YouTube interview (Local Guys) following Reed, a first-year pest-control franchisee, and Sean (technician). Reed (from India; living in Adelaide, South Australia since 2008) describes buying a Local Guys franchise in the Treaty Gully territory, having no prior business background, running it for one year, matching his first-year income expectations, juggling a dance school alongside franchise work, and advising newcomers to "don't think too much"—treat the first 6–12 months as a learning period and view growth as a long-term game. Sean explains a termite chemical-treatment workflow: drill-and-inject or trench-and-flood perimeter treatments that create a continuous soil-bound chemical barrier; concrete drilling at ~200 mm spacings; label application rate cited as 5.2 liters per meter for this job; jobs can take a full day; completed chemical barriers give the customer five years of protection with yearly inspections.
Questions this video answers
One year
Treaty Gully, Adelaide, South Australia
2008
200 millimeter spacings
5.2 liters per meter
Chapters
So every day new challenges, different things and you have the flexibility, you can work on your schedule and you can make good money as well. So why not? My mindset was that I'm gonna learn how because it's totally new, right? It's not a rocket science. If you have any issues, you have the sport from staff, you have, you know, local guys. Everyone is like a big family, so they really help you out. If you have any issues at all, just give them a call. They just call away. You know, you gotta do, you gotta do, man, just do it with a smile. Hi, myself Reed. I'm from South Australia, Adelaide. My territory is Treaty Gully. I'm with the local guys from one year now, having a really good time. So Sean is really helpful. He's helping us the job as well. My background, nationality, I'm from India, been to Australia in 2008 and done all sorts of job, cleaning then, then the transportation, courier, all that. Had a chat with Sean, thought about buying a franchisee, something different with flexibility. So definitely he helped me out with the franchisee and all the legal documents and showed me how the work works. So that's pretty much it. Having a good time so far?
Yeah.
Why did you choose pest control over a different business?
I had a look in couple of other businesses, but the same thing. Sean used to come to my place, was there for 45 minutes, take a good buck from me. So I thought it's a good opportunity, let's see. Then had a chat with him again, same story, he helped me out.
Oh, so Sean actually came to do a job at your house?
Yeah, he was coming to my place like for four or five years. Then Nathan started coming to my place. So when I thought about buying this business then I had a chance to Sean. My mindset was that I'm going to learn how because it's totally new, right? So I want to do as much job as possible. I want to get my head around getting all the information as I can. So I didn't think anything. I just wanted to say for the six months, don't think, just work, take your time. You know, then once you're confident you have done X amount of jobs, then you have the confidence because end of the day you learn when you do things by yourself, Every day is a different story. It's not boring like any other normal job. So every day new challenges, different things and you have the flexibility, you can work on your schedule and if you have any other commitments you can do like I do, my have my dance school and all that stuff, which comes pretty handy with it because I can schedule my work according all things. And you can make good money as well, so why not?
What surprised you the most about running your own business?
First of all, I thought it's just spraying, but it's not. There is a lot of other things which surprise me. Which is good. Right. That means you have more avenue to make money.
Right?
It's just not spraying. There is a lot of other. Plenty of things. I've done jobs for 15 years, so it's the first time doing business. It's not a rocket science. So once you get your head around, everything works pretty smoothly. And if you have any issues, you have the support from staff, you have local guys. Everyone is like a big family. So they really help you out. If you have any issues at all, just give them a call. They just call away, you know.
So you had a bit of business background, you're saying?
No, I didn't have any business background. Like all my life I've done job for someone else. So I thought, let's do the business, you know, let's see if I can make a bit more money with less time, you know.
And how's the income been?
It's good, like whatever my expectation was. So I'm matching that, which is good, you know, for the first year. Because definitely every business takes time to build. And for the first year I'm really happy.
So you had no business background, you just come in and given it a go?
Yeah, that's it, man. That's why I didn't come with much expectation. I thought, I'm gonna try to learn because once you know what you're doing, then everything gets smoother, you know, and then you have the confidence so you can go back to your jobs, you know, anytime. So. But I don't think about that much. I just want to see if I can succeed in Venus. I'm really happy, man.
And so what's the next year or two look like for you?
So I'm really excited now I have the experience. Now I know what I'm doing. Right. So it's better when you know what you're doing.
You've settled in well. Yeah, yeah. No, I really love your positivity and your attitude.
Thank you, man. You know, it's better to think positively, you know, you're going to do it anyway. Why just binge about it? Some people binge about the weather. You got to do what you got to do, man. Just do it with a smile.
And do you have any advice for newcomers People coming on.
Just don't think too much, man. Don't get distracted with all of the things. Do your thing, Give it a time. Don't get disappointed with the next few months. It's going to take time. You know, some days you make like X amount of money and some days you don't make any money. So don't get disheartened if you don't make any one or two days. It's a long term game. So comes with that vision that it's a long term game. Give it time. You're gonna love it, man.
Just trust the process.
Yeah, definitely. You know, it's not that one day you will be knowing everything. So just take your time. For one year, don't think too much. For six months at least. What you don't think, just do your thing and come prepared.
Amazing. Thanks, Ray.
No worries, man. Have a good day.
So Sean, do you want to just explain what we're doing out here?
Yeah.
So we're doing a chemical treatment, termite protection. So basically what that is is a drill and inject or a trenching and flooding of the perimeter around the, the building itself. The chemical will bind itself to the dirt that is underneath either the concrete paths or the pavers, creating a continuous chemical barrier. So that way if termites come towards the house, they have to cross that barrier, pick up the chemical and kill them before they get to the actual house. Depending on how smoothly things go, one of these jobs typically take all day. Basically there's a lot of drilling. So we've got a. If it's concrete paths all the way around, we drill at 200 millimeter spacings around the entire perimeter of the building. So depending on the size of the building, that can take quite a lot of time. We then inject each and every one of those holes with tomaticide and then we patch those holes up with concrete afterwards. Yeah, it can take quite a long time. Yep. So this tree stump, the client was going to pull out and they've noticed that at the bottom here they found live termite activity. So as you can see, the hole in the top here, this whole piece of timber here is hollow. So termites live inside the tree itself, eat their way through. And being so close to the house itself, that's why the client was concerned, and rightly so, because it's not, not too far for them to travel and they could be inside the house. You know the hardest part?
Yep.
Getting them back in.
Shouldn't be telling us this right now. It's for the later, John said he'd.
Help out with that.
Yeah, by talking.
Yeah, by watching. Supervising. So we're about to soak the. The ground underneath the pavers where we've dug a trench. So create again that nice solid barrier. We're going to make sure that we, according to label, put in enough chemicals. So whatever that label may be, in this instance, it's 5.2 liters per meter. So we've worked out exactly how long each trench is and how much we need to. To put into that. That trench. So give it a good soaking, backfill it, give it another soak so there's no untreated soil on top, and then place the pavers back in place. So we've completed the job. The guys have done a really great job in completing a chemical treatment barrier to the house cleaned up as. Almost as like they weren't there. So it's all cleaned up as if the house was, prior to the job, happy customer. Now they're protected for five years. They'll keep on top with their yearly inspections, and they have that peace of mind that their asset is protected.
