Pest Control Business Growth: Marketing, Commercial Contracts & Unusual Jobs | Mark Moseley
Tonight's Episode
Pest Control Business Growth: Marketing, Commercial Contracts & Unusual Jobs | Mark Moseley
🎙️ Pest Perspectives EP 13 – Mark Moseley | PestGone Environmental Ltd | Military-Grade Pest Control Expert
In this episode of the Pest Perspectives Podcast, Shaun Muller is joined by Mark Mosley, founder of PestGone Environmental Limited, for an honest and entertaining conversation about military life, unusual pest control work, business growth and appearing on BBC’s The Apprentice.
Before entering the pest management industry, Mark spent nine years in the military and later worked in private security across hostile environments, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. After returning to London, a former Royal Engineer introduced him to pest control—and that opportunity eventually led to Mark launching his own company.
Mark explains how he built the business from the ground up, teaching himself WordPress, Google Ads and online marketing while learning how to attract customers and generate repeat business. He also discusses the challenges of employing technicians, managing vehicles, dealing with van theft and deciding whether a bigger pest control company always means a better business.
The conversation features some of Mark’s most unusual assignments, including:
• Removing dead seals, porpoises and other animals from the River Thames
• Pest control work for celebrities and members of the Royal Family
• Tackling moth infestations inside prestigious London properties
• Biohazard cleaning and unexpected discoveries
• Controlling pigeons inside commercial buildings
• Working on large council and housing contracts
• Reaching week eight of BBC’s The Apprentice
• Writing his book, From Pests to Peace
Mark also shares valuable advice for anyone considering starting a pest control company, including why gaining practical experience matters, keeping initial costs under control and giving a new business enough time to establish repeat customers.
This is a wide-ranging episode packed with remarkable stories, practical business lessons and an honest look at the realities of running a pest control company in London.
Pest Perspectives Podcast is a UK pest management podcast hosted by Shaun Muller of Oakham Pest Control Ltd. The programme features conversations with technicians, business owners, suppliers and industry specialists covering pest control, professional development, business growth and the wider pest management industry.
Hello and welcome to Pest Perspectives episode 13. I've got the episode number right this week. I have this week we have got on Mark Mosley from Pest Gone Environmental Limited that will give a little spill here of his book. So Mark Mosley is the founder of Pescon Environmental Limited, a london-based pest control company. Before becoming an expert in pest control, he was a soldier and security specialist operating in remote hostile environments around the world. He has carried that pest control for celebrities and members of the royal family as well as in some of the most deprived areas of London.
No pests have beat him and he's been on The Apprentice Week 8. Apprentice, 2023. Yeah, that's it. Just about I made it to week 8. You made it there. But yeah, we will bring that up later. But I nicked, I nicked a little bit. That's I nicked a bit of that intro for your book. Very good book. Took me a long time. I'm a I'm a procrastinator. I will make a post about about how good it is when you read, when you get like a magazine, little article. I wait straight away, but been reading it for a while.
But with books, I'm terrible. Audio book, audio bookmark. Come on. I know. Yeah. The thing is it was a difficult one because when I was doing the book, it was meant to come out in 2022, the book. And then I got, I got told I was on the show and they, the press people on the show said just release it when you get fired because I knew I was when I was going to get fired. So I did then. But it's hard balance because if you get a pest controller read the book, they'll be like, oh, that's I wouldn't do it like that.
I'd do it like this. I wouldn't use that poison. And it's more for the public to sort of generalise of how to do things rather than having a professional read the book. So yeah, I don't need professional contact. No thanks. Yeah, I wanted a few military stories were writing now, but it gave us a bit too much in depth sometimes for the general public, for the pest control. But like I say, it's meant for the public, not for professional pest controllers to nitpick out. Oh yeah, Well, I, I couldn't nitpick.
I, I picked up some tips there because there's some pests I don't deal with, you see? Hardly ever, you see. So it is funnier when you do different parts of the country. I mean, I was in to up in Hertfordshire recently and then someone said to me how you deal with glisglis and I was like, no, And then they're talking about glisglis and you know, I know how to deal with him, but it's just strange that we do work in North London, but as soon as you go into Hertfordshire, that's when you start getting the glisglis.
So yeah. Say here, say here, I've never dealt with cockroaches, believe it or not, here in Rutland, never. Like not even in Stamford. I've never or or we're not getting the calls, but in the whole time my my dad's had the company, we're running it 15 plus years. He's never had a booking for a for a cockroaches. Madness. I mean, I've I've. Not for do one for experience, you know. Yeah, I mean, today we had a council call up and said be the one to do 2020 bird flats in one block today. So we're going to go and do that next week in Croydon.
But yeah, it's, it's, it seems to be sort of more seasonal as well. I mean, German cockroaches, people, I've got to be careful what I say, but people go away to Africa. They go away to see family, friends. And when they come back, they bring back this like like Mashed potato, this food, like plantation or whatever it is. And when they bring that back, it's got cockroach eggs in, it's got the youth case in. So we get this huge explosion when people are coming back from Africa in these council blocks.
So it's great for us, but yeah, so there's obviously they're just sort of transporting in the foods and things. But yeah, I've only ever dealt with American cockroaches once in. That wouldn't that, that wouldn't roll in Australia. Australia don't let you bring no thinking whatsoever. I watch them programmes, they don't let you bring sweet thing nothing. Oh, yeah. Anything. It's terrible. Yeah, you're just. Destroying our food industry is what they say. You're destroying our food industry. That's what they say, yeah.
Well, to be fair, keeping in business they keep bringing it does. No, no fair play, no, no fair play. So obviously I'm going to ask the question, how do you get into pest control? Because not everyone has read this book. So it's not going to be obvious because it's obviously you had a military background 1st and some of their missions. Mate, you're a tough bloke, you're strong willed some of the situations you were in. Right now, yeah, some hairy situations, I think, yeah, I don't know. Sometimes you sort of sit around in London and it's sort of, it's a bit dull sometimes.
But now I got into pest control, I was working out and I was a soldier for nine years. And then I left that after nine years in the army. And then I went travelling around the world and I went to go and see some nicer parts. I spent a lot of time in Afghanistan when I was in the army. So nicer parts in the world went for two years, then came back and I worked in private security, say private security. I wasn't sort of protecting people. I was building watchtowers out in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria.
I was in The Four Seasons Hotel, putting new Windows and things for the United Nations, all these places. And it all came to an end. The American pulled the budgets in about 2015, so there was no more money, the security side of things. And I came back to London and I was an electrician for a bit on a construction site and someone nicked my tools in the first week. So I was pretty readers about that. And in a mate of mine I was in the Army with, he's a firefighter at Heathrow, he owns Combat Pest Control.
Mike Coats and he said to me that I do pest control on my days off. Do you have a go come and have a go with me. So I worked with him for about 6 to 8 months and I realised it's it's quite lucrative. It's not too, you know, stressful if you like and it's fairly basic, you know, and it's, it's a bit of a challenge trying to outsmart a rat, let's say. So yeah. And I enjoyed it. And more importantly, the money was there as well. So I thought, right, I'll start my own business in 2017 and that was it just because a friend was doing it and his brother does it.
He's Gary Coates owns W London Pest Control. And now there's about 5 or 6 ex Royal Engineers who are doing pest control across the UK. So yes, it seems to be sort of something the military guys go into afterwards, but that's how I ended up in pest control from, yeah, the military and then private security speaking to a mate. And then he said, look, come and give it a go doing pest control. I suppose so. Were you working for your mate for a bit before you decided to actually set up business? Yes, I worked as a franchise for him for about a year.
Combat Pest control. And then after that he said, look, do you want to carry on with us? And I said, you know what? I'm because they're up in woven W London and northwest London. I said I might just break around just on me own. We it was all amicable and we all left as friends and we still speak most days and things. So yeah, we're still good friends. And yeah, I mean, I have any jobs that I get now that are in northwest London, I'll just pass straight to them. I just, you know, I had a job the other day which up in Essex, way Ilford, and I just said, oh, look, call the combat pest control guys, they'll cover it.
So yeah, I passed a lot of jobs with them. That's nice because we what we pass jobs on, it's like we don't do bee removal. So I've got a mate called Elliot EM pest Control and if any bee removal jobs come in we pass it over to him. We do. Yeah, that's it, same as there's another one, Kelly, Kelly Farron, he's ex Royal Engineer, he's in Kent so he's good mates with Gary Coates who owns Western London Pest Control. I think Gary got him into pest control and he does a lot of bee removal so any time by him I just pass them straight.
I just say give this guy a call because yeah, I don't want to be knocking out bricks trying to find the Queen and things so I wouldn't have a clue where to start. That's fair. I, I don't want to do that either. Not, not, no, not for me, but there's a lot of people that do it. There is. I'll probably take a brick out and the house would fall down and I'll be like, oh, here we go. Oh yeah, you're right there. But yeah, so was it previous to setting up your pest control business, had you ever owned any kind of business in your life?
Run a business. No, it's all done through necessity. You know, people always say that being an entrepreneur and all this good stuff, it doesn't really, You don't, I don't, you don't sit down and go right, that's it. I'm going to start a business and I'm going to because I never classed myself as an entrepreneur or whatever else. It's just something that doesn't even enter my head. Stand out. Pure necessity. You need to earn money and I don't want to work for anyone else. I've got a bit of capital behind me to sort of buy a van and buy the equipment.
So you think, well, do you know what? Solid. I'll just go into it and register a company and before you know it, it's sort of snowballing and then next thing you know you're a business owner trying to sort of spin as many plates as you can. From learning how to do accounting, I learnt how to build a website, so I went onto YouTube. To my website at the moment. Is what I've built really. Good. Yes, it's one of these things you just got to learn your, plus you're trying to save money. At the time, I think someone wanted 3 grand to build me a website.
So I thought, you know what, I'll do it myself. So I did it all through WordPress and yeah, and then I learned like how to set up like all Google advertising. So Google guarantees, obviously the newer one. But yeah, pay, PPC, pay per click. I just learnt how it all works. And then I learned how to sort of. It's quite easy, to be fair. I want to target Battersea and it'd be Battersea Pest Control and what sort or whatever it'd be. And I learnt all that. So now obviously I didn't have to pay someone a monthly fee of 100 to £600 a month to run our ad ad campaigns.
I can just now go into our ad campaign, switch it on, switch it off whenever I want. So again, learn how to build a website, learn how to run the OR set up pay per click ads on Google and then just run it myself. So yeah, but that was it really. So it's just trying to save money way I could when I first started. I can tell you now I don't think there's many pest controllers that built their own websites. Yeah. I think. I think you're one of the few, I reckon. Yeah, I think there's a few out there now.
Well, I think Wix, people were telling me if you go on Wix, it's quite an easier way. But I just, yeah, I went the long way round and thought I learned how. I spent weeks learning how to do it on the WordPress and things and it took me a long while. So the only thing I couldn't do, I wanted someone to be able to. When you put in your someone's post code, it would bring up a page just specifically for them. Do you know what I mean? Like if you lived in Chelsea and in Southwest 3, the Chelsea Pest Control page would come up.
There was only thing I could build the pages but I couldn't do the coding to do that. So I paid. I paid a guy £100 and he did all the coding for me. You've done well there. I appreciate that. Yeah, it was a lot of stress and yeah, the computer went out the window a few times when it couldn't get it working. But then once it started working, I was, well, happy with life. Oh, I can imagine. Yeah, but the aluminium, I'd say Google, Google guarantees the best route. I don't think there's much in paper because I might be wrong, but we we do quite well out of repeat business, word of mouth, social media and Google guaranteed it seems to be quite good.
Yeah, and Google guaranteed that seems to be a lot cheaper as well because paper click, I mean, I was paying up to £15 a click sometimes. And if they didn't? Obviously see that back in the summer with the Wasp that they used to put the price up didn't. They, I mean, it's always been here between 7 and 15, but I mean, but one month because I'd taken on a few guys and now it's sort of I'm panicking. I'm thinking I've got to get working for these guys, but you know, I've got to pay them at the end of the month.
And I think one month we spent over 10,000 lbs on pay per click and it was just horrendous. But then now I look back on it, them customers because we did a good job. Well, I think they did a good job. They've come back in droves and now we don't obviously have to pay for them in future. So that's what it's all about. So we get a lot of repeat business and say the only thing we use now is Google Guarantee and it's about 4 LB a click. I think so, yeah, I think. That's more you only. You only pay if they actually call you.
Yeah, because they've got the a different number because I've had it a few times where people go, is that not your number then? And I'm just looking, I go that's a Google number. So they can they can register that they've called you. Yeah, that's because someone got really funny of us once and said well, what? Why are you using dodgy numbers? We're not. It's, it's a Google number. So they know parties for your call. Yeah. Oh, OK. But she wasn't convinced. She thought we were dodgy. I was like, it's Google guaranteed.
Yeah, that's that's exactly it. So best way to yeah, so I get it in the same because check a trade within the same thing. And I'm are you still on check a trade or do you do check a trade we. Tried it for about 6 months and what what annoyed me what not now because I believe there's other pest controls on it. But at the time, a couple of years ago, I think we would have only pest control company that obviously we're in Rutland, you know, around that area for this for 70 miles. And they kept saying to us, we kept going, why haven't you got, why haven't we got no work out of it?
Oh, well, you need to do more reviews. But I says I've had no track or trade customers. But I says we are all the algorithm needs it. But the guy won't listen. But I says we're the only pest firm for 70 miles. We should be flashing straight at the top. Oh, that's not how it works. But what we what we left, we we, we never got no choice. Some people get joy out of it, but we haven't really. It was a failed project, but we tried it. We did. We, we used to be great. It really did used to be great. And then three years ago or maybe before the pandemic, and that's the sort of time frame everywhere.
Yeah, it uses, it went downhill. And I only found out recently that the company home serve, I think they're called, they bought out the home serve. They're now taking all the jobs for themselves and everyone else is paying this subscription fee and not getting anything for it. So we don't get anything from check trade anymore. That's very interesting because there's some posts could come out about check or trade. I've got their own service now and they're trying to stubby work out to pest controls and take a cut.
Yeah, well, whatever they've done, they've really ruined it. But I've tried to cancel but they wouldn't let me leave. They were like, you're tied in for this. And then they said, well, you can keep all your reviews on there and you can be a presence on there, but you've got to pay £30 a month until the cancellation fee. And I mean, I had a big argument with this. So yeah, I've got to pay £30 a month instead of 100 lbs. But we don't get any work from it anyway because however it is home, Sir, take all the business for themselves or have obviously in partnership with other pest controllers.
So yeah, avoid. Check the trade. That'd be my advice. Avoid able. Yeah, they'll probably come out. If they watch this, they'll be after us or after me. I doubt it. I doubt. I doubt they even care. I am liking too much this. Podcast isn't this podcast isn't that famous. They're they're checking trade but watching it. I think the. Extension, you know. Someone will send it to him, that'll be it. Who knows, but, but what else have we got? So how did you go from, because you've got a few technicians, how did you go from you to taking on more, more, more blokes, more?
How did that work? Did you just want to grow up a little bit or? Yeah, I got went on to a job, this customer, but two companies, one being quite a big player in the industry and I think they just sold Virgo not so long back. And then me and then I met this guy there and I said, look, do you want to come in and sort of join the business together and sort of pay half the money and things? It was only about 2017. And he said yes. And he had a friend who he could bring him from the same company. And then there's another friend and then before you know it, I'd put ads out on, you know, the usual whatever, whatever recruitment companies.
And then before we know, it was about nine of us and we had one, one person in the office and it was great. But it was just a lot of headaches. I mean, God, people would go sick on a day and then one lad tried to bypass the tracker because he was using the van in the evenings. And it was just the headaches, you know, you've got this sort of thing going on. And it just got so stressful in the end that I thought, right, I'm winding it down, as you know, to only sort of a handful of people because, yeah, and got rid of some of the riffraff.
It's just got too much and it not sort of putting too much down on other pest controllers. But yeah, the team we've got now, good guys do a good job. Yeah. I mean, I had one glad who crashed the van really badly, 2 vans in the case in the space of three weeks and our insurance premiums went up through the roof. The companies wanted, I mean, it's bad anyway, we being based in London. Yeah, well, they they're because we had the van crashed twice in three weeks and one was written off. The insurance company wanted £10,000 a year per van and I was like how are we going to get a fleet policy?
We had four vans. I said how are we going to, we're going to pay £40,000 a year for four vans. I said this is absolutely crazy. So I worked my way around it. I tried to do my best and I put all the vans in my name under sort of my own policy and then it worked out a couple of thousand a van instead of 10,000. So I took off the fleet policy. But what an absolute headache that was. But people don't give, you know, lads don't care, it's not their van. They'll just smash it out and go right, thanks very much.
Not their equipment. I need a new sprayer, I need a new wasp one. The whatever it is. And you just think. Whereas when you're on your own, you look after your equipment, you take care of it, You clean the van, you wash, you know, you clean the inside of the van. So, yeah, but that was a big thing. But also I'd every van I've ever owned, every van's ever been broken into in London. It's rife. So yeah, I get vans broken into every year as well. But luckily because we're a pest control company, we don't have too much expensive equipment.
But I did have when my van got broken into it, I had all my power tools next, air rifle next. Oh. No. Oh goodness, an air rifle. Yeah, I had that. Well, they nicked me. They nicked my wasp sprout as well. And I thought, what the hell are they going to do with a load of bloody, you know. What did, what did you have to, you know, because I nicked your gun? Did the police say why was that left in there overnight or something? Did they say it's an? Air Ripe, I think anyone can really have it. You can buy an Air.
Ripe. It's not, it's. Not a shotgun or anything. So yeah, it was just in, yeah, I shouldn't really put the police down too much, but yeah, I had my car keys on my or my van keys on my desk, which my van was sort of about 20 metres away. And the police turned up in the morning and I've gone to my van and all. I just looked in the front seat and all of the stuff underneath the seat, you should be there on my folders and things was on top. And I was like, my heart just went. So I opened up the back of the door and then all of my tools, everything was gone.
And then I called the police and they go, do you want us to send a couple of officers? I said, well, it'd be lovely just to get a bit of support. And they sent these two officers and there's one guy's going, I don't know how they've done it. There's no damage to the van, There's no holes in it. And I said, well, they boosted the immobiliser and that's what they got, like a laptop. I've just watched on YouTube. And he went, can they do that? Can they? And I was like, and I went, you're the copper.
I said you're the bloody police officer. And they do that. You don't know and it was right in Liverpool at the time. There's lads there with like iPads or something boosting the immobiliser to open up the, the Range Rover or whatever it was. So I was raging at this copper now and I just said to him, let you know what? Just go, just go. And I don't know. They actually left me my tool bag with, with the world Torch and I had a few jobs that morning. So at least I could use my world Torch in a few lost spaces and they didn't nick the trap.
So I managed to get through it. But that was sort of heartbreaking just with, I've only been in business sort of less than a year, and it was just, yeah, sort of having £1000 worth of equipment gone. And you just feel like, what's the point? And it's happening all the time in London. People are losing their livelihoods over these van thefts. And then you've got the police turning up talking about hate speech. Yeah, it's like, I don't know if you watch it. I've never. You may know him. I watch a YouTube channel called Asheville Aggregates.
Daniel Asheville and he and he leaves his break and he said though in London because he's got like a Range Rover thing with parking. Yeah, it's cheaper to park on double gear lines and get the fine than it is to get a parking that actually pay for your parking. That's what he does quite often, just takes the pine because I don't think they give you points in London. No, no, he won't give you points. You only get points for speed, and it's all to do with yeah, so. But his van, his van had been smashed at the back of his Range Rover.
The back window had smashed a few times when he left it. But the only event he never had, like power tools are out in it. But there was one thing on his YouTube channel. But it's a big protest. Weren't there a while ago with all the tradings going into London, pipping the role and all that. So they covered, they covered that on on the Channel. Yeah, it's about a year ago. So they all did that, which, yeah, but, and I've did see recently they've done quite a lot of raids at the car boot sales and they're finding a lot of people at all.
As long as people have registered the serial number with whoever it is, DeWalt or whatever the power tools is, it's quite good. Remember that one mate, He sprayed all his power tools pink and he said well, yeah, he said, well, no one's ever going to nick pink power tools. So when they get in there, so identifiable. So he just left all his tools pink and he said never got nicked on his van got broken into. So that's an. Interesting tip everyone. Brian Pink has got a. Bad idea. So at least something you can sort of, you know, identify him if you ever do come up with a lot of pink power tools.
But yeah, it's just it's it's rifey. I mean it's got 2 vans here with drill holes in the the size of the EM Venus and two hundreds and they just got drill holes where they've opened them up. And I used to always have a go at the lads because their vans were in, you know, really poor state inside about look at this look, it's a tip. Now I and now I got to the stage when they nothing ever gets nicked when they get broken into. I think do you know what leave them how you want. As long as the public don't see what they look like inside and they're clean on the outside, it doesn't bother me because if the thieves are looking in going Oh my God, I'm not going in there through them squeal traps and all that lot.
Shut the van up. There's nothing in here for us so. It'd be interesting if one one day you sat alone, you left all the traps sat in the van and they're in there pulling that. You know what, when it happened, so that when it happened, they came back two nights later to nick the man. So they've taken all the stuff out. And then on the Ford Transit Custom, if you didn't lock, double lock it with the button, There's the little front window. So you've got the the driver side window, the main window, and in front of that you've got another little window here.
If you hadn't double locked in, you're only single locked. If you smash that window, the alarm wouldn't go off. So anyway, I was sat there one night and then I heard the alarm go outside and my flatmate was like, that's your alarm. So I looked out the window. Anyway, we were both outside and they'd smashed that one window. So now I'm panicking because they wanted to nick the van as well. And then I thought to myself, there's something in the Army called a flash bang. So basically it's this huge flash and this huge bang.
Like if you're walking or running on a in a military exercise and someone throws a flash bang, it just disorientates you. It makes you blind for a few seconds. You just, yeah, ears are ringing. So I thought I'd love to have tied that sort of the van. So when they opened up the van, it got to the point and then bang or something or just, I don't know, I wouldn't say a claymore and kill them, but certainly something like to cover them all in, I don't know, a load of phosphorus stuff or whatever it will be.
But yeah, that's what I was going to do. And I thought, you know what, I'll leave the back doors open so when someone opens it next time that will go off. I thought, no, do you know what had happened? The police would get me in trouble and say that I've caused the injury or something so. Yeah, I know what a flash bang is because I I've played Call of Duty. I played Gears of War. I. Don't know about it in real life like you, obviously, yeah, but yeah. I had one go off actually, when I was an exercise.
I was about 18 years of age and I still get, well, I don't want to go too much into it. I get a ringing in my right ear. I get tinnitus in my right ear because there's one flash bang. I got tinnitus. Oh yeah. So while I used to go raving, you know, DJ and years ago when I was younger, and because the music was that loud, I never used to wear earplugs. But I don't really get tennis as much now. I can't really hear it. But it used to be really bad. But yeah, it's from the raving days. Younger. When I was younger, I'll.
Go in somewhere. Anyway, all the sound in my right ear will just go completely silent and they go and ring for about two minutes. And it's ever done that since the bloody flash bang went up. I'll get it probably, I don't know, three or four times a week. And I'll be like, right. So yeah, I'll probably have to go to the military and claim some money back of them at some stage. But yeah, all good stuff. That's fair. Good evening, Jasmine. Thanks for popping in. That's nicely or Nova on LinkedIn. That's Jasmine from optic catch.
I don't know. Do you use do you use optic catch ball? So have you ever heard of Foley tech technologies, the ones that they coat the the bulbs in shutterproof glass that is that is but yeah, sports. Hello, because I'm growing memento, but I don't seem to get a lot of people live. I get loads of people after but it's probably because of the time I pick. It probably is. The game of work, cooking up dinner and then trying to sit down and watch a bit of TV at the end of the day. Well, yeah, I'm still new compared to the beauties and beasties podcast.
You know, I am so with with your with your business. What's the most craziest thing you've had to remove? Because I've seen a post once from you and you had to remove something to do and it was something dead indoor. It's not a pest you killed. You had some kind of contract in place where you agreed to pick the dead animals up. But this was quite a big, big well, what was it again? As we had a Congo reel. So yeah, we got a contract with the Ports of London Authority. They deal with the water all the way from sort of graves then down to sort of a Chiswick way and anything that dies and washes up on the foreshores we have to go and get.
We went and got a seal the other day in Chiswick. Everyone thought this seal was alive because his eyes were just open. Yeah, we went and got a seal, but we picked up porpoises as well. They're like small dolphins. And we, we picked up this porpoise and it was like a tourist attraction. We got down near to Gravesend and we thought we've got to try and get this to our van. And the van was about 200 metres away. And we tried using a, a canvas stretcher like you'd take someone off the heels with. So like someone got injured, not like him anyway, that didn't really work.
So we used our telescopic ladders, tied it to our telescopic ladders and use that as a stretcher. Got this to the top of the van. And then we had to drive it to an incinerator in Essex. And this place in Essex, it's a farm. And the, the doors open, you get this big farm, it's like, and behind these doors it was about 200 dead horses. They were gone out and collected all the horses for the day. And I won't go into too much detail what, how they're dealing with these horses, but Oh my God. And yeah, we've got this bloody dolphin.
I remember we'd wrapped the dolphin up and I'm driving behind the van and it's wrapped up in bin bags. The bin bags are flat loose now. And we're going down the, I think it was the a 12. And this towel of the bloody dolphin, that's Porpoise. He's flapping around. And there's people on the motorway going. What on earth is that? Well, I couldn't stop laughing driving behind it. But yeah, we took it to this incinerator yard. But yeah, we picked up Congo reels. We get a dog, but we get a dead dog every two to four weeks.
So I get killed in a fire. They use this fight in the dogs. They throw in the tents and then seals, Swans, cats. Yeah, all sorts. I don't mind doing that. It's quite an interesting job. It's not the nice instinct. How do you, obviously, you say it's like a tourist attraction. How do you deal with the how do you deal with the public? Because imagine they're all getting the phones out and how do you deal with that situation? Because I could imagine you don't really want them to be watching you or getting the, because everyone gets the phone out now, don't they?
The animal, The animal's not dead yet. And you're saying it is? Look. Well, no, yeah, they go with the seals the other week and they were like, because, because I weren't sure, because they were going. We swear we see it move and I'm sort of went down there, jumped down onto the foreshores, my wellies, my waders and I was like, you know, get a bit closer to it. There's no lacerations or marks on it. So you give it a little bit of a kick and then you sort of get your hand on it and go, Oh yeah, he's dead.
But no, most of the times, you know, like the the dolphin, it had been dead a while because it's stunk and had a few like marks in it. But they just sort of take charge of the situation. Didn't you say right. When we go over to it, me and another. So when we get over to it, what's the plan we're going to do? We're going to wrap it in bin bags. We're going to use plastic tyres to get the bin bags all tight around it. We'll then get it on a telescopic ladder and use that as a stretcher. Hopefully that'll work.
So then you just sort of get everyone out of the way. But yeah, I don't mind that with the phone, people's phones. I did have once, it was a Dreams Bedding store in New Cross and they said we've got a pigeon and it was right on one of the I beams right at the top. And I said, well, I need everyone out the Dreams Bedding store because I'm going to shoot. It could have been crapping on all the beds and they were like, well, we can't get everyone out of the store. There's about 100 people in here. What?
Do you want me to? Do then yeah, I said for health and safety, I said I'm going to be shooting up there and I said if it pings back down, you know, I don't want anyone in this vicinity then. So everyone's over in this far side. Next thing you know, all the phones are up and I'm thinking, Oh my God, please do not miss. Anyway, bang. And I smacked it with a pellet, and it fell straight down onto this bed. And I was like, thank you very much. So, yeah. And that I was expecting that video to go on social media and saying, oh, someone's murdered a pigeon.
But no, thankfully that never made it to the Internet. That's good then, but it's. Maybe just. People to this, the people to this day, still watching on their phone the day they gave. It Yeah, yeah you know the pigeon yeah but these things I just said it was necessary because health and safety, the pigeon was pigeon was flying around crapping on people as they were lying on beds testing them and yeah so that was an interesting one I didn't mind doing that and luckily I managed to shoot it first time it's.
Definitely interesting because with with that, but that actual contract you've got with the with the water, water. Yeah, poor London. Yeah, too many pest control firms do work like that. I'd say that's pretty unique. I would too many, many things to find out. Well, they run us. Up during the pandemic again it seems everything seemed during the pandemic and they said we were using a company and we had a dead. I think it was a dead seal at the Tower of London. And instead of wrapping it up, some 2 blokes have decided just to drag this dead seal down the sort of the pathway, all the brickwork next to the Tower of London.
And it did not go down. Well, you can imagine with the public coming in. So they said we've used this company, we're not happy. Is there any? What would you have done in that situation? And I explained that I would have used a canvas stretcher, wrapped it up in bags and you know, all this stuff and have been as discreet as possible. And they were like, OK, can we mind if we give you a go, a trial period? And yeah, we've never not been able to pick one up. I remember years ago they rung us up and said oh, we've got a porpoise and the porpoise the actual size of a porpoise is the biggest one is 6 foot 6.
So you know, whatever. About two, just over 2 metres. I turned up to this place down in where was it Camden? No, it weren't Camden. It was over in East London anyway, Lime kiln dock and this thing was about four metres long and I was like we either got a record porpoise or this ain't a porpoise because I can tell you now this is not going in anyone's van. Anyway. It happened to be a baby Minky. It was a baby Minky. Wow. That washed in and the Thames. So that's to get a specialist company to get in, get a crane, get it out the crane and also wows.
If they spend too long out of water dead, they the gases build up in their stomach and they can explode. So to the labs there and they were like, we've got to stick it in an ISO container. Obviously make sure the ISO container. He said, sometimes we pick these things up and we time we get it back, bang, it's gone off in the ISO container. So it's yeah, not a nice job, but I'm sure they got paid handsomely for it. But yeah, it was an interesting one when they said, yeah, can you come and collect this porpoise?
And it ended up being a bloody well, that's. That's crazy. That really is. I don't mind the jobs. They're interesting. They're interesting ones are the fun ones. No, it's definitely interesting, to be fair. I mean, yeah, it's it's not a thing we offer. There's no, there's no, there's no water like that near us apart from Rutland water, but there's only fish in that. Yeah, it's just, it just depends what? Yeah, I did ATV show. I did something called Steph's Pack Lunch and they said, can you talk about these?
Can you talk about these crabs? And they're invading the waterways and all this lot. And I said, we're pest controllers. We don't deal with bloody crabs. I said, this is this just comes down as the death of the department, food, environmental affairs and they deal with the waterways and they it all comes under the same bracket. Just read up on about these crabs. And then then I was like, so at the end of the segment, they were like, Mark, have you heard about these crabs? And I'm going, yeah, they were found in the Thames back in the whatever, 19th century.
And now they're invading the walkways and they're eating up fish eggs and all this. And I'm just making it up as I go along. And I'm thinking there's some expert there. He's going to be going. What's he talking about, that lad? But yeah, so, but yeah, anything, I don't know, anything interesting, anything out the ordinary, I like going to even like, I don't know, we do for those. We'll be careful what we say. But you know, people don't encounter properties, they die and they're not found straight away.
So they might sort of lie there for a couple of months and then suddenly someone's gone round to check on them. And then we go and do the cleans afterwards so you can see where the person's been and there's a bit of no fluid on the floor and they say right, just clear the whole place out and I don't mind doing them. So it's just a bit sad when you've got to start throwing their jewellery away and, you know, pictures because they've got no family. But yeah, that's some really good ones like that.
So, well, I shouldn't say good ones, but interesting ones where you're clearing out these flats and things and you sort of go from like not a nice environment to making it all nice and clean. You can see the fruits of your labour at the end of the day if you like. Another interesting. One is that bio Is that what they call biohazard cleaning? We call them a yeah, we call them a biohazard clean as such. We go in with the hospital grade fluid and things and drip up the carpets and spray all this. I mean, I mean had it once there was maggots coming through a ceiling in one place in Hammersmith and I was thinking what on earth has died up there?
And I was like coming through everywhere. Went to the flat upstairs anyway and I thought there was something going on a bit, you know, not not too good. And it was a dead body. A girl had been murdered upstairs and that would have maggots were coming through. So yeah, but I didn't see. Yeah, I just, they just called the police and everything. But yeah, all these maggots kept coming through. I was thinking, I don't know what is dead in the roof space, but it's either massive rats. What? It couldn't have been a rat.
It's just, it's just ongoing these maggots. So, yeah. But again, you see all sorts in London. Yeah, it sounds like it. So do you. Did you volunteer to do the crime scene clean up? To be fair, I didn't get the opportunity. I would have done. I would have done but yeah, but yeah. I know there's money in that as well. I think I've heard of a company up in North London, they've done it before where someone's killed themselves with a gun and they've done the clean up after that and that see that wouldn't I wouldn't mind doing that.
That would interest me just because it's something different. I think your your screens got a bit funny, Sean. Give me a give me a second. I'll come back in. Just hold tight. That's all right. Must be the entire I've. Got 500 up, 500 down. I don't know what's going on. Believe that or not, I've got Virgin Media Internet. I have. I have. Yeah. I bet it's annoying. I like being on video. I've got a face I've got, I've got a face for radio. So we'll both go Incognito. All right, hold on, hold on a minute.
Just going to have to stay like this for the minute then. Yeah, I'm sure it'll come back. Yeah, I don't understand what's wrong with it, but yeah, that's from being asked the bloody camera. It's not gone wrong in a while. It hasn't, but. Oh, that's all right mate. These things happen. I'm sure it will come back in. But yeah, the dead body cleans is something we'll have to try and maybe speak to the police about and see if we get a contract for that. That'd be all right.
Hello. All right. Yeah. I don't know why the camera's not working, but we're going to have to. Sorry. Carry on. Sorry about that. Are you all right, mate? So yeah, that was a bit. We'll try and get a contract maybe for the dead body cleans at some stage if the police need any more help with that. But yeah, but anything interesting jobs other than be removal, I don't mind sort of getting my hands dirtier, find them more interesting and going out, sorting out Mrs Smith's mice down the road. So yeah.
That's fair, but it's it's. What most interesting jobs you do?
We just do your standard stuff like moles, squirrels, rats, mice, Wasps, moths, bed bugs, fleas, what else? Carpet Beetle. We don't do yeah, we don't do moles. We've never done everyone a mole job. You have grass. I don't think you have grass in London, do you? Not so much of it, but I've never seen a mole here in like the Commons, like Clapham Common or Peggy so. But yeah, very rarely. What's obviously it's traps, but yeah, I wouldn't even know. Well, I know where to begin, but I wouldn't know the what to do so much wouldn't be.
I'd have to have a read up on it beforehand. Yeah, it's not, it's not that difficult. It's just a case of trying it. There's no real, you know, it's just a case of trying it. Yeah. So we, we increased our business by doing mole control. Actually I joined the British Molecat just register as well. That's like a body that like you can be in and they advertise you on their site as well. And it's like makes you look more official if you do a mole control. But we, we have increased business by doing mole control.
But I didn't think you'd you'd have mole control to be fair in London. I mean, I know I grew up in Norfolk. I know my old man sort of sticks some traps in the molehills and catches a few now and then, but I was. Literally it you put the mole traps in, cover it over, put a little bit of a little stick in. You don't I'm Dick could say they're nice coloured pieces of plastic. You stick in the ground so you can see where you where your traps are. And that's basically it. You just just come back. There's nothing terrible Advanced traditional mole trapping.
Do you have? Do you have to dig down and try and find the tunnels? I've got like a Dipper. It's like a Dipper thing where you can dip it into the ground to find the tunnels. It will go down it, it will, you'll hear it and you'll go and you do it four times and then you know you've got the tunnel and you get a new field for the tunnels. And no one hasn't come through to me when I'm feeling for the tunnels. Yeah. It's that's not happened, Elaine. So, So what would I obviously you're saying your favourite jobs are all them kind of special jobs, but have you got a favourite type of pest that you love dealing with specifically like AI don't know moths or something like that or?
I mean, I think fleas, I used to not like doing fleas, but I find fleas being the easiest pest we treat now. I think they're quite easy once you go, you know, you know, like, besides, they're fairly easy. I mean, squirrels are probably the easiest, hardest thing with squirrels obviously having to get the ladders up just to go and block the hole at the end if you can't do it from the inside. But yeah, I think the ones we like dealing with are the easy ones, really just squirrels. Moths can be a bit of a pain in the backside because we're in people's clothing as well, and you tell them to freeze their clothing and that can be a bit of a nightmare.
But no squirrels and yeah, fleas. I don't mind bed bugs either. I think bed bugs are fairly easy enough once you know where to look. Yeah. So I don't. Yeah, I've never had a yeah. So I don't think I've ever had a job beat me. Like, it's not a bit sort of sound like a bit of a twat or anything. But yeah, moths is probably the one we get called back for occasion. We've done a few like some big sort of royal family people in their big estates and they had moths coming down. There was 7 floors, there's a lift in there.
It's huge place. It's worth. Well, then I read it was about £100 million this place plus and, and they had moths ongoing. So eventually went up into the loft space. And this loft space is huge. And it was all wool insulation. So you think, Blimey, it's, and it's just teeming with moths. And you pull back sort of this fell and you can just see all the larvae just there. And I was like, Oh my God. So I said to them that this is the situation we've got. You've got natural insulation made of wool that's infested.
And they went, well, that was the only put in three years ago. And I was like, well, that's what's happened in three years. And it's just a, it's just, yeah, a haven up there. And it's so warm as well. So they didn't want insecticides as such. So I, no, they wanted, didn't mind me doing a few 1 fog to kill all the adults. And then after that they didn't want to put more insecticides. So I started using that trigger gamma. They made small insects. So you put these small insects which lay their eggs in the moth eggs.
So they're like a little parasite. Well, parasite, parasite. But yeah, so. Is it parasitic Wasps? Is that what they exactly? Are that's the trigger gamma parasitic wasp. So they lay five eggs into the moth egg and then obviously five more and they, the larvae of that parasitic wasp, we'll then sort of give every five boss come out of that. Then they lay their eggs. Obviously half of the boys, half of the girls, give or take. So yeah, I said it's going to take a while. I said this is an overnight fix.
We'll kill all the adults. We'll keep sticking the moth monitors out and we've new enough. Got it all sorted in the seven floors. It was just this loft space and they were using the riser cupboards and popping out the riser cupboards with sticking tape around the riser cupboards. And I think we did it for about a year. And they spent a lot of money with us on this, you know, these parasitic Wasps. And then the whatever society came in the what they called listed what they did about the listed buildings and they said what we're going to do, we're going to take out all the wool insulation and we're going to replace it with new fibreglass.
And I said we should have done this about a year ago because, you know, not that we're going to complain, but you had to save these oils a lot of money. Anyway, they did it. And about six months later we got a call saying we've still got we've still got a lot of moths. So I went round there and they'd left some of the insulation and not only that, what I put in my reports, all the curtains in there, these huge silk curtains all over the place, They've got wool inside the silk and all the moths are in there.
And I said to them you've got to either take these out and freeze it, just freeze the big huge chest, freeze and just freeze all the curtains. But they didn't do it anyway. And half some of the insulation is still left. So I've got to go around there in next week. I've got to go around there and just go and do another survey and say, well, you know, you've still got this installation. You've still not done the curtains. But that's another interesting one because, you know, you go through all the security gates and you do all this stuff.
It's it's quite fun. And you know, I don't mind doing all that. And you get to speak to a few of them. So yeah, that's more interesting as well. So, yeah, especially when you sort of said, you know, you've got to do this and do that and they don't do it. And then they call you back and you feel like tell you. A recommendation for that for a reason. That's what you pay for. Exactly. If they want to keep paying for us to come out, great. So, but yeah, that's quite interesting job as well. So them ones, but yeah, I don't know, unusual ones I got two weeks ago, the council asked me to go out in Lewisham.
They wanted to chop a tree down but they were worried there was bats in it. What was that? Bats in a tree in Lewisham. I said yeah, the, the neighbours are fighting to have this tree drop down in this garden in a Lewisham council property and they want someone to go out. And I said, well I ain't a bat expert. And I said but I can go out and have a look. And I said can you just give us something? So the chances there being a bat in a tree in Lewisham, I can tell you now is slim to numb. So I anyway, I got my telescopic ratters up, had a look.
There's no hollows in the tree. I didn't start getting bloody, you know, whatever telescopes out and all this lot testing the trees and all this stuff you're supposed to. And I just went back to him and said, look, I can't see any hollows in the tree. I can't see any nesting sites. I can't there's no there's no branches on it either. The. Tree. The tree company, the tree surgeon has already chopped all the branches off, so it was just, you know, the oak bit. Anyway, Cat, Long story short, I gave them that and then they chopped the tree down but didn't go damn well with the neighbours.
So yeah, but that was never had never had a back call out in all the years either. Wow, we shouldn't go, should we? No so but that we shouldn't. It's not not our job to be passive. Get a bat specialist, but I'll still go. Have a look at that. Yeah, well, that's fair. I mean and that will bat specialist that will cost you. Yeah, well, I know what to look for if it's in a loft space, you know, you know, they're, you know, secretions or the defecations of the exco sell it as insects. They're crunchy rather than sort of like whatever mice droppings or whatever it'll be.
But yeah. But I don't know. We don't get them in London. Bats in people's homes and such. They're probably in the Home Counties more so. Yeah. Oh. That's interesting to know they did not know that. OK. I've never in all the years yet 10 years, never heard of anyone having bats in their homes in London. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but never heard of it, never seen it, but so it's got to be more Home Counties, I'm sure of it. Oh, that's, that's fair. Have you got a neat voice for people say they wanted to set up their own pest control business and any kind of advice you could give off your your experience that you've got?
Any advice? I mean, I think pest control is one of the more, I don't know, inexpensive trades If you like to go into so it's too costly. You can probably if you're going to go into it, you've got to have a bit of a strong stomach. I would say be willing to not get your hands dirty. You know, be willing to get your hands dirty. Sorry, you can't be too shy. Unfortunately you are going to come across maybe having to kill an animal with traps or if someone says, you know, you're going to be locked in a bathroom with a rat and it's you versus the rat.
So going with the rubber mallet. But now my advice would be, yeah, it's very inexpensive to get a van, sort of three £400 a month maximum, and the courses aren't very expensive. I don't think you can do it like a tick test. My advice would be if you're going to go into it, yeah, maybe work for a company for a minimum of six months, learn the ways if you like and then go off on your own. I wouldn't sort of just go into it without doing the job first because if you don't like it and you've invested a load of money into equipment, vans, courses and then a year down the line you don't like it, it's just been a bit of a waste.
So I always say if you are going to go into a business, you start a business, you have to give it 1000 days. If you can give it a 1000 days and at the end of that 1000 days you can't see that you're getting repeat business. There's not a need for your product or service, then you're probably not going to get anywhere. But if you are seeing repeat business, good word of mouth, there is a genuine need for your product or service, whatever business you go into, then you cracked it. And after that thousand days, the three-year point, essentially you then start seeing the money start coming in.
And then hopefully by year 8, you're in a very in a good position financially, not saying millionaires or anything, but certainly in a financial position to put down deposits for a house, have some savings and things like that. That's what I think and what I've seen through other people who've started businesses. No, that's because that's some, that's some good advice. That is. Yeah, I'm sure people will appreciate that because like, I'd never work for another pest control company, you say? I just work for my dad, you say.
So I haven't had any experience working with any other firms or the national, the nationals or anything. So I'll just wait in for my dad. You see, I've never worked for. Him. Your dad saw you, didn't he? Well, yeah, yeah. So that's it? Yeah. So you had the opportunity to work. Yeah. So just starting blind. I still do though, I still work my dad every day. Exactly. Yeah. So that was one of you. So if you have a son or whatever or someone you know. I've got a son. They can work with you for six months or a year and if they then want to break away, because that's what I did to my mate and mine who owns Combat Pest Control.
I worked with him for 9 or 10 months and then I was at that sort of crossroads. Do I carry on being a franchise or do I break away and do it myself? And I thought, well, the money's there. Because that's the good thing about pest control. No one really knows what a lump of pest control costs. Do you know what I mean? Because the big boys someone there's a bed bug job to down a four bedroom property. They rung out, be careful because I know the people. They went Pimlico Plumbers and they got a bit of a quote which was quite eye watering.
And then they rung up us. And then I spoke to the lady lady today and she was going, why is the price so different? And the husband wanted to pay this extortionate fee for them to come and do a four bedroom bed bug property because they didn't want a pest control van outside the house. And Pimlico Plumbers, they think it was plumbers coming to treat the property, not pest controllers. And they said it's a reputable name. So we know they're not going to be done over. They're not someone's not going to do a poor job and things like this.
And I was thinking it's such a really sort of odd thing that, you know this, there's a even 1000 lbs discrepancy between my quote and the Pimlico plumbers quote. And that's the thing. People don't know how much a lump of pest control costs. So if you're pretty good at the job, you can sort of start setting whatever you like within reasons. Obviously in London we've got maybe where you are, you're going to have affluent areas like we have not Hill, Chelsea, Kensington, W London where people have got money.
And when you come to sort of some of the Badlands, maybe Lewis Human, Well, be careful what I say because there are some nicer areas, but you cannot have people aren't going to be a Sir affluent. So you have to sort of sort of balance the prices accordingly to what you think people can afford. That's fair. I mean, obviously everyone thinks we're multi millionaires here in Rutland. It's the reputation we've got. I can confirm that's not true. I'm not one of them. I'll go on company S later and have a look at your books.
Well, you won't find a millionaire millionaires, but who knows? You never know. If only. If only we're that big. But who knows? I. Think it must be more harder out in the country. So because I mean, yeah, pest controllers in London, obviously the more people there are, the more food waste there is. More stressed. It's why we cover a wider area, so we don't just cover Rutland, we cover Stamford, Bourne, Lincolnshire into Corby. So we cover like a 2025 mile, maybe 30 mile radius of Oakham. But we wouldn't have a business otherwise.
If it was purely Rutland, we wouldn't have a business. No, Well, I always think like going back to Norfolk and started a pest control company. It wouldn't be so bad because obviously Norwich is the big city in Norfolk. But yeah, I just think, you know, just working out in the rural side to be quite difficult. Whereas I think, you know, rent Akil were buying up loads of companies a few years ago. And when they were hitting countries like Paraguay and things and they were just going to the major cities in these places like the capital cities and buying companies there just to get their foot in the door in these locations.
Because you got to go to, you know, the big cities or, you know, bigger towns and things where you know, you're going to get pests because you're only going to have farms doing rats on farms all the time would probably farmers, although they aren't a bit under it at the moment anyway with costs and things. So they probably don't have you spending extortionate amount on pest control. To get on with farmers, you really need to have been a farmer. I'll be honest, I don't get on with farmers that well when I do pest control.
You need to know, you need to know how to speak to a farmer because they won't trust you to start with. So it's in pest control. I would call it an art. Getting on with big farmers. No wrong with them, it's just you need to know how to get on with them, how to speak to them, you do. I think that's most customers actually. Well, that's. True, to be fair, but I'll take that. That's a little bit more awkward, I would say. But some people get get on with them really well. You know, it depends on the farmer, but it is.
But they like more people that grew up on farms and if you talk to them that they're more trusting, if you get what I mean. I understand what they're not trusting. Yeah, well, I. Think everyone's. I think farmers, yeah, well, they probably a bit more of a secluded lifestyle, didn't grow up in a city, probably didn't go to university and have, say, social skills because that'll be probably a bit bad on them. But I didn't go to university. But I've not been around people too much, so very cautious.
But yeah, well, I grew up in Norfolk. There's a lot of farmers and I can understand why people are a bit more cautious. But yeah, but in the pest control world, I think you sort of, not only pest controllers, you some sort of have to turn into counsellors and things. I mean, even only on Friday I had to, was a bit of a difficult customer and my lads had said we we can't, you know, we're not dealing with it anymore. So I went round there and she was, yeah, Hadaman, she's got bed bugs. So I've searched it properly.
There's no evidence of any faecal matter. There's no sheds of skin, there's nothing. She's had a few bites and then she just went. She just started screaming at me going I am so angry that you won't treat my property. These things are biting me while I'm in the shower. And I said, what do you mean they're biting you in the shower? She goes, I can feel them physically biting me in the shower. I said they can't be biting you in the shower because they're usually called bed bugs for a reason. They should be around the bed most of the time.
You won't be able to transport them on clothes, but they shouldn't still be on you. And I said you'll be able to see them. And then she went and she slammed her hand down the table and she went, are you stupid? You cannot see bed bugs. And I was, I thought, oh God, here we go. So either then you've got to try and be as polite as possible because you're in someone's home at the end of the day and you're trying to allocate them as much as possible. And yeah, so in the end, made a sharp exit as best I can.
I said, look, there's nothing here for us to treat. We've carried out, you know, free survey. If you do come across bed bugs, then great, let us know and we'll come back. But at this moment in time, we've not got bed bugs. Anyway, she wouldn't show me the door. She didn't say goodbye. She just said, she just said to me, so you're not going to just spray my whole house? And I was like, Oh my God. I said no, we're not going to spray the whole house. That's even. That's even worse though, ain't it?
I've seen cases where we've been you would have been called and like, you honestly can't see anything and then you've done, you know, sometimes because you've got you've got to make you, you've got to, you know, we charge a little call out fee because you've got to cut off you, you fuel fueling now. And we've actually said you haven't got anything and we've got a call later saying, well, you're a charlatan. And we were. Why are we charlatan? We didn't didn't treat you. There's no issue. We just charge you a small, you know, survey fee.
He says if I was a charlatan could have charged shipped the whole amount and took your money, but we didn't like we're not allowed to. That was that was a serious case, though of delusional parasitosis. It was it's not not nice to see because she say to you, you can see them calling all over my face, couldn't you? I can't, yeah. You got to be you can't even be careful when we're not. We're not trained for this, are we To have to talk to them? You just got to learn it on the job, aren't you? Be nice.
You've got companies out there who will just go. Yeah, Do you know what? I think there is something here and they will make up something I've done. A1 company did a heat treatment not so long back and there was nothing there and they showed me. They showed me the girl had actually kept something in a test tube. What they said was a bed bug and it was a stone. And I was like, you paid a few 1000 lbs in, yeah, Clerkenwell in central London for a heat treatment for this stone. And you think, Christ Almighty, they were having a field day.
So you think, you know, Wes, and she was happy to do that because, you know, they've said, yes, you've got something in there as a stone. I mean, I've got a customer at the moment. He's an elderly gentleman with Alzheimer's and he rings up every day and he says, Mark, you need to get round here. There's rats. They're they're making noises in the bedroom they're making. I always say to them that if there's something here trapped, it's going to cause a lot of mess and it'll be, you know, being destructive because there's no food in here.
It's like a concrete room as well. He's never had any problems. So I just say, look, we'll leave a little bit of peanut butter down on a waterproof card that we have. Let's see if it goes. And then a week later, it's still not been touched. And I say to him, look, there's something here. You know, it's starving because he can't get out of this room and he's barricaded with bricks and everything else. And you feel so sorry for the you feel sorry so, so sorry for the man because he's in his 80s. He's certainly got outside more.
Something's on set because he's got notes up around the House of which way to go and he's just so paranoid and he calls about two or three times a day. And as you say, you're not trained to deal with, you know, this sort of, you know, people and you don't want to be that person to go. Have you spoken to your GP at all? Because then they, you know, it upsets them. So yes. And at the same time, you don't want to me and ourselves and say, look, we can't keep coming round because there's nothing there.
On the other hand, you think we we can't keep coming round because your half hour drive away to get there, 20 minutes to try and calm the person down, half hour back. And we're not charging anything for this because we've got him under a set warranty of sort of six months because we told him there's no rats in the house. So yes, it is. A is a hard one, but you know it is. I've never heard of that before. You've just said. I've never heard of someone thinking they've got rats when they haven't. I've only heard of it in regards to insects.
That's quite interesting. Yeah. Well, he he hears noises and not that I'm going to give his name, but he no. Don't. Don't do that, no. No, he puts, he puts things on the side. He might spill a bit of water and he said there's rat urine. There's rat urine all over my kitchen units. And you get, you know, I've gone round there before and there's no more that you said, oh, it's dried up now. And then he'll take a picture of it and so send it through. And basically it's like a round circle where he's put his coffee mug there and he's washed it up and there's a round circle and then he's taking it away and he's taking a picture of it going, look, it's a rat urine.
And you say it's a coffee mug stain where you've washed your coffee mug up. So. But bless him, you're sort of fighting against that. So I've got to go round tomorrow afternoon. I said look, I promise you I'll be round there tomorrow to have a look just to calm him down again because he's trying, not not crying, but he's really scared down the phone that he's got rats living in one of the rooms or they're in the kitchen and things and they're not. So yeah, but that was, it's only ever happened to me twice.
This the rat one. But yeah, the the insect ones is quite big where people think there's something on them when they're sleeping at night or yeah, feel this fabric. I'm sure there's something living in this fabric. See, like with the with the bedbug one view you mentioned, like Google's a great tool. You can learn how bedbugs bite you, but for the most part, people can't. It's when you're asleep, people can't feel the bite, can they? Because you you could. Because they. What's the term? They inject an anticoagulant and you stop the blood clotting.
That's it, but you can't feel it anyway. No, it's such a small thing. It's like a mosquito. You don't really feel a mosquito by and once they put the anticoagulant it numbs the area. That's what that's what it meant. Yeah. So but Google is there. But then again, with Google as well, if she puts in you can't see, you can't see bedbugs, there'll be loads of sites telling you yeah, you can't see bedbugs well. That's the thing with Google, it's, it doesn't give you a true reflection or the true answer because there's so much, you know, discrepancy with what they're putting in.
But yeah, Google, you know, even if I typed in, you know, I've got a bit of a sore head. Google might tell me that I've got a brain tumour. And then you start panicking. You can't sleep, you think, right, I need to go and get ACT scan or something. But yeah, so, but anyway, I showed the the lady the bed bugs. I went, look, this is the job I was at yesterday or one of my guys was at and there's the bed bugs and she's going but she won't have it. She's got it so dead set in her mind. Anyway, I got shouted at and yeah, I left the property and she was screaming and she wanted me to so fumigate the property and I said well, I can't fumigate.
Fumigation is not great for bedbugs. Plus we don't you fumigate. We frog insecticide fogging, but we don't use that for bedbugs either. It's got to be a wet insect, so. But yeah, I didn't want to go into too many technicalities because she was not best pleased with me. So yeah, but that's it really. So, But yeah, the pest control world other than I don't mind dealing with a pest, but it's the people that's the most difficult, so. It is a big learning point. It's like when I first joined the firm, I couldn't speak to customers.
I didn't know how to. It took me quite a long time now can't stop me talking. You know what I mean? It's not a skill that if you're obviously, if you work for a national, they teach you and how to talk to people, I believe. But the average, average pest control course, they don't teach you how to talk to the customers. It's just having a job, isn't it? It is. Well. Once you know, if you're knowledgeable on the subject you're there to do, it's great you can talk about that. But I always try and be a bit more jovial and a bit more funny, you know, you know, even just turning up like how are we getting on today?
All right. And then once you get into that conversation, you know, or we just got back from holiday and I go, oh, anywhere nice. And then they tell you a bit about their holiday. So you try and get on that little bit of a friendlier term straight away. So I always think, yeah, even when I'm selling a job, I always think the best thing to do is ask questions. If you ask more questions, you ask them, the more chance they are. So you're going to win the win the job. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know.
Where are you getting the bites on your body? You're up a torso, legs. Oh, yeah, we're getting bitten around the ankles all the time. Do you have a pet? Oh, yeah, we've got a cat or it's going to be fleas or whatever it is. The more questions you ask, the more they trust you and then seem to always win the job. Whereas if you just sort of say, oh, you're getting bites, so it could be anything, right, the cost is this and they'll go away and not come back. So yeah, it's best to be interested and ask questions.
But even when you're face to face, I'll try and be a bit more jovial, make a few jokes or whatever else within reason, and then go from there, really. Yeah, no, you're right. It is. I don't always. Sometimes they don't ask about the job. I just tell them when I'm what's happened and then I'll say I've sent, I've sent you paperwork, you know, not it's all digital now We use. I said we're back next week. But because some people actually tell you because like I've had some customers where if I've got rats, could you tell me that I've got mice?
What do you mean? This is a part I've had a like part said just tell her she's got mice. She's terrified of rats. That's about you asking me to lie. Oh, yeah, she'll feel better. I was like, you know what I mean? She says. She she'll freak out. I'll just say you've got rodents. There you go. Yeah, I see. Probably best. Yeah, you do. You want to start lying and you get yourself into it. Yeah. Those you send in a report at the end of the day with the true information on. Right. It's all on there. Yeah, but you go on.
No, it's I always put it on that, obviously. But I've had people say, can you just tell the wife it's, it's my, it's not that I don't like, I don't like lying. Yeah. And and then I go I, I just say we there. You've got rats. Oh yeah, I said, well, I don't like to lie, you know what I mean? You're not supposed to lie about something, are you really? You're you're professional as. Long as you've got it on a, as long as you've got it on paperwork, that's that's the main thing I'd say. Yeah. But yeah, what I was going to say.
I had some bloke take me to court the other week. Yeah, solicitor took me to court because he sold a house and we'd recommended taking a bit of his kitchen out to block a hole up. And he tried to sue me for GDRP or GDPR because the old, the new tenants or the new homeowners wanted to basically have the reports of the, the whole, the purport that mentioned having the whole blocked up, which we did. We didn't give him any information and yeah, so he took us to court saying we broke GDPR, but the judge awarded everything to us anyway.
Well done. I did. I did. I did say that on LinkedIn, Yeah, there's the most there's most pest firms or we just bow over, wouldn't they? And not fight it you. Know well he wanted £1200 so so yeah, he wanted £1200 and offered him £500 to go away anyway. So I had to go to Weymouth Crown Court and yeah, I've managed to, yeah, win the argument, but it's I've got up at 4:00 in the morning to drive all the way down there. So it was a pain in the backside anyway. One that one that came to that was the main thing.
That's all that, Matt, as it proves that you're reporting and what you provided was adequate to not break the rules. Yeah, just give me two seconds. I just need to drop something off to someone. Yeah, no problem. No problem. Thanks for joining in everyone and watching. If you're watching back back on on Apple Podcast and Spotify, my camera has gone off. I don't know why, but Mark's happy for me to carry on without a camera on. That was nice of him. Sorry, yes, I'm going to. Pick something up from my flat.
So yes. That's fine. That is, but what do you think it's going to be the future of pest pest management, like we say the next next from now to like next five years or within the future? It's it's, it's ever evolving, didn't it? It is. Yeah, I mean, there was something, I was in a meeting the other day, a bit of a veterans, but look, I'm in a veteran committee and they're trying to get veterans or of service leavers into jobs and things. And someone mentioned AI jobs and they, if he has a website that you can type in, will AI take my job?
And it was like accountancy, it says 91% chance that AI in the next 10 years is going to take your job. And I talked in pest control and it was something like 4% chance of AI taking your jobs. You think, well, that's great because our industry, no one's ever going to be able to take that away from us. So well, not a computer or you know, technology. So that's the good thing. But the future of pest control, I think the biggest concern would be the restrictions that are going to keep coming in on the insecticides that we use.
You know, sort of fire candy has been taken away from us. We had, you know, Goliath gel was fantastic for cockroaches. And I believe it was found in a couple of eggs, I think in a farm. And that's why it was taken off because Fit Bernard was found in some eggs. But the worst thing is that we're just going to be left with the mousetrap and a bit of cheese at the end of the day. With all those options I would hope that don't happen, but. Yeah, we fingers crossed, but I think there's just quite a lot of restrictions and the way the world's going a little bit, it's making our life a bit more difficult, but it's not.
Maybe we've got a bit more intuitive, but yes, but I think the pest control world is good. That's why you've got these, you know, these firms buying up pest control companies left, right and centre, like Virgo. How many companies have Virgo brought up recently? Yeah, I think Rent a Key would be doing the same if they were allowed to. But I think they're under some restrictions because they bought up too many and they're not allowed to hold too much of the pie. So people see it as a profitable business.
I actually spoke to an American guy a few years back, about four years ago when I was climbing a mountain and he was an, he was an investment guy and he said him, him and his firm. We're starting to invest in things like pest control because we're investing in companies such as plumbing companies, electrical companies, pest control companies, because we see there's just a, you know, a trajectory all the way of steady profits constantly. It's not too, it doesn't fluctuate up and down. You know, we're having a Goodyear bad year, but it just seems to be a continued gradual growth.
So it's a good investment opportunity. So the pest control, in my opinion, I think it's yeah, I think it's lucrative in industry, it's itself and I think it's got, you know, a longevity and a long longevity even. So we're going to be good. I know as long as you're good at what you do, you can handle the customers. Yeah, so I think we're laughing. Yeah, no, that's a good view. I think that over time digital will come into into play more with like digital, digital monitoring boxes as well because I'm currently doing a trial with Syngenta through the MPTA where I've got I'm actually doing digital monitoring as well.
So quite fun it is, but it's something I'm trying because I, you know how I am on LinkedIn. I said that digital monitoring will never work for small businesses and MPTA seen it and now they wanted me to sign up for see what I actually thought of it from the, the small business perspective. But yes, but it's, it's fun. It's, it's something different. It is but. I think technology has got a part to play in the industry. It's just, and I don't think the technology's there yet, if you like, you know what I mean?
Like electric cars, people like five years ago would say the technology, electric cars isn't quite there. And I think now it's near enough there. Do you know what I mean? With electric vehicles, the charging points, the infrastructure has all been built, whereas I think pest control, it's just sort of been on the back burner a little bit. And I've seen the rent a kill. Is it the CO2 canisters which send off a signal that there's an animal in there? But you know, one of the lads who worked, used to work for me, he was rent a kill and he'd say we'd get called out to these bloody monitors and someone, someone had kicked him or someone had sort of the power, they'd been a power trip and some of them had gone off and things like this.
And so it wasn't, they weren't reliable enough. And the last thing you want to be doing is making, you know, call outs, false call outs and it's just a waste of money if it's just because someone's kicked one of your boxes, you know what I mean? So it needs to be a bit more sturdier. Yeah, I think you could have, I think you could have like a favourite camera in the business, even though it's not a pest control camera, it's the Rio Link cameras. You could put a Rio Link up with them. And I think that they were talking about on the beauties and beasties that you could get a camera.
But the AI, it's not a security camera. It's AI knows exactly what rodent or animal is nearby and you're hone in on it once it sees it. That may be part of the future as well. Not saying every not every job, but it will be a tool. I used it once for rear links where well we thought it. Obviously the client thought it was mice and I stuck the rear link up and it were birds. It was. Yes, obviously. But yeah, it confirmed it. How expensive are these? I've not used any of these to how they're out there.
The cameras. What the Rio Link £100. That's it. So if you're using £100 and you've got, I don't know, 8 customers to go and see you in the day. I'll tell you. I'll tell you who uses them. Mark Porter in London. Do you know Mark? Do you know Mark Porter? Porter's Pest Control. Porter's pest. Yeah, I know. I've never met him, but I know of Porter's Pest Control. He does very well when he uses Rio links in a lot of his properties, houses domestic job he does and he does very well out of using rear links as part of his package with trapping because he what he does is he he does it where traps go off the camera sees it.
He sends someone out to retrieve the body, reset and repeat. But he he does quite well out of using rear links. I've not had great success out of actually selling the, you know, the camera included with the 24 hour. I haven't had, well, I don't live in the kind of area that I'd probably get away with it in, but. That's it all comes down to the selling technique. If you can sell that out of you can if you're making any cost, but if you're paying out £100 a customer and you've got 8 customers to see it there, it means you've got £800 worth of equipment of these.
Channels. But then you can you reuse them, can't you? Yeah, you can be using of course, but yeah, it's just that initial outlay. And, but if they're successful and they're given the information that you need and you're catching animals, then then great. Yeah, but it's not, we have got one or two, but we it's not something I'm not the best in selling, but I think Mark has got the gift of the gap like like yourself. Yeah. I mean selling, Yeah, selling. I mean, yeah. So I mean, if you people always want the best, you know what I mean?
You can just sit on the phone. You know, this is the best technology out there with, you know, whatever it does, these cameras, what is it just doing? Is it identify? And obviously you set a trap up in front of it and identify. No, these REO links, they're not pest control. They're literally motion cameras. So you can just watch the camera. So it's not. Yeah, so it's. So it's on a motion show on your phone. It goes off as an alert. It may not be anything but, but I think that's the way it's going to go.
Eventually someone's going to come up with an AI version that will detect it, but most pest controls use use real links. They do. OK. And then it's probably, but then he's, if you're on a small team, I'm not going to play devil's advocate a bit and I'm sure Mark would be on the other side of the fence. Then you've got to have someone monitoring the cameras. So the last thing I want to be doing is sat there at 9:00 at night while I'm down the pub having a beer and then my phone goes off and go, oh look, Mrs. Smith has got a rat in her loft space.
So whether it all goes back to a central system, which I'm sure it does sort of it probably. It probably does. That yeah, you see if it goes back to your CRM system and it leaves you an alert and it tells you the customer something's gone off on the camera and in the mornings you go through it or with a fine tooth Cam and you go dum, dum, dum. But I think that, yeah, in some ways that might, if it saves you going to the property to look at the traps, great. But if you still said you're going to go back next week anyway to look at the traps, the animal shouldn't have decomposed too much in within sort of 5-6 day period.
So but yeah, it's all, I don't know, swings and roundabouts. But if it's working for someone, then, you know, obviously I'd never knock it. And then I'd love to sort of speak to someone and go, right, that's working for you and you're doing quite well out of it. I'd like to know what you're doing and how you're doing it and not to sort of nick people's business because I think we all say there's enough business to go around for everyone. Do you know what I mean? Especially in major cities. So you're not treading on anyone's toes.
And if you can offer a better service and you can learn a better service, then great. But at the moment it seems to work for us doing what we're doing. So let's. Stick to it. It's it's not something he's he's hidden. He actually talked talked about it on the beaties and beasties. He actually recommended that others can do it if they want. It's something they offer. Yeah, me, he's he he was on the beauties and beasties. Beasties. He's coming on my he's coming on this podcast soon. He. Is as well.
I'll have a. I'll reach out to him and have a word and I'll look at the. Beauty. I've met him in person, but he seems like a very nice guy. He does. He does. Catch up with him. I think I'll follow him on LinkedIn and that lot. But yeah, well, maybe that is the tech. Maybe that is the future, you know, this sort of technology, cameras and things. But yeah, who knows? Everything's different there. Everything's going to change in the next sort of five to 10 years anyway, I'm sure, So we'll see how it is.
I mean, we've got electric vans now. Do you know what I mean? We don't pay congestion charge. We don't know. Parking's a lot cheaper as well when we go into certain boroughs. And obviously, yeah, it's cheaper to charge it. I. Think for you that that works for for us electric wouldn't work. The countryside is not geared up for electric vehicles and the amount of the amount of miles, the amount of miles we do, we would we would be needing a charge pretty quick. Exactly. The lads go around about, I think we do around about 40 to 60 miles a day, give or take whatever the battery gives you.
So and charging it up costs, I don't know, 1520 lbs to charge it up and that will give you whatever 150 miles. So it works out cheaper. So that's what it just comes down to, being cost effective and ticking the box. Do you know what I mean? It helps sometimes we say we've got a fleet of electric vehicles and people go, oh, we'll buy into that, you know, and it's not to do. And I'll be honest, you know, it's not for us to go, Oh yeah, we want to be green. We want to help the environment and all this lot because no one knows where the carbon, you know what, you know what we're doing, the emissions of vehicles is causing harm to the environment.
No one can 100% say yes, that's what's causing global warming. We do it because businesses like to do it. We want a contract with Sony to look after their buildings in London because because we were green and we were doing the right thing. So yes, so that that sort of thing goes down well with certain major corporations because everyone's trying to buy into this carbon neutral thing. So yes, if we play the game and keep them sort of corporations happy, then so be it. It might be some work, but yes.
But that's it. It's all about playing the game as you know. Yeah, it definitely is. It definitely is. Now, I know we mentioned it at the start, but in case people haven't tuned into their start, but you, you wrote a book, didn't you? I would show it on camera, but my camera's not working. Pest, Pest to piece. It's a really good book. It's, it's not like you have your military stories, but then you link it to a pest control situation. And I, I really like it. I know it's meant for the public, but I actually like it.
I've I've took a few notes actually on certain situations I have. Yeah, I've written a book whilst I was working in the Middle East in private security because I have a lot of time, sort of, you know, in the evenings. So I just wrote down all these stories that happened either when I was in the Army, even when I was out on like an expedition somewhere climbing a mountain and someone fell and whatever else about all these little short stories. And I thought one day I'll put them in a book. And then I was on a business course and I said the best business card you will ever have is a book.
Because no one ever throws a book away when you're in a meeting or you're with a high profile customer or a customer or you're in a tender meeting. When you leave, just give them a book because they're not going to throw out a way and they'll remember you. So it's helped me out in some sort of tender meetings before. I've been up against the bigger names like Rent a Kill and things for hospital contracts. And then I'll sit there in front of people and then before I leave, they'll say, you know, any more questions for us, Mr Moseley?
And he can, you know, and I'll go, no, I will just give you, all of you a book that I wrote about pest control. And, you know, it goes down quite well. And sometimes, well, most of the time we win these contracts, which is lovely. And whether it's the book that helps, but it's just a good business card because if someone's sat and they have a mouse run across their kitchen and they've got the book indoors, they'll go, right? Where's the pest controller? We've got his book here, right. Call Mark up.
So yeah, so that sort of thing. So it's just a business card. It's the best business card that I'll ever have. So yeah, I usually give it out to estate agents, letting agents, you know, high profile clients. I give it out to most clients. To be fair. If I'm going round there and say here's a book, I've signed it, job done. So I've got about 100 sat on my shelf just waiting to go with a few, you know, you know, thank you for your custom mark. So yes. It's good. It's really good. It's I, I enjoyed it because it was like some of the hairy situations you're in.
Then you would also compare it to certain pest controls because like there was, I read this one story in there where a lady had, I think it was carpet beetle and she paid some big companies a lot of money, four or five treatments, I think you said. Then you you went round and discovered that it got reinvested and he went and looked in the hallway and all the woolly bears for it went were in the hallway and that's why it was getting reinvested. There's a Waterloo penthouse. Yeah, there's a penthouse looking at Waterloo station near half of London.
It was, yeah. Yeah, an Asian girl in Japan. And she'd, yeah, 4, four or five heat treatments she'd had from the big boys. And I couldn't find anything in there. And I said, well, it's where you find him. He said. I was always on this window. And then opposite this window was the the door to the main part of the flat, this penthouse. I knew I'd just walked through a load of carpets or yeah, I just walked outside into the carpet. And all around the edges of the carpet was all the woolly bears. It was what they're doing.
They're just obviously seeing the gap underneath the main door when they turn into adults. And then just flying towards that first bit of light they see, which is underneath her door and she's finding them all on the windows. But yeah, she had four, I think it's four or five heat treatments. I know it was ridiculous. And I'm thinking to myself, surely the people who have come round here going and you've got a few rugs, that's it. The clothing, you know, you know, couldn't see anything in the clothing as such.
But they're always going to this one window. Why are they always being found on this one window or the one next to it? There's got to be something. So they're either in this room or in the vicinity of it. And there's no carpet. It just goes to the next bit and there's a big gap underneath the main door to this penthouse leads to the corridor. And that was it. It was all in the corridors. And I sort of went down to the concierge down at the bottom. I said, oh, you've got all these carpet beetles up there, we can do this, we can do that.
And he was, we've got our own pest control company who will spray all the corridors. And I was like, I was like, all right, fair enough. So I just charged a survey cost anyway, but hopefully you've got sold. But there's nothing in her flat. But yeah, like I say, I can't be charged the heat treatment costs in the thousands and it was just doing nothing. That's. Not good. They won't do if they're going to be if they're outside the door.
Yeah, especially if they're bringing heat fields around the main front door anyway. Yeah, it was. Yeah, But this is what you see. You see companies doing this and you think, Blimey, I'd love to look at their books and see how much they're turning over a year. Yeah, because when you think how much like we charge for a domestic and it ain't a lot, but then big boys charge 234 times a times the price sometimes. I heard, yeah. We think we spoke about him at the beginning. It was a bad job that I won't say his name, but yeah, Rent a Kill charged a another company was they, they quoted TfL Transport for London, I think it's £111,000 for this bird netting.
And then one of the lads went and did is they then subcontracted it to another company and the subcontractor, he said to the TfL manager, Blimey, no, the TfL manager said yeah, this has cost us 111,000 lbs and the bloke was 111 and he'd only charged Brent to kill 31. So yeah, he was, he was thinking himself, Blimey, so Brent to kill made obviously, yeah, 90 grand or whatever else on it or 81 grand on it. So it's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. So yeah, that's the sort of things. But once you in them Wales, you charge these governmental agencies whatever you like, I suppose, within reason, and they trust you because you've got the name in the business.
That's true. They've got got that name and that's what it is. It's it's they now have to sell as well. They do. Exactly. On a bigger scale, they do, obviously. Yeah, it's it's been a nice, it's been a nice podcast. Mark, thanks. Thanks for agreeing to come on. It was nice here. I know my cameras failed, but we're still talking. We are, yeah. That's the main thing. But thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. And maybe I'll come on next year or something when you've got. You'll be live soon like the beasties and beauties, and you'll have hundreds of thousands following your show.
We are live Mark, just no one's coming chat. They'll come back soon, I'm sure. Yeah, someone did say hello, but I think it's because I picked a Tuesday night and everyone's knackered from work. Just break it down, break it down and do the fun bits now and see if you can do that. Well, yeah, so, yeah, thanks for coming on. Have you got anyone you'd like to have on the podcast or anyone you'd like to see on this podcast as a guest? Anyone you know? Yeah, why not try? But the bloke who got me into pest control, Michael Coates, he'll come on.
I'm sure he'll come on. Mike Coates from Combat Pest Control, reach out to him because he got me into pest control and he's a good lad and yeah, he'd enjoy. Yeah. No, I will. I will reach out. Is he on? Is he on LinkedIn or is he not? He's, I'm sure he's, yeah, he's on LinkedIn. Whether we use it, he's certainly on. He's certainly on Instagram. You'll probably see him doing Rambo pull ups and things with a Rambo red headband on and things like. That but I have a little nano on Facebook. I will then for him I. Will yeah, have a look on Facebook or Instagram, Mike Coats and just say Mark Mosley said you might want to come on or might want to come on for my podcast.
It'd be great if you could come on. Surely would. He's a good guy. That's good to hear. I'll give him I'll give him a try. So thanks. Listen everyone now if you have the British pest register, you'll be able to register your CPD. So an hour and a half. So you'll be getting 1.5 points. And also if you have the BPCA self register, you can self registers podcast and with with basis prompt you can't get any points currently. I'm still waiting on on that front. But if you want to help out the beauties and beasties this Friday, it's their 100th episode.
And if you go on their Facebook page, they are, they've got like a quiz for the 100th episode. And I'm not sure how it works, but they've got tonnes of companies giving prizes from fly machines from Opticatch to mould traps to fleeces. There's literally people are donating prizes left right and centre. So if you want to check them out, obviously to win a prize you have to be watching live and interact with the show. Also, if you like podcasting pest control, we check out the Pestogen podcast. My friends in America, Jenny and Candice, they had on some people that know a lot about ticks and Lyme disease and Lyme disease and I got seriously educated in that, that one which I don't have a vast knowledge on ticks.
Do you have a vast knowledge on ticks, Mark and Lyme disease? No, I've had a few ticks when I was in the military but nothing in the lately, no. No, no, Mooney says hello on LinkedIn. How you doing? He's finally made it at the end. But yeah, I've just chat. How did you you you appear when I'm promoting your podcast, Sean, That's amazing. It's like you got your ears were burning. I'll. Try and I'll try and join in on Friday then to have a listen to the To Sean's podcast. Yeah, it's the 100th episode.
And if you listen to Pest Control Podcast as well, there's my good friends Jack and Brad from the Tales from the Crawlspace 2.8. That's always fun. That's a show basically Mark Ware. They get stories from pest controllers or pest control owners, gruesome stories, funny stories, celebrity stories, but obviously they are not. They're anonymized as some of the stories, obviously, but it's a it's a it's a fun show. It is, but it's it's not PG13. Let's just say that that podcast is not what's. It called the crawlspace.
Hails from the cool space 2 point O It's a it's a good show. But yeah, put it this way, one of them had to get to an apartment complex to do a job and one of them will follow the ambulance crew in and he stepped over a dead body to get to a job. Nice. Yes, that's how crazy you're talking. You know, that's the reason I'll have listened. I'll have listened on Spotify or something and yeah, probably reach out to the guys. Yeah, they're, they're nice, they're nice guys. But I'll, I'll send you the, I'll send you a link to that podcast if you want listen on Spotify.
I can say it's only links. But yeah, thanks for coming on, Mark. I appreciate it. But I'll let you, I'll let you get home or go to bed or whatever you've got to do now. But yeah, thanks for your time. No worries mate, thanks for having me on and I'll speak to you. Soon, definitely. All right. Thanks mate. See you all next week. All right and thanks. Cheers. Bye. End stream. That's it.
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