Business Innovators Radio - Pest Challenges in San Antonio: An Interview with Alex Randle of Stride Pest Control

Starting point is 00:00:02 Welcome to the Agents Lounge podcast, where we talk all things real estate with the industry's top performers. Join us as we dive into the inspiring journeys of successful agents and uncover the secrets to their success. Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, we've got the tips and tricks to help you navigate the world of real estate. Brought to you by Eritectady Comfort Solutions. So grab a seat and join us in the Agents Lounge. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to your latest. episode of the Agents Lounge, sponsored by Air Integrity Comfort Solutions, your local leader in HVAC's maintenance, sales, and installations.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Today on the Agents Lounge, we have a special guest, Mr. Alex Kendall, who is not a realtor, but he works very closely with them to make sure that everything is the way we want it. And I'll let him elaborate on that. So welcome, Alex. We're glad to have you here this week with us. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be on today. Awesome, awesome.

Starting point is 00:01:01 So you do pest control. Yes. And we're not talking about the neighbors that blast loud music at midnight. We're talking about the pests that have more than two legs in many instances. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this business? Yes. So a lot of people get into pest control. There's usually two avenues.

Starting point is 00:01:25 One people will either sell door to door. We all met those people or tired of them knocking on our doors. I personally got in as a technician about eight and a half years ago. And so, spraying, learned the trade, getting my licensing, and then eventually starting my own business. Okay. So it wasn't so much about, you know, killing little critters, but about branching out and doing it on your own and for yourself. Eventually, the opportunity presented itself, yes. Okay, perfect, perfect.

Starting point is 00:01:53 And you're with Stride and pest control. Is that correct? Stride pest control, yes. Okay, okay. Tell us a little bit about stride. Like, what, a little bit about the company and what sets it apart from, you know, other companies or even just the raid at the H.E.B. or something. Yeah, absolutely. So we fall in that medium tier area. So people want to use local. You know, we definitely are here local. And so, and not a large national branch. But we're also not just a guy in a truck. And so we have flexibility. And we have multiple technicians out in the field. So it allows us to give you that quality service that, that, is what you need, but also, you know, have that personal touch that people want here in San Antonio, particularly.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Awesome. Okay. Now, I would imagine in the world of pest control, people tend to call you when they need you and they need you like yesterday. You know, it's not like, you know, let me set up a maintenance ahead of time, you know, just to kind of be a little bit more proactive. And what you do you would imagine, it's a lot of reactive people. Would you say that that's... Yes, yes, yes, most of time. Yeah, like, you know, they're blown up your phone. Like, I need help, that kind of thing. Now, here in San Antonio, what are some of the challenges with pests that people should be aware of? First off, people just need to understand the fact that we just have a lot of them down here, particularly in San Antonio. I mean, Texas itself out of the U.S. is a place where a lot of bugs exist. But Texas, San Antonio itself, because of its dry climate, because of everything. else going on here. There's a lot of bugs. And so it's a matter of realizing that you're not

Starting point is 00:03:32 going to ever see a bug. You are going to see a bug at some point. The idea with pest control is that we're looking at seeing far, far less. Okay. Is there any particular type that you would consider more pest than others, if, you know, for lack of a better term? Sure, sure. I mean, mosquitoes are very, very bad down here. I would say ants. Or arch nemesis. Yes. So ants, I mean, I could go on a list and there's a lot of different things. get into the homes, depending on where you're living. Now, what would you consider something a little bit more on the risky side as far as, like, Black Widows or, you know?

Starting point is 00:04:10 Yeah, I mean, as far as spiders, Black Widows, Brown Reclu's spiders are not fun to come across. And so as far as danger, we have Texas red-headed centipedes, which are pretty scary out in the hill country. That sounds scary. Yeah, they can get a couple inches long. But, you know, as far as other things, just to be kind of be aware of, I mean, you know, fire ants would be rather dangerous as well if they're not properly kept. I mean, a small child or, you know, a small pet could easily be in trouble if we're not taking care of fire ants properly. Wow.

Starting point is 00:04:38 Okay. Never, you know, some of that stuff I kind of figured, you know, like the Black Widow, that's why I mentioned it. But some of the other ones, I mean, we know ants are pests, but you brought up a good point. Fire ants, you know, people can have an allergic reaction to that. And I don't know, do you have any personal experience? with something like that as far as with people who had allergic reactions to some of these critters? Absolutely. Can you tell us a little bit about an experience or two?

Starting point is 00:05:09 Fortunately, knock on wood, I haven't had any clients that, you know, necessarily call us after those reasons. I've had customers that called us out and saying, hey, you know, I definitely need these wasts knocked down because I am allergic. And so, and usually it's a pretty quick thing they can address. But, you know, it's one of those things when you're talking about, you know, your health and not being able to breathe and things like that. I mean, it's a very serious matter.

Starting point is 00:05:29 So that's something we take is making sure we knock down these things, make sure they're not around your home. So people have to worry about that. My biggest concern, because we do H-PEC, right? Inside Ducks, sometimes you see feces there. So what are some ways that people can do things that customers can do to prevent that from happening or to get rodents in their attic? Because we see all types of things up there.

Starting point is 00:05:56 shouldn't be there. No, no, great question. I mean, so we do have a large, large rodent population here in San Antonio. It happened quite a while ago because of drought and things like that, things that push to N-City. And so really just making sure that the exterior of your home, there's no obvious openings. Rats can get through holes the size of a nickel. Wow, okay, did not know that. So in a quarter, so, you know, mice and rats.

Starting point is 00:06:21 And so they don't need much of an opening. So just making sure things are sealed up properly, you know, they're not a stranger they're addict. They either have a tradesperson up there like yourself doing the AC work or, you know, themselves are looking at it once in a while. So it doesn't go unnoticed. Now, a lot of people tend to take pest control. Like I'm an armchair pest control expert. I can Google and go kill whatever is in my house.

Starting point is 00:06:47 I would imagine there's a certain level of risk for somebody trying to take care of rodents or roaches or that Texas red-headed centipo, which I'm going to Google after a week. get off this because that just sounds creepy. But why should somebody consider a professional instead of just doing it themselves? A couple factors. One being that they really just don't want to manage doing it themselves. And so at the end of the day, isn't that why we offload a lot of things? We don't want to do it ourselves. Second is, you know, taking that time to research and know how insects work and their biology.

Starting point is 00:07:19 It's, if you hire someone like ourselves, we already know those things. And so we can go in there and usually get rid of the issue a lot quicker because we are not only using the right products, but we know how these insects react to it. Now, when you mention products, can you tell us our listeners a little bit about what you use and as far as like the toxicity of this? Is it something that people can't go into their homes all day? Like, you know, you might see on a can of raid or something? Yeah, the industry definitely had a lot of those kinds of things that were more concerning, maybe 20, 30 years ago. The industry has changed a lot as far as moving towards safety of product.

Starting point is 00:07:54 All products pretty much used by most companies these days are all people friendly. And so there's usually no need for anybody to leave the home, et cetera. Oh, so you can go and do this when someone's, like, I'm there just watching the news or something. Absolutely. Okay, don't mind me, I'm just here. Go around, usually no odors of any kind. And so in that regard, it's rather effective and good experience. Okay.

Starting point is 00:08:17 Did not know that. Now, do you have certain, do you approach, like, bugs of different versus, rodents or is it like the same thing for everybody or all pests? When you're maintaining things on, you know, most people are recommending like quarterly service, it's pretty standard here in Texas. And so when you're maintaining things, you can use like a general insecticide, as we say. But yeah, when you are tackling specific issues that popped up, it is important to use products specific to their nature, which is why, you know, going to your comment earlier

Starting point is 00:08:45 and people just going eating something like raid or other kinds of products, a lot of these things might kill them on contact, but they don't actually take care of the root issue. Like spraying rate over ants and certain kinds of roaches is actually not very effective and not helpful. It kills the ones you see, but doesn't take care of the issue. It's not taking the chemical back to where they came from. Correct, correct. You know, it's just some unlucky sap who was out and met you when you took care of him. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:09:09 But not the rest of his click, if you will. Okay. And, I mean, would you apply that same principle to, like, rodents as well and any other kind of pests? I mean, rodents, I mean, you know, trapping, different kinds of poisons can work. I mean, I would say, you know, if people were to do anything themselves, make sure they're reading the labels of the products they get. That's one of the biggest problems people just misusing the products. And so, and that's where most problems can't occur, you know, hazard-wise. I mean, just putting products or things in the wrong places.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Or mixing chemicals. Or mixing things they're not sure of, exactly. Yeah. Or even the legendary old-fashioned mousetrap. I mean, that's what we all kind of great. grew up with our folks using and that that again catches just one or two of them a little fellows but not the whole i don't know what do you call a group of rats and nest of them the whole colony or colony there you go i knew there was probably a term for that you know so you know

Starting point is 00:10:05 so there you want to get the the root of the issue there what can somebody do to kind of prevent any kind of problem i mean i i'm thinking off the top of my head like you don't food on your counter or stuff like that, but what else can somebody do? You mentioned about making sure there's no obvious openings. What other proactive measures could a person do? Yeah, for insects, pests in general, I mean, we classify industry as conducive conditions, and so anything that could potentially attract an insect, we're talking like standing water, you know, by the foundation, tall grass, overgrown tree limbs, rotting wood, you know, any kind of these things that, you know, bugs want what we want. It's food, water,

Starting point is 00:10:49 and shelter. And so if they can find it in your home conveniently, then, you know, that's what's where they're going to go. And so food, water, and shelter, probably a hug, just like we want to. Yep. Yep. So if you got those things going on, they want it too. Yeah, you know, yeah, because you see, you watch Animal Planet and all these animal whispers and they're crawling with bugs on them. I'm like, oh, I don't know about that. You know, yeah, that's, That's probably not my specialty and stuff like that. You know, um, what do you do commercial also or just residential? We do both.

Starting point is 00:11:24 Yes. Okay. What, like, do you have any specialties when it comes to like, uh, residential or commercial, any kind of, uh, niche that you guys fill with, with, you know, with doing pest control? Um, I mean, I mean, it's as far as our, you know, what we focus on, we definitely focus on our relationship with homeowners. And so we look at a lot of homeowners themselves in their homes. And then obviously maybe they have another property or they have business themselves. That's where we definitely shine and where we focus our efforts. But yeah, I mean, people that have buildings

Starting point is 00:11:56 and structures, those are the things we can take care of. Okay. I mean, is there like a limit to the size that you can? No, not particularly. Okay. So it's just a conversation and, you know, we might approach it a little differently. Okay. So we can do like efficient apartments all the way to like an office building. Correct. Correct. Okay. I mean, when you think pest control, you may not think of like maybe these giant commercial office buildings, but, you know, Alex here can go ahead and take care of multiple offices in a building there. And so that kind of knocks it out there. That's good. That's excellent.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Now, do you have something, sir? No. Oh, sorry. Can you tell us a little bit about any kind of networking, community service, outreach, philanthropy that maybe you or your company or your company or you? your employees participated? Sure. It's one of those things that I'm always looking to do more of, and I'll be honest, it's one of those things where I've been pushing more for it recently.

Starting point is 00:12:55 We've had a lot, so we have two locations. We have here in San Antonio. We also went up in Austin. Oh, okay. And a lot more of those kinds of community outreach has been involved up there, and we're trying to push that more now here that we're established. Been down here for about four years. Okay, so Strata started in Austin and came down to San Antonio.

Starting point is 00:13:11 That was our original location, yes. Okay. So if somebody calls for help, pretty much anything along the 35 corridor. Correct. And any outlying areas? Yeah, in the surrounding areas. Okay. Now, when we talk about outlying areas, what about things like snakes?

Starting point is 00:13:32 Because the type of critters you encounter in the rural areas are different than maybe in the urban areas. Sure. Can you expand a little bit on that? I mean, yeah, so you get further out I mean, there's definitely other things that people think of there's pest control and there's wildlife. That's what we're kind of referring to. We're talking snakes.

Starting point is 00:13:49 We're talking like skunks, raccoons, coyotes in some cases. Those are things I personally do not take care of. I mean, it is a different scope of service, but I have established contacts with local companies that do those things. Okay. So I've worked with them for years. And so funny story,

Starting point is 00:14:06 I actually had a raccoon pulled out of my own attic a few years back. And that was a weird call for pest control for me, being in the industry. Excuse me, sir. I'm the pest guy, and I got a major pest that has a couple eyes staring at me with fur. Exactly. It's good to have contacts, and so, but we can definitely take care of that people call us. What are some examples of rural pest control that you guys do handle?

Starting point is 00:14:29 Primarily rats and mice are talking about wildlife. But, I mean, once you get in the hill country, mean scorpions are pretty prevalent. So we're talking about what's called the bark scorpion. So they will little climb up the side of the house and usually come down through the attic. Okay. So it's important to get... Definitely not Santa Claus. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:43 No, not Santa Claus. Don't leave cookies. So, but yeah, so practice measures be taken for that. Okay. I have a question for you. I mean, tell us a story or a problem you solved. I mean, what's the horror story? I want to hear it.

Starting point is 00:14:59 Horace story. Okay. There was one house I was treating once. It must have been some kind of... There were some tenants that had moved out of it. And so... But it was out in the kind of a hill-com. country area. But I walked in, you know, there was some debris laying around. It was vacated.

Starting point is 00:15:16 But they had a very, very serious German cockroach issue, which is the small roaches. And there was... Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. A German cockroach? They're called German cockroaches. I mean, he's not wearing, like, Liederhosen with a Steinbe or something, or what? I might have seen that once, actually. I'm curious. So, no, they're just very small. They have these two little racing straps on the back. They don't come from outside. You only get them from somebody that currently has them. And so, but they do reproduced rather quickly. But yeah, this one house had thousands of them.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Like, literally there was a box in the other room. I kicked it, and there must have been hundreds that came out of it. Oh, no. So we had... Did you get excited to kill them all? Yeah, yeah. It was a fun for... I definitely FaceTime my wife.

Starting point is 00:15:54 I was like, hey, check out this mess. Oh, man. Let's do a Facebook live right here. Yeah, I know. With Otto and his German cockroach buddies. Oh, no, sir. But, no, that was a pretty severe case. How did you get rid of it?

Starting point is 00:16:08 all those little fellows that start running? I spray them all. Oh, man, I'm thinking like Ghostbusters. Like, with your proton pack. There you go, there you go. Oh, okay. You know, nightmare, sir. Thank you for bringing that up, Francisco.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Yeah, now we all have nightmares. And sometimes, you might not see those, right? Because they're high. In early stages, yes. They like to be behind dressers and drawers and things, usually in the kitchens, bathrooms. What are some of the health issues that arrive from not treating them or not having the maintenance? Surprisingly, German roaches don't actually have really any health risks.

Starting point is 00:16:49 They're just scary. Yeah, they're just scary. And people feel, you know, they feel gross. And so, you know, it's a self-image thing. You know, people don't want to tell people they have this issue. That's pretty common, especially with bedbugs, which are... Oh, well, I'm glad you brought that up. Urban legend, bedbugs, you know them, you don't want them, you stay away from them.

Starting point is 00:17:07 how does a professional like yourself handle something like a bedbugs? Yeah, it takes a couple different things. So, I mean, a lot of it is understanding how these guys work. I mean, they will get, they usually are hanging out in areas where people spend a lot of time, chairs, beds, couches. So it's not just your bed? No, it's not. It's where we spend time, especially if the case has gotten a lot worse. But it's a matter of, you know, taking care of which we take outlets off.

Starting point is 00:17:30 You know, we treat, you know, there was a one job that wasn't me. It was a fellow company. But they had gotten rid of all of them everywhere. They didn't understand why they still had them, but they were actually, the last little harbaging area was in the shower curtain. In the shower curtain? In the shower curtain. So they're waterproof? To some extent.

Starting point is 00:17:48 But yeah, no, it's a pretty painstaking process to get rid of bedbugs. And so I'm always telling people just to be proactive as they travel around. Do you have any, you know, along the lines of our German cockroach friends, any war stories when it comes to bedbugs that you've encountered? I mean, it's not fun when you're walking in. There's a lot of them. I mean, I was at a place literally the other day that had, it was actually we were revisiting the place, but we'd killed hundreds and hundreds of them.

Starting point is 00:18:15 They were just coating the bed frame. And so underneath the Velcro, underneath the straps, things like that. It's really challenging on beds that have lots of gaps and crevices. I'm actually doing a bed bug job this afternoon. So I'll see if we have. You know what? We should have relabeled this episode or Halloween episode.

Starting point is 00:18:31 You know, because This sounds all stuff out of like Stephen King or something like that. I mean, how do you protect yourself when you go in and encounter a situation like that to where you don't bring them to your office, to your van, to yourself, your home? I mean, how do you protect yourself? Yes, it's a matter of making sure I'm all gloved up. I'm taking precautions. I'm not leaning up against a wall or a mattress that I flipped over to spray.

Starting point is 00:18:56 And I usually get home and the wife has me stripped in the garage. Okay, okay. And not for Like a Valentine's Day type stripping We're talking about Don't bring your work home with you stripping Exactly So knock and wood

Starting point is 00:19:11 I haven't brought any home yet So but it's a lot of manuals So you're probably wearing the whole outfit like Like they did an outbreak or COVID Or something where you're just like Not necessarily And so I mean I could But I haven't found a need for that

Starting point is 00:19:23 I mean if it was one that where you're walking in The floor is moving maybe But I haven't had that case yet And so Okay I'm in a I'm gonna need a minute. You know, I don't know about the floor. There was a movie back in like 82 called Creep Show,

Starting point is 00:19:40 and I remember I saw that in the last episode of the, it's an anthology, had a moving floor of cockroaches. And, and I, it just, whatever, I got in my head and stuff,

Starting point is 00:19:52 you know, between cockroaches and I think like tarantulas, you know, I know tarantials aren't poisonous, but they're not very handsome. looking. No, no, they're not. You know, is that something that you come into contact with, too?

Starting point is 00:20:06 Yeah, we take care of tarantulas. Okay. I mean, do you kill them or you just relocate them? It depends. And so, I mean, if they're around the house, I mean, we're not usually moving and we're just, we're spraying and they might die. Okay. Okay. And I have a question.

Starting point is 00:20:19 Can I talk? No, but, um, so, um, we do have, invite a lot of realtors and we have the agents launch. So what message do you have for somebody that's either selling a home or buying a home if you have any tips for them? Or renting. Or renting a home. Yeah. I mean, so a couple things.

Starting point is 00:20:42 I mean, in the process of buying and selling, I mean, it's important to make sure that, you know, you know, we're doing our due diligence as far as inspecting. There's no termites. Things that people are concerned about when they're buying a home, right? And so termites are a big thing. Is that still a big problem here in South Texas? One in four homes we'll either have or we'll get termites. Oh, okay. So pretty much everybody.

Starting point is 00:20:59 So when you're doing home inspections, that's something obviously hopefully they inspect for. But they may want to bring in somebody like yourself to come in and do an even more detailed inspection to make sure. Correct. Yeah. And it's one of those things where if you were planning to buy or sell anytime soon, I mean, start thinking of these things in advance. Because when we have option periods and other kinds of things we're dealing with, it gets really hard to do it quickly all the time. I get called sometimes like, hey, I'm closing tomorrow. Like you need it today. I try to move heaven or earth to accommodate it.

Starting point is 00:21:26 Kind of like the reactionary thing that we talked about. Exactly. So we realize that pests are an issue here in Texas, especially people moving from out of state. And so realtors, that's why I would keep in mind is these people, they don't understand our climate. You know, they settle in. They might need to have a chat with someone like myself. Oh, wow. Okay. You know, that's good to know. We always want to connect our real estate, you know, network with professionals like yourself who can help them with these types of issues, you know, because we'll do inspections for realtors as far as of HVAC systems. But I think that realtors should contact you and your team for doing the same thing for bugs and termites and any other thing that might, make your floor look like it's moving or something, you know. So, and so that's really good information to know. So did you have anything else you wanted to add there, Francisco? Yeah. So what's usually the process when you go visit a new customer's home or new clients home?

Starting point is 00:22:30 They call, hey, I want to get an estimate. How does that work? What's the process to follow? Yeah, so initially, I mean, so as far as getting like an estimate, or quote, in most cases, for most insects, we can do that over the phone. It's a matter of knowing the square footage, knowing the issues people are having,

Starting point is 00:22:48 and obviously say... Well, they're calling you, they're going to say it's bad. But we don't... I don't know how you guys quantify it like bad. Exactly. And that's where, you know, once we take what, you know, they say over the phone, you know, and we actually get something set up to come out.

Starting point is 00:22:59 You know, we're usually doing an inspection of the interior, the exterior, kind of get an idea of what's going on in eyes. We're trying to identify these things. Are they just, you know, are they this kind of cockroach or this kind of spider or, you know, what's kind of the issue here? and how can we move forward?

Starting point is 00:23:11 Because the long-term goal is that everyone is we're doing preventative, you know, right? So the idea is that, you know, when things pop up, it's mild and not severe because we're already keeping up and keeping things at equilibrium, as we like to say. Wow. You know, I had a close family member who was renting an apartment this year, actually, and they had a severe cockroach problem in there. And it was just the little ones, not like to jump. But they were everywhere in the bed, on the furniture, in the sofa. I mean, it was just everywhere. And the management of the apartment really wasn't being proactive about it.

Starting point is 00:23:46 And it was just constantly trying to spray, but they were just everywhere. And I would imagine those types of issues are living in the walls and stuff like that. Yeah, those are challenges for multifamily. And so because they will move to the wall. And people, you have some people moving in and moving out and, you know, equip, you know, people have them, you know, a TV that's maybe infested, they bring it in or may move it out. And I had a friend of mine who was dealing with a house. house fly problem. You know, like

Starting point is 00:24:11 little fruit flies, I guess they come out of the sink. They can. If there's any kind of organic bacteria, different things down there, it's recommended to clean that out. And what would you recommend to somebody who, you know, has like just flies that are just kind of coming in and stuff like that? Yeah, find

Starting point is 00:24:27 a source. There's, you know, always a source. And so whatever that is. And so whether, you know, it's as simple as, you know, cleaning up the sink or it's some other kind of, you know, produce or things. Or bleach down it or something? Yeah, that works. And so, or sometimes, you know, putting some kind of citrus down there, maybe blended it up with the disposal might help.

Starting point is 00:24:44 Old lifestyle I heard is put apple cider vinegar with a citrus and mix it up and then just leave it out and then it just attracts them and then they get... Yeah, for talking about the gnats. That works. Put a little bit of dish soap in there. It helps them kind of stick in there. Yeah, okay.

Starting point is 00:24:58 That does work effectively. All right. So you sound like you make this real easy for somebody who may be having a challenge. You and your team just kind of, you know, make it easy. to get it set up, inspected, taken care of, and they can move on with their lives. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:13 What are some of the challenges that are coming up with this winter weather change? Everyone's trying to come inside. Yeah, I mean, so we head into, things do slow down a little bit because it gets a little colder here. But one of the things I always tell people is that, you know, because people ask, when's the best time to start pest control, or when should I think about it? Braiding happens in spring, but it never gets cold enough here in Texas to kill off bugs. Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are going to be year-round, just mild.

Starting point is 00:25:36 Even when we hit that big freeze a couple years ago? Yes. It wasn't under 50 for two weeks. And so it didn't really kill anything. It killed a few things, but not the- H-Rag and heater systems, but it didn't kill the bugs. Yeah. Killed the pipes, too.

Starting point is 00:25:49 But, yeah. But no, as far as that, I mean, you know, wildlife does usually pick up in the winter if we're looking at what's more prevalent. So if you live up north, you really don't have as much a pest problem as maybe down south. Bugs are less of an issue up north, yes. Okay.

Starting point is 00:26:04 And so. Cool. Yeah. And so the further south you go, the more of a problem it gets, I would have mentioned. Hotter, tropical? Mm-hmm. Okay.

Starting point is 00:26:12 Is there like an example of a pest that loves winter or cold, or that's their thing? I mean, there's a handful of them we call them occasional invaders, and so or winter pests, and so it could be, they're usually not anything that people normally think of, like, they're like kissing bugs and other kinds of little beetles and stuff that pop up. Occasional invaders. And so, but. How did you develop your passion for? pest control? Part of its exposure. So, I mean, when you're doing something daily, right?

Starting point is 00:26:43 And so you decide, it's funny because we kill bugs, but I'm actually rather fond of them in a lot of ways. Like, I want to, one of my goals is to get an ant farm. I think that would be pretty cool. So, but, you know, some of those things where you start nerding out a little bit about what you do. Well, I like rodents, you know, like I think guinea pigs and mice and all that are cute and stuff. But never thought about an ant farm, but yeah. Sure. Sure. So, I mean, it sounds like this is your thing. This is something you're passionate. You're the expert on. And there's not anything you can't tackle.

Starting point is 00:27:17 More or less, yes. That's good to know. And I guess the final question is, where do you see yourself in the next three to five years doing vacationing or family? Always trying to, you know, my passion behind everything I do is my family, you know, my kids, my wife. But, you know, really, I'm really passionate about building this, you know, building my company up so that I can continue to support those that I employ. And so I always tell my guys, hey, my first priority is you. If I take care of my guys or my team, they'll take care of my clients and we'll all be happy. How big is your team?

Starting point is 00:27:48 So I currently have two full-time technicians and I have an office staff at five. Okay. But, yeah, continue to look into service and take care of more people. Our mission statement motto is the best possible service in the nicest possible way. Okay. Except if you're a bug or pest. Exactly. Then you have to hitchhike.

Starting point is 00:28:07 Then you become Schwarzenegger Terminator style. I got you. Okay. All right. Well, thank you again for being here with us. We appreciate it. Would you mind sharing your contact info with our listeners? Yes.

Starting point is 00:28:19 If anybody is interested in, you know, reaching out with any kind of questions, even if it's not necessarily a quote, you know, you can call me directly. My direct number is 210-4-7-8409. Just want to be a resource, because sometimes people just want to be a resource. and they have questions, right?

Starting point is 00:28:34 You have a website? Yeah, it's in stridepressccontrol.com. Stridepresscontrol.com. Okay, all right. Well, we appreciate being here with us today, Alex, and Francisco, anything else you wanted to chime in on? I mean, let me face the camera this way. I don't know if y'all, can the camera see me right there?

Starting point is 00:28:52 We've had Alex, I've known Alex for almost a year already, right? Yeah. And we called to him because, we had another press control company and was a friend of mine who recently passed away and we started we hadn't had service for about a year and this is at your home

Starting point is 00:29:13 yeah and I told my wife okay well now we need to get somebody because my friend can't do it anymore he's been sick for a long time and he's not I mean I don't think he's going to be doing pests and I mean Alex came nobody was even at the house and they're like hey I just gave him the door coat they came I feel very comfortable with him, the honesty, the integrity,

Starting point is 00:29:34 and they took care of the service. And I felt that we hardly see any pest in our home. And, I mean, I hardly trust them. And I believe that they also have us in a maintenance plan. So, I mean, I don't even have to worry about it. That's the best thing is that they'll just call me. Hey, it's time for your maintenance. And they'll just show up.

Starting point is 00:29:56 And they'll give him the door code and they'll take care of it. right is the airtegrity of the pest control world outstanding you know you are on it that's good from a satisfied customer i love it that's the best kind of feedback you know i you know just on the sidney i was a customer of airtegity before i joined airtegrity so um yeah i can vouch for uh what alex does what we do and and that's the goal of the agent's time just to bring you on uh specialists in their field to help help out all our listeners so thank you so much we appreciate you being here again and hopefully we'll see you again soon on the agent's lounge. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:30:34 And as always, thank you to our listeners. You're listening to the Agents Lounge, sponsored by Air Tegrity Comfort Solutions, your local leader in HVAC Solutions. And we will see you next time. Thank you very much. You've been listening to the Agents Lounge Podcast, brought to you by Airtegrity Comfort Solutions. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes, please visit Agent's Lounge Podcast.

Starting point is 00:31:00 Podcast.com.

Business Innovators Radio - Pest Challenges in San Antonio: An Interview with Alex Randle of Stride Pest Control

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