BurkeExtermination

Burke Extermination is a one-owner-operator pest control business — Greg Burke, often working alongside his wife — serving the Stoneham and Melrose area. The sheer volume of near-identical reviews over five years tells its own story: people keep calling Greg back. In a 2025 review, a homeowner described their 1771-era house as hosting 'the modern-day 12 Plagues' — mice, carpenter bees, wasps, spiders, moths, stink bugs, centipedes, beetles and ants — and singled out an eco-conscious rodent bait for being non-toxic to the dogs that like to hunt mice in the yard. Speed shows up in almost every account. A 2026 review describes Greg answering a late-Sunday-night call and arriving early the next morning for a rodent problem. In a 2025 review, a customer said he returned a call about a hornet's nest under a grill within minutes and had it cleared within three minutes of arriving; in late 2023, another described a mouse infestation resolved less than 24 hours after a text. Several customers have signed on for annual maintenance plans after an initial visit: a 2024 review from a multifamily owner described quarterly bait checks and hole repairs with no mice sightings since, and another 2024 review recalled hiring Burke after five years of unsuccessful rodent attempts elsewhere — three years on, the customer still hadn't seen one. Not every account is glowing. Two reviews — one from mid-2024, one from late 2025 — describe scheduled appointments where Greg never showed up and never followed up, despite the customer confirming the time in advance. That's a sharp contrast with the punctuality the rest of the reviews describe, and worth asking about directly given how small the operation is. For anything from a single wasp nest to an ongoing mouse or rat problem that needs a standing plan, the reviews describe a responsive, hands-on operator who handles the job himself rather than dispatching a crew. Given the two no-show reports, it's worth confirming the appointment close to the date and having a backup plan if a call doesn't come back right away.