By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
A Mesquite-based business has taken a specific interest in accomplishment in the arts within the Moapa Valley community.
For the past few months, Evolve Pest Control has been recognizing a Moapa Valley Fine Artist of the Week in a sponsored spot in The Progress. Included in this spot have been local instrumental musicians, singers, actors, visual artists and much more.
Evolve founding partner Nephi Julien said that there always seems to be plenty of recognition for the athletes in the community. In fact, for many years Evolve sponsored an Athlete of the Week spotlight in the Virgin Valley.
“There are a lot of kids who aren’t involved in athletics, though,” said Julien. “Many are involved in artistic pursuits and some do both. I just wanted to recognize some of those who might not get as much of the spotlight.”
Julien started Evolve Pest Control back in 2010 at the height of the Great Recession. He had been working as a financial analyst at the Virgin River casino since 2005. And when the recession hit he, like many others, found himself in some financial trouble.
“At one point, I actually considered moving to North Dakota and going to work in the oil fields during the recession,” Julien said.
Then an opportunity arose to purchase a local pest control business. Julien took a close look at it and liked what he saw.
“It was either completely uproot our lives and move somewhere else, or buy this business and make a ‘go’ of it,” Julien said. “So I bought it and got busy.”
Julien’s intentions were to grow the business. And after a couple of months he found that he was doing a lot more than a one-man show could handle. So he looked for a partner.
He talked to Shad Teerlink who had grown up in Virgin Valley and who, at the time, was recently off of a church mission he served in South Africa. Teerlink was studying Business Management at Southern Utah University and was excited to jump into the new business venture.
Teerlink’s focus was on sales and marketing and in growing the business. He began developing a door-to-door sales model and eventually recruiting a sales force, mainly of college students who wanted a good paying job during the summer.
Before long the business was growing by leaps and bounds. The company expanded its services into Las Vegas and found a ready market. In 2019, they opened up operations in Dallas, Texas as well where they have more than doubled their business.
Recently they have increased their efforts to serve more of the Moapa Valley area as well.
The Evolve business model makes it a relatively easy sell in the warmer southern climates where pest control is almost a necessity.
“Our whole model is based on providing the best customer service,” Teerlink said. “We use the best technology that is out there, the best products and we provide the best service.”
Teerlink acknowledged that providing pest control service is a very competitive market in these areas. So they took a close look at what level of service was standard with the competition, and they aimed to exceed it.
“Several of the recurring issues that we heard from customers unhappy with their previous service have been problems with trust, consistency and inconvenience,” Teerlink said. “It is just a lot of little things that end up making a big difference to the customers. So we have gone out of our way to address those kinds of issues.”
In addition, Evolve adds more value to its standard pest control service. Rather than just spraying along the base of the walls of the house, the company extends a protective barrier out to a roughly 30 ft perimeter around the house. They put out a granular product onto landscaped areas, lawns and along fencelines that reduces the pest population in those areas, which are often strongholds for bugs and stepping stones into the residence.
“We have found when you do that, it really reduces the need to actually spray inside the house,” Julien said. “In my own house, I don’t need to do inside service anymore except maybe once every two years.”
This makes it more convenient and healthy for the customers, Julien said.
Evolve provides its regular service every other month. They warranty against the common insects, of course, but also against tougher pests like scorpions and black widows.
Evolve also can take care of less common problems like bee removals, rodents, fleas, termites, bedbugs, wasp nests and more.
For more information on the company, go to evolvepestcontrol.com or call 702-930-6138.
