The Price, Stated Plainly
The figure is a fixed £240 for treating ants at a home. You hear it when you ring and it is confirmed again before a date is agreed, so there is no point at which you have committed to a job without knowing the cost.
What the treatment involves for your property is explained before booking as well. Ant problems vary more than people expect: one house has a single trail from a patio, another has workers surfacing through a kitchen floor. We would rather describe how the job will run for your building than print a promise here that does not fit it.
What the Treatment Involves
Broadly, three things happen on an ant job, and the price is for the approach as a whole:
- Finding where they are coming from. The trail is followed back towards the nest, inside and out, and the entry points into the house are noted.
- Treating the colony, not just the workers. Gel bait goes into cracks and out of reach, where foragers pick it up and carry it home to share, and a residual insecticide may be applied at the nest, along entry points and at outside wall bases.
- Telling you what happens next. Which areas to leave alone, for how long, and what activity to expect over the following days.
Why the Nest Is the Point
The ants on your worktop are sterile workers sent out to find food. The queen stays deep in the nest, often under paving or at the base of a wall outside, and she keeps laying. Kill every forager you can see and the colony simply sends more.
That is why the job starts with tracing the trail rather than spraying the kitchen. A treatment that reaches the queen, usually by bait the workers carry back themselves, is the one that stops the stream. If you want to try the search first, the article on how to find an ant nest sets out the clues.
Expect a few more ants before fewer. For a few days after treatment, foragers keep collecting bait, so the trail can look busier. That is the treatment working. Do not wipe, spray or clean over treated spots for the period you are told.
What to Tell Us When You Ring
None of these changes the fixed price. They change where treatment is placed and what you are asked to do on the day.
- Who is in the house. Children, pets, fish tanks and anyone vulnerable. Children and pets are kept off treated areas until they are dry and as instructed on the day.
- Where you see them. Which room, which surface, and whether they seem to come from one spot, such as a skirting board, a door threshold or a crack in the floor.
- When you see them. A steady trail through the afternoon tells a different story from a sudden cloud of winged ants.
- What you have already tried. Sprays, powders or shop baits, and where you put them down.
- The building. House or flat, owned or rented, and whether the ground floor is solid or suspended.
Questions Worth Asking Us
You should get a straight answer to each of these before you agree to anything:
- What will the treatment involve at my address?
- Which areas will I need to keep clear, and for how long?
- What should I expect to see over the next few days?
- What happens if the ants are still coming after that?
If an answer is vague, ask again. Our number is 0118 336 1366, or use the form on this page and we will ring you back. If you rent, the question of who pays sits with your tenancy; the landlords advice page covers the general position, though we are not legal advisers.