Bed Bug Treatment / Extermination and Associated Costs

Cost Of Bed Bug Extermination depends on which of the following 3 Options you decide to go with:

1. Hiring a Professional Pest Control company to use Heat Equipment to kill the bed bugs. (Success directly related to decluttering and preparing home according to company guidelines.)

2. Hiring a Professional Pest Control company to Spray Chemicals for bed bugs. (Success Requires more than 1 treatment of chemicals and directly related to decluttering , techniques of applying correct chemicals, and repeated treatments.)

3. Do Your Own Treatments. Success Requires attaining proper training, physical labor, safety, reapplication of chemicals and techniques needed to kill bed bugs. We recommend you pay for this professional Information.

COST?

So, you know you have bed bugs and now you are wondering, “how much is it going to cost me to get rid of these blood sucking bugs?”

Well, the answer to this varies, but in the next paragraph we try to explain the average cost. Depending on where you live, you should get a good estimate by your local professional pest control company.

• They may quote you based on a series of chemicals (pesticides) treatments—as everyone knows chemical treatments take repeated applications every two weeks.
• They may quote you for an EFFECTIVE organic treatment which is—a one-time Heat Treatment (as it kills eggs too).
• They may also quote you on a cost to do a combination of both Heat with chemicals on perimeter and known bed bug hot spots.

***The AVERAGE cost to have a home treated for bed bugs is about $1.00 (one dollar) per square foot. So, if you have a home that is 1500 square feet, you are looking at around $1,500. to have your home treated. This average will vary depending on type of structure and level of infestation.  Most heat companies will charge about 30% more for Heat Treatment, over the traditional “chemical bed bug treatments.” It is pricier, but the process is complete in one day as it kills all stages of bed bugs including the eggs. It is highly effective when done correctly, but home must be de-cluttered with no stacks of items sitting around. Heat Treatment takes specialized Heat equipment and knowledgeable technicians to provide safe and effective one day kill of bed bug infestations.  Heat Treatments are not always 100%, failure can occur if you have cold spots in which technicians do not apply organic dust or pesticides to these areas. Heat treatment could also fail if home is too cluttered causing areas to be insulated or protected from the high heat. Professionals will reschedule heat treatment of the home if it has not been de-cluttered properly.

Many companies base the cost of the job on the number of square feet inside the dwelling.
Other exterminators may charge $250 to $950 per room that they must be treating.

Some companies will use a combination of heat and organic dust or a combination of pesticides on the perimeter much like a “cocktail” treatment.

It is not unheard of for some people to pay even more, up to $10,000.00 in some cases. This is the cost of treatment combined with replacing items which were discarded due to being infested as well as lost time from work, doctor bills, and the list goes on.

These are cases where people are so grossed out that they throw away all of their beds, dressers, recliners, sofas and other items. They may purchase all new beds, linens, bedbug certified mattress protectors, and storage boxes to store clean items in, and still not rid themselves of these blood sucking pesky critters. Why? Because they COULD NOT throw away their baseboards, window frames, crown molding, wall sockets, hardwood floor cracks and other places where these bugs will nest and hide. Remember bed bugs is just what they get called, they hide in any crack, crevice or fold that is near a sleeping or resting person.

#1 Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Exposure to high heat or cold temperatures is a good method to get rid of bed bugs in one day. High temperatures can be either high heat or extremely cold temperatures. Cryonite, is a freezing agent that kills bed bugs on contact, but it is not 100% effective against bedbugs the way that high heat is.

Heat Is the Preferred Treatment Method: When you use a heat company you will save time and trouble. A professional heat company is generally able to heat the home within a 5 to 10 hour period; you save time/money in not having to laundry ALL of your belongings (you will need to heat clothes in dryer that are over-crammed in drawers and bag them) nor do you need to throw away any of your furniture. It is our companies opinion that heat is the best way to go if you want to solve the problem quickly, efficiently and if you have the financial means to have a professional solve the infestation. A professional bed bug Heat Treatment company will provide an agreed contract prior to doing the heat treatment. However, if you do not have the financial ability to hire a professional pest company for a Heat Treatment, then there are other routes you can take, which will be discussed below.

Bed Bug Heat Treatment Cost for our company: www.bedbugsc.com is as follows:

Once we determine that there is a bed bug infestation we give the client an estimate and a to-do list. There must be a bed bug, bed bug eggs, or bed bug castings found before a treatment is done. If you are unable to find the bed bugs yourself, we do offer a K-9 bed bug sniffing dog team to determine if you indeed have them or not, but most people will know if they have bed bugs or not, especially after they have them for 2 or 3 months and there are more bedbugs to find.

Our process includes a Pre heat check list which states the steps that need to be taken by the homeowner or manager, the cost of heat treating the dwelling, and explains our follow-up scan procedure. If you wish to proceed we require a signed contract of our agreement with you. Our cost for heat treatment averages $1.00 per sq. feet, cost going down when home is larger or going up to meet our minimum required. We require a signed contract and we guarantee the treatment to work or we will redo it until they are gone, at no additional cost to you. We follow behind our heat crews with our K-9 Sniff detection team to approximately 30 days post heat treatment. Some companies do not do follow-up visits as they have found that they have good results the first time around. Believing that if bed bugs return they have been reintroduced by the tenant. We do a follow-up scan because we understand that failures need to be caught early and since we guarantee we want to be sure. Bed Bug Detection & Remediation of S.C. heat treatment plan includes (1 free) k-9 bed bug scan done approximately 30 days after heat treatment as a follow-up measure. If our bed bug dog detects any live bed bugs or live eggs we will retreat the area as described in our original contract at no additional cost. 

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#2. Bed Bug Chemical Treatment

Whatever an exterminator uses, it is best that it have direct contact with bed bugs to kill them. While it is true that a few pesticides do have a residual effect (last in the environment for a period of time), most pesticides have little residual effect on bed bugs. That’s why you or your exterminator should never use bug bombs or foggers, which are completely ineffective with bed bugs and research has shown that foggers can actually run bed bugs deeper into walls and into new areas of home.

It is also necessary for the exterminator that uses pesticides to return in 2 weeks to reapply chemicals as it is almost impossible to kill all bugs with one application. Remember chemicals usually won’t kill the eggs as eggs have a protective coating to protect the embryo. And they may hatch a week or two later—depending on the room temperatures. Warmer homes would see eggs hatch sooner than colder temperatures. It is for this reason (eggs hatching) that pesticides must be reapplied after the initial treatment. How chemicals are applied is also very important because it has to be where it contacts bed bugs, but also where it does not have extended contact with human skin.

If you have a situation where you have a roommate or an adjoining duplex you may be able to split the cost of the treatment with others. If you rent you may be able to get your landlord to help pay for the treatment, since the landlord will not be able to re-rent the home once you move out, unless he or she rids the home of bed bugs prior to re-renting it to the next tenant. Also check for references to be sure that the company is experienced with bedbug infestations. Bed bug treatment requires highly specialized technicians that have had tried and tested results. Pesticide applications are not like a roach and ant spray they are directed to where bed bugs hide therefore take more labor. This is why the average quoted price for chemical applications is 250 to 450 per room, not because the pesticides are expensive but because of the preparation and delivering the product to the bugs is labor intensive.

#3. Do Your Own Bed Bug Treatments

It should be noted that the do it yourself $19.95 bed bug treatments that are constantly being advertised on the Internet or TV will not work. While it is true they are selling you a product that will kill a bed bug (pine oil, organic spray, etc.) MOST any product will kill a bed bug when sprayed directly on it. You can spray rubbing alcohol on a bed bug and kill it; you can squirt Dawn dish soap on it and block up its breathing parts and kill it. There are many products that will kill bedbugs. The problem is in KILLING ALL of the bed bugs at the same time. If you purchase a $19.95 over the counter or Internet product you may kill every bug that you find, but what about the one pregnant bed bug that is hiding inside a window frame, Carpet edging, inside a wall outlet? That one pregnant bed bug missed- being sprayed and will now come out, lay her eggs (6), and within a couple of months you will think that you have gotten them again. When in reality you never completely got rid of ALL the bed bugs to start with. Not only are you reliving your nightmare, but you may have caused the remaining bed bugs to go deeper into the walls, floors and molding, making it that much harder to reach them with the next application. In addition they may build up a resistance to the product so you will now have to wait and see if this product is still effective.

If you are going to Do-It-Yourself then we are able to help you by providing the information and knowledge that our years of experience have afforded us. Since hosting such a website and phone line is not free, we must charge for our associated costs and the cost of our technician’s time. This do-it-yourself link cost $75.00 and you will be required to spend time and energy in dealing with your bed bug infestation. There is no magic bullet, but our Consult website/phone link will guide you to the correct and safe information within our industry that is required to solve your bedbug infestation. 

Click here for Do-It-Yourself Guide . . .

Call Us Toll Free - 1-843-901-9765

Bed Bug Detection Remediation Services of South Carolina is a division of FFR, Inc.