A Pest-Ready Home Checklist Before the Technician Arrives

Kitchen and dining area

The kitchen is where most ant and roach calls begin. Clear the counters and the cupboards under the sink, and bag any food the technician will need to work around.

Move small appliances off the counter and empty the cupboard under the sink. Take out anything stored on the floor of the pantry, and wipe the counters so the trail is easy to see. Bag the bread, cereal, sugar and pet food and store them sealed. A roach or an ant can find food in a sealed box, so the storage matters as much as the clearing.

Leave the fridge and the stove in place, but make sure the technician can reach the space behind them. Pull them out only if the technician asks, since a heavy appliance moved by a household can damage a floor or a water line.

• Counters clear and wiped
• Under-sink cupboard emptied and the pipes visible
• Open food bagged and sealed
• Pet food and water bowls moved away from the work area

Bathrooms and laundry

Damp rooms draw roaches and some other pests. Clear the space under the sink and around the bath panel, and note any leak, drip or damp corner.

Empty the cupboard under the bathroom sink, and move the bathmat and the laundry basket out of the way. If the bath has a panel, leave it in place but tell the technician if it is loose or damaged, since a gap behind a panel is a common harbourage.

Note any leak, slow drain, damp corner or musty smell. Those conditions bring insects and they are part of the record the technician makes.

• Under-sink cupboard emptied
• Bath panel access noted if it is loose
• Any leak, drip or damp corner written down

Garage, shed and outbuildings

The garage is the usual route in for rodents and the usual nest site for wasps. Clear the walls and the shelves, and keep the woodpile away from the house.

Move stored boxes off the floor and away from the walls, and clear a path to the garage door and the vents. A cardboard box on the floor is a hiding place, and a box against the wall is a shelter for spiders. Tell the technician where any woodpile sits, since a pile against the house changes the exterior check.

Leave the garage door shut until the technician arrives, and keep pets and children out of the garage while the nest or the activity is being looked at. A sealed box of pet food in the garage should be moved indoors.

• Floor clear, with a path to the garage door and vents
• Woodpile location noted for the technician
• Pet food moved indoors

Attic, loft and crawl or cellar

Access to the attic, the crawl and the cellar is often the difference between a short visit and a long one. Clear the hatch, the stair and the opening, and say whether the crawl or cellar has been wet.

Clear the path to the attic hatch and the crawl access. Move anything that blocks them, and make sure the light works. A technician who has to climb over stored boxes to reach the rafters spends time that could have been spent on the inspection.

Tell the technician about any standing water, damp soil or a smell in the crawl or cellar. Those conditions matter to termites and to moisture-driven pests, and the technician records them on the plan.

• Attic hatch and stair clear
• Crawl or cellar access cleared
• Any water or damp noted

Outside: the beds, the foundation and the yard

Outdoors, the most useful steps are to clear the planting from the wall, move the woodpile and keep the gutters running. The technician will check the rest on the day.

Trim any planting that touches the house, and move mulch below the first course of brick or the siding line. Clear a strip along the foundation so the technician can see the wall and the ground. Note any standing water in saucers, containers or gutters, and empty the ones you can reach.

Tell the technician about any nest under the eaves, in a shed or in a shrub, and keep children and pets away from it until the technician has been. Do not disturb a nest yourself.

• Planting and mulch kept off the wall
• A strip along the foundation cleared
• Standing water emptied where it can be reached
• Nests reported, not disturbed

What to write down before the visit

A short written note is the most useful thing a household can give the technician. Write the rooms, the times, the pests seen and anything that has changed.

Write down the room where the activity was seen, the time of day, the number of insects or animals and whether it is one sighting or many. Note whether anyone has been bitten or stung, and whether a pet is affected.

Note any change since the last visit, any repair or renovation, and any new storage or planting. A note on the back of an envelope is enough. The technician will add it to the record, and the household keeps the record afterwards.

Pets, children and medical needs

Pets and children change how a visit is planned. The technician needs to know who lives in the house and what needs to be kept away from the work, before the visit starts.

Tell the call taker about any pet and any child in the house, and about any person with an allergy or a medical condition that would make a sting or a spray more serious. The technician plans the visit around those facts, and keeps children and pets out of the treated areas for the period the plan sets.

Move pet beds, bowls and litter away from the work areas, and keep the animals in a room that will not be treated until the technician has been through. A pet that is itself being treated for fleas or ticks should keep to its own veterinarian's schedule, and the household should not add a product to the animal on its own.

Timing the preparation

Prepare the home on the day before the visit, or on the morning of it, and keep the preparation short. A long clean-out is not needed, and it can move pests before the technician has seen them.

Preparing the work areas the day before lets the household do the clearing without rushing. Avoid moving large furniture or stacking boxes in other rooms, since that can spread insects or animals to places that were clear. The aim is access, not a deep clean.

If the visit is for a bed bug or a flea problem, the preparation is different: bedding and clothes are bagged for laundering, and the technician gives a written sheet that says what to do and in what order. Follow the sheet and ask about anything that is not clear before the visit starts.

After the visit: what to keep doing

The preparation does not end when the technician leaves. The steps that keep a home ready between visits are the same ones that keep the next visit short.

Keep the cupboards under the sink clear and dry. Check the pipes for leaks once a month, and tell the owner or the plumber about any drip. A dry cupboard is a cupboard the next visit can search quickly, and a leak is one of the first things a technician looks for.

Keep the outside clear. Trim planting back from the wall, keep the mulch below the first course of brick and clear the gutters twice a year. Those three jobs remove the shelter and the water that pests use, and they cost the household nothing but time.

What to keep on file

Keep a short file for the home with the dates of visits, the reports, the placements and the repairs made. The file makes each new visit faster and gives a buyer or a manager something to read.

Keep the reports from each visit in one folder, with the date on each. Add the list of entry gaps and whether each was sealed, and note any repair to the building that could affect pests, such as a new window, a re-roofed eave or a regrade of the garden. A file with those entries is the quickest way to brief a new technician.

Keep the contact for the line and the name of the technician who visited. If the household moves or a tenant takes over, the file goes with the property, and the next occupant starts from a full record instead of a blank page.