Termite Fumigations: TermiteTerry.com says there IS a difference…

Termite License Exam Preparation Manual

Termite Terry shows off his latest book, a Termite License Exam Preparation Manual

“Termite” Terry Singleton
949.378.4128
www.termiteterry.com
e-mail@termiteterry.com

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“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: Today, I would like to talk to you about our termite fumigation. The question that I get quite a lot from our clients is “What separates Termite Terry Pest Control from all the rest?” The first thing I would say when it comes to fumigation is ‘careful measurements’. You’d be astonished to find out that maybe 19 out of 20 termite inspectors do not know how to measure a home properly for a fumigation. You’ve got to know the exact cubic volume of the house because the cubic volume is what determines how much gas is going to be used for the process. When collecting estimates, this is a very important question to remember because not everyone will give you a full tank of gas when you have your home fumigated. They’re thinking that you don’t know any better. Fortunately, Business Growth Innovators members do know now ’cause in order to be effective, you’ve got to put in a full tank of gas.

Here are a couple of pictures of how we measure it. I used a tape measure, a roll of tape to measure around the exterior perimeter of the home. You’d measure eave overhang. The overhang include the patio, covers, decks, garages, etc. So it’d be a little bit larger than the advertised square footage of your home. Next step is you’d measure the peak of the roof, measure the eave overhangs and you split the difference. That’ll give you your average height. Multiply that times your new square footage and you’ll come up with a correct cubic volume.
Next thing that makes us different than the rest is that we use the best quality, heavy-duty tarps. These things are very expensive. We could keep using the same ones over and over again, patching them up, but of course, once they get holey, they don’t hold the gas in very well. That’s why we keep switching all the time. That adds cost. Next thing you’d want to do is carefully take your time and seal up the tarps. If it’s not held down to the ground with a lot of sand bags, the gas can leak out. Then of course, it’s just a joke. Attention to details, like in this case, you can see this utility panel down there. We’d take the time to tape that up and seal it so that the gas won’t run out to the street. Gas meters are another good part that you want to be careful with, where the gas pipes go through the tarp, you’d want to make sure you tape and seal those up so the gas won’t leak out.

Areas like this right here, where we’ve got a transition from the lawn to the pavement, we’d want to put some extra soil in there to keep the gas from leaking out. Or like in this case here where we have the curve, we’d tape and seal this, put in a sand bag to hold it down and some extra soil to seal the transition. Details, details, takes a lot of time, but it makes all the difference in the world. A lot of clips to hold the tarps together, the wind may come up in the afternoon or evening. We don’t want the tent to blow off in the middle of the night and ruin the job. So clip it together really tight.

Another thing that makes us real different is that we take our time and do our best to protect your plants. Here, you can see where we went behind the plants, palm trees and sealed it up carefully. When we’re done, hopefully the homeowner will never know we were even there.
Now, talking about creative wraps. This is a case here where they had a nice patio with all kinds of plants underneath. It would’ve been so much easier just to run the tent right down to the ground, but it would’ve killed everything. We took our time and went up and under the tree and were able to save them all. Another case here, this is at Park Lawn Mortuary, when they walk in the front door there, we didn’t want to kill these plants so we went up and under it. Or here, this is where you’re going to be setting in the chapel. There’s an atrium. We didn’t want people to look out the window there in the atrium and see all the dead plants, so we went up and under there, behind the plants so that when we pulled it off, everything was in choice condition.
A lot of homes in Orange County have tiled roofs and a lot of homeowners are very concerned about that. One of the things you’ll love about our service is, like in this photograph, you’ll see that the gentleman is wearing foam rubber shoes when he’s walking on the roof. That really helps reduce the damage. Another good action shot.

Another good one, too, that makes us different from the rest is we have these plywood sheets with foam rubber glued on the bottom set on the roof. Yes. Our guys are small, maybe 160 pounds, but you put a 100 pound tarp on his back, now he’s 260 pounds. If you’ve ever been on a roof without any protection, every step is broken tile. These tile boards really reduce the amount of damage. But of course, it takes a lot more time.
Now that the building is all sealed, it’s time to put in the gas. Here, you can see where we have these gas cylinders that we hang on a scale. You’ll see it’s a digital scale. We invite our homeowners to stand there and watch. That way you can see how much gas is administered.
And last but not least, the thing that makes us radically different, I don’t of anyone else that’s doing this right now, is that after the home sets for 24 hours and before we release the gas, we test using this fumiscope to see how much gas is still in the home after 24 hours. If it wers on the low side, we just simply tell the homeowner, “Hey. We didn’t seal it up tight enough. We’ll leave it on one extra night and put another tank of gas in for you.” In this case here, you can see that we’ve got five ounces per 1000 cubic feet after 24 hours. That’s more gas than most of my competition starts with, so that was a success. That’s a guarantee that your job is effective.

Here are some examples of our work. This is a home up in Garden Grove. This is a shopping center we recently did in Yorba Linda. I’m not as good of a photographer as Shelly. This thing’s about 400 feet long and I had to stand way across the street to get that in there. A commercial building here in Costa Mesa we did recently, Citizen’s Bank down in Laguna Beach, then here’s Harbor Lawn Mortuary.

Male Speaker: How’d you get that shot, Terry?

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: Ah.

Male Speaker: How’d you get that shot?

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: A drone. Yeah. Shelly, you’ve got to get one of those. Yeah. And I tried photographing it from the street. It didn’t work. Now, not all fumigations are created equal. This is a good example. I won’t mention any names, but you can see they finished up another tarp with a lot of patches. I guess [inaudible 00:08:18]. Holes in the tarps. This is very common. Again, these tarps cost a fortune and it’s so much easier just to put it over the house and not tell anyone. But I’m telling you that, as homeowners, if you hire someone, this is something you’ve got to look out for,how long do you think it would take the gas to run out of that hole?

Female Speaker: Pretty fast.

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: Now, here’s a good example of plant treatment. See all the plants now? Now, you don’t. But don’t worry, nothing died because they didn’t use any gas. It’s true. Here’s another good example in the church. They fumigated this place and I drove by to see what everybody else is doing. So I stopped and looked, “What the heck is this? It doesn’t look like they sealed it up.” I walked over there and I’ve walked inside of the tent an hour after they had “fumigated” it, and there wasn’t anything in there. Here’s another example, I was driving by a building and I saw that the tent looked like it was kind of flopping in the breeze. Oh, let’s take a look. And I . . .

Male Speaker: Let’s get up on the roof. . .

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: Let’s get up on the roof and take a walk there. Here’s this big hole I just walked right into. This is like a shower curtain you can get done over a bathtub. They made no effort at all to seal it up. How long do you think it would take the gas to run out of that job? So I’m going to ask you ladies and gentleman which would you prefer? This? Or this? Our guarantee, all of our fumigations do come with a two-year money back guarantee. I’m not aware of anyone in California that offers that. If you find a colony of drywood termites anywhere within the structure within two years after I fumigated, we’ll come back and re-fumigate the home free of charge and we’ll refund your entire investment. Yeah. Just think about the mortuary. That was $17,000. I’ll write them a check for $17,000 if they find a termites anywhere in that place within two years. That’s why I’m over there checking the gas gauge.

Male Speaker: I’ll make a lot of money selling termites.

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: That’s right. And remember, Termite “Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com will get rid of all your termites or your treatment is free. [applause] We’re running our hotel special again. Have your home fumigated, I know Sheila Gerschwin did this not too long ago, and we’ll give you a free two-night stay at the Costa Mesa Ramada Inn, sleeps up to five, fit for ninety, refrigerator, coffee maker, free internet, pool, hot tub, fitness center. Of course, you can go across the street Gold’s Gym. That’s even better, and only minutes from the beach. Offer expires July 31, 2014. I do have a special request to all of our Business Growth Innovators members. I would really appreciate if you’d go onto Termite “Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com’s pest control webpage or Facebook page and like us. It only takes a minute. Or if you see one of our articles that we post, if you like it, I’d appreciate if you’d share it with your friends and neighbors. I want to thank you. Any questions?

Male Speaker: How far do you go, “Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com?

Male Speaker: When you’re doing your little photos, or your little tent cop things that you do, do you ever report back to the business owner or the building owner and say, “Hey, FYI, you just wasted five grand or whatever for your fumigation.”

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: No. You know, it’s kind of tempting, but you don’t get anywhere by putting down your competition like that. I’m not a police officer, so I just kind of let it go. However, I don’t mind taking a photograph and sharing with homeowners and saying, “Hey, if you’re gonna get it done, these are things you need to look out for.” I’d encourage all of you to practice good customer education. People just don’t understand why certain kinds of work cost so much money and why other people are doing it for one-third the price. There’s a big difference. I could charge one-third of what I do now, but I couldn’t deliver this kind of performance. Any other questions?

Male Speaker: Do you go to Riverside County?

“Termite” Terry Singleton, TermiteTerry.com: We generally stay in the Orange County area. However, for a special request, people that we know, we don’t mind going out of our way. I’ve done some work in Temecula. I’ve done some work in Malibu and other places like that. Like I said, we’ve kind of got to know that it’s a legitimate deal and I apologize in advance, there’ll be an extra charge for the travel time. Most of my clients don’t care. They just want it done right. [applause]