Hear from Our Customers
When you live on a multi-acre property near the Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area or back up to the wooded trails of Metamora Horse Country, pest pressure is not a seasonal inconvenience — it is a year-round reality. Deer ticks move through your yard every time the herd passes through. Mice find their way into your barn the moment temperatures drop. Mosquitoes breed in the low spots along Russell Lake and the drainage areas that collect after Michigan’s spring rains. These are not abstract risks. They are the specific, recurring problems that come with living in this part of Lapeer County.
What changes when you have the right pest control in place is simple: you stop reacting and start staying ahead of it. Your kids can play in the yard without you mentally calculating tick risk. Your horses’ feed stays protected. The wasps that set up shop in your outbuilding eaves every June get handled before they become a problem in August. That kind of control comes from a company that actually understands what Metamora properties deal with, not one running the same program they use in a Grand Blanc subdivision.
The other thing that changes is consistency. When the same technician comes to your property year after year, they already know where the carpenter ants come in, which corner of the barn the mice target, and where the yellow jackets nested last summer. That accumulated knowledge is worth more than any first-visit inspection.
We founded First Choice Pest Control on May 31, 2005 — which means this year marks 20 years of continuous operation serving Michigan homeowners and businesses. Roger, our owner, has 26 years of hands-on pest control experience. That is not a corporate talking point. It means the person responsible for your service has been doing this longer than most local competitors have even existed.
We are family-owned and operate throughout Lapeer County and the surrounding region. That includes the equestrian properties along Barber Road and Sutton Road in Metamora, the homes in Steeplechase and Carriage Hill Estates, and the rural acreage that makes up Metamora Township. We hold Integrated Pest Management certification, have earned recognition from both Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor, and are a BBB Accredited Business — licensed and insured since day one.
We are not a franchise. Nobody is managing your account from a regional call center. When you call, you reach a local Michigan company that has spent two decades learning exactly how pest pressure works in Metamora and communities like it.
It starts with understanding your specific property. A Metamora home on three wooded acres with a detached garage and a horse barn is a completely different pest environment than a house in a standard subdivision. Before any treatment happens, your technician takes stock of what you are dealing with — where the pressure is coming from, what entry points exist, and what conditions on your property are making it worse. That assessment drives everything that follows.
From there, we build a program around your actual situation. If mosquitoes and ticks are the primary concern — which they often are for families near the Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area or in neighborhoods like Metamora Woods — our mosquito program includes flea and tick treatment at no extra charge. If rodents are the issue, the focus shifts to exclusion and targeted treatment that addresses the source, not just the symptom. Every program follows Integrated Pest Management principles, meaning the least invasive approach that gets the job done is always the starting point. That matters when you have children, dogs, and horses sharing the same outdoor spaces.
What you will not get is a rotating cast of technicians who have to relearn your property every visit. We assign the same technician to your account year after year. Over time, that person builds a working knowledge of your property that makes every visit faster, more targeted, and more effective. That continuity is built into how we operate — not offered as an upgrade.
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We serve both residential and commercial customers in Metamora and throughout Lapeer County. On the residential side, that means single-family homes in the village, custom-built properties in Steeplechase, rural acreage in Metamora Horse Country, and everything in between. On the commercial side, it includes businesses along the M-24 corridor and properties in the industrial park south of the village. Every program is customized — no two properties get the same plan.
The pest control services we offer include mosquito and tick control, rodent exclusion and treatment, carpenter ant and stinging insect management, bed bug detection and treatment, flea control, and general pest management for ants, spiders, and other common invaders. Our mosquito program is worth calling out specifically: flea and tick treatment is included at no additional charge, because in Metamora, those three problems share the same season and the same habitat. Competitors like Mosquito Joe of North Oakland County charge separately for tick control. We bundle it in.
One service that sets us apart from every other provider in this market is certified canine bed bug detection. Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and with Flint — approximately 21 miles from Metamora — ranking among the top 25 worst cities in the U.S. for bed bugs, the regional risk is real. Trained detection dogs locate infestations with 95–98% accuracy, compared to roughly 50% for visual inspections alone. We are one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire country offering this service. No local competitor in the Metamora area comes close.
We offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. We also match reasonable competitors’ rates.
Horse properties in Metamora deal with a pest profile that most suburban pest control companies are not set up to handle. Rodents are the most persistent problem — grain, hay, and feed storage in barns and stables are exactly what mice and rats are looking for, especially as Michigan temperatures drop in the fall. Once they establish themselves in a barn, they move fast and they are not easy to eliminate without a targeted exclusion and treatment plan that addresses how they are getting in, not just where they are showing up.
Beyond rodents, ticks are a significant concern for anyone spending time on rural equestrian properties in Metamora. The wooded trails, tall grasses, and active deer population throughout the Metamora Hunt Country create ideal deer tick habitat — and deer ticks are the primary vector for Lyme disease. Flies are also a consistent nuisance on horse properties during the warmer months. A pest control program for a Metamora horse property needs to account for all of these pressures, and it needs to use approaches that are safe for animals. Our IPM-trained technicians build programs with that in mind from the start.
Tick control targets the areas where ticks actually live and wait — not open lawn, but the edges: where your yard meets the tree line, along fence rows, in tall grass, around brush piles, and in the transition zones between maintained and unmaintained areas. For Metamora properties that back up to wooded land or sit near the Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area’s 723 acres of trails and deer habitat, those edge zones can be extensive. Treatment is applied to those specific areas, not broadcast across every square foot of your property.
The timing matters too. Tick season in Michigan starts earlier than most people expect — typically in March or April as deer begin moving through wooded areas — and runs well into the fall. A single treatment is not enough for a full season of protection. An ongoing program with scheduled applications through the active season gives you consistent coverage rather than a gap that opens up right when you need protection most. We include tick treatment in our mosquito program at no extra charge, so you are not paying separately for two services that operate on the same schedule and in the same habitat.
This is one of the most common questions we get — and it is the right question to ask. The short answer is yes, when treatments are applied correctly by a certified technician using an Integrated Pest Management approach. IPM means the least invasive, most targeted treatment that gets the job done is always the starting point. Products are applied where pests actually are, not broadcast indiscriminately. Your technician will tell you specifically how long to keep children and pets off treated areas — typically until the product has dried, which is usually a matter of hours.
For Metamora families with horses, dogs, and children sharing the same outdoor spaces, this is not a small consideration. Our technicians are IPM-trained specifically because the approach was designed to minimize unnecessary chemical exposure while still delivering effective results. If you have specific concerns about a product being used near a particular animal or a child with sensitivities, bring it up before the treatment. A good technician will walk you through exactly what is being applied and why — and adjust the plan if there is a better option for your situation.
Pricing for pest control in Metamora depends on the size of your property, the type of pest you are dealing with, and whether you are looking at a one-time treatment or an ongoing program. A one-time treatment for a specific issue — a wasp nest, a rodent entry point, a stinging insect problem — is going to cost less than a year-round residential program covering multiple pest types. For most Metamora homeowners with larger rural properties, a recurring program tends to deliver better value than repeated one-time calls, because it keeps pressure from building up in the first place.
We offer price matching for reasonable competitors’ rates, so if you have gotten a quote from Wells Pest Control in Dryden or another local provider, bring it in. The goal is not to be the cheapest option — it is to be the most credible one at a price that is fair and transparent. You will not encounter hidden fees or vague estimates. What you are quoted is what you pay, and if the scope changes, your technician tells you before anything additional happens.
The first thing to do is not panic — and the second thing is to not treat it yourself. Over-the-counter bed bug products are largely ineffective against established infestations because they kill on contact but do not reach eggs or bugs hiding deep in mattress seams, wall voids, or furniture joints. By the time most homeowners realize they have a problem, the infestation is already more widespread than what is visible. Self-treatment often just pushes bugs to new areas of the home without eliminating the source.
The right move is to get a professional inspection — and specifically, a canine inspection if you want to know for certain what you are dealing with. Trained detection dogs locate bed bug infestations with 95–98% accuracy, compared to roughly 50% for visual inspections alone. That matters because a missed area means a failed treatment. Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and with Metamora’s annual community events drawing visitors from across the region — including from the Flint and Detroit metro areas — introduction risk is real and not limited to travel. We are one of fewer than 100 companies in the U.S. offering certified canine bed bug detection. If you suspect a problem, that is where to start.
Yes. We offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. Metamora is a community where people have roots — families who have lived here for decades, veterans who settled here after service, and first responders who protect a rural township that covers more than 35 square miles. These discounts exist because those groups deserve straightforward access to reliable pest control without having to negotiate for a fair price.
If you qualify, just mention it when you call. There is no complicated verification process or fine print. The discount applies to your service, and your technician will confirm the details when your program is set up. It is also worth knowing that we match reasonable competitors’ rates regardless of discount eligibility — so between the two, most Metamora residents find that quality pest control from an experienced, locally accountable company does not require paying a premium over what the market offers.
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