Your recurring book is forty small interruptions a week
New pest calls are urgent and emotional; the recurring ones are constant and small. Vandial handles both — it identifies the pest, asks about children, pets and pregnancy before it discusses any treatment, quotes your standing rate, and absorbs every reschedule without ringing you.
From $99 a month · Robocalls are never billed
Incoming callAdaeze Okafor“There's a trail of ants right across the kitchen counter.”
Booked — Wed am, pet-safe treatment noted
- Same day
- is when someone who has just seen one rings. Tomorrow's callback is a lost job
- Asked first
- children, pets or pregnancy — before any treatment is described
- Counted once
- a quarterly customer is one customer, not four
This is what your callers hear
The same receptionist a pest control company gets, answering as the trades we already run. Yours is in the middle — press play.
One pest control call, and what it left behind
Answered on the second ring. Every field below was captured during the call — nobody typed it in afterwards.
“There's a trail of ants right across the kitchen counter.”
Classified0:13
- new job
- ants
- pets on site
Captured0:38
- kitchen + pantry
- 2 cats
- gel bait flagged
Booked1:03
- Google Calendar
- Wed 8–12
- follow-up scheduled
Booked — Wed am, pet-safe treatment noted
Read the whole pest control call, line by line
- 0:02Adaeze Okafor: There's a trail of ants right across the kitchen counter.
- 0:05Vandial: We can treat that. Are there children or pets in the house?
- 0:11Adaeze Okafor: Two cats. Is whatever you use safe for them?
- 0:13Classified — new job · ants · pets on site
- 0:18Vandial: The technician will use a gel bait placed where the cats can't reach it, and he'll walk you through it on the day.
- 0:29Vandial: Is it just the kitchen, or have you seen them elsewhere?
- 0:35Adaeze Okafor: Kitchen and the pantry.
- 0:38Captured — kitchen + pantry · 2 cats · gel bait flagged
- 0:50Vandial: It's $165 for the treatment including a follow-up in two weeks. Wednesday morning?
- 1:03Booked — Google Calendar · Wed 8–12 · follow-up scheduled
Answered, understood, booked
One number, picked up on the second ring — at 2am, on a Sunday, while you're already working. By the time the caller hangs up, it is in your calendar.
It answers
Answered the moment they see it, which in this trade is when they call — usually from the kitchen, usually slightly horrified.
- 0:00Incoming call
- 0:02Answered by Vandial2 rings
- 0:05“Hello, Marlow Plumbing.”
It understands
It identifies the pest, asks about children, pets and allergies before discussing any treatment, and quotes your standing rate from a few facts.
- Job
- Water heater — leaking
- Where
- 14 Marlow Street
- Access
- Side gate, dog in yard
- Urgency
- Today if possible
- Still on
It books
Booked into the route in the right order, with the follow-up already scheduled and the pet-safety note attached to the job.
Text to Dave · 13:01
You’re booked for today, 1–2pm. Reply R to move it.
It asks what you would ask
These are the questions the agent runs for pest control companies, and the operational reason each one exists. Change them, add your own, or take them out — they are configuration, not code.
Which pest, and where have you seen it?
Ants, rodents, wasps, bedbugs and termites are five different treatments, prices and technicians. It is the first branch in the whole call.
Are there children, pets, or anyone pregnant in the home?
Asked before any treatment is discussed, not after. It changes the product used and it is the question that earns the customer's trust on the call.
Indoors or outdoors, and how much of the property?
Decides the treatment size and the slot length, and whether this is a one-off or the start of a plan.
How long has it been going on?
A trail seen this morning and an infestation of six months are different jobs with different expectations of what one visit achieves.
Is anyone in the house allergic to stings?
A wasp nest at a house with a known allergy is urgent rather than routine, and nobody volunteers it.
One-off treatment or an ongoing plan?
The recurring book is the business. Asking on the first call is what turns a single treatment into a standing quarterly.
More than a pest control answering service
An answering service takes a message and charges you for it. Vandial knows your prices, your patch and your diary — so it books the job, or puts a real emergency straight through to you.
It picks up out of hours, and while your line is busy
New pest calls are same-day decisions. Somebody who has just seen a rat in the kitchen is not waiting for a callback — they are working down the search results, and the first company that answers gets the job.
It knows your prices, your patch and your hours
Your standing rates are quotable from a few facts, so the agent quotes them. Property size, pest, one-off or plan — that is enough for a real number rather than “someone will call you back with a price”.
What it knows
Ant treatment
$165 incl. follow-up
Service area
15 miles
Quarterly plan
From $49
Pet-safe options
Gel baits, no open spray
What matters reaches you. The rest waits
The recurring book generates most of your call volume and none of your revenue: skips, moves, gate codes, dogs, “can you come Friday instead”. Vandial absorbs all of it and reorders the route, without anyone in your office picking up.
Your rule: if they say gas, flood or no heat — ring Sam, then me.
Every call written up, tagged and searchable
Every call written up with the pest, the property, the occupants and the safety notes attached. Your technician arrives knowing there are two cats and where the pantry is.
Dave Whitfield · Sunday, 4m 12s
Water heater, leaking
Leaking from the base. Booked for Tuesday 1–2pm. Side gate open, dog in the yard. Asked whether the service call fee applies — told $99, waived on repair.
Termite swarm, and the first warm week
This trade's peaks are sharp and short. A termite swarm produces a week of calls from people who have just watched a cloud of insects come out of their skirting board, and the first genuinely warm week produces the wasp season in a single weekend. Both arrive faster than an office can answer them, and both are made up of customers who will ring the next company within the hour.
When it happens · Termite swarm, first warm week, wasp season
A normal month, then a surge month
- Billed per minute
- Your baselineTriples with the calls
- The bill peaks in the same week your phone does.
- Billed per call, like a human service
- Per call, every callEvery extra call, billed
- Including the robocalls and the wrong numbers.
- Vandial
- From $99 a monthThe same
- Call flows are unlimited on every paid rung, and there is no per-minute billing. The rungs differ only in how many unique customers you answer for — and a surge is mostly more calls from the same people.
Robocalls and sales calls are identified and zero-rated on every plan. They never count toward your included customers and never create a customer record.
What it will never do
You are handing your phone to something that talks to your customers when you are not there. These are the lines it does not cross in pest control, and the words it uses instead.
It asks about children, pets and pregnancy first
Chemical safety is not a footnote in this trade, and the caller is usually already worrying about it. The agent raises it before any treatment is described — which both routes the job correctly and answers the question the customer was too embarrassed to ask.
What it actually says
“Before we talk about treatment — are there children, pets, or anyone pregnant in the house? It changes what we'd use.”
Sting allergies and wasp nests escalate
A nest at a property where somebody is allergic is not a routine booking. It is flagged and put in front of you, because “we can come Thursday” is the wrong answer to that call.
What it actually says
“With an allergy in the house I don't want to leave that till Thursday — let me see who we can get to you today.”
It won't promise a treatment will work in one visit
Bedbugs, rodents and termites do not resolve in a single visit, and promising they will is how a good job becomes a refund argument. The agent explains your follow-up policy and books it; it does not guarantee an outcome it cannot see.
What it actually says
“Bedbugs almost always need more than one treatment — the price includes the follow-up so you're not paying twice for that.”
The job lands where you already work
Google, Outlook, Apple, Exchange, CalDAV — whichever calendar you already keep. Then your payments, your CRM, and whatever you automate with.
…and a lot more besides
- Warm transfersWarm transfersAnnounced — who is calling and why, before you take the line.
- Spam never billedSpam never billedRobocalls are spotted, zero-rated, and never become a customer.
- A number per sourceA number per sourceVan, yard sign, Google listing — see which line brings the work.
- Team & on-callTeam & on-callTries you, then a second number, then whoever is on call.
- Run it by textRun it by textReply to a text to move a job, block a morning, clear a day.
- Clear a day, everyone toldClear a day, everyone toldCall off a wet Tuesday; every customer is told and re-offered.
- Never invents an answerNever invents an answerNo price or slot it was not given. It takes a message instead.
- Any trade, no codeAny trade, no codeGoal, questions and guardrails are settings, not a rebuild.
What pest control companies say before they say yes
Three objections, in the words they are usually put in. Where the objection is right, it says so.
“Our prices depend on the property. It can't quote those.”
In this trade it can, and it should. Your rates are standing rates driven by pest, property size and whether it is a one-off or a plan — three questions, then a real number while the caller is still deciding. That is the opposite of an emergency trade, where the price genuinely cannot be known until someone looks.
“Customers ask about chemicals and children. That's not a script.”
It is the first thing raised, before any treatment is described. Children, pets, pregnancy and sting allergies change the product your technician brings, and asking unprompted is the fastest way to sound like a company that knows what it is doing rather than one taking a booking.
“The recurring book is where all our calls come from.”
And none of your revenue. Skips, moves, gate codes, a dog that will be out on Thursday — absorbed on the call and written into the route, with nobody in your office picking up. That is what this actually buys you here.
Pest control questions, answered
What pest control companies ask before handing over their phone number — and what a pest control answering service can and cannot do for you.
Can it quote a price?
Yes — this is one of the trades where it should. Your rates are standing rates driven by property size, pest type and whether it is a one-off or a plan, so the agent asks those three things and gives a real number. That is different from an emergency trade, where the price genuinely cannot be known until someone has looked.
Does it ask about pets and children?
Before it discusses treatment at all, every time. It is the question the customer is already worrying about, it changes which product your technician brings, and asking it first is the fastest way to sound like a company that knows what it is doing.
Can it manage the recurring schedule?
That is most of what it does here. Skips, moves, additions, gate codes, “the dog's in the yard this week” — all handled on the call and written into the route, with the affected visits reordered. None of it reaches your phone.
What happens with a wasp nest and a sting allergy?
It escalates rather than books. An allergy in the household turns a routine nest removal into something that should not wait until Thursday, and the agent puts that call in front of you instead of into the calendar.
Will it promise the problem will be gone after one visit?
No. Bedbugs, rodents and termites need follow-ups, and promising a single-visit fix is how a competent job turns into a refund argument. It explains your follow-up policy and books the second visit at the same time as the first.
Does it handle commercial contracts differently?
Yes. A restaurant or a food-handling site gets asked about audit requirements, documentation and after-hours access, and is routed to whoever handles commercial rather than being booked as a domestic service call.
What does it cost?
Three paid rungs — Starter, Professional and Business — differing only in how many unique customers you answer for in a month. Recurring customers count once, not once per visit, which matters when your book is mostly the same people every quarter. Robocalls are identified and never billed.
Already decided you want AI to answer it?
Then the question is which one, and that is a different page: what a generic AI receptionist gets wrong on a pest control call, and what is configurable about this one.
Not your trade?
The agent's questions, urgency rules, escalations and vocabulary are all configuration. Nothing about a trade is hard-coded, which is why there are 31 of these and not one.