Sammy goes through a week of pest control franchise training, learning rodent and cockroach treatment at a brewery. He says the franchise offers the freedom to set his own hours and lower business risk than starting solo, with ongoing trainer support through WhatsApp and a training platform.
Questions this video answers
December 17, 2025
Atrothor
24 hours
About the size of a fist (if they can get their head through, the rest of the body will follow).
Jarrad Goulding
Chapters
It was beautiful. I had a couple of days with Sean and Nathan. They've been really, really brilliant. They give me tips and tricks about the industries and how to do things the proper way. And, yeah, I loved it. It's beautiful being out with Sean in the brewery area. It was very cruel from him. There was no freebie wine.
But what's been the most surprising thing about training so far, like how much.
Involved people think the pest control is just black and spray and, you know, off you go. This is a lot more involved when you go to places, restaurants and cafes and all that, look at certain things a different way. Team's very helpful. They show you around and they give you different techniques and different style of doing sprays and all that, which is good.
If someone's watching now they're on the fence about joining up with a franchise, what would you say to them?
It's a great experience. It's a great idea where you gotta lose, you know, sometimes. You know, if you want to succeed in life, you gotta take risk. And these guys, they minimise the risk to bare minimum, which is. That's what you like to hear in business.
So you're after a bit more flexibility.
100%. 100% and the money as well. So it's not. Can't really complain.
So we're going through some training here with Sammy. Nathan has a brewery, a commercial site for Sammy to have a look at. So we've got a few different things that we look after here. Rodent control, cockroach control and flying insect control. See the different avenues that we use to control certain different insects and then the whole process in regards to the site register, seeing the site contact and abiding by the rules that are required around commercial and pest control. The hardest part about this site is it's a brewery, so we do it first thing in the morning so we don't get tempted to stay here all day.
100%.
What are you looking forward to, mate.
Once you're up and running, pretty much just meeting the people and actually get engaged, doing the job. I love it. You know, a bad day in the work field, still better than a good day in office. So.
So we're just doing preventative cockroach treatment. Atrothor. I spray it around, it crystallizes and then they feed on that crystallization of the liquid. Over here, a rodent job. Clients complained about some noises in the roof. Nathan's just done a bit of an investigation, pulled back some of the. The metal sheeting and he's in fact just Found a possum sitting in the roof cavity. So now he's got the. The joys of trying to find the entry point. So a bit of an investigation and, and problem solving when we're doing a possum investigation is really take your time, look over the whole roof, but also think outside the square a little bit too, because it's not always. Sometimes it will stand out. Other times you've really got to think outside the square and find something that you didn't actually think of. Maybe something you've never seen before either. So do a thorough investigation.
What other points of entry could there possibly be up here?
So it depends on how well the sheets are screwed in. Along the gutter line being a corrugated iron roof, the wave of the corrugate, there can be a lot of gaps. That'll be typically how rodents will enter the roof. But if it is big enough for a possum, the possum will get in there too. I've also seen possums lift loose tiles before. So you get up on the roof and the roof looks normal unless you find that loose tile where the possum's lifting it up to gain access. It's another point as well. A lot of the other times it's just construction. Like builders leave small gaps and not thinking that anyone's ever going to notice. But a possum or another animal will find it, and then that homeowner has a problem eventually down the line in the building construction, sometimes builders are a little bit lazy, completely finish the job. But then there are also other areas where it may just be a bit of timber, where possums have actually chewed away an entrance point themselves to be able to get into the roof cavity. They're just looking for somewhere warm to sleep, protected during the day, and then come out at night time and party.
So what sort of size opening do they need?
So typically we have a rule of thumb about the size of your fist. So not much bigger than us, smaller than a tennis ball. If they can get their head through that opening, they'll get the rest of their body through. So Nathan's done some investigating and happened to find the little heat outlet here. And that pipe doesn't actually run all the way down into the kitchen. It runs just into that roof cavity there. At least we were able to find out where we think he's gaining access. So we can set up a trap, do some proofing, and then let him go again. Right here we're allowed to legally hold a possum for 24 hours and then you gotta let it go where you found it.
How's the support been from the team so far?
Oh, it's been great. Like buying French car is one of the best things ever done. These guys make it so simplified. They help you out a lot and they're always like a phone call away, which is pretty good. These guys on the field, they're very good. They show you around and they give you different techniques and different style of doing sprays and all that, which is good.
If someone's watching now they're on the fence about joining up with a franchise, what would you say to them?
It's a great experience, it's a great idea and what you got to lose if you want to succeed in life, you got to take risk. And these guys, they minimize the risk to bare minimum, which is. That's what you like to hear in business. Before this one. I've done so many jobs before, as I'm telling Shaun, I've done like from facility managers to firefighters to everything else in between. The good thing about this one is they give you the freedom you can book your hours. Because I'm a full time dad now, so it gives me the freedom to sort of look after my, my son and all that. And then you can schedule jobs that suit your sort of lifestyle, which is good.
So you're after a bit more flexibility.
100%. 100% and the money as well. So it's not. Can't really complain.
What does this opportunity mean for you and your family?
Owning your own business, having that freedom, having no one to respond to, like, you know, no meeting. I don't have to wear a business suit and a tie every day. That's one of the biggest bonus for me being out in open weather, man, it's beautiful.
So we've just finished up with training with Sammy, so he's been with us for the week. He's gone out and saw a range of different sites, different services, everything that hopefully equips him with the skills to get out there and run his own business. But after that, he's still not alone. He's still got contact with me whenever he needs. He's also got the training platform with all our videos. If he runs into any other issues, we do have the team of the guys. We all work together. We got a WhatsApp group chat where we all help each other out. I'm excited to see what Sammy does from here. Hopefully goes out there and just smashes it the way that I think that he can.
Feeling good, Sammy I do, I do, I do. I'm excited to get started.
What's been your favorite part? What's been a job that you weren't expecting?
Definitely today, like that possum thing is full on investigation, full MacGyver with these guys. Yeah.
Every pest is there for a reason. So it's not just about going in there and getting rid of them, trying to work out why they're there, eliminate that reason that they're there, and that's half the job done.
