How a Philadelphia pest call is handled

A call to (855) 974-4733 is routed to one independent pest control partner working your blocks of Philadelphia or Philadelphia County. That company inspects, decides the treatment and applies it, and it is the company that must satisfy the state: a pesticide application business licence, at least one certified applicator on staff, proof of financial responsibility, and its own answers to the department that issued all three. Philadelphia Pest Control is the line you dialled, nothing more, and it holds no pesticide credential of any kind.

In Pennsylvania the licensing runs through the Department of Agriculture. A business that uses commercial applicators needs a business licence for each name and location, must employ a certified applicator, and must file proof of insurance with the department named on the certificate. The applicators themselves pass a core exam plus a category exam and must work for a licensed business; the categories that matter to a house are the structural ones, covering household and health-related pests and wood-destroying pests such as termites. If your property is across the river in Camden, Collingswood, Pennsauken or Cherry Hill, the licensing authority is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection instead.

Ask for the business licence and the applicator's certification on the first call, or when the technician phones to confirm the appointment, and ask to see the card before any product comes out of the van. The numbers are not printed on this page: they are the private business information of our partner, and handing them out is that firm's decision rather than ours. Take what you are given to the Department of Agriculture and ask it to confirm the licence is current before anything is applied inside your home.

Ask for the business licence and certification (855) 974-4733