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October 9, 2008
Brody Brothers: Licensed To Kill
Barbara Pash
Associate Editor
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They’ve found squirrels nesting in attics, snakes snoozing in pool covers and moles burrowing in backyards. They’ve caught, captured, trapped, removed, relocated and, yes, killed.
The Brody brothers are exterminators, and proud of it.
“We are not embarrassed to be in pest control. We take pride in growing the business. We are the owners, so we’re working for ourselves,” said Levi Brody, one of four brothers who comprise a company called (aptly enough) the Brody Brothers.
Their father, Yaakov, started the business in 1984. The company was then called Brody & Sons. When Mr. Brody retired a decade later, the sons took over. (In total, there are seven sons and three daughters.)
Besides 27-year-old Levi Brody, there are Yudy, 30, Naftali, 25, and Don, 22. Their sister Rachel, 21, is the company’s office manager.
Over coffee, Levi and Naftali Brody recently discussed the company, in which they began working as adolescents. “Our customers remember us when we were teens. Now, we’re old, married men,” said Levi Brody.
It was not a given that the sons would go into the business. “We had a choice. Not everyone likes killing bugs,” said Naftali Brody.
But they are obviously proud of having grown the business from its “mom-and-pop” roots. They are state-certified “technicians,” the official term, who adhere to “integrated pest management,” in the jargon, the latest trend in extermination.
“You figure out the cause rather than just treating the problem,” said Levi Brody.
For example, the Brody Brothers were called to a 150-unit condominium that had become infested with mice. Over the years, the condo management had used an exterminator, but the situation had gotten out of hand.
Before the Brodys arrived on the scene, “28 mice were caught in one unit alone,” said Levi.
The Brody Brothers took a different approach. They worked with the condo’s maintenance crew to close the openings where the mice were getting in. They changed the arrangement for trash and garbage disposal. They set up an outside and inside baiting program, preventing further problems.
The Brody Brothers work in residential and commercial settings. They deal with specific problems or do routine maintenance. They travel throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area and Columbia, where they say certain pests are more prevalent at certain locations.
Downtown Baltimore has a large rodent population, thanks to an older housing stock, foundations built on fill and/or open construction sites.
“They’re difficult to control,” Levi Brody said of the rodents. “They’re not like field mice in the country.”
Wild Wildlife
In the suburbs, like Owings Mills and the Valleys, the problem may be wildlife. Squirrels reside in attics and chew on the electrical and alarm systems’ wiring; raccoons wedge themselves into chimneys.
“We’ve taken a 6-foot snake out of a ceiling,” said Levi Brody.
There has been a resurgence of bedbugs. Ants are a perennial problem. The Brody Brothers were called to a house with termites. The house had been treated multiple times, but it took the Brodys to discover the cause. The French doors had been improperly installed, allowing water to get into the walls.
“The termites were breeding inside the wall,” Levi Brody said.
Sheila Buchdahl has nothing but praise for the Brody Brothers. In fact, she said, “They saved my life.”
Mrs. Buchdahl, married and a mother, had been hearing buzzing in the bedroom of her Pikesville home for a while. But she said she didn’t see any bees. One day, the buzzing seemed louder than ever. She called the Brodys.
“They asked, ‘Is there a damp spot on the wall?’ I looked and there was. They came over immediately and removed a humongous beehive that was about to come through the wall into the bedroom. The bees had gotten [in the house] through the siding,” said Mrs. Buchdahl.
Now a loyal customer, Mrs. Buchdahl uses the Brody Brothers for routine maintenance, and recommends them to everyone. “I’ve had other, normal problems but nothing as dramatic as the beehive,” she said.
Personal Touch
Bob Rosenberg is senior vice president of the National Pest Management Association, a Fairfax, Va.-headquartered trade group. It’s a diverse industry, he said.
Some companies do residential or commercial work only, he said, while others do both. Some specialize in one kind of pest — termites, for example. Others are more comprehensive. Some companies do lawn care, mosquito management and/or “vegetation” management, the latter referring to weeds that are removed from railroad lines and airport runways.
Fumigation is another area of pest control. It can be residential but commercial is a much bigger issue. Everything that goes through American ports is fumigated, as are food storage and food handling facilities like grain mills and processing plants.
“Nabisco, General Mills,” Mr. Rosenberg said, citing familiar names. “Their ingredients are very attractive to bugs.”
The association has 5,000 member-companies, but Mr. Rosenberg figures there are probably about 20,000 extermination companies in the United States. Almost all are small companies. “The barriers to entry are low so it’s relatively easy for a new person to come into the industry,” he said.
But that also makes the industry quite competitive. In Baltimore, there are several well-known regional and national companies like Terminix, Orkin, Ehrlich and Home Paramount.
“You do a lot of business on the basis of personal relationships,” said Mr. Rosenberg. “Word of mouth is a powerful driver.”
Rodents, bees, spiders, bedbugs — these are what people are most frightened of. When they’re encountered, the Brody Brothers hear about it, and sometimes in a panic.
“We’ve gotten emergency calls. ‘My wife is in the bedroom and she won’t come out because she saw a mouse in the kitchen,’” said Levi Brody. “You have to be a psychologist, and calm people down.”
Four Fall Pests
Mice - As temperatures drop, mice look for warmth and food.
Stinging/Biting Insects - These include yellow jackets, which sting in defense of their colonies, and mosquitoes, which can transmit diseases.
Ants - Not simply a nuisance, ants can contaminate food.
Indian Meal Moths - These stored product pests tend to emerge in the fall. They commonly infest kitchen pantry items like flour, dry cereal, spices, candies and chocolate, but can also be found in dried flowers and potpourri.
— Source: National Pest Management Association