What makes a bird tech tick

ILLUSTRATION: LEO MICHAEL

Sometimes, taking a general pest control technician off the route and onto a bird control project works. Sometimes, it doesn’t.

Rolie Calzadilla, CPCO, CGC, CWCP, is Terminix Commercial’s Miami, Fla.-based bird and wildlife technical manager. And like the other experts we interviewed for this month’s cover story (Read: Build your bird business), he stresses that whomever you send out on the job must be properly trained and able to do it.

“It’s not groundhogs we’re after,” Calzadilla quipped. “Everything is at heights. Falling from a ladder or off a roof, or something big hitting your lift while you are working at heights are common concerns.”

Varment Guard Wildlife Manager Jared Miller suggests pulling someone from your wildlife control team before you consider someone from your general pest or termite control teams. As a bird control tech, he says, “You’re lifting over your head a lot more weight than a regular tech would. You’re standing up in a lift all day long. You’re driving brackets into concrete. You need someone who’s a hard worker, reliable, and physically able to maintain a long day’s work.”

All your employees are hard workers, no doubt. But it takes a special tech to tackle bird control work.