PestBossPro Blog — Tech App

Photographing Entry Points So the Pest Control Customer Sees the Problem Too

Every pest control technician has said it at the door: “They're getting in under your garage door.” And most customers nod, say thanks, and never look. A photo changes that. When the customer sees the gap with daylight coming through, the conversation moves from “why do I still have mice?” to “how do we fix that?”

Why Entry Points Deserve Their Own Photos

The full photo routine is covered in Before-and-After Photos in the Pest Control App: Activity, Entry Points and Bait Stations. Entry points get extra attention because they are where the customer can do something.

A treatment handles the pests that are there. Sealing the way in keeps more from coming. Customers who understand that are easier to keep happy, because they know a recurring service is not the whole answer and they can see you are looking out for their house. In the PestBossPro tech app, entry-point photos are saved with the stop, so the office and the next technician can see exactly what was found.

The Usual Suspects

Entry points show up in the same places on most houses. Train technicians to check and photograph:

• Garage doors. Worn or torn bottom seals, especially at the corners.
• Exterior doors. Missing door sweeps and gaps at the threshold.
• Utility penetrations. Where AC lines, gas lines, cable and water enter the house.
• Vents. Torn crawlspace and foundation vent screens, dryer vents without a flap.
• Rooflines. Gaps at soffits, fascia and where roof lines meet.
• Weep holes and siding. Gaps where siding meets the foundation.
• Windows. Torn screens and gaps in old caulk.

For rodent work, size matters. A gap that looks small to a customer can be plenty for a mouse. Putting a coin or a pen next to the gap in the photo shows the scale.

How to Take an Entry-Point Photo

An entry-point photo has one job: make the customer understand where the problem is and how big it is. A few techniques help:

• Two shots. One close-up of the gap and one wide shot showing where on the house it is.
• Backlight. From inside the garage with the door closed, daylight through a gap is hard to argue with.
• Scale. A coin, pen or tape measure next to the gap.
• Evidence nearby. If there are droppings or rub marks at the gap, get them in the frame.
• Flashlight. Crawlspaces and attic edges are dark. Use the phone light.

The Note That Goes With It

A photo shows what. A note says where and what to do. Pair every entry-point photo with a short note on the stop:

• “Gap under garage door weatherstrip, north corner, about a finger wide. Recommend new seal.”
• “AC line penetration on east wall not sealed. Recommend sealing.”
• “Crawlspace vent screen torn, south side. Rodent droppings inside the opening.”

Keep recommendations honest and simple. If your company does exclusion work, the note can say so and the office can follow up with an estimate. If not, the customer can hand the photo to whoever they hire. Either way, the customer was told, and the account shows it.

Turning Findings Into Action

Entry-point photos are only useful if somebody does something with them. A simple process for a small company:

• Technician photographs and notes the entry point, and mentions it at the door if the customer is home.
• Office reviews completed stops with entry-point notes and texts the customer the finding, or sends an estimate for exclusion work built from your service list.
• Customer approves the estimate online, and it becomes a scheduled job.
• Next technician reads the note on the next visit and checks whether it was fixed.

Even when the customer does nothing, the photo protects you. When they call about mice in six months, the account shows the gap was found and reported.

It also changes the tone of that call. Instead of an argument about whether the service is working, the office can say, “Our technician found a gap under the garage door in the spring. Here is the photo. Was that ever sealed?” Most customers take it from there.

Entry Points on Commercial Accounts

Restaurants, apartments and offices have entry points of their own: dock doors, dumpster areas, gaps around pipes behind kitchen equipment, and doors propped open for deliveries. Commercial managers often need to show their own inspectors or owners what was found and when. Photos saved with each stop, on an account billed on one monthly statement, give them a clear service history.

The rodent side of entry points connects directly to bait-station work, covered next in Rodent Bait-Station Check Routines and How to Record Them in the Pest Control App. To see how photos fit with the rest of the technician's phone, visit the PestBossPro pest control app page.