Reliant Pest Management

One man, one truck, 174 jobs booked through Thumbtack. Reliant Pest Management is Bill — the background check on his Thumbtack profile is filed under William Godfrey — working out of Quincy and listing twelve years in business. Bed bugs are the specialty people call about, alongside rodent and animal removal, rodent-proofing, outdoor pesticide application and wood-destroying-insect inspections. Thumbtack shows 4.9 across 102 ratings, with 90% at five stars, 9% at four and a single rating at two. He was named a Thumbtack Top Pro three years running, in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The written accounts are all old, and they are consistent. A homeowner writing in December 2014 described him arriving the same day on a suspected infestation, checking every bed and couch, spending an hour explaining treatment options and preventative steps, and finding nothing — no charge for a problem that wasn't there. A customer in May 2017 wrote that the quoted price was exactly what he charged, that he arrived when he said he would for both the initial treatment and the two-week follow-up, and that the problem was gone. Another, in June 2015, put it plainly: did as instructed, no more bed bugs. That is the whole readable record, and it stops in 2017. Ninety-seven of the 102 ratings have no text attached, so the star count is far deeper than anything you can actually read. Weigh the rating accordingly — the number is high, but the evidence behind it is thin and nearly a decade old. One practical thing to settle: the profile lists no pesticide applicator licence number. Massachusetts licenses pesticide applicators, so ask for the number and check it with the Department of Agricultural Resources before treatment, and ask what products will be used and what preparation is on you. The right call for a bed bug problem where you want one experienced person doing the inspection and the follow-up rather than a rotating crew. Ask for recent local references, since the written history you can read is dated.