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What about when you're traveling?
In a hotel or any time you've been on a plane or a train, it's a little inconvenient, but try to not to put your suitcase on the bed. When you come back from a trip, you don't want to be bringing your suitcase past the front door. You want to empty out your suitcase and all the clothing should be bagged up and get washed. And then your suitcase should be bagged up. The front door is really where you want to stop it from entering.
What about at work?
The workplace is the fastest-growing market of bedbugs. I mean we do so many offices, four to five hundred companies, which are struggling with bedbugs every day. People are bringing them into the workplace. And the way we've been able to get these offices to contain the incidents is by educating them what to look for [at home], what not to do. People should not be routinely spraying stuff in their apartments for bedbugs, because that, more likely, will spread it around if they're there. It's like you're sending tear gas into their areas, and that's just going to get them spreading all over the apartment, into other apartments.
What if you go to a professional? How much can you expect to pay?
It depends how widespread the problem is. The house or apartment are variables, but you look to pay at least four or five hundred dollars per room. If you're spending less than that, you're probably not getting the right job. Because it's not something you can skimp on quality. Good companies will charge you because there's a lot of training and education and the right materials that go into it to get the job done right.
Is there such a thing as getting rid of them completely, or do people have endless problems?
When it comes to roaches and mice you can try to go for control. When it comes to bedbugs you have to go for elimination, because all it takes is one pregnant female to start the whole problem over. But 100% is our aim, our goal, and what we do every day is we eliminate them. Boom. Done.
Do you use dangerous chemicals?
No, actually, we don't. Our approach is we use a lot of heat. Not thermal, but we use a lot of heat, which is totally green. We can get rid of bedbugs in a matter of a couple of days. People sometimes say, "I don't care. Use the really nuclear stuff." But it happens to be that our green program is the most effective way. Chemicals very often make it worse.
Have you ever gotten bedbugs yourself, because of all of your exposure to them?
Actually, I haven't. I probably have more exposure to bugs than anybody. I've got people coming into my office every day, I'm out in the field, and I've never gotten them, because I take the right steps and measures. These are proven techniques that work. I'm living proof of it!