How to Keep Your Home Pest Free with Taylor Bramwell

Interview Transcription

ATTILIO: 
All righty, welcome back. And Angelo Why don’t you give us the welcome back part. It’s right here.

ANGELO: 
So if you’re just tuning in, you’re listening to the team Lally Real Estate show home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Angelo. Are you sure?

ATTILIO: 
I think I’m Angelo. Okay. And I’m still your dad named Attilio.

ANGELO: 
If you have any questions, you can reach us both as 7999596

ATTILIO: 
What’s that number?

ANGELO:
7999596.

ATTILIO: 
And what about on the internet?

ANGELO:
It’s at Teamlally.com. That’s L a l l y.com.

ATTILIO: 
All right. Our guest today. Hey, you know what? So you got to see the guests intro. Yeah, I’ll read the first one. You read the second part. Okay. Our guest today grew up in Canada. He went to high school at Myron B. Thompson Academy, but his family moved to North Carolina during his senior year. He returned to Oahu when he was 17 to begin his undergrad at BYU Hawaii in Laie.

ANGELO: 
He had worked as a sales representative and sales manager for Kilauea Pest Control during his undergrad, but he has not he has known John the owner of the local company since he was 12. Please welcome our guest Marketing Director of Kilauea Pest Control Taylor Bramwell. Hey, Taylor.

ATTILIO: 
Alrighty, so what do you got for us this week?

TAYLOR: 
Well, I think I got a couple things to go over today. Did you you want to go through a little bit of an interview here?

ATTILIO: 
You can go with how about this, any of this any highlights a Kilauea Pest Control since our since our last interview?

TAYLOR: 
Sure. Sure. Yeah. So highlights. We made 20 years this last year. And we did a little segment on the news. Maybe some people saw that. Yeah, that was a pretty big celebration, as we know, like, you mentioned there. I’ve known John for a long time, great, great guy, his family, his wife, Jenny and his kids. It’s still a locally owned and operated company, you know, family run. But you know, as opposed to 20 years ago, it’s just him and his wife and his kids. You know, now we’re we have the most trucks on the road here on Oahu. And then our other big news is in the last few months, we’ve branched out to Maui and Molokai, which is new to us. We’ve always been on Oahu, and we love working on Oahu. And that’s where most of the population is, of course, but there’s, there’s plenty of people we love to serve over there on the other islands. And so we’re operating as Bug Man Hawaii over there. That’s, you know, it’s a company that’s been there for about 30 years, and they’ve they’ve come on to the Kialuea team, and we’re operating over there with them and getting things going there. So that’s been really fun and kind of kind of cool for us Oahu people to go work with those people who are in Maui and Molokai and it’s been a really great collaboration and and team team effort yeah existing operation there already.

ATTILIO:
Good job on that because I’m like that’s a stretch Molokai. But I guess you guys you’re, you’re using acquisitions and mergers and you partnered up or you know, taking into the fold. What is that bug man?

TAYLOR: 
Bug Man? Yeah, Bug Man. It’s the name of the company and and what was that? Yeah, it’s an interesting one. As you know, it’s it’s not a lot of people. There are people that are really cool. And there are bugs there too, you know, plenty of termites. And so what’s great about now working working with an acquisition with Bug Man is is they have a technician there for years now that knows that grew up there. It’s from there and so we’re able to jump right in there and have the local knowledge and do it the right way. So same with Maui too. And obviously then Molokai

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, I heard you guys take it over the big man. Big guy. Aren’t you taking over Ant Man and wasp? Oh, no, no, no, that was a Marvel movie. Never mind. I wish. Yeah. So how about an interesting pest story?

TAYLOR: 
Yeah, so let’s see. I think we’ve talked about this once before. Yeah, this is kind of a I don’t I don’t know if this will be like super helpful to anyone. But it’s just kind of an interesting pest that we have here in Hawaii that might be fun to learn about is the Emerald cockroach wasp. And we I think most people have heard about the paper wasps, or even seen them or the the mud daubers, right, the ones that make the mud clusters, near your ears and things like that. So there’s the lowest type of wasp, we treat for those. And those can be kind of tricky to get rid of sometimes, they’re territorial, so you can work with the local technician and one of our technicians to help get rid of those as as you have those. But there’s a specific type of Wasp, it’s only in Asia and the Pacific islands called the Emerald cockroach wasp. And this is like the wasp out of your nightmares, right? I’m waiting for them to do like, you know, you sweat. Speaking of Marvel movies, maybe they have a movie lineup, or a movie a plot off of this or something, or some version of it. Because what this wasp will do, it’ll find, usually an American Roach, those big flying ones, right, the B 52. It’ll find one of those. And it will inject venom into its ganglia, its brain, and it will turn into a zombie, essentially. And so it paralyzes it, and it turns into a zombie and it pulls it back to a place where it wants to nest. And it’ll lay eggs in the brooch, build a nest around it and leave it there. And as the eggs hatch out, their eggs hatch out, they feed on that Roach while it’s still alive. So this was kind of terrifying, right kind of gross, but we have some of those in Hawaii. And so I don’t know, it’s kind of a weird wasp. And they’re probably not super common at people’s houses, but they’ll be treated similar to like other wasp here where we’ll identify where the nest is. And we can help knock those down or figure out if it’s best to knock it down or leave it up depending if it’s a territorial wasp or not. And then you can also kill the female and the male adults and keep your your your barbecue area where you don’t want to be stung by wasps.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, so we thought we were all afraid of the zombie apocalypse with human beings, but it’s actually going to be zombie cockroaches that we have to worry about. Exactly. Right. And okay, so be careful. The zombie zombie cockroaches out there. But that yeah, that’s either a pest story or a movie coming to a theater near you. So

TAYLOR: 
right, it kind of sounds like a 60s like horror movie or something. Right? Yeah. Old school and

ATTILIO:
all right does. And and it’s always interesting to know this about a business but does Kilauea Pest Control have a core focus? What makes it unique? Yeah, our core focus

TAYLOR: 
Yeah, our core focus is to be your one stop shop, really put it in a few words to be your convenient peace of mind services. And so whether you’re on Maui Molokai or Oahu, like if you have anything pest or termite related, or even wildlife, you know, management and stuff like that, we want people to know they can call us and we can help with whatever unique situation or the standard, you know, situation of regular pests like ants, roaches, centipedes, and termites and rodents and stuff like that. So our core focus, the convenient peace of mind services, we want to be easy, and then offer dirt guarantees about backup being easy. And so that’s that’s the way things are going these days, right. And all business especially through COVID I think people just want their services, their home services, and even their grocery delivery and stuff like that. They want to be easy. They just wanted to show up at their door and think about it. And so living in Hawaii, people are hustling, they have fun, but like to be outdoors. The last thing we want our customers to be worrying about is that we schedule or you know, how do we pay or whatever or you know, we have roaches or termites talking about we just want them it to be very easy for them. So we can focus on what you want to focus on your family getting outside doing the things you love to do in Hawaii or you know, work on your your business or selling properties or whatever, you know, if you’re part of Team Lally, that’s our core focus.

ATTILIO: 
Let’s talk about orange oil and or Sentricon. What are those things? Did you hear about them?

TAYLOR: 
Yeah, those are two great, different treatments for a termite that we get a lot of curiosity around because most people and for legitimate reasons, they’re worried about safety and doing pest control and termite control. And so I think orange oil sounds nice because it comes from oranges. It smells really nice, right if you’ve ever been around orange row, but it is a really good effective treatment not for every situation. And that’s why it’s great to have a termite technician specialists that come and inspect the area and figure out recommend what is the best treatment, but it is a great option for some some situations. or having a, you know, a different type of service that smells nice. But it’s also like it’s a very eco friendly type product. While you know, it’s it’s concentrated and it has to build appeal bugs, it can be used very well in people’s homes and a lot of people feel feel good having used that product. Similar to that Sentricon is another one of those products where it’s so much research and, you know, UHF University of Hawaii, and mainly Florida, but University of Hawaii, they they spent years and years and have a long time doing research and a lot of money invested into coming up with a great substrate and our ground termite treatment product. And so what’s so cool about Sentricon is, you know, all products have labels, right, and how to, like use them in a safety data sheet. And usually, they have like a label as far as like how hazardous it is, right. And so maybe I’ll fact check myself but I was talking to Sentricon rep recently, and there actually is no label for hazards because it’s, it can be handled like it’s, it’s designed so effectively, that it really just affects termites. And it’s a very nice product to have around your home, not to worry about, you know, some odd termiticide and your property. And so and then it’s used all over the US it’s used at the White House, it’s used that plenty of quiet, like historical Hawaiian properties here to on island as well. And so it’s pretty cool. It’s got a history in Hawaii was developed to help develop here. And so it’s you could say it’s almost designed specifically for Hawaii. So it works very well here, we are a certified Sentricon, specialist and installation specialists and we work very closely with the manufacturer and the product reps over there to make sure we’re always up to date on how to install it the best and be most effective has been responsible with it, right. So we’re in the middle of swarming season. So that’s a great price to look at for most homes, you know, it’s it can be easy install and forget it and it’s just working. You don’t think about it, right? The termites come to your home, they’re gonna be attracted to that. And I’ll wipe out a whole colony before it even gets to your home. The great thing about Sentricon

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, you said it’s safe, you know, safe enough to put on your peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No, it’s not that safe. But I didn’t say that. But no, it’s not that safe. But it’s like people, that’s what the trade off is right? It was back in the day, everybody was just like pouring diesel fuel on everything and lighting a match and and in. That’s how it was back right before all this regulation of these materials. And even the field that you’re in, has some licensing and regulations and rules that you have to follow. And the safer it is for the consumer, the better while targeting the pests that you’re trying to get rid of.

TAYLOR: 
Well, as you said, on that note, the pest control industry has come a long way. And some people there’s this, the old timers are like man, it’s too bad. You can’t use this old product. And one of those products that are you know, maybe not best for the environment, they tend to use them probably a better way. But it’s doesn’t affect the environment as much. But here in Hawaii, we’re we’re outdoor people, we’re trying to take care of the items. Take care of the island, we don’t want to affect the nature right. And so I was just looking at like, I have this presentation with some slides where I have some old pictures of pest control. And there’s this one it’s kind of sad to see in a way but there’s a picture of a truck. It’s like an old black and white picture. Yes. truck that was spitting out. I think it was DDT but something for mosquitoes. It was like fogging a whole neighborhood.

ATTILIO: 
And the kids are playing in the front yard. All

TAYLOR: 
these kids. Yeah. Well, there they were, they would run out to the truck like ice cream truck because it was fun to run in the smoke or like fog, right? The fog of pesticides. And that would never happen today. Right? But it’s kind of nice to see the technology innovation to make pest control better and responsible, more effective, but also more responsible over time too. And that’s that’s part of our focus, right? We always try to look for the most responsible products yesterday and everything was

ATTILIO: 
like oh, you’re all local alcohol you be like we used to use this and we used to use that. And yeah, that’s okay if if if honey girl get one lazy eye and honey boy get one extra toll when kill auto pests. We okay with the extra toll on the lazy eye because it worked. And we jokingly say that and we not jokingly say that because that’s you know, we we later discover things later on that were highly effective, but got into our food stream and affected our health so not good for the humans. Yeah, it’s uh, you know, the quote from Jonas Salk. He’s the inventor of the polio vaccine, you know what his quote is about about insects and human beings? I don’t know if I do. Yeah, I’ll share with our listeners today and they’re going I know what it is are yelling at the radio right now. If if, if all insects disappeared within 50 years the planet would perish if all Human beings disappeared. Within 50 years, the planet would flourish. Something to think about.

TAYLOR: 
Yeah, I think super interesting quote, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we just posted something. It’s funny, I was just talking to one of the other Kilauean had made a video for our Instagram, it’s actually I think she just posted it this morning, actually. But I’ll help termites have a role in environment like they’re there to help break down old dead material. And they’re really important, you know, but once we get close to your house, that’s when they become a threat. But it is important to remember that like all these tests, that we don’t want our homes, they do play a significant role in nature. And they need to be there, right? We just didn’t want them walking around our feet and stuff while we’re barbecuing, your backyard and

ATTILIO:
stuff like that, are you Terry? Walk in on your Terry chicken. But so that’s what you guys are about making sure that they’re not in the air as we want. But you’re not about complete eradication, which is nice. And that’s why you have these alternative options here that are more safer, more safer, better for the environment. Well, it’s, it was a short and sweet show, as we always say it, you know, all good things must come to an end. Is there anything that oh, you know, last question, should people and then we’ll wrap it up, but should people be tenting their homes every five years?

TAYLOR: 
Yeah, that’s that’s probably something you’ve heard before. I imagine. I think it’s something that goes around quite often. And we, you know, we get requests for termite courts or through our website and stuff. And most times, like I need to have my house tented, right, they go straight to tenting. And while tenting is a very effective treatment for termites, it’s been used a lot, it can take care of the worst termite infestation, right, because it will get through everything. It’s not always necessary, right? There’s a lot of different no orange oils when we talk about that they’re sponsoring and there’s an effective ground termite, you know, we talked about Sentricon. Tenting doesn’t even work for ground termites, right? So it’s not even an option you’d use. And so there’s kind of this like, this, I don’t know if it’s, I wouldn’t call a myth, because it’s not a bad thing to do. But a lot of people, especially in Hawaii, here, like it goes around, needed to paint your house every five years. While it’s not a bad idea to definitely get inspections every year or so. Or if you have something just show up, get inspection, or at least get an inspection every five years. It’s not necessary to tent all the time. In fact, if you can identify dry with termite droppings and get on it and treat it with a spa treatment, or orange or something else early, usually you can avoid ever having to attend to which will save you a lot of time. If you don’t believe your house, a lot of money, a lot of headache, you know, you can avoid you know, authentic is very effective. It’s the, you know, it can be easier to do something else

ATTILIO: 
to answer and you know, bottom line, they should just give you guys a call on in talk with y’all directly. But again, it’s the end of our awesome show. I know we’re gonna have you back on and definitely with the with the shorter versions of it. But, Taylor, thanks so much for being on the show. Yeah, thank you. Okay. All righty.

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