over the past 12 months?

Looking back on 2021

The pandemic has continued to shape pest control demand, with domestic pest control continuing to be busy, due to people spending more time at home. However, unlike 2020, commercial businesses and restaurants have been operating, so there has been an uplift in this area too.

Many pest control businesses have reported  significant growth over the last year and feel confident heading into 2022, as both commercial and domestic pest controllers are in high demand.

We have spoken to two pest controllers to get their take on the successes and challenges of 2021.

How have pest managers found 2021?

Mark Porter, managing director at Porter’s Pest Control

Mark Porter says that 2021 has been a fantastic year for the team at Porter’s Pest Control.

“We’ve had a really busy year across all areas of pest control, including an out-of-hours service where we’ve been controlling rats with night vision and thermal imaging.

“Rodents have been a big focus for us this year. It can be a challenge to get on top of them, as we’re often called out when the rodent infestation is already established,” says Mr Porter.

“However, the biggest challenge for us has been finding enough high-quality, skilled staff to meet the increasing demand we’ve been facing as a business,” he adds.

“Overall, the year’s been very successful, and we’re excited to see what 2022 brings.”

John Tomes, director of Amicus Environmental Services

John Tomes says that Amicus Environmental Services has also had a busy year which has led to significant business growth, especially in the domestic side of the business as more people are spending time at home.

“All pests have proven to be problematic this year. The wasp season did start later than usual, but carried on into early winter, which meant we had a long season of dealing with summer pests,” says Mr Tomes.

“We started our business in 2020 just before Covid and due to this our business is currently weighted at 75% domestic and 25% commercial callouts. Pest control is a competitive market, so we’ve worked closely with our digital agency this year to improve SEO so that we come up first on Google when people search pest control.

“This insight also allows us to understand the size of the market and what areas the enquiries are coming from,” explains Mr Tomes.

“At Amicus Environmental Services, we focus on Digital Pest Control where possible and therefore we’ve implemented systems such as the Envu Digital Pest Management which has helped us to improve the efficiency of rodent control as well as transparency and traceability,” he adds.

“2021 has been a positive year and we are excited to see what opportunities 2022 brings. Our aim is to grow the commercial side of the business, but to do this we’ll also need to expand the team,” explains Mr Tomes.

Timothy Peeling, Envu product manager

“It’s great to hear so many positive stories from pest controllers who are out on the ground daily. Many businesses have seen growth across the last year, which is really fantastic to hear after 2021 has still proven to be a difficult year, with Covid continuing to be problematic.

“Envu has also seen some exciting developments throughout 2021 such as Harmonix Rodent Paste and Digital Pest Management and we hope to keep providing pest controllers with these innovative solutions which can make their job much easier.”