Customer prep sheets for pest treatments

Why prep sheets decide whether a treatment works

A technician can do everything right and still get a callback because the customer didn't empty the kitchen cabinets, washed the baseboards the next morning, or let the kids back into a room too early. Prep sheets prevent that, and they protect your company. EPA says plainly that the label is the law, and every pesticide label states that using the product inconsistently with its labeling violates federal law^[1]. Your prep sheet is how the customer's part of that label reaches the customer.

The people applying products are a trained, regulated workforce. State laws require pest control workers to be licensed, usually after training and an exam^[2]. EPA's stronger certification standards for restricted use pesticides require noncertified applicators to be trained and to work under a certified applicator's direct supervision^[3]. The customer is the one person in the chain without training, which is why the sheet has to be simple.

What goes on every prep sheet

• Company name, office phone and the technician's name, so the customer knows who to call with a question.
• The treatment type in plain words: ‘interior general pest treatment’, ‘bed bug treatment, first visit’.
• What to do before the visit, as numbered steps, with how long each usually takes.
• Who and what must be out of the home or room during treatment, and for how long, using the label's wording.
• Pets, fish tanks and birds: what to move, cover or switch off.
• Food, dishes and toothbrushes: what to put away and where.
• What not to do after treatment, such as mopping treated edges or vacuuming for a set period, if the product guidance says so.
• What to expect next: more activity for a few days is common with some treatments; when to call.
• Your follow-up visit date if the treatment is a series.

Prep by treatment type

Write one sheet per treatment, not one sheet for everything. Customers ignore long generic lists. The table below shows what usually differs; your technical lead sets the details for the products you actually use.

Writing re-entry instructions you can defend

Re-entry is where invented numbers cause problems. A CSR who says ‘two hours’ when the label for that product says ‘until dry’, or the reverse, puts the customer and the company at risk. Build each sheet from the product in use.

1. 01

   List the products for each treatment type

   Your service manager or licensed lead names the products technicians actually carry for that service.

2. 02

   Copy the label's own instructions

   Use the label's wording for people and pets staying out of treated areas, ventilation and contact with treated surfaces.

3. 03

   Translate into a customer step

   ‘Keep children and pets out of treated rooms until surfaces are completely dry. Your technician will tell you when that is.’

4. 04

   Have the licensed lead approve it

   Date the sheet and keep the approved version. When products change, the sheet changes.

5. 05

   Train CSRs to point to the sheet

   CSRs read the sheet's words rather than giving their own times on the phone.

When to send each piece

1. At booking: the prep sheet by email or text, plus a two-line summary read on the call.
2. 48 hours before: a reminder with the top three prep steps and the arrival window. For bed bugs, send it earlier; laundry takes days.
3. Day of, on arrival: the technician walks the home and checks the prep. If it isn't done, the technician follows your policy rather than treating an unprepared space.
4. After treatment: a post-treatment sheet with re-entry wording, what to expect and when to call.
5. Follow-up visit: a short reminder of any repeat prep.

Peak season stretches every step. Pest control employment rose from 147,900 in January 2025 to 159,100 in August 2025^[4], and evening and weekend work is common in the trade^[2]. Sending sheets automatically at booking saves your busiest weeks from relying on memory.

Make the sheet easy to follow

• One page, large type, numbered steps, one action per step.
• Pictures for the confusing parts: what ‘clear the baseboards’ looks like, how to bag bedding.
• A checkbox for each step so the customer can tick them off.
• A translated version for your most common customer languages, reviewed by a fluent speaker.
• A phone number to call if a step isn't possible, for example because of a mobility limitation. Offer help instead of rescheduling where you can.

A sample sheet: interior general pest treatment

Here is the shape of a one-page sheet. The re-entry line is a placeholder for your approved label wording; everything else is plain instruction the customer can follow in under an hour.

1. Put away food, dishes, pet bowls and toothbrushes in closed cabinets or the fridge.
2. Pull furniture about a foot away from the walls in the rooms we will treat, if you can do so safely. If you can't, tell us and the technician will help.
3. Pick up toys, shoes and clothes from the floor along walls and in closets.
4. Put pets in a room we won't treat, or take them outside the home. Cover fish tanks and switch off their air pumps during treatment.
5. Be ready to leave the treated rooms during the visit. [Approved re-entry wording from the label goes here.]
6. After treatment, don't mop or wipe the edges of treated floors until your technician says it is fine. Call us if you see more activity after the date on your sheet.

Customers who can't do the prep

Some customers physically can't empty high cabinets, move a dresser or bag a household's laundry: older homeowners living alone, people with disabilities, tenants who work double shifts. Rescheduling them repeatedly doesn't solve the infestation; it just moves the callback. Decide in advance what help you offer.

• Ask at booking whether any prep step will be hard, and note it on the work order.
• Offer a longer appointment where the technician helps with safe prep, priced and explained in advance under your normal policy.
• For property-managed homes, send the sheet to the manager as well as the resident, and agree who is responsible for each step.
• For bed bug work in multi-unit buildings, coordinate prep for neighboring units through the manager rather than treating one unit in isolation.

Write down what the technician did and didn't treat, and why. If the treatment fails, that note is what lets the office explain the result fairly instead of arguing.

Example: the cabinet problem

Example: a fictional pest company found that a large share of its cockroach callbacks came from homes where under-sink cabinets weren't emptied. Its old prep sheet had 18 items, with the cabinet instruction at number 11. The new sheet had six steps, with ‘empty cabinets under the kitchen and bathroom sinks’ first, a photo, and a line explaining why. CSRs read the first three steps on the call. Technicians logged ‘prep incomplete’ as a reason code, and the office reviewed the code monthly to see which steps still failed.

Mistakes to avoid

• Generic sheets that mix bed bug, roach and termite instructions.
• Re-entry times quoted from memory instead of from the label.
• Sending the sheet only after the customer asks.
• Treating an unprepared home to avoid a reschedule, then blaming the customer when it fails.
• No record of which sheet version the customer received.

For the animal side of prep, see pets in the home: safety rules. For property access when customers are at work, see keys, codes and alarms.