Living in Florida you see so many different bugs. Today we talk to Darin Whitlock from Hughes Exterminators and we find out different ways that they are getting in without you even knowing.
To get ahold of Hughes Exterminators to come out and see if you have a bug problem you can call
1-877-GoHughes
They are located throughout the State of Florida.
To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/
Barefoot Bungalow Homes
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535
Living in Florida you see so many different bugs. Today we talk to Darin Whitlock from Hughes Exterminators and we find out different ways that they are getting in without you even knowing.
To get ahold of Hughes Exterminators to come out and see if you have a bug problem you can call
1-877-GoHughes
They are located throughout the State of Florida.
To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/
Barefoot Bungalow Homes
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535
Welcome to the live your best life barefoot podcast with your host Mary Morrison and the team at barefoot bungalow Realty.
Speaker 2:Hello, and welcome to the next episode of live your best life barefoot. I'm Ruth and I'm here with Mary
Speaker 3:Today. Good morning, Ruth. Good morning. We are so excited. We're gonna dive right in. We have a great guest today. We were so, um, excited to have him as part of our team of resources. His name is Darren Whitelock Whitlock and he is with Hughes, just exterminators, Darren. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you.
Speaker 4:And thank you for having me
Speaker 3:Tell us a little bit about you and about your company.
Speaker 4:Uh, well, I've, uh, I'm Darren Whitlock. I've been in the industry now, uh, 20 years. Um, I'm fully state certified in all the categories, uh, pest termite lawn and, uh, fumigation and, um, Hughes exterminators. We are a, uh, a division you might say of arrow exterminators out of Atlanta. Um, we're one, we're one of the big ones, but, uh, just with some name changes due to acquisitions over the years and copyrights and things like that. Uh, people and other companies have similar names. We have several different names throughout the country. Um, in Florida, we actually have all of them. Um, you have the arrow exterminators, which is the parent company name on the west coast. We're called Hughes exterminators east coast. We're called stark exterminators. And then we also have another, uh, acquisition we did years ago called Nader's pest Raiders, um, up in, uh, Jacksonville area. And then they're also out west. So we have, uh, close to 160 offices over 2,800 employees. And we like to say we're 58 years young. Um, and it all started out of a back room of a hair salon in Atlanta, Georgia. Wow. Uh, so, um, we are, we are in the top, uh, I think the top six now, um, in size. Um, but we're a family owned company we're privately held by the Thomas family. Um, and it's always been that way and, uh, we take very good care of our employees and even better care of our customers love that. So that's a little bit about us.
Speaker 3:That's great. So what, um, brought you to this industry?
Speaker 4:Um, actually I, uh, I was out of work after nine 11. I had left a position two weeks before nine 11 happened and the world shut down. At that point, there was no hiring, nobody was doing anything. So I spent nine months, uh, looking for what I wanted to do and another company, um, the company I would came from, uh, reached out to me and I did my research and so forth and said, Hey, this is a, you know, this is an industry that doesn't have a lot of up and down, especially in Florida, right. We're always gonna have bug
Speaker 3:Always there like that.
Speaker 4:<laugh> so, um, I joined, I joined them, learned quite a bit. Um, even growing up here in Florida, I didn't have a clue of what this industry really was all about. Um, so it's, uh, we do here in Florida, we do a lot because we not only do pest control and termite protection, but we also do lawn care, Palm protection, mosquitoes, uh, exclusion work all time, uh, insulation, things like that. So, um, it was definitely something I knew that basically about week three when I got into the industry that this is probably where I would retire one day, because, you know, like I said, it's just, it's a good solid industry yeah. That people need what we offer. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So tell us about those bugs<laugh>
Speaker 4:Well, there again, there's different categories. Uh, there's the first one is G P general household pest. This is what most people know of ants and roaches and silver fish and fleas and ticks. Um, things like that. Um, here in Florida, we have, um, just there's too many to name. Um, but the bugs people do not want them in their house. Um, they do not want them on their property. Um, but being in Florida, especially the tropical nature of our state, they're never going away. Right. And other species get introduced here, um, brought in of course, you know, through transit and things like that. And once they, uh, get here, they don't go away. Um, and then of course the other things that we deal with the termites, um, which can do a lot of damage to homes, uh, it's in the, um, I think the last thing over$1 billion a year and termite and retreatment damage in, in the United States and Florida is the leader on that.
Speaker 3:Well, that, that really surprised me. We talked a little bit about that, cuz I, I knew it was a problem in California. Yeah. But I didn't know that we had as ramp rampant of a problem.
Speaker 4:It is. And the, uh, the university of Florida does most of the research and they basically, uh, this is years ago when I started, they estimated in the state of Florida, there's an, every acre of land. There's anywhere between 10 to 15 termite colonies in the ground. Um, and they vary in size anywhere between a hundred thousand termites. And now with the new species that has been here for a while though, um, upwards are 10 million in each of those colonies. Wow. So there's an old saying out there that it's not, if I have termites, it's win. If, if you don't have protection on your home.
Speaker 3:So I know kind of the thinking of the general consumer, cuz I'm that consumer, um, I have a cinder block house, so I'm good, right?
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely not.<laugh> okay. You have to think about what's in your house. Okay. Your, your house has baseboards, correct? Yeah. Yeah. As furniture cabinets, uh, most people don't realize that the sheet rock that is, you know, on the walls, in your home, on the backside of that is paper, well, termite eat cellulose, which comes from trees. Oh, anything made out of celluloses, that's what they want to consume. Hmm. So, and it takes less than one 64th of an inch, which is a very, very small opening for a termite to get in, um, in your home, whether it be in the ground or above ground, there are so many possible penetrations that a termite can get in. And they're just constantly exploring because they can't see where they're going anyway. They don't actually have eyes mm-hmm. Um, so they basically do everything by pheromones and touch and sense and they do well, you, we talked about, you've got that colony of two to 3 million termites and they're just out there looking for something to eat. That's that's their job. I, I, I said something many years ago that there's two reasons, um, that, you know, termites are here and that's to eat your house and, and make more termites. That's pretty much it. So we have to understand, we invaded their area, not vice versa, you know,<laugh> by building the home right on top of them.
Speaker 3:Right. Right. Um, so tell me, because we, we do have some stick homes here in the area, um, as far as pests and a specifically termite say, is that better? Worse, same.
Speaker 4:Well, I would say you it's, you know, wood framed homes. Okay. There there's two different types of termites. There's the subter termite, that's in the ground. Then you have the dry wood termite, which is if you've ever seen usually a building or a home that has a tent over the top of it, that's typically beaten, treated for the dry wood termite that lives above ground. Um, doesn't make any contact with the soil. So, um, wood frame homes and block homes are all susceptible. Um, there's certain I won't get into all the building things, but there's certain ways that with a, with a framed home, um, you have to make sure that your, your siding is above grade. And, and so you can see the foundation underneath it, um, because the termites, you know, they'll build a mud tube and you can actually see it. Um, if it's, if you got stucco and everything down below grade, you can't see the sub training termites coming in your home. Well with block homes, you can't see'em either. Um, because they're not, they're not crawling up the outside of, of a house. Dry wood termites are probably a little more prevalent, um, and a little bit easier access for them to get in, uh, on a framed home. Um, just because of the nature you've got wood or siding on the outside and lots and lots of avenues for them to get in, um, around windows and door frames and things like that because dry wood termites typically either fly in, um, could be the neighbor next door. It could be out of a tree, um, even a Palm tree, um, or you actually can bring them into your home in pieces of wood, uh, pieces of furniture. People need to be very careful when they go and buy antiques. Cuz if it was in a home that had dry wood termites and they're in the furniture, now you bring that furniture in your home. Now you can have dry wood termites. That'll basically swarm out that piece of furniture and now they get into your walls and, and it takes a while, but they can do some serious damage over time.
Speaker 3:So how do you check for those termites? If you're a antier
Speaker 4:Well, the first thing you do, you, you, you're looking very closely at it. You typically, if the dry termites will create what they call an exit hole, it's a very small pinhole, literally about the size of the head of a, a ball point pin. And that's where they'll actually, when they consume what they eat, um, it, they create their droppings and at certain times they'll start dropping'em out that hole to kind of clear out cuz it's what they call a gallery where that's how they travel and they can only travel what they've eaten, they've create their own space, like a mold, so to speak. Um, so you look for pinholes and things like that, um, on, on the furniture before you buy it, but it doesn't necessarily have to be antiques. Um, I had a situation where a brand new piece of put together the furniture from a very large, large store that does a lot of furniture put together the furniture. We don't have one over here, there's Miami and Orlando and so forth has one and, uh, open up the box and you could actually hear the pellets inside. One of the pieces of the wood as you turned it, it sounded like, uh, you know, water rushing one side or the other Uhhuh. And it, so it was in that piece of wood cabinetry. Um, you have to be very careful because this has come up at literally in the last 10 years where termites, uh, the cabinet makers, they don't realize they're in the wood that they've bought. They build the cabinets. They, they basically kind of cut around the termites, not even knowing that they're there and they build the cabinets, they put'em in the house and they've basically built the cabinets with the termites in the house. Wow. So it's uh, and, and it's not cuz they don't treat the wood. Um, most Wood's not treated in a house. Right. Um, because if you do a lot of treated wood, what happens over time with wood? When it dries, it course it starts to warp. Um, so that's why you want dried wood in there. Right. Um, so people say, well, why don't they just, you know, have do pressure treated wood and all the studs in my house, cuz it'll all start to turn and you can imagine the cracks and the drywall and everything else. Interesting. They give a fence post outside, you know, it eventually dries out. Right.
Speaker 3:That's interesting. Hadn't thought of that. Well, that brings us to our next great, scary. I know. Right? Scary. I'm thinking about my new cabinets in my house right now.<laugh> so if, if we are concerned about buying or selling our home, mm-hmm<affirmative> you have a great service, um, that you offer to make sure that that home is free of any concerns or help you. And then if there is concerns you can help mitigate those concerns.
Speaker 4:Correct.
Speaker 3:Tell us about that.
Speaker 4:Um, well basically depending on, well, you know, the type of issue, um, termites are the biggest one that when, when you're selling a home and so forth is that if, if you have a termite protection program on your home, um, you're less likely to have an issue. Okay. Um, you want it to be with a rep reputable company using the proper products and all that type of thing. Um, but no, nothing's a hundred percent. Um, no program out there is 100%. That's gonna say you're never gonna have a problem. Um, the pressures are just too great. So that's why you want to continue to carry that. Um, whether you're selling now or maybe you're in the future. Um, because with our, especially with termite protection, the new homeowner can actually transfer that same coverage over and can continue it on. Um, and that's something that you really, it helps benefit the seller, the ha that they've had protection, um, because something may not happen this year, but it could be four or five years down the road, right. That something got through some, there was a breakdown somewhere, unfortunately, um, with the amount of pressure that's out there and then companies like us, depending on the type of coverage you have depends on exactly what all we do, whether you have a retreatment only program where we'll just come out and retreat, those specific areas, or whether you actually have a retreatment and repair coverage, which means if we go out there and there's an issue we find live termites, why we have the active program going, then we're responsible for the repairs of the damage that they've caused. Wow. Um, so, and it's, you know, that's why when we come out and do our inspections, we want to be extremely thorough because we're taking on that liability of that home. Right, right. Um, first off, we don't want the termites to be there. Um, nobody wants the termites to be there. Um, but it, when it comes to the other pest and things like that, your general household pest, um, that program, we're coming out there working with the homeowner or whoever's living there to, to create the best solution, but we don't live there every day. So there are things that we will let them know, Hey, you need to do this or stop doing this because otherwise what we're trying to do, won't be effective. And we won't able to solve those problems that you are hiring us to
Speaker 3:Solve. That makes sense. Well, well, we're excited because in partnership with you, we are able to offer, if you want to put your home on the market, you haven't had a, a program going, and you're curious if you have issues before you have that, um, inspector come out, you guys will come do a pre-listing evaluation for no charge.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. We do that. That's the relationship that, that we build with the realtors to say, we want to be a part of your team, right? Um, just like you, most, most, uh, realtors have, you know, somebody that's, uh, you know, a plumber for them or a handyman or something like, well, we're, we're just part of the team a lot of times to help that realtor get that listing because they're able to rattle off, Hey, well I have this company, I have this company that's part of my team to, so when we come in here to help, you know, if we choose us, we're gonna come out and do all this stuff in the beginning to make sure that your home is, is best. It can be to put it on the market. I know the market things move really fast right now, but it, it hasn't always been that way. Right. Um, so having that advantage to where I've got a team, that's gonna make sure that my home is gonna be the best it could be to put it on the market and I'm able to get the most value out of that home when
Speaker 3:I sell it. No surprises. That's awesome. Yes. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. We've really enjoyed getting to know you and, um, having you as part of our team and
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Um, we are, we're proud to that, you know, to deal with all the realtors we're especially, you know, happy that we, we, we hooked up at the, uh, the meeting the other day and we were able to provide, you know, this opportunity with some education for people,
Speaker 3:Love it. If people wanna get a hold of you, what's the best way.
Speaker 4:Well, the best way here at our office, which my office is here in Naples. Um, the easiest way is to call 1 8 77, go Hughes, H U G H E S. Um, that'll basically take you to our corporate call center and they can transfer you to whatever office cuz we have an office here, Naples. It handles from Bonita Springs all the way out to Everglade city. But then we also have our Fort Myers office that is actually in Cape coral, um, that handles Aero and Fort Myers, Fort Myers beach, Lehigh Le um, and label bell, things like that. And on up the, on, up the west side of the state, and again, we have, uh, quite a few, um, throughout the state of Florida, I think we're, um, 50, um, we're plus 50 offices now in the state of Florida. Awesome.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So
Speaker 4:Somebody's that 180 7 7 go Hughes would kind of get you to, they'll be able to direct you to whatever mark you might be interested in.
Speaker 3:Perfect. Right. Or you can reach out to us would be happy to connect you. And um, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to barefoot bungalow at 8 2 3 9 3 5 0 5 5 3 5, and as always remember to live your best life barefoot.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the live, your best life barefoot podcast, sponsored five barefoot bungalow Realty to learn more about barefoot bungalow Realty, go to www.barefootbungalowrealty.com or call 2 3 9 3 5 0 5 5 3 5.