If you own your own home, you know how attentive you have to be to maintain your property. Inclement weather, natural disasters and pest infestations are all par for the course if you’re a homeowner.
Orkin and Ehrlich may not be able to help you with tornado or flood damage, but these two pest control services can help you with a silverfish, termite, or bed bug infestation. Your first decision, after narrowing down the companies you like, is to determine whether or not the company works in your area. If they do, you’ll then need to determine whether or not the service deals with the bugs that are infesting your home.
At Home Pros can help you make these key decisions in the early stages of a bug infestation — narrowing down your search for you, and letting you know which local service is the most appropriate for your budget and situation.
Orkin vs. Ehrlich: Overview
These two pest control services have a lot to offer their customers. They each have their weaknesses as well. For example, Orkin does not have an online chat function and Ehrlich’s connection to Rentokil can be unclear at times. However, both companies have comprehensive plans that help keep bugs off your property, and are very upfront with their customers about costs and procedures.
Ehrlich’s Pestfree365 plan does not offer termite control, although they do include a termite assessment in their yearly plan. Orkin treats termites as well as bed bugs in its comprehensive plan, as well as interior and exterior mosquito treatments.
About Orkin
Orkin has been tackling termites for 70 years and bed bugs for over a century, so they know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to invasive pests. This wide-ranging company has 1.7 millions customers across the nation, and requires each of its employees to complete 160 hours of training.
With integrated pest management and excellent response time, Orkin knows that the best approach to pest control is a professional, consistent presence. Although Orkin does not have an online chat function like Ehrlich does, Orkin’s Points of Service process — a six-step plan — is highly effective at exterminating unwanted critters.
Orkin Pest Control Locations
Orkin Pest Control’s service area includes teams in 47 states in the United States, excluding Alaska, South Dakota and Wyoming. The states where Orkin has offices include:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montant
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
About Ehrlich:
The world’s best bug experts are arguably employed by J.C. Ehrlich. The company’s BCE- and ACE-certified professionals will easily be able to identify what kind of pest you’re having a problem with, and how to get rid of it.
Ehrlich was the first in the business to secure a termite patent in 1934, and now boasts more than 2 million residential customers. Unlike Orkin, Ehrlich does have a 24-hour chat function on its website, putting instant problem-solving within your reach.
Although the company’s connection to Rentokil, a global pest extermination service, can at times be confusing, Ehrlich does make great use of its parent company’s resources, employing 750 of the best bug experts in the world to help you rid yourself of unwanted pests and critters.
Ehrlich Locations
Ehrlich’s offices are generally located along the eastern seaboard and in the southern U.S. states. Ehrlich’s 20 national locations include:
- Connecticut
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Delaware
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Ohio
- Vermont
- Florida
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- New York
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
Orkin vs. Ehrlich: Services
Your first order of business when you’ve noticed a pest problem is to identify a range of companies that you would like to hire. The most essential piece of information, after location, is whether or not the service can take care of the type of infestation you have.
Orkin’s Points of Service plan has six individual steps, including inspection, protection and in-house pest monitors. Here are details on the six different steps Orkin’s professionals take to keep your property pest-free.
- Inspection: Orkin’s professionals will identify the type of pest that’s bugging you, as well as the possible points of entry and exit.
- Protection: By removing all attractive elements, like standing water or excessive underbrush, as well as nests and webs, Orkin makes sure that your pests aren’t comfortable. The professionals also treat the interior and exterior of your foundation.
- Fortification: Sealing, caulking, or otherwise plugging any open gaps around pipes or ducts will prevent pests from entering your property.
- Patrol: Orkin installs pest monitors in key spots like bathrooms, kitchens, and utility rooms to keep track of the movement in and out of your home.
- Reporting: Orkin’s professionals write up a detailed report, listing what they found, what the plan is, and how much it will cost you.
- After-treatment visits: Between scheduled treatments, Orkin pros will keep checking up on you to make sure there’s no chance of reinfestation.
Orkin offers a range of pest services, including:
- Moths
- Crickets
- Fleas
- Hornets
- Scorpions
- Ants
- Silverfish
- Cockroaches
- Mice
- Spiders
- Centipedes
- Earwigs
J.C. Ehrlich covers forty of the most common pests you may find in and around your home. The company’s pest control plan centers around risk assessment, responsiveness and reassurance.
The general pest control plan — the year-round Pestfree365 — is quite extensive, and includes bed bugs, which is unusual. The general plan also includes a termite inspection, but the treatment is extra.
Here are only some of the bugs and critters that Ehrlich handles:
- Roaches
- Bees
- Crickets
- Ants
- Bed bugs
- Fleas
- Fabric pests
- Spiders
- Wasps
- Stink bugs
- Moths
- Mosquitoes
- Flies
- Termites
Orkin vs. Ehrlich: Termites
Termites are some of the most problematic pests you might contend with as a homeowner. Since termites are wood-eaters, they essentially destroy your house from the inside out. This not only threatens the structure of your home and costs you thousands of dollars, it can also present a threat to your health.
Once you’ve seen the telltale clues of a termite infestation, they’ve usually already set up a colony on your premises. Some of those clues include the discarded wings of adult termites, tube-like tunnels, sagging wood, and blistering paint. If you’ve taken note of one or more of these signs, it’s critical to act fast, and your chosen pest control service should have a sterling plan of attack.
Here’s how these two pest giants deal with the wood-eating nuisances.
Orkin
Using a multi-pronged approach, Orkin makes sure that when Orkin experts get rid of your termites, they never come back. Orkin uses a few different tactics, including Orkinfoam, Sentricon bait stations and Termidor liquid treatments.
The company’s technicians will use Termidor liquid treatments all around your home, and Orkin foam makes it impossible for termites to find new entry. Sentricon bait specifically disrupts the termites’ reproductive cycle, which means the colony will be unable to reproduce.
Ehrlich
Although Ehrlich does offer a termite inspection with their general plan, if the team discovers termites, you will have to pay for a separate plan to get rid of them. Ehrlich also makes sure to differentiate between drywood termites and subterranean termites.
For underground or subterranean termites, Ehrlich uses bait stations around the perimeter of your home so the termites will take the bait back to the colony. For drywood termites, Ehrlich employs fumigation techniques or spot treatment to get rid of your termite infestation.
At Home Pros Conclusion
When bugs or other critters infest your house, they can cause a lot of mischief. Along with other threats to your home’s safety like natural disasters or weather events, pest infestation poses a health risk and can potentially cost you thousands of dollars in extermination services and repairs.
When you’re deciding on a pest control service, you have to first determine if the service operates in your location and whether or not they have experience to treat your pest problem. Once these key elements have been determined, you can then find a service that best fits your needs.
If you need complete transparency and want to have constant communication with your pest control service, Orkin’s lack of a 24-hour chat function may not be for you. If you would rather a local company, Ehrlich’s connection to Rentolkil, a global extermination giant, may not be attractive.
Whatever decisions you face, At Home Pros can help. Our professionals have already vetted thousands of service providers in your area to make sure you only have to contact us when you need help at home. Call At Home Pros today for the most hassle-free exterminations, repairs or renovations in the business.
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