Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes Platinum Pest and Lawn Unique?

At Platinum Pest and Lawn, we try and treat our customers according to the Platinum Rule, which is “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” What this means is that we are not going to treat each customer exactly the same because each customer is different. Because each customer is different, we are going to treat their home and lawn for their specific pest and lawn needs. We don’t use a cookie cutter approach when
treating homes and lawns.

What Is the History of Platinum Pest?

Jared, a co-founder of Platinum Pest and Lawn, paid his way through college by selling pest control door-to-door for other pest control companies. He had always wanted a job that would provide him with time freedom. When he sold for the other pest control companies, he saw that the business model could provide that time freedom he desired. He also saw that it was a family friendly business. He knew that many businesses failed because they lacked the ability to acquire customers at an appropriate pace. Since he knew that through selling door-to-door he could build up a solid customer base, he felt like starting a pest control company was the right way to go.

While attending college at Brigham Young University Hawaii, Jared met his wife, Jennifer. They shared many of the same life goals and while Jennifer had never considered a life in pest control, she was happy to join Jared on the journey. They both graduated from Brigham Young University Hawaii and moved back to Jennifer’s hometown of Owasso, OK.
After settling in Owasso, Jared and Jennifer decided it was the right time to start their own pest control company. Jennifer brought with her office management skills and a degree in accounting from her time working and studying at Brigham Young University Hawaii. Between Jared’s selling abilities and excellent people skills and Jennifer’s office related skills, they started Platinum Pest and Lawn in April 2011.

Their vision for the company included providing exceptional service to those in their community, providing employment opportunities for those in their community, and creating a life for their family where they could work together and support each other. The business started with just Jared and Jennifer working in the 3rd bedroom of their small house in downtown Owasso and has since grown to over 6 full time employees operating out of an office and large shop.

What Is the Difference Between a Professional Pest Control Business and Doing It Yourself?

First of all, pest control professionals have had all the proper training on safely using the pest control products. They know all the proper techniques of mixing products and applying them in a safe manner so that your family and pets are not affected by them.
Secondly, pest control professionals have access to potent but safe products that target the pests you are dealing with. While you can get DIY pest control products at big box stores, they are a broad spectrum product. When using a pest control professional, you can get pest services for just the pest you’re dealing with or a wide variety. You also don’t have to worry about storing the products away from kids and pets. Just let the professionals take care of that!
Lastly, a good professional pest control company will educate its customers as well. This avoids getting customers through scare tactics and also allows the customers to do their part to have the most effective treatments possible. As you’ll see below, at Platinum Pest and Lawn, multiple services have “to do” lists for our customers because there are things that a customer can do to get the most out of the pest control treatment, which usually leads to little or no call back treatments.

How Do You Get Rid of Fleas?

When a customer has fleas inside their home, we do a broadcast spray over the areas that have fleas (carpets, rugs, upholstered furniture). While this is effective, we have a “to do” list of items that the homeowner can do to ensure that the product does its job most effectively.

How Do You Get Rid of Flies?

House flies are not harmful, but they are definitely a nuisance! We have an excellent product that we spray on the interior side of the homes windows. Since this is the area where flies spend most time while they’re inside, they come across the product very quickly after entering the home. Once the product takes effect, the customer will notice that the flies start dropping, quite literally, like flies!

How Do You Eliminate Bed Bugs?

First, we locate where the bed bugs are residing. Then we treat the cracks and crevices of that entire room, including the furniture within that room. Unlike other companies who heat treat the entire house and charge you an arm and a leg, we pinpoint the location of the bedbugs and do an extremely thorough treatment of the affected rooms, saving you money. Like with fleas, we give the customer a “to do” list so that the bed bugs are eliminated from things like clothes and bedding at the same time we eliminate them from dressers and mattresses.

What Do You Get Rid of German Brown Roaches?

Roaches are very good about keeping their colony alive and so we use non-repellent products when treating for roaches. Our pricing plan has one initial price up front with a free follow up service 2 weeks later. The 2nd treatment is SO important because no product can penetrate a roach egg. When we come out the first time to treat for roaches, our product (which is extremely effective) kills the living roaches. By coming out 2 weeks later to treat a second time, we kill the roaches that have hatched, but before they can reproduce.
The services are more effective when the customer does their part, which includes things like removing all items from cupboards and cleaning the problem area.

How Do You Get Rid of Mosquitoes?

Since mosquitoes are flying insects, we can’t keep them from entering yards, but we can treat the areas where they rest. With our fogging backpack, we apply a mist to the foliage in the yard where mosquitoes rest, waiting for their next meal to walk outside. As they rest in the misted foliage, these miniature vampires come in contact with the product we’ve applied and then they die.

How Do You Get Rid of Mice?

After asking the customer where they’re seeing the most activity or droppings, we put out locking bait boxes, filling with mouse bait. The active ingredient is a blood thinner, which after ingested, causes the mice to leave the house in search of water, where they then die. Sometimes, they may not get out of the house before dying, but they dry up and do not smell.

How Do You Get Rid of Spiders?

We only use premium products and the coating on the active ingredient does a much better job of sticking to the hairs of the spider providing great transferability. The brown recluses have hairy legs so when they walk through the product, it clings to their hairy legs.
We also use glue traps / sticky traps when dealing with brown recluses. There are 2 purposes in doing this: 1) we can monitor where there is more activity and pay special attention to that area when treating the home; and 2) they stick to them and die, claws and hairy legs and all! Bugs that get caught on sticky traps attract more bugs.
An effective way of treating for brown recluses is to dust the attic. This is when a technician takes a machine into the attic and very briefly turns it on, spreading dust up into the entire attic. This then leaves a fine dust throughout the attic that is harmful to brown recluses. The homeowner needs to leave their HVAC system off for 2-3 hours to let the dust settle and so that it doesn’t get brought down into the home.

How Do You Get Rid of Ants?

While ants are included with general pest, we have specific products that target ants specifically and work wonderfully. We have a product that we can spray outside that really knocks them down but we also use ant bait gel on the inside. Both ant bait and sprays are non-repellent, slow acting products. The ants LOVE it! Then they spread it around like a cold at a daycare!