Pest Control Cost: How to Budget for the Cost of an Exterminator

As winter sets in, we stay indoors to protect ourselves from the nasty winds and weather. Turns out, pests do the same thing — seeking refuge in a warm place, which is oftentimes your home. Although homeowners avoid consciously thinking about it during the holiday season, the reality is that winter is an ideal time for pests to infiltrate your home. Pest Pros is here to provide you with options when it comes to setting a budget to prevent unexpected pest control costs and before you start to find signs of unwanted house guests.

Benefits of Professional Pest Control Services

The primary goal of pest control is to create a strategy that will help reduce the number of pests in the home to an acceptable level. An acceptable pest control situation is one that prevents and stops damage caused to the home itself. The overall goal of pest control is prevention, exclusion, and removal. Whether in-home pests are present in abundance or sporadically, take preventative measures to ensure your home’s safety and protection. 

Suppose pests already reside in the house with the proper treatment; in that case, the objective is to decrease the number of insects to an acceptable level. On the other hand, exclusion techniques are strategies implemented to keep the harmful pests entirely out of the home.  

Setting up a pest control budget allows professionals to care for your needs while saving time, money, and preventing potential health issues. These specialists know their habits, breeding grounds, and life cycles. This allows them to make you aware of the openings that have allowed them to intrude in your home and target them for exclusion pest prevention.

Like vital home upkeep tasks such as doing your laundry and dishes, treatment for pest control is ongoing. However, unlike other chores, the frequency depends on the type of critter. During the time it takes to identify the pest, locate its entry point and hiding spots, and selecting the type of pesticide to use, the colony is likely to have continued growth. Not to mention that using the wrong kind of pesticide could have potential consequences on your family’s health.  

To minimize this risk, specialists are well versed in assessing the correct type of product to use. Trained technicians can carefully use controlled pesticides, knowing the proper placement to ensure harmful toxin exposure doesn’t affect you and your loved ones.

Lastly, an exterminator can direct you to the places where these pests live in your home and help you create a game plan to close those entry points and prevent new ones.

Factors Affecting Pest Control Costs

Unfortunately, pest management is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are numerous factors associated with an exterminator cost. The price is usually determined by: 

• Size of infestation: If the issue extends beyond one area.  
• Service type: If given options to combat the problem, some may cost more than others. 
• Property size: Control and prevention tactics usually center around an area or the perimeter of the home. Pest control cost per square foot may increase depending on the property size.  
• Frequency: If the treatment plan calls for semi-monthly, monthly, or quarterly visits, the fee per session will cost less than one individual session.  

The last factor determining pest control cost is the type of insects, spiders, rodents, and other wildlife that you’re dealing with, as some critters are more difficult to eradicate than others. Although you may have an idea of the initial measures to take, an exterminator will conduct a thorough inspection and quickly determine what exactly you’re up against. Based on the easiest to most challenging to manage pests, here is a typical pest control price list:

Pest	Average Cost Per Visit
Ants	$225 – $435
Bed Bugs	$799 – $2,180
Bees	$125 – $750
Carpet Beetles	$175 – $440
Fleas	$155 – $250
Mice & Rats	Starting at $355
Roaches	$225 – $435
Silverfish	$175 – $450
Spiders	$225 – $335
Termites	$700 – $2,800
Wasps	$125 – $650
Wildlife	Call for options

Is Quarterly Pest Control Worth It? Recommended Frequency Based on Your Budget

It’s always better to take preventative measures to protect your home from intruders. Initial visits range between $90 to $350. The exterminator will assess the problem, locate the nest, find their point of entry, and create a plan if necessary. One-time visits for pests such as roaches, bees, wasps, and bedbugs may have an immediate solution. Still, these pesky critters will always try to come back.

Annual – Yearly inspections can be outstanding in ensuring that rodents, termites, or bats haven’t invaded. Still, quarterly pest control inspections effectively prevent infestations from occurring. For context, female mice produce an average of five to six offspring in a month while roaches multiply through laying egg capsules that contain sixteen eggs. 

Monthly – Exterminator costs for monthly or semi-monthly visits can be between $85 to $150 and burden the homeowner’s finances. However, it’s beneficial for apartments, condos, and multifamily units with a persistent pest problem or a large infestation that was recently removed.  

Quarterly – The average quarterly pest control cost is estimated to be between $115 to $300 per visit. In comparison to the damage that under-maintained pest control can cause, it’s a small amount to pay for the comfort of knowing a professional is looking after and treating your home regularly. 

Scheduling quarterly pest control maintenance is great for homeowners seeking preventive measures as unexpected unwanted guests can wreak havoc on the family’s monthly budget. Hiring a professional pest control specialist assures your family, pet, and home’s safety from the overuse and multiple chemicals found in the aisles of the local home improvement store.  Thus, homeowners should expect to create a pest control protection budget between $400–$1000, depending on these factors. 

Contact Pest Pros for a No-Cost Estimate

Allowing professionals to take care of your unwanted pest allows you more time to enjoy yourself with your loved ones. Although the DIY option may seem enticing, it can potentially cause damage to your home and your health. 

Pest Pros understands and wants to be your partner in protecting the investment you made in your home. We serve our community by offering a no-cost pricing estimate, saving you the initial visit cost. We simply deliver what we say we will; that’s our guarantee.