Cook’s Pest Control

Updated for 2024
Overall Rating
Reliability
Customer Service
Features & Services
Cost
Conclusion
Despite its limited reach, Cook’s offers a menu of services and a record of customer satisfaction that puts it on a par with its better-known national rivals. If you live in Cook’s service area, this family-owned company might be worth a look for your pest control needs.

Our Review

Cook’s Pest Control is a relatively small pest management company that can be found in several states in the South. Since 1928, this family-owned business has built a reputation for honesty, courtesy, respect, and customer satisfaction.

Reliability

Our Rating:

Founded in 1928, in Decatur, Alabama, as a termite control company, Cook’s is now run by the fourth generation of the founding family. The company enjoys a decent reputation for quality service, a reputation mostly borne out by consumer reviews: Online, customers reported that the company’s treatments—offered for an impressively wide range of pests—were highly effective. In fact, Cook’s received relatively few negative reviews—largely related to administrative problems having to do with billing and scheduling—than a lot of their nationally-known competitors.

Features & Services Provided

Our Rating:

For a smaller pest-control company, Cook’s offers treatments and services for a wide range of pests, including the following:

  • Termites
  • Rodents
  • Bedbugs
  • Fleas
  • Ticks
  • Ants
  • Flies
  • Mosquitoes
  • Spiders
  • Birds
  • Cockroaches
  • Silverfish
  • Centipedes
  • Millipedes
  • Earwigs
  • Pillbugs
  • Crickets
  • Wasps

Here are some of the biggest pluses among Cook’s service offerings and features:

An Impressive Commitment To Training

Cook’s technicians undergo a training program that combines computer-based learning, traditional classroom settings, and field training. Cook’s technicians must also meet continuing education requirements through conferences, workshops, and monthly training sessions in order to keep current on the most recent technologies and methods.

“Green” Treatments

Cook’s environmentally friendly approaches also put them on a par with their nationally-known competitors. The company works to treat pests in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, using the safest chemicals possible and targeting their treatments only in infected areas.

Sentricon Termite System

While this system isn’t proprietary to Cook’s, the company is licensed to use it, and it goes hand in hand with the company’s commitment to the environment. The Sentricon system uses strategically placed traps and pellets of termiticide to reduce the amount of chemicals needed to treat for termites, making for a safer, more cost-effective, and more environmentally-friendly course of treatment.

No-Strings-Attached Inspection

Though this is common in the industry, again it’s worth highlighting the way this smaller family company matches its larger competitors. Cook’s will provide a free initial inspection and cost estimate before the customer engages their services.

Customer Support & Reviews

Our Rating:

A Word About Reviews

It can be difficult to judge pest control companies using online reviews: negative reviews tend to outnumber positive reviews for all companies. But looking at negative and positive reviews can give consumers some idea of the trends in a company’s performance.

Cook’s online reviews suggest that the company has, by and large, built a track record of customer satisfaction. Customers nearly unanimously praised the company’s effectiveness, with relatively few reports of pest issues Cook’s couldn’t solve. If there was a negative trend, it was that some customers were frustrated with the company’s billing and scheduling practices, issues that seemed to stem from miscommunications between office and field staff.

Cost

Our Rating:

Due to a number of factors, including location, property size, and the type of pest, pest control costs are highly variable. We base our rating mainly on the ways that a company helps its potential customer shop around and control costs, and Cook’s did relatively well in this regard.

Free Initial Inspection

Cook’s offer of a free initial inspection by a pest control technician allows the technician to give you the most accurate price quote possible based on a full evaluation of your property and needs, and this can help you shop around for the best quote based on the specifics of your situation.

Money-back Guarantee

The company also scores points for its “110%” money-back guarantee—a policy that actually places Cook’s above most of its national competitors. What’s more, unlike many companies in the pest control industry, Cook’s does not require annual contracts.

Conclusion
Despite its limited reach, Cook’s offers a menu of services and a record of customer satisfaction that puts it on a par with its better-known national rivals. If you live in Cook’s service area, this family-owned company might be worth a look for your pest control needs.
More Things to Know:
  • Cook’s is a family-run company, now headed by the fourth generation of its founder.
  • The company operates mainly in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi.
  • Cook’s offers free pest control evaluations as well as inspections specifically tailored to assess for termites and other common pests.
  • In addition, Cook’s also provides moisture control services and foundation vent installation.