Pestfinder fuels industry, but it’s not rocket science

Company uses physicists’ motion-detection technology

Sunday, May 23, 2004

By Dan Weissman
Star-Ledger Staff

Dimitri Donskly specializes in researching detection technologies. 

The Stevens Institute of Technology physicist is well known for his work to develop a microwave mine-detecting system.  He was also asked to assist with the inquiry into the causes of the deadly 2003 explosion of the space shuttle Columbia.

But a few years back, when he bought a home in New jersey, he found damage from termites and dreamed up another detection system.

Jerry Smith, co-owner of Dial Pest control in Caldwell, has taken Donskoy’s termite detection technology to the next level - commercial application. 

Smith says he read a newspaper article about Donskoy’s work.

“One paragraph says Dr. Donskoy thought the system could also help the pest-control industry find termites,” Smith says.  “I called him the next day and we began a collaboration.”

After a few demonstrations, Smith says he was convinced Donskoy had found the elusive method of seeing through solid objects in the search for termites and carpenter ants.  That soon led to the introduction of the “Pestfinder”.

The Pestfinder system uses sensors the size of a cell-phone video screen to look into walls and microwaves that bounce back to the master unit wherever motion is detected, he says.  The system, powered by two C batteries is so easy to use, it requires almost no training and is so accurate, it reads motion within a 1.5 inch area.

As a pest control company, this allows us to pinpoint activity so we can localize treatment,” Smith says.  “Then, we can come back to see if it was effective without dismantling walls, and it really reduces the insecticide and pesticide use.

“If we localize the problems and use insecticide foam, we can drill a hole into the active area and seal it.  So we’ve done the job with a couple of ounces of material instead of hundreds of pints of insecticide.”

Other pest-control professionals are interested in the technology.

Cooper Pest Solutions in Lawrenceville is one of the companies sharing the Pestfinder technology.

“It’s a great device,” says Chris O’Donovan, termite division manager for Cooper Pest Solutions.  “It’s given us the ability to do things we’ve never been able to do before.  It renews a sense of confidence in the treatment.”

Smith says he has been in the termite business for 19 years.  He says prior to that he was in the mortgage business, but when interest rates to 18 percent, his business suffered.

He took some training courses and started the pest-control business with just himself and a partner.  Today, he says, he has 11 full-time employees and hires part-timers to work during the summer months.

Smith, the immediate past president of the New Jersey Pest management Association, says there are 350 pest-control companies working in New Jersey.  He says because his industry is relatively small, research and development companies don’t see a big financial incentive to come up with better technology.  That is what makes the linkage with Donskoy so good for the business as a whole, Smith says.

“Before, we used a screwdriver and flashlight, and we were limited to visual inspections and training know-how of typical areas of termite infestation,” he says.

Smith says the busy season for termites runs from the end of April through the first two weeks of May.  When he finds termites, it generally costs between $1,000 and $2,000 to treat an average home.

“The cost is less and less an issue,” says Smith, noting the surge in real estate values and the damage termites can do to a home.

Leigh Bolt, who has lived in Madison for the past 11 years, says she discovered termites in her home when she noticed holes in the floor.  Bolt says she had two or three proposals for home to deal with her termite problem before she contacted Smith.

“I was having trouble making up my mind,” Bolt says.  “Then they came in with the Pestfinder rather than a crapshoot.  It was the honest-to-goodness magic machine that made my decision to go with (Smith’s company) and get the termite problem resolved.”