For Dave Damiano, entering the field of pest management started with a basic interest.
“I started doing some things and went to some classes. I got my license and started out ... We started out as small family business. I started it all by myself, doing everything. Right now, we’ve grown to have three full-time technicians on the road, and myself and two ladies in the office for customer service reps. We’ve grown the business where we’re now six full-time employees, and we’ve been in business for almost 37 years,” Damiano said.
Damiano is the owner of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which he opened in August of 1984. Damiano said that the ensuing years have continued to provide learning experiences.
“I was 23 when I started the company. I’ve learned a lot over the years; you learn as you go ... We’re always going to classes, learning more, continuing education to maintain our license. There’s always something different with new technology that comes out, new products that come out. We experiment with different things to find out what works best,” Damiano said.
IPM, Damiano said, is a full-service company.
“We do service for termites, insects, rodents, moisture control—we work with dehumidifiers—and we work with programs to reduce the use of chemicals where possible. We have green products, so some of the services that we do are environmentally friendly,” Damiano said.
One such product that helps reduce chemicals is Sentricon, a termite colony elimination system.
“That gets to the source of the problem; it’s an excellent product, and we’ve been using it for over 25 years. Sentricon is curing the disease, and the liquid chemical products are treating the symptoms. We’re getting to the source of the problem with that product,” Damiano said.
Damiano said that the best way to minimize chemicals is to accurately identify the insect in question.
“We have to know the insect and its biology, and we want to use that information to be most effective. If you know the biology of the insect, if you know where they live, where they breed and what they eat, you can be more effective in your treatment and target it against that specific pest,” Damiano said.
One such insect where identification is vital, Damiano said, is the mosquito. Knowing the correct breed makes it easier to treat those nefarious harbingers of pestilence and their ilk.
“If you have mosquitoes, when do you get bitten by them? If you’re getting bit during the day, that’s an Aedes mosquito; they’re small-container breeders, and we know where to go to look to try to treat those pests. If you said that, the majority of time, you’re getting bitten at night, that’s a Culicidae mosquito; they’re more of a dirty-water breeder, so that’s a different location you treat. That’s why we say that we want to look at the insect, know them and their biology, and we use that to be more effective. In those cases, then, we can reduce the use of materials, because we’re targeting specific sites where the pests are living and breeding,” Damiano said.
Currently, Damiano said, IPM receives the most calls for ants and termites. Knowing the difference between the two, Damiano said, is important.
“If you have ants, it’s a nuisance pest. If you have termites, they could be destroying your house. Termites do $5 billion worth of damage a year, and it’s generally not covered by homeowners’ insurance. Termites are cryptic in nature so they stay in hidden places, and you may not even know you have a problem. We do inspections for real estate, and there’s a large population that doesn’t even know they have termites; 75 percent of all the homes that we check for real estate either have termites or had termites at one time,” Damiano said.
Damiano recommended having yearly inspections for termites.
“That’s the way to identify the problem early on and prevent termites from doing serious structural damage ... We have a program we call our home protection service; after an initial charge, depending on what we find when we inspect, for the average-sized home, we can protect a person’s home from termites and pests for $55 a month,” Damiano said.
Damiano said that he hopes that IPM can continue to grow in the future.
“We’re a family owned and operated business, and we’ve been here since 1984. We want to continue growing the business and serving the area. It’s been good to us, and we believe in giving back to the community that supported us,” Damiano said.
Integrated Pest Management is located at 566 White Horse Pike. For more information, call (609) 567-0100 or visit www.ipmnj.com.