Pest Remediation-as-a-Service: Our Investment in Pest Share

Written by Jackson Feder

Pests are pervasive. Whether you rent or own your home, chances are you have had a pest problem at one point or another. And yet, the pest remediation solutions at one’s disposal – especially for renters – are subpar. Despite 84% of U.S. households experiencing a pest issue each year, only 15% of U.S households receive traditional pest control services – commonly in the form of costly preventative spraying and/or emergency treatment services – with the majority of pest control issues handled by residents on a DIY basis. 

For rental properties, pest incidents are all too often characterized by unexpected costs, uneven service quality, friction, frustration and opacity. Renters are often surprised to learn that pest control–and the associated logistics and expense–are typically the tenant’s rather than the landlord’s responsibility. For property managers, pest incidents can be time consuming affairs that pit margin and the letter of the lease against a desire for tenant satisfaction and retention. Naturally, pest issues are one of the leading reasons for tenant churn and vacancy.

Enter Pest Share.

Pest Share sells subscription, on-demand pest control services for residential tenants. Pest Share places control of property manager-approved remediation service booking directly in tenants’ control and replaces costly preventative maintenance and/or one-off remediation services with an insurance-like subscription service that covers residents in the event that remediation service is needed. 

Tenants scope and submit service requests directly to Pest Share via app, web, text or phone. Pest Share triages service requests and dispatches high quality local service providers from its network to provide timely service and follows up with the tenant to ensure service quality. Pest Share handles all tenant communications and keeps the property manager informed of service details and property conditions. 

Pest Share’s sells to and through property managers, with a focus on managers of single family rental and low density multifamily portfolios. Property managers distribute Pest Share’s services to their tenant base at a premium as a tent pole component of their resident benefits packages, which are included as a standard attachment to all new and renewing leases. 

With Pest Share, tenants can expect prompt service response times (1-3 days vs. 2-3 weeks) and higher quality services, at a lower price point than preventative spraying or costly one-time remediation services. Property managers can expect happier residents, less turnover, and access to better service data. And investors can increase their net operating income by turning a traditional maintenance expense into a new revenue stream. 

When we met Pest Share cofounders Landon Cooley and Justin and Tom Clements, we were struck by their command of the industry and thoughtfulness around how best to build a large and enduring company in the space. Pest control is a niche category for most folks but Landon, Justin and Tom are all multi-generation pest control industry operators and separately ran a traditional pest control company together before starting Pest Share to address what they viewed as shortcomings in the traditional service paradigm.

Pest Share’s offering is quickly winning fans in the property management industry. The company’s brisk growth and enthusiastic customer base are in line with the many conversations we’ve had with property managers over the years in which they cite pest control as a major hidden pain point and priority. And the efficiency, scalability and win-win-win nature of Pest Share’s service model have caught the attention of the investment community as well.

Landon, Justin, Tom, and the entire team at Pest Share are truly building something special for the category, and we could not be more excited to lead their Seed round!

If you are a property manager looking for a better way to resolve pest issues for your tenants, get in touch with the Pest Share team! And last, but not least, Pest Share is hiring. If you are interested in learning more about open roles, reach out.