Rodent control is sealing, not spraying

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

• The quote covers trapping but not sealing. This is the defining mistake in the category. Removing the animals from a house that still has an open route is a recurring subscription, not a solution — and it is why some rodent "plans" run for years.
• You are on a general pest plan and assuming you are covered. Quarterly plans often include mice in some form and almost never include exclusion work, rats, or attic clean-up. Check the named-pest list before you assume.
• The animal in your attic is not a rodent. Heavy, daytime, or thumping movement points to a raccoon, squirrel, opossum or bats — all of which are wildlife jobs with different legal handling and different exclusion timing.
• You want interior rodenticide and have pets, children or a bird of prey population. The secondary-exposure and die-in-the-wall risks are real. Trapping is slower and controls where the animal ends up.
• The food source is the actual problem and nobody has said so. An open compost pile, a leaking bin store, pet food left out overnight, spilled birdseed under a feeder. Seal and trap around a maintained food source and you have made yourself a slightly less attractive restaurant.
• You rent, and the entry point is the building's. Exclusion is structural work on the landlord's asset. Report it in writing before you pay anyone yourself.

• Will I get a written list of every entry point you found, with what you propose to seal each one with?

  The single most useful document on a rodent job. It is also how you compare two quotes — one listing eleven openings and one listing three are not describing the same house.

• Is exclusion included in this price or quoted separately?

  Frequently separate, and frequently the bigger number. Get both figures before choosing between companies on the headline price.

• How many follow-up visits are included, and over what period?

  Trapping is a process. A price covering one visit and a price covering four weeks of monitoring look similar on a quote and are not the same job.

• Will you use rodenticide, and where?

  You are entitled to decide this. Ask what is proposed, whether stations are interior or exterior, and how the dead-in-the-wall and pet-exposure risks are being managed.

• Do you handle attic clean-out and insulation replacement, or subcontract it?

  It is a distinct skill with its own protective equipment and disposal requirements. Knowing who is doing it tells you whether it will be done properly.

• What is guaranteed, for how long, and does the guarantee survive if I do not take a service plan?

  Some exclusion guarantees are tied to an ongoing subscription. That may be reasonable — but you should know it before you sign, not at renewal.

• Do you check the crawl space and the roofline, not just the interior?

  Rats commonly enter low and mice commonly enter high. An inspection covering only one of those elevations will miss one of the two most likely routes.

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