Meet Scott Romay. Well, technically, the picture above is a winged termite and not Scott but termites are definitely something that Scott in an expert in. (And who knows? This termite’s name might also be Scott Romay!) 
As our resident termite manager, Scott tells us that one question he’s always asked multiple times in the winter is: Isn’t it too cold for termites? Since the termites we have in St. Louis are subterranean, one of the few times you might even see them is in the springtime when the swarmers leave the nest to try to create a new colony. And this is all done in a time span of a couple of hours then it’s over. Most likely you’d be more likely to notice mud tubes, soft spots in wood, damage above floor joists in the basement and/or small piles of delicate wings shed by the swarmers as they leave the nest LONG before you’d ever see an actual termite. Just because you might not see swarmers (or any termites, for that matter) in the winter and/or notice some termite damage while you’re doing some spring cleaning, doesn’t mean that this is a new issue for your home or business. 
Termites live in large colonies — VERY large colonies. A termite colony can easily have over 1 million termites. And these 1 million termites feed constantly…as in year-round. The property destruction they can cause is not slowed by significant drops in the temperature. Suspecting a termite infestation and assuming that any property damage to your home would be slow to non-existent during the winter months is completely false. Remember that termites feed off wood. Your walls (coincidentally, made up primarily of wood) are heated during the winter month. Walls not only provided food but also shelter and warmth.  So, bottom line, winter is definitely not an “off season” for termites. 

As we reflect over some of our major accomplishments in 2018, one that stands out is being named one of the Top 100 Pest Control Companies in the United States. Considering there are over 20,000 pest control companies in the United States, this is a huge honor and achievement for everyone on Team Blue Chip. The Phillips family traveled to Charleston, South Carolina this summer to officially accept this prestigious award on behalf of our entire company. Pictured below (left to right) is:

Jeff Phillips (Blue Chip President), Kimberly Phillips (Blue Chip’s Director of Community Outreach), Scott Phillips (Founder of Blue Chip), Carter Phillips (holding plaque) & Logan Phillips — sons of Kimberly & Jeff. (And possibly the 4th generation of Blue Chip?!?!)

A special thank you to our customers who’ve trusted us to take care of your homes and businesses for over 50 years as well as our incredible team who remain committed to their attention to detail, customer service and on-going education. This is the 2nd time we’ve received this honor and it couldn’t have been done without Every. Single. One. Of. You!

 

 

Not a day goes by that we don’t receive feedback and reviews from our customers. One of the way we collect feedback is through a brief email survey we send out to all our new customers after their first service visit. Part of this survey is multiple-choice; part of this survey is open-ended so our customers can share their own thoughts with us.

The results are in! Based solely on the open-ended part of these surveys, the most used frequent words our new customers in 2018 used to describe our services, technicians and company were: friendly, professional, thorough, knowledgeable, honest and dependable.

#MissionAccomplished

We are so grateful and thankful these three joined our team in January 1, 2 and 4 years ago! Happy Blue Chip anniversary, Melissa, Kim and Eric!

 

 

 

Was your New Year’s resolution to make healthier choices when you eat? To exercise more? To lose weight? If so, you’re not alone. Roughly 38% of people made one of these their #1 resolution going into 2019.

One of the ways people plan to achieve a healthier way of eating is by breaking the “typical” 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) up into 6 smaller meals spread out throughout the day. However, no one’s resolution will include 15-20 meals a day…unless you’re a mouse, that is!

Want to make sure these mice aren’t eating all 15-20 of their daily meals inside your home? Blue Chip can help! Our technicians are trained to inspect your home for any areas that mice or rodents might be using to enter. They only need a hole about the size of a dime to gain entry. Once entry points have been identified and established, we recommend the homeowner seal them with bronze wool or some sealant. Interior issues are tackled with traps, baits and other methods. Exterior tamper-resistant bait stations are placed around the exterior to eliminate any future pests prior to them getting inside.

 

Meet the longhorned tick. This tick, also known as the Asian tick because it’s native to Central and East Asia, is now living in the United States. First found in New Jersey in November 2017, the longhorned tick has now been found in many more states including New York, Pennsylvania, Arkansa, Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. This is the first new invasive tick we’ve had enter the United Statues in about 50 years. It became considered invasive when all attempts to eradicate this particular tick failed. Generally considered a livestock tick, this particular tick multiplies rapidly and can continue to reproduce even if there are no males around.

Yep, we do realize this is winter. And we’re not really even in the heart of winter yet. But it’s also the PERFECT time to start taking preventative measures against the springtime invasion of pests that really is only a few months away. Check out what our president, Jeff Phillips, had to say to KMOV regarding this.

http:/https://www.kmov.com/getting-a-jump-on-outdoor-pests-this-spring/article_c2e8094a-0543-11e9-92c1-3bd7866869d6.html?fbclid=IwAR1c92ckS88qMrxkIrdI2kRkeHZBQ7iwyYAJBz2JU0wp-yt_3ZuYRUpm3y8

Person takes a walk by a house. Hears a toddler crying inside while a man is repeatedly screaming “WHY DON’T YOU DIE????” Calls the police who quickly jump into action & storm the house. Police report filed & reads “No injuries cited — except to the spider.”

 

Check out more details from this hilarious story of an Australian man who was just that terrified of spiders!

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2019%2Fjan%2F02%2Faustralian-man-screaming-at-spider-why-dont-you-die-triggers-full-police-response%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0X8nsuRZKin_iEZBRbGB9qGUk0dUXK1KT4eeYZRaAIbpOsUrVAyqUqD6o&h=AT3nPhT3C5DXPwgq7SpamjTIIoJ4vdzpUQ1QBdaOiSGKTQvhEFD0ENcuAqZJy5gkZXFKUUizMgrZhlJSFzBf8mX03g7bOnK067y0Mbr8E5zsBEK2tPRTH4j5sGMQ63idMMpWlOderJTEmPLbMaPF-EhM8x2T91-ONhfoLbX8rHg13clScq9vG07xk_yRKb9zertApfKDY87q-rgd1gMtN6SuSmM6WtSzRoARDWi_Wg80BPXVl-TwpJkYO9YP0HNCWdP-BfTXpetc9VMGUdHO1__gzonZCGD9YM2XjoV7OrCiSN59JuP9x4p0XKRwj4TlAHdQCpx1jv_Z2_OvDH6uEvM7FEyj_NlcMrZfx2-i9oUWVruyrOXrCsLPWCmBahlyX-8tMmyys3H3t_l-qDXigifJ1Ud3NfUPBZJqQg1XWQeR3R3ZwS2x0AwHPxV866GewQfXALoAD9tC8carN4p59tfUjz4KNjIomo5svpqLbgype2Mr7kOiNH42qGxjY59aZpu21irrdaUKBG-08FhWMlJaGezt3zI23SXIq0oa9qpAGKb2n4h-eW3GA_EPbYChKuCnwPcvJbLR1OvDmsngplEQjhmt8gUzJO6AasZktleR1TgBbVu96bCegS1C6NP7MTR7yQ

We know there’s a lot of pest control companies in the St. Louis area. Why should you choose us? In our minds, that answer is simple — training. We believe that a great customer service experience begins and ends with a knowledgeable staff that can SOLVE problems. Our greatest asset is our well-trained, well-educated staff. Every staff member is trained so no matter who you talk to — from our mangers to our our office staff to our technicians — you can be assured you’re always getting the best, latest and most reliable information.

How do we train? I’m glad you asked! Here are some of the things we do:

1. Everyone on our staff takes a college-level course on pest control from Purdue University.
2. All of our service staff members receive one full month of training before they treat homes and businesses by themselves. (This is three weeks longer than required by the state of Missouri.)
3. All of our service technicians become certified by the state of Missouri. This means that they complete a written exam by the state after completing six months of in-field service. (Most companies only have one person certified by the state in their entire company.)
4. We offer weekly in-house extensive training programs for our staff that allows us to stay current with pest control trends and expand our knowledge.
5. We are known for bringing in national speakers multiple times a year who are experts in various aspects of the pest control industry.
6. We have a certified entomologist on staff who can help answer questions, design pest control programs and offer even more training programs for our staff.
7. We are one of the few original (and current) members of the National Pest Control Association’s “Quality Pro” program. This program recognizes companies that go the extra step in all aspects of their business. This means higher levels of training, advanced background checks and advanced business practices.

If you’re looking for a pest control company or simply have pest-related questions, we’d love to share what we’ve learned in all our training with you. Give us a call anytime at 636-343-7900. Looking forward to chatting with you soon!