One-Off Treatment Or A Contract?
Contracts suit some premises and are a waste of money for others. Here is the honest test.
When a one-off is right
Most Domestic Work
For most households, a one-off visit with proofing is the correct answer and a contract is money for nothing.
A wasp nest is a single event. A mouse problem caused by a gap that has now been closed is finished. A flea treatment after the pet has been sorted out does not recur. Paying monthly for any of those is paying for reassurance rather than work.
If somebody tries to sell a household a contract for a one-off problem, ask them what it covers that the guarantee does not. Ours is this: if it is still active after the treatment has had time to work we come back with no second call-out fee, and it does not cover a new infestation from a source nobody has closed. A contract that duplicates that is selling you something you already have.
When a contract earns its money
Pressure, Or Paperwork
There are two genuine reasons, and both are about something ongoing rather than something that happened.
Constant external pressure. A building on a riverside, beside farmland, next to a railway embankment, on marshland or backing on to a waste compound is not going to stop being under pressure. Treating it is not fixing a problem; it is keeping a permanent situation under control. That is what a contract is for.
A requirement to demonstrate control. Food businesses, care settings, schools, hotels and anywhere with an audit have to show a documented programme with dated findings. A contract produces that as a by-product of doing the work; one-off visits do not.
If neither of those applies to your premises, you probably do not need one, and we will say so.
What a contract should contain
What To Check Before Signing
- How many visits, and when. Four a year and twelve a year are very different products.
- What happens between visits. Is a call-out included, or charged?
- What is monitored and where - and whether the monitoring points are somewhere useful.
- What you get in writing after each visit, and whether outstanding recommendations are tracked.
- The notice period, and whether it rolls over automatically.
That last one catches people. A rolling contract with a long notice period on a premises that no longer needs it is a cost that survives the reason for it.
The argument against
Where Contracts Go Wrong
A contract can become a routine that stops looking. Bait boxes checked and logged, nothing found, form signed, four times a year, for years - while the actual issue is a waste compound that nobody has mentioned because it is not on the form.
The test of a good contract is whether the reports change. If every visit produces an identical sheet with nothing outstanding, either the premises is genuinely clean or nobody is looking properly, and it is worth finding out which.
We would rather have a smaller number of contracts that do something than a large number that tick over.
Common Questions
We are a small takeaway. Do we need a contract?
Often yes, mainly for the records - an inspector wants a documented programme. We will tell you honestly if the risk does not justify one.
Do domestic customers need contracts?
Almost never. A one-off visit with proofing and the guarantee covers it.
Can we start with a survey?
Yes, and it is free. That is the sensible way to decide.
Going further
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Read more ›Get A Free Quote
Tell us your postcode and what you are seeing. We will come back with a time and a fixed price before anything is booked.
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