Cockroach control — which roach decides everything

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

• You are in a multifamily building and only your unit is being treated. German cockroaches move between units through shared walls, plumbing chases and voids. Unit-level treatment in a building-level infestation fails, repeatedly. Get the problem reported to management in writing and pushed to a building-wide programme.
• You have been sold a standard quarterly plan for a live German cockroach infestation. The visit interval is wrong for the insect. You need an intensive protocol with follow-ups weeks apart, and the quarterly plan afterwards if you want it.
• Nobody has identified the species. Paying for an intensive indoor protocol when you have occasional invaders from a drain is money spent on the wrong problem entirely — and vice versa is worse.
• The moisture source is untouched. A leaking trap, a sweating pipe, a dry floor drain, condensation behind an appliance. Roaches need water more urgently than food, and removing it does more than another treatment will.
• You cannot or will not clear the clutter. Bait cannot be placed effectively through stacked cardboard, and cardboard is itself prime harbourage. Where clearing genuinely is not possible, say so up front so the plan accounts for it rather than quietly failing.
• You are about to move and are treating rather than inspecting. German cockroaches travel in appliances, electronics, cardboard boxes and furniture. Moving an infested household without inspecting what goes on the truck relocates the problem intact.

• Which species is it, and what did you base that on?

  It determines whether you are buying a multi-visit protocol or a sealing job. Anyone quoting without answering this is guessing at your expense.

• How many visits are included, at what interval, and what ends the programme?

  Egg cases hatching after treatment mean follow-ups are structural to the job. You want the visit count and the criterion for stopping — ideally clear monitors, not a calendar.

• Will you place monitors so we can both see whether numbers are falling?

  It converts the argument about whether it is working into a count. It also protects you when invoking a re-service.

• What exactly do you need me to do before and between visits?

  A specific list — empty these cabinets, remove the cardboard, fix that leak, stop spraying — is a sign of a company that expects the protocol to work. Vague advice is a sign it is being set up to fail on your side.

• Will you treat inside appliance housings and cabinet voids?

  That is where German cockroaches actually live. A treatment confined to visible surfaces is not reaching the population.

• If I am a tenant, what will you put in writing for my landlord or management company?

  In a shared building, a technician's written finding that treatment cannot succeed unit-by-unit is the most powerful document you can hold.

• Can I have the label and safety data sheet for what is applied in my kitchen?

  This is food-preparation space. The label carries the binding directions on where products may and may not be applied, and you should know what was used near your counters.

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