A subsidiary of ServiceMaster and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, Terminix is one of the largest pest control companies in the United States. Terminix offers a wide variety of pest control services backed by over 90 years of practice in the field and services over 2.8 million homes every year across 48 states.
Founded in 1927—specifically as a way to protect hardwood floors from the damage caused by termites—Terminix has a long track record of handling pests effectively and has been present for many of the major technological changes in the industry. Headquartered in Memphis, Terminix pest control extends to 48 states and has over 300 branches and franchises across the country. Many states have more than one location, but several have a huge number of locations, including 31 in California, 39 in North Carolina, and 28 in Florida.
With over 10,000 employees working to help fight your pests, Terminix has wide availability. They also have a customer service line that is operational 24/7 in the case of an emergency. It is also a part of the larger ServiceMaster network, which helps provide services to over 75,000 homes and businesses every single day, affording Terminix a sense of authority that smaller independent companies do not receive as well as quick access to thousands of other services that your home might need.
The company has spent more than 90 years perfecting its treatment of difficult pests.
Its franchise model means quality might differ from location to location.
Terminix’s basic pest control service offers coverage of 13 common household pests, including:
While this 13-bug portfolio might be enough to cover the problems that you are experiencing in the home, it is very limiting compared to other pest-control services. It also does not include other common pests including fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes. In order to get rid of these, homeowners must buy a more expensive “premium” pest control plan.
Terminix has become synonymous with termite termination for good reason. E.L. Bruce, who manufactured hardwood floors in the 1920s, founded a research laboratory to specifically design an insecticide to combat the termites infesting his floors.
Termites invade every state across the continental United States with three main types that cause concern: Subterranean, Drywood, and Formosan.
Subterranean termites are the most common threat and will nest in the soil beneath a home, traveling upward to feed on a home’s wood structure. A well-organized Subterranean termite colony can have more than a million hungry workers chewing up over 100 pounds of wood per year. Formosan termites (also known as Dampwood termites) are very similar to their Subterranean cousins but are found in more humid states like Hawaii and across the Southeast. Drywood termites infest from above and choose to nest in any type of wood, including dry lumber like the wood in a home and will infest virtually any part of a home from attics to walls to furniture.
Termites never stop. They feast 24/7. And termite activity often goes undetected; if termites find a crack as thin as a credit card in your home’s structure, they can get in and eat away without any visible signs. Average termite treatment and damage repair are more than $8,000.
Blisters in wood flooring, hollowed or damaged wood, and discarded termite wings found near closed windows, doors, or other home-access points are all indicators of termite activity in your home. Mud tubes and random mounds that resemble sawdust or coffee grounds are also sure signs of an infestation.
Terminix termite treatment puts a stop to termite activity. Following a free inspection to check for signs of a past or current subterranean termite infestation, Terminix technicians will customize a treatment and/or protection plan to protect your home. They offer three different control options, and as long as you keep your plan, annual monitoring will continue to protect your home against new invasion.
Terminix offers a special type of termite bond for homeowners who purchase their services. Under the termite bond, or termite contract, any new damage that occurs by termites within the contract time period will be covered by Terminix. Most termite contracts only offer additional treatments should the homeowner find continuing problems while their home is being treated. Terminix’s termite bond goes one step further by including the cost to repair new damage.
Technicians will install a series of strategically placed bait stations on the ground around your home. Once termites feed on the bait, they carry the control agent back to the colony nest and share it with other termites. Each bait barrier is designed to carry enough of the control agent for fast and effective termination.
Technicians will create a trench in the soil and carefully drill through slab areas around the perimeter of your home, and then apply the Terminix Liquid Defend System which eliminates Subterranean termites as they forage through the treated soil, and prevents them from infesting your home.
Technicians will place specialized tarps over the entire structure of your home, weighed down at the bottom to create a seal and hold in the fumigant. Fumigation penetrates all wood timbers, trim, finished wood and furniture, as well as hard-to-treat wall studs, ensuring a complete attack on both Subterranean and Drywood species. You can safely return to your home within a few days.
There is also an Ultimate Protection Package, which covers both termites and pests that may have descended upon your home. In addition to the free termite inspection and treatment, Terminix technicians conduct an interior and exterior pest treatment to eliminate any pests like ants, cockroaches, and spiders.
Terminix also has a powerful bedbug service to protect your family from these pests that live in beds, clothing, and couches. Bedbugs survive off of the blood of animals or humans and can quickly spread to take over entire houses. While bedbugs don’t transmit diseases when they bite humans for blood, they do leave behind itchy welts that can be very uncomfortable.
Terminix’s bedbug service is serious work. After a free, thorough inspection of your home to identify the bugs, checking through your linens, mattresses, and furniture, a technician will then make a treatment recommendation for you based on the location of the bedbugs and the size of the problem. Terminix uses some of the most advanced technology to treat these pests, including their RapidFreeze solution which is nontoxic and environmentally friendly. With this technology, carbon dioxide snow is sprayed on the infected areas at -110℉ to kill the pests at all life stages.
Terminix’s bedbug solution has its own special 30-day satisfaction guarantee that ensures protects consumers against the return of the bedbug. If the problem persists after treatment, Terminix will come out and re-treat the area at no additional cost for 30 days. If mattress encasements are purchased and installed in the home though, this guarantee can be extended to 90 days, a guarantee that’s almost unheard of in the industry.
Terminix does not support environmental efforts as much as some of the other companies in the industry. They do not ascribe to the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) philosophy, which focuses on fixing vulnerable areas of a house, such as improperly sealed windows or doors, to prevent pests from entering in the future as opposed to simply treating the pests that are already there. However, every solution that Terminix uses to eradicate pests is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and, in many cases, there is an all-natural or organic option to help fend off pests. An example of this is the RapidFreezeⓇ technology employed to exterminate bedbugs in the home.
When consulting the Terminix pest control website, a 100% satisfaction guarantee is advertised everywhere, but the details are never specified. It is only through scouring the hard-to-read fine print that you will understand that this guarantee only extends for 30 days. While this is the industry standard in terms of guarantees, it is not well-advertised in the slightest. That being said, Terminix does have its own special guarantees for their termite and bed bug services that vary from their general pest control guarantee.
Terminix offers the industry gold standard for tough pest problems, like termites and bed bugs. They’ve spent years perfecting their method for eradication.
The company’s plans are specialized for hard-to-rid pests like termites and bed bugs, but may be too pricy for more common pests.
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.
Terminix scores relatively high on reviews, largely because of the sheer number of positive ones found on ConsumerAffairs.com. It appears that the company is invested in getting good reviews from customers and encouraging them to leave a comment on their work if at all possible.
Overall, customers seemed very happy with their service by Terminix. The company received 4.6 out of 5 on ConsumerAffairs.com—a number based on over 1,600 reviews in the last year. Terminix seems to put a lot of time and effort into cultivating reviews and their work pays off. Most people were pleased with the services they received, commenting that their Terminix technicians were on time, pleasant to work with, and did a thorough job.
Many people commented that Terminix provided a quality service that did exactly what they were going to do. Technicians were on time, friendly, helpful, and they got the job done.
The technician is always on time. They have been great with their follow through just as they said when I signed on. Anytime I have questions or concerns that’s informational for me they always take the time to answer my questions and see if there is anything else they can help with. I have been very happy with my experience and would recommend them to anyone.
Customers were particularly enamored with Terminix’s communications and scheduling, many stating that the online scheduler was easy to navigate and that the customer service representatives were friendly. This is worth noting because customer communication is something that many other companies struggle with and is often the thing that ruins a pest control enterprise’s reputation online. However, the largest complaint lodged was that customers fell between the cracks in the scheduling or customer service system, but these complaints were few and far between.
Reviewers said that Terminix came to scheduled appointments regularly, were happy to help if there were problems outside of a regularly scheduled visit, and did not make excuses to avoid coming out more than once. As one reviewer wrote:
The pest activity has been markedly less but I noticed I had a couple of bugs in the house and I’m going to call them tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll come out to take a look at it as they always do. I will highly recommend them. They’ve done what they said they’d do and they have not been pushy.
Effectiveness is ultimately the weakest part of the customer review section as there were many comments from people who needed to have their property treated a second time. While this might be skewed by the sheer number of reviews that are out there, it might also be the result of Terminix not adopting an Integrated Pest Management philosophy, thus allowing pests to return from where they came. Terminix’s 30-day guarantee ensures that these re-treatments will not cost you any additional money; however, the fact remains that pests are extraordinarily difficult to get rid of in many cases.
Terminix is great at communicating with customers, especially if a problem arises.
Many customers weren’t happy with the effectiveness of their pest control plans.
Costs are very hard to estimate for pest control needs because they vary greatly based on geographic location and type of infestation. Terminix works to balance this uncertainty with a free consultation for potential customers and a free inspection in the case of a termite outbreak. You can also receive a free online quote instantly that is based on your location. The location we ran in Boulder, Colorado, gave us the following quote for a premium service on their generic pest control:
While Terminix is able to give you a quote online, there are also some additional factors to consider that might affect price points. We were unable to obtain a termite control estimate as those require an inspection to determine the amount of damage and infestation, and level of protection plan needed.
Terminix does not offer a free initial inspection, unlike some companies, unless it is for termites or bedbugs. Instead, they provide a free consultation in which homeowners chat with technicians about the problems they are experiencing and the technician will give them a price quote over the phone.
While it is convenient to be able to get a quote directly over the phone, it simply is not the same as an inspection. Inspections allow technicians to see the full extent of a pest problem as well as evaluate how difficult it will be to solve it. Many questions regarding your pest control solution also cannot be answered over the phone since the full story isn’t known yet.
Terminix’s 30-day guarantee is standard across the industry and serves as a great protection for anyone not on the annual service plan that the company tries to sell. Terminix will provide free re-treatments of your home for 30 days under this guarantee or even refund you entirely if you choose.
Terminix’s termite bond is a great way for homeowners to keep costs low by ensuring they won’t need to worry about costly repairs. Through the termite bond, Terminix pledges to take care of any repairs to damage that occurs while they are treating your home for termites.
While Terminix does cover 13 common house pests in their basic pest protection plan, it does not cover four very important (and common) ones: flies, ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas. The basic pest control treatment also does not cover many types of ants found in homes, only taking care of “house” ants.
To eradicate these, you must upgrade to the “premium” plan, which is a low selling point for many consumers who could easily work with other companies that will automatically include these pests. Overall, Terminix seems to have affordable coverage with a guarantee, but the hidden costs for managing some common pests is frustrating.
If you are facing any kind of termite infestation in your home, then hands down, all research and review indicators point to Terminix to get the problem taken care of.
Terminix’s termite bond, free consultations, and satisfaction guarantee can help keep costs low for customers, especially if they’re dealing with a difficult problem like termites.
There may be hidden costs for customer seeking to eradicate certain common pests.
