By Dan Jacobs
For Greenleaf Organic Pest Management, adding TAP® Pest Control Insulation to its list of services was a natural step. Peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, pest management and TAP® Pest Control Insulation — some things just naturally go together.
This was something the management at Greenleaf Organic Pest Management recognized in 2010.
“We knew that cleaning attics was a good add-on service,” says Gus Olivarez, supervisor with Greenleaf Organic Pest Management. “We had already been cleaning attics for at least five years prior to the start of our TAP® Pest Control service. Back then, we simply found an insulation company to refer to the customer for their insulation needs. We contacted Pest Control Insulation, LLC and we came on board as soon as we knew that TAP® Pest Control had been registered in California.”
Greenleaf has two California locations—Los Angeles and Orange County — offering general pest control, termite control and CleanSpace repair along with TAP® Pest Control Insulation.
“The representative from TAP® Pest Control Insulation came down and trained us on the product in our shop,” Olivarez says. “The following day, the rep came out to our first TAP® Pest Control Insulation installation project along with the entire crew —termite, pest control and crawlspace technicians, for a hands-on training session.”
The opportunity for insulation work is enormous, so much so that one of Greenleaf’s competitors was allowed to attend the training and installation sessions! “There’s enough wor
k for everyone,” Olivarez says. Based on DOE standards, 46 million homes are under insulated.
Greenleaf already had the CleanSpace crew, so there was no need to hire additional workers. “We have our CleanSpace crew doing the TAP® Pest Control Insulation work as well,” Olivarez says. “We keep both of these services in one group, which saves on training and keeps our crew working on either service. We try to keep our crews employed full time.”
It doesn’t take much additional work to sell pest control insulation. Greenleaf crews are already spending time on the customer’s property.
“Every time we do a termite inspection, a rodent proofing or just general pest control, we take the time to give our customers a no obligation attic inspection,” Olivarez says. “Obviously, when we have rodents or other vermin residing in the attic, we know that the insulation is probably damaged or contaminated by the resident pests. It’s a great way to introduce TAP® Pest Control Insulation.”
Even when customer homes do have insulation, there is often not enough of it. Most customers have been under served, Olivarez says. Typically, attics in older homes are insulated with R-19 fiberglass insulation.
“Some of our customers who live in the path of local airports benefit from the noise mitigation properties of the insulation as well. Of course, lowering their energy bills and the pest control feature of the insulation is also a big plus.”
“The response has been very positive,” Olivarez says. “Some of our customers enjoy knowing that they are not living with contaminated fiberglass over their head (rat droppings, nesting and such) but also, they like the fact that TAP® Pest Control Insulation is a ‘green’ product. There are plenty of plusses that help the product sell itself to customers, all of our customers have been very happy with their TAP® Pest Control Insulation and save even more by taking advantage of the local energy rebate incentives that are offered for new insulation.”
TAP® Pest Control Insulation is the only pesticide that has earned the ENERGY STAR rating.