Carol Blonder:
Welcome to the show, everyone. We just heard an ad that was someone that’s coming on my show right now, and I’m really excited about bringing him on. I’m going to bring you right up close to that mic, and we just heard the Rid-A-Bird ad. I have with me Ken Gray, and he is the owner of Rid-A-Bird Pest and Termite Control. Tell everybody, first of all, a little bit about yourself and what you do. And we’re going to educate people a little bit two parters on this thing about birds.

Ken Gray:
Sure.

Carol Blonder:
And of course those unwanted birds, especially, and what can they can do and how you can help with people. So welcome back to the show.

Ken Gray:
Thank you for having me.

Carol Blonder:
And tell everybody a little bit about yourself.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. So my name’s Ken Gray. I’m the owner of Rid-A-Bird Pest and Termite, and we’re a full service pest control company. And we’re we specialize in bird. That’s why our name is called Rid-A-Bird. There’s a lot of bird issues out there that we specialize in and eliminate. So residential and commercial. But thank you for having me back. It’s really good to be back here. So appreciate that.

Carol Blonder:
So let’s talk a little bit. First of all, we want people to understand. It’s very important for you that they understand that you do pest control too. It’s not just the rid of bird.

Ken Gray:
Right.

Carol Blonder:
You also offer a wonderful termite package for them and even guarantee that as well. We’re going to talk about that in a minute. But one thing I want to talk about, and especially now, right now is a great time to be talking about too, because so many people have solar on their homes and probably going to get more and more of them on our roofs. And people don’t even think about them. When they first get them, obviously everything’s new and everything’s great.

Carol Blonder:
So you leave them on there for a while.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. I like to say that it’s not when you get birds underneath your solar panel, it’s when. So it is just a great opportunity for birds to get underneath those panels. It’s a perfect hiding place and harboring place for them. And so what we do is we come out and give you a free consultation. We’ll look at your situation, take pictures, give you a free estimate. And then with that installation, we offer a lifetime warranty with that. So it’s really a one time deal. I mean, when I say lifetime, it doesn’t matter if you sell your house, that warranty goes with it. Realtors love what we do because we stand behind it. So it’s really an added value when you can look at a product that’s installed and know that that’s the only time you’re going to have to have that experience.

Carol Blonder:
Now, you also have a special way that you do what you do and people need to understand, because you think that it’s easy to do this stuff. And also, there’s a big thing that you do to help people so that when they leave, all those panels are still warranted.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. So here’s the thing, there’s a lot of different solar companies out there. They all have warranties on their solar panels. What they don’t like… Any warranty company is not going to like if you put a screw in the side of solar panels. So we don’t do any of that. All of our panels are put up in such a way, a proprietary way, that we do not penetrate the solar panels at all. And the way we do it is very unique, but in such a way that we do it that we can offer a lifetime warranty with that. And so if you do have a problem with a solar panel, they can’t come back and say, well, so and so company put a screw on the side of it or they attached something to it. Therefore, we can’t warranty it. I don’t know if that’ll happen or not, but we just alleviate all the worries when that may come up.

Carol Blonder:
And don’t try and do it yourself, right?

Ken Gray:
Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
A lot of people do try and do these kinds of things themselves.

Ken Gray:
Well, look, I mean, if you have the knowhow and the right ladders and the equipment and the knowledge to do it, but even if you did it yourself, you’re not going to get a lifetime warranty.

Carol Blonder:
Well, that’s true.

Ken Gray:
And is it really worth the risk of you falling off your roof or install it in such a way? I went behind a lot of companies that do it wrong. And actually, it turns out that the birds were able to get underneath there. We had to take off everything that they did wrong and redo it. So it’s really not really worth the effort to go all through that. And if you get the wrong product installed, if you got the right product, but you install it incorrectly, there’s just a lot of what ifs. And we take all that out of the equation.

Carol Blonder:
When you work with people, you said you’re both residential and commercial.

Ken Gray:
Yep.

Carol Blonder:
You also are valley-wide.

Ken Gray:
Valley-wide, mm-hmm (affirmative).

Carol Blonder:
You do free estimates. So when I give out this information, what I like to do is say maybe it’s you, or maybe it’s someone that you know, especially with this, especially when you know somebody with… If you have solar panels and they’re not brand spanking new, you really ought to have them come out and take a look at it.

Carol Blonder:
I don’t know whether or not anything could happen to the solar panel or anything like that. But if a bird is under there or what, the reason obviously why they do that is what?

Ken Gray:
Well, if they get underneath there, they’re going to… It’s a primary perching and nesting area underneath there. It gets them away from their predators, it gets them out of the sun, and it’s a perfect nesting area. So you don’t want them nesting underneath those panels. What happens is most of the time, you don’t even know you have an issue until monsoon season hits.

Carol Blonder:
Oh yeah.

Ken Gray:
It dams up the water on top of your roof. And then we get a call and say, “Hey, my roofer said-

Carol Blonder:
It’s snowing out.

Ken Gray:
“… we’ve got water leaks. And why is that?”

Carol Blonder:
Oh, water leaks.

Ken Gray:
It’s because the water is dammed up. It gets underneath your tile, and then you get a water leak. So let’s not wait till that happens. Let’s do a preemptive and get out there and solve the problem before you have a big issue like that.

Carol Blonder:
Your number, 623-587-0125. It’s ridabirdpestcontrol.com, right? You want them to go to there. You have a lot of information on there. Because yes, we’re talking. I opened it up with solar panels, just because it just so happens to be that I was thinking about that since it’s getting warmer, a lot of people are going to be putting them on. Obviously anybody that does have them, please call them and or tell somebody about it. They definitely should have it. It is a free estimate to find out whether… First of all, you’d know whether they’re there or not too.

Ken Gray:
Sure.

Carol Blonder:
Again, 623-587-0125. We’re going to open up the lines of the audience too, because you also wanted to do something fun for the audience throughout the rest of the show. And that is that you wanted to do a giveaway. What is that?

Ken Gray:
So we do general pest control. We’ll come out and do pest control inside out of your home. If you sign up for a monthly service, as long as you’re a customer of ours, we’re going to actually give you the termite warranty for your residential property. We’re going to give you that termite warranty for your charge as long as you’re a customer.

Carol Blonder:
And we’re going to let everybody get entered into win. I’m just doing it. It’s a pest control. We said one pest control. One person gets going to win.

Ken Gray:
One month, yeah.

Carol Blonder:
One month free pest control. And I will only say this. Anyone that doesn’t do that is just nuts because we got so many pesky things.

Ken Gray:
You know what, Carol, let’s give away three of them.

Carol Blonder:
Three of them? Three people.

Ken Gray:
Yeah, let’s give away. The first three of the-

Carol Blonder:
Just give it three people?

Ken Gray:
Yeah, we’ll do a giveaway. You’ve got a system that works for you.

Carol Blonder:
Okay.

Ken Gray:
Let’s do three of them.

Carol Blonder:
Let’s do it. We’ve got three people that are going to win. This is a pest control for either your home or your office. And let me tell you, it is so important to do, to make sure not… We’re talking birds. We’re going to kind of go back and forth here with this. But so important. So important for people to be able to make sure that they’re getting their pest, those pesky little pests taken care of. 

Carol Blonder:
We’re talking with Ken Gray. He’s the owner of Rid-A-Bird Pest and Termite Control. They are a full service pest control company. And you’ve been doing this here for like how long?

Ken Gray:
Oh, just about 30 years.

Carol Blonder:
30 years. So he knows our pests that we have here.

Ken Gray:
Yep.

Carol Blonder:
Removed from transcription

Carol Blonder:
Going back to birds, right?

Ken Gray:
Yep. Yep.

Carol Blonder:
We talked a little bit about the solar panels and them getting underneath there and being disgusting and doing their thing underneath there. But you also had a story before you came on that you were telling me about somebody that got, I think it was birds or woodpeckers or something like that.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. Woodpeckers, any type of bird

Carol Blonder:
But in their attics.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
Let’s talk about that.

Ken Gray:
Where there’s an opening, and no fault to the homeowner, but they’ll find any nook and cranny and you get into your attic. And you don’t even know it. And they’ve set up shop. And let me tell you, talk about the cost, it can get pricey if you let it go.

Carol Blonder:
But you don’t know.

Ken Gray:
You don’t know. Let’s get out there, take a look at it. See if you have an issue.

Carol Blonder:
Can you imagine? So you start hearing those pigeon sounds all of a sudden and you’re like, what?

Ken Gray:
Yeah, so that’s… Look, pigeons are very… They carry a lot of diseases. So you got to be careful more about their droppings than the bird itself. So when it’s in your attic and you have your ventilation’s up there and who knows, if it’s getting into your ventilation and you’re breathing it, that’s something you got to be aware of. So we’ll do that free inspection in your attic. Find out if you have an issue on top of your roof and inside the roof, whatever the issue is, and then give you a free estimate to take care of that.

Carol Blonder:
So the phone number to call direct, it’s 623-587-0125. As you’re listening to this, you can certainly understand why it’s important to get somebody to come out there, do your pest control. We’ve got three people that are going to win a service once a month for… Three people are going to win that for a one month service. And you can call throughout the rest of the show. In terms of when you go up there and you’re doing these estimates and you’re checking out the bird situation, you must have seen a lot of stuff.

Ken Gray:
Oh yeah. I mean, there’s homes that have been kind of neglected for years. Maybe it’s a home that someone lives out of state and they don’t realize until it’s way too late. I’ve seen just about everything.

Carol Blonder:
Right. There are a lot of people have duals home. They live in dual places. So for birds, most important thing for them to do is to make sure that they do get an estimate. Just have them come and-

Ken Gray:
Yeah. It doesn’t hurt anything to get an estimate. I’m one of the only company I know of that offers a free lifetime warranty when you have this system installed. There’s a lot of companies that think I’m crazy for doing in it. I know most of my competitors and they’re like, they want to charge some of their customers monthly, or I mean, yearly to renew a warranty. I don’t do that.

Carol Blonder:
And now, let’s go to our pests. You had said that right now, a lot of people are going to be dealing with obviously scorpions.

Ken Gray:
Sure.

Carol Blonder:
And when you come in and you obviously, it’s the best thing to do you said, just get your houses and your places sprayed.

Ken Gray:
So that’s a good point. So scorpions are a big issue here in Arizona, and their main food source is crickets. So if you have a monthly pest control service that’s taking care of your crickets on a monthly basis, you’re getting rid of their food source. So that’s number one. If there’s no food for them, they’re going to go somewhere where there is food. And as long as there’s none in around your home, they’re going somewhere else. They’re not there. But if you do have scorpions, we have a solution for that too. But also, if my technician’s out there every month, they’re also looking for those termite issues that pop up. My technicians are certified to look for that. So you’ve got a technician out there on your property, monthly looking for those issues. You may not be able to see or recognize what it is, but our technicians are trained to look at that. And if there is an issue, we bring it to your attention and then take care of it for you.

Carol Blonder:
And you do something special when people do a monthly service with you.

Ken Gray:
Right.

Carol Blonder:
And that is what?

Ken Gray:
So if you’re a monthly pest control customer, we’re going to throw in that termite warranty free. So that’s a big savings for our customers. And we want to be serious about taking care of the birds on top of your roof, the termites under your foundation, and the bugs all the way around. It’s a one shop, a one-stop shop here.

Carol Blonder:
And you’ve said that it… Let me say this. It isn’t if, it’s when.

Ken Gray:
Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
Because everybody’s get them.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. With the birds under solar panels or underneath an eve area, that you don’t have to have solar panels that have a bird issue. But any nook and cranny on your roof, termites, it’s just a matter of when. It’s not if.

Carol Blonder:
Right. And if you see somebody in your neighborhood that has a termite truck in front of them, you might want to call Rid A Bird pest control and termite because if there’s somebody in a neighborhood that has them, more than likely you might also. Is that correct?

Ken Gray:
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
It’s true.

Ken Gray:
Absolutely.

Carol Blonder:
So you want to make sure that you write this number down and put it under pest control-

Ken Gray:
Sure.

Carol Blonder:
… in your phone. So that’s 623-587-0125. Their website is ridabirdpestcontrol.com. They are a full service pest control. So when it comes to any kind of pesky pests, you can take care of that.

Ken Gray:
Absolutely.

Carol Blonder:
Okay. And they do free estimates. They work valley-wide, again, residential and commercial. We’ve got our lines open here for everyone to get entered into win. Three people are going to win. And this is a monthly pest service. And let me just say this, everybody should have. Give it to somebody who just got a home.

Ken Gray:
Here’s what I want to say too. The free giveaway, you’re not obligated to sign up. So we’re just actually going to give it to you.

Carol Blonder:
No obligation.

Ken Gray:
If you like what we’re doing, we’d love to earn your business, but we really just want to give it away. Tell your neighbors about us, whatever your experience with us. I know you’re going to love our technicians. You’re going to love our service. And we back everything up with a guaranteed result.

Carol Blonder:
So you can call in here. We’ve got three people that are going to win, and you get to try… Get in all throughout the rest of the show.  And I want to talk a little bit more about some of the different pests that we have, right?

Ken Gray:
Yep. Yep.

Carol Blonder:
Because some people have ant issues here.

Ken Gray:
That’s a big problem.

Carol Blonder:
Fire ants here, right?

Ken Gray:
Ants will actually travel a half a mile from their nesting area.

Carol Blonder:
From their neighbor. They’re coming over to your house.

Ken Gray:
So that’s something that’s very unique and a situation where you may not have the nest on your property, but they’re coming to your property. So we need to eliminate why they’re coming to your property and put out the right bait for those ants. And there’s so many different types of ants too. So it’s not just one thing you get at the hardware store and it’s going to take care of it. There’s different ants species that our products work differently in.

Carol Blonder:
What happens, let’s say somebody has something like a snake or things like that? Do you-

Ken Gray:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Carol Blonder:
I want to talk about how far, how full your service is, because there’s sometimes people have rats, things like that. Roof rats.

Ken Gray:
So with our pest control service, our monthly service, we do include mice. If you have a mice problem, we’re going to-

Carol Blonder:
That’s nice to know.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. We’re going to set those traps out for you. We’re going to include that in the service. If you have something bigger than that, rats or roof rats or something, we can address that in a different manner.

Carol Blonder:
Right. But you do take care of it. What I like to know is it’s a one-stop shop, like you said before. Because I know that when people get like mice, that’s when they call a certain person that they know of, they hear of it, whatever.

Ken Gray:
Sure.

Carol Blonder:
But if you are doing their pest control, you’re going to be able to take care of all of that for them. It’s under one roof.

Ken Gray:
This may surprise some people, but if you have a pest control company now you like, keep them. They’re really hard to find. And so that’s why I tell everyone that’s a potential customer of mine, it’s really hard to find a dependable, honest company. But when you do, hold onto them. We’d love to earn your business on that. If someone disappoints you, we’d love to earn your business. But if you have a good company, hold onto it. I know that’s counterproductive to a business, but I just want to be honest.

Carol Blonder:
And if you’re looking for a reputable one, you can… Listening to one right now. And you could put the phone number in your phone under pest control or Rid A Bird. The phone number is 623-587-0125. And I’m going to say this too. Anybody who’s a realtor… We have a realtor coming on later.

Ken Gray:
Yeah. Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
But anybody who is… What a wonderful thing to do is to maybe give this that we’re talking about. Maybe it is a free bird inspection for under… You might be selling somebody’s house that has a solar panels. Call them and get connected. 

Ken Gray:
Absolutely. Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
And they are, when they say full service, they truly mean that. What I love about that is because when you’ve got pests, maybe you’ve got just insects, insects right now, but mice come later or something else.

Ken Gray:
Bees.

Carol Blonder:
Bees.

Ken Gray:
Bees are a big problem.

Carol Blonder:
Bees are a big problem right now.

Ken Gray:
Yep. Yep.

Carol Blonder:
So you can do that too.

Ken Gray:
Absolutely. Yep. And if you’re a regular customer of ours, you actually get a break in the bee service fee.

Carol Blonder:
All of this information that you’re talking about, is that on your website?

Ken Gray:
Absolutely. Yeah.

Carol Blonder:
Yeah. So check them out there. It is ridabirdpestcontrol.com. And this is what they want you to understand. They do everything. Okay. You happen to be very experienced,-

Ken Gray:
Specialized.

Carol Blonder:
…. specialized in birds.

Ken Gray:
Yep.

Carol Blonder:
But you do everything.

Ken Gray:
Absolutely.

Carol Blonder:
And as matter of fact, you go even to the furthest extent. You’ve got termites, you help them with that.

Ken Gray:
Yep.

Carol Blonder:
You’ve got a warranty for them with that as well.

Ken Gray:
Absolutely.

Carol Blonder:
And you know what? They just want to earn your business.