Award-winning Cowleys Pest Services profiled in local news

Brothers Drew (left) and Bill Cowley. IMAGE: COWLEYS PEST SERVICES

Begun in 1991 by Drew Cowley, who was joined by his brother Bill a few years later, Cowleys Pest Services is a Howell, N.J.-based business that was recently profiled in the Asbury Park Press.

The profile sprang from a conversation Cowleys Pest Services Marketing Director Chris Dattoli had after he sent the newspaper a news item about ticks and pest control.

It was also reason to celebrate that the company was recently voted both one of the Top Places to Work in New Jersey by NJBiz.com and Asbury Park Press’ “Best of the Best in Monmouth County.”

“We are truly humbled and honored and look forward to keeping our customers’ homes pest-free for another 30 years,” Dattoli said, telling Pest Management Professional magazine that earning the “Best of the Best” award alone garnered an estimated increase of about 5 percent in sales leads.

The article profiles the brothers, who as youngsters “had no fear of the insects and animals living in the woods that surrounded their Manalapan home. Years later, as adults, they ended up channeling that ease — combined with their entrepreneurial know-how” into Cowleys Pest Services.

Drew graduated college with a degree in criminal justice, and embarked on a sales career before turning to pest control. Bill, meanwhile, holds a degree in history and previously owned and operated an athletic footwear store in a local mall.

“During my brother’s search for a new job, an old friend of ours who was a sales manager for a local pest management company tried to recruit him,” Bill told the Asbury Park Press. “Drew had no interest, but our friend persisted and in 1990, Drew joined that company as a commercial salesperson selling pest management services to restaurants, hotels and other businesses. He enjoyed the job and, as I was in the process of trying to sell my store, I joined Drew at the company as well and learned the pest control business.”

Within months, Bill continued, “Drew left to start his own pest management business and I returned to work at my store. Drew launched Cowleys Pest Services in 1991 on his own, working crazy hours and wearing every hat. Three or four years in and after I finally sold my store and was looking for a new opportunity, Drew suggested that we become partners in his business because he thought we’d make a good team, and I agreed. I bought half of the company from him in spring 1996 and we went right to work growing it from a small mom-and-pop business to a corporate enterprise.”

Today, Cowley’s employs 45, with a revenue of $7.3 million. Bill chalks up their success in part to the good relationship between the brothers, telling the Asbury Park Press, “Drew and I trust each other completely, have always gotten along well, and have a really strong partnership. We also love helping others, and our customers are always so relieved and appreciative.”