As a special addition to our member promotion services, the Chamber is now offering a free Featured Member Profile, which will be printed in the Chamber View and posted on the website for a month, then moved into a prominently-placed online archive for the remainder of the year.  To win this free publicity, just drop your business card into the Featured Member Fishbowl at each monthly Networking Mixer and be present for the drawing.  For more information, call the Chamber, 410-719-9609.

Featured Member

June 2009

From Bats to Bedbugs, All Star Pest Management Keeps Your Home Clean and Green

When you discover ants marching across your kitchen countertop, it's easy to find a problem-solver in the Yellow Pages. But what do you do when you hear footsteps running across your attic at 3:00 a.m?

Katherine Vaughn and Abderrahim (Abdul) and Seddiq El Hani hope you'll call All Star Pest Management.

Founded in 2001, their independent family business is built on a broad-based foundation: Mr. El Hani spent 12 years as a field scientist in a Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture program to control bird and insect damage to crops. Since coming to the U.S., he has continued his professional training with an M.S. in wildlife damage management from Utah State University.. 

His specialized field knowledge is backed up by Ms. Vaughn’s managerial, marketing and financial expertise, with his brother Seddiq helping co-manage the field technicians.

The wildlife focus, in fact, was the inspiration for All Star Pest Management, says Mr. El Hani. "Then we realized that people need help with insects too."

Today, wildlife issues make up about 25% of All Star service calls.  “Those are the more interesting calls," says Ms. Vaughn with a smile. They can range from raccoons and squirrels to birds, snakes, bats and mice, with snakes and bats prompting the “scariest” calls. The possibility of rabies and snakebite account for some of the panic, she says, but there are some people who “just can’t abide” the creatures.

With this fear factor, customer service is a large part of their business focus: in addition to solid scientific and technical knowledge, “an understanding of people’s expectations” is necessary, says Mr. El Hani.

The calls themselves can range from high hilarity (as when a client mistook a noisy refrigerator condenser for a trapped bird) to high drama (as when a trapped bat drove a pair of panicked homeowners to barricade themselves in separate rooms. Mistaking their shouts for a fight, neighbors called the police, who then called All Star).

Mr. El Hani and his three-member field crew use humane strategies on such calls, he says: “We focus on finding the source of the problem: the cause of the attraction, and the hiding places. We do a thorough inspection of the building, find the main entry point and seal it, and then install a one-way door: the animal can get out but not return.” Among their other tools are chimney caps, live traps, bird netting, even pheromones.

While clearing a home or office of roaches, ants, termites, bedbugs, and other crawling critters may not be as dramatic as outwitting wildlife, it can be just as challenging, says Mr. El Hani. “Our knowledge of the biology of the insects helps us to find the best way of controlling them.”

“Our vision is to use a minimum of pesticides,” he says, so All Star focuses on using “bait and low-impact, plant-based chemicals,” supported by preventive tactics such as sanitation, caulking, and traps. For tougher situations, such as bedbugs, intensive cleaning is required in addition to several chemical treatments.

All-Star’s low-impact, low-toxicity, multi-level approach, called Integrated Pest Management, reflects a larger trend in the industry. The company is a member of the National Pest Management Association, which is currently working with the EPA,the National Resources Defense Council, and other parties to come up with environmental standards. “The industry is very serious about the green movement, and doing it right,” says Ms. Vaughn.

As part of their own green ethic, All Star is currently completing certification in the NPMA’s Quality Pro program, and plans to pursue the Quality Pro Green certification. They expect that both certifications, and All Star’s internal green program, should be complete by the spring of 2010.

While Ms. Vaughn and Mr. El Hani have been Catonsville residents for some time, with their three children attending schools in the community, All Star Pest Management only moved to its West Park Shopping Center location in 2005. “We wanted to make our business part of the community where we live,” says Ms. Vaughn.

“We want Catonsville to know that we resolve tough problems, sometimes within 24 hours,” she adds. “We’re the go-to company; there’s nothing we can’t handle. We say that if it walks, flies, or crawls, we’ll handle it, guaranteed.”

 Past Featured Members