Hear from Our Customers
You stop finding droppings in the kitchen. You stop hearing things move in the walls at night. You let the kids play in the backyard without running them inside every five minutes because the mosquitoes are unbearable. That’s what a real pest control solution looks like — not just a treatment visit, but an actual outcome you can feel.
Holly’s environment creates pest pressure that a lot of homeowners don’t fully account for. If your property is near Seven Lakes State Park, the Shiawassee River corridor, or any of the wooded lots throughout Holly Township, you’re dealing with mosquito and tick exposure that goes well beyond what most suburban yards see. The Blacklegged tick — the one that carries Lyme disease — is actively expanding its range across southern Michigan, and Oakland County Health has confirmed ticks are present in nearly every county in the state. Living near this much green space means understanding the real risks.
Then there’s the housing stock. Downtown Holly has some of the oldest homes in northern Oakland County — Victorian-era construction that’s beautiful but structurally vulnerable. Aged wood framing is exactly what carpenter ants look for. Settled foundations give rodents the entry points they need. These aren’t problems that a hardware store spray fixes. They need a technician who knows what to look for and where to look for it.
We founded First Choice Pest Control on May 31, 2005 — which means in 2025, the company turns 20. That’s two decades of serving Michigan homeowners and businesses, including families throughout Holly and northern Oakland County. Roger Chinault leads the company with 26 years of hands-on pest control experience, and the standard he built this business on hasn’t changed.
Every customer gets the same technician on every visit. Not a rotating crew, not a seasonal hire filling a summer schedule — the same trained professional who learns your property over time. That matters more than most people realize until they’ve dealt with the alternative.
We hold BBB Accreditation, have earned awards from both Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor, and are trained in Integrated Pest Management — the EPA-recognized approach that prioritizes the least invasive treatment first. Seniors, veterans, and first responders receive discounts, and with the Great Lakes National Cemetery right here in Holly Township, that’s not a footnote. It’s a commitment.
It starts with a real assessment. Your technician comes to the property, walks it, and identifies what’s actually happening — not just what you called about, but what’s likely contributing to it. In Holly, that means paying attention to things like moisture near the foundation, wood-to-soil contact on older structures, entry points around utility lines, and proximity to wooded or waterfront areas that elevate pressure from specific pests.
From there, a treatment plan is built around your property — not a template. Integrated Pest Management means the least invasive option that works gets used first. If your situation calls for targeted chemical application, that’s explained clearly before anything is applied. You know what’s going in, where it’s going, and why.
After the initial treatment, the follow-up schedule is set based on what your property actually needs. Holly’s four-season climate creates predictable pest cycles — carpenter ants in spring, mosquitoes and ticks through summer, rodents pushing indoors in October — and your program accounts for that timing. The same technician returns each visit, which means they already know your home when they show up. That continuity is how problems get caught early instead of after they’ve already done damage.
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We handle the full range of pest issues that Holly homeowners and businesses actually deal with: carpenter ants, rodents, bed bugs, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, stinging insects, termites, cockroaches, spiders, stink bugs, and more. Residential pest control covers everything from a single-family home in the historic downtown district to a wooded rural property on the edge of Groveland Township. Commercial pest control is available for Holly-area businesses, food service operations, and any property that needs documented, professional-grade pest management.
One service worth knowing about specifically: We are one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire United States offering certified canine bed bug detection. Trained dogs find infestations at 95–98% accuracy. A standard visual inspection lands around 50%. Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and Flint — 15 miles up I-75 from Holly — is one of the top 25 worst cities in the country. If you have any reason to suspect bed bugs, a canine inspection is the most reliable way to know for certain.
When you book mosquito control, flea and tick treatment is included at no extra charge. For families spending time near Seven Lakes, on Holly Township trails, or in any of the wooded backyards that make this area worth living in, that bundled coverage isn’t a bonus — it’s just practical. We also offer price matching for reasonable competitors’ rates, so you don’t have to choose between quality and cost.
Holly sits at the northern edge of Oakland County, bordering Genesee County, with a mix of historic homes, wooded lots, and properties near lakes and wetlands. That combination produces a fairly wide pest range. Carpenter ants are one of the most consistent problems — especially in older homes near the downtown district, where aging wood framing gives them exactly what they’re looking for. Rodents, particularly Norway rats and White-footed mice, become a real issue in fall when temperatures drop and they start looking for warmth indoors.
On the outdoor side, mosquitoes and ticks are significant concerns for anyone near Seven Lakes State Park, the Shiawassee River, or the wooded areas throughout Holly Township. The Blacklegged tick — the primary carrier of Lyme disease — is expanding its range across southern Michigan, and Oakland County has confirmed tick activity across the region. Stinging insects, stink bugs, termites, and bed bugs round out the list of pests that come up regularly in this area.
It depends on what you’re dealing with and what your property looks like. A one-time treatment can make sense for a specific, isolated issue — a wasp nest, for example, or a single ant trail that appeared after a renovation. But for most Holly homeowners, especially those in older homes or properties near wooded or water-adjacent areas, a recurring program is going to give you better long-term results.
The reason is simple: Michigan’s four seasons create predictable pest cycles. Carpenter ants get active in spring. Mosquitoes and ticks peak through summer. Rodents start pushing indoors in September and October. A recurring program accounts for that timing and addresses problems before they escalate, rather than after you’re already dealing with an established infestation. The cost difference between staying ahead of it and reacting to it is usually significant — both in treatment costs and in potential property damage.
This is one of the most common questions, and it’s a fair one. The short answer is yes — when it’s done right. We use Integrated Pest Management, which is the EPA-recognized standard for responsible pest management. The core principle is that the least invasive treatment that actually works gets used first. That means targeted application, not broad chemical spraying, and products selected based on what’s appropriate for the specific pest and the specific environment.
Before any treatment, your technician will explain what’s being used, where it’s being applied, and any precautions you should take — like keeping kids and pets out of a treated area for a set period of time. If you have specific concerns about sensitivities, allergies, or particular products, that conversation happens before anything is applied. Holly families near Seven Lakes or with kids in Holly Area Schools have the same expectation any parent would — that whoever comes into their home is being careful and accountable. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to.
Canine bed bug detection uses specially trained dogs to locate bed bug infestations by scent. The accuracy rate is 95–98%, compared to roughly 50% for a standard visual inspection. That gap matters — a missed infestation doesn’t go away, it spreads. We are one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire United States offering this service.
As for whether you need it in Holly specifically — Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and Flint, just 15 miles north on I-75, is one of the top 25 worst bed bug cities in the country. Bed bugs don’t stay in one place. They travel on luggage, furniture, and clothing, and they show up in all kinds of homes regardless of how clean or well-maintained the property is. If you’ve had overnight guests, bought secondhand furniture, or just have a nagging feeling something isn’t right, a canine inspection gives you a definitive answer — not a best guess.
Honestly, the most useful answer is: before the season you’re trying to prevent. Holly follows Michigan’s four-season pest cycle pretty closely. Carpenter ants become active as temperatures rise in March and April, so late winter or very early spring is the right time to address structural vulnerabilities. Mosquito and tick season runs hard from late spring through early fall — which in Holly means it overlaps with Seven Lakes State Park traffic, the Michigan Renaissance Festival in late summer, and general outdoor family activity throughout the township.
Fall — specifically September and October — is the most critical window for rodent prevention. Norway rats and White-footed mice start actively looking for entry points as outdoor temperatures drop, and once they’re in, they’re harder to remove than they are to keep out. A proactive fall treatment and exclusion inspection is one of the highest-value things a Holly homeowner can do. Year-round programs handle all of this automatically, so you’re not trying to time individual treatments while managing everything else.
Yes — we offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. Holly Township is home to the Great Lakes National Cemetery on Belford Road, and the veteran community in this area is a real part of who lives here. Offering a discount isn’t about marketing — it’s about recognizing the people who have already given a lot, and making sure cost isn’t the reason they’re putting off protecting their home.
The senior discount applies the same way. A meaningful percentage of Holly’s population is 65 or older, and for many of those homeowners, pest issues carry real stakes — structural damage from carpenter ants or rodents isn’t just inconvenient, it’s expensive and can affect the value of a home they’ve spent decades maintaining. If you or someone in your household qualifies, just mention it when you call. It gets applied to your service, no hoops required.
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