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Our History
Steve Certa never expected to find a career in pest control. Until 1980, he worked as an Industrial Arts teacher in the Scituate, MA school system – with a side business in home repair with a fellow teacher Peter Comrack to supplement his income – when budget cuts forced the two out of their teaching jobs.
“It was almost a blessing for me because it forced me to leave teaching and start my own business,” Steve says. “I would have liked to have done that, but I had a wife and a two-year-old daughter and no wife in their right mind would say “Sure, leave a secure job and good benefits to go out on your own.”
In the course of repairing and remodeling customers’ homes, Steve naturally ran into a host of pest problems (especially with termites) that the homeowners didn’t know were there. Steve and Pete ended up calling a local (at that time) exterminator to do the job. When Steve and Pete saw what they were charging, they realized that they were doing more pest control with Integrated Pest Management (IPM), through repairing and changing the conditions that led to pest problems – than they were. At the time, they didn’t even know what the words “integrated pest management” meant at the time, but somehow when they think about it, structural integrated pest management, that’s exactly what Steve studied: knowing how something is put together, how materials work with other materials, production and communication. It all goes together.
The first few years were rough on the newly formed Watch All Pest Management. Not only was the company new and trying to establish its name, but Steve and Pete were selling a brand new idea of pest management service.
Steve and Pete put in long hours each day, literally changing their work shirts as they went from a repair job to a call about carpenter ants. Without any support staff, Steve would check the messages and call back potential customers from the road. It would take two years before they added their first full-time employee to their staff to handle some of the clerical work.
“Peter and I would cash in our life insurance policies to pay our employees’ salaries in the winter when business was slow,” Steve explained.
One of the reasons Watch All has succeeded is the ability of Steve and Pete to work together as a team. What has also helped is that they both have the same work ethic. From the beginning, they identified each other’s roles and never overstepped each other’s responsibilities.
Steve says the kind of approach to pest management that he and Pete have practiced for years , doesn’t come from a deep-seeded conviction against pesticides but rather common sense. “It’s the right thing to do. Our technicians, our clients- they don’t need any additional exposure to pesticides when looking at the problem as a whole and making those structural changes that are needed will achieve a better result.”
That’s how Watch All does business. It’s about being honest and doing the best job possible.
Our Staff
Our Staff of licensed men and women are among the best in the industry.
They are highly educated, specially trained and have years of experience in their specialty (pest control, lawn care management, and structural damage repair.) Our technicians attend over fifty hours per year of continued education on insect biology and control and meet or exceed all regulatory record keeping requirements. They hold Specialty Certificates in:
Learn about Watch All's management team.
Our structural damage repair division is a fully licensed and insured Massachusetts Home Builder.
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