Need bedbug treatment? Cough up for efficiency

Posted on 01. Nov, 2010 by Alana Casanova in Uncategorized

Bedbugs aren’t only getting more common in New York City – they’re more expensive, too.

As the pest epidemic grows, those affected are willing to pay more and more money to get rid of the seed-sized insects. Calls to exterminators are panicked and often ill-informed, and many clients opt for more expensive and nearly instantaneous treatments. The shift towards these treatments calls for more skilled workers and more advanced technology – both of which cost more.

“The whole industry is moving towards being more sophisticated,” said Timothy Wong, the technical director of M&M Environmental, an extermination firm.

M&M uses both freezing and heating treatments, as well as a canine unit to find bedbugs in large, complicated spaces.

Freezing requires technicians who spray CO2 onto furniture and into cracks, and requires direct contact with bedbugs in order to kill them. Large generators are also used to heat apartments, usually to around 140 degrees. The process is more even and can be used to exterminate bedbugs in a large area.

But neither method is cheap. Chemicals spray treatments can cost $300 to $500, but heating or freezing an average New York apartment costs anywhere from $1500 to $4500.

The heat treatment can erradicate bedbugs in around 24 hours,  and is the most effective if done correctly, said Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an urban entomologist  in the integrated pest management program at Cornell University.

The cost of treatment is going up because customer needs are pushing more immediate treatments – and the technology is more expensive, she noted.

It’s a trend which Jeff Eisenberg of PestAway has noticed as well.

“People have this fear of them, and when they get them that fear is realized,” he said. “They will just throw money at the problem.”

This month, Eisenberg testified at the City Council’s Consumer Affairs hearing on unlicensed exterminators who gouge prices and don’t adequately treat for bedbugs.

Bell Environmental, which doesn’t offer the heat treatment, is another company which has been shifting towards new technology.

Glenn Waldorf, a director at the company, declined to say how much Bell had invested in equipment and staffing for the cryonite, or freezing, treatments, but noted that the epidemic has brought in big business for pest control in the last few years.

It’s the nature of the pest, he said, which is pushing the industry to be more aggressive – and more expensive.

“This is essentially getting a needle in a haystack and you have to treat the whole haystack,” Waldorf said.