Hear from Our Customers
When mosquitoes are thick from May through September and ticks are a genuine concern every time your kid or dog comes in from the yard, pest control stops being optional. Highland Township has more than 25 inland lakes and wetlands, and the 5,900-acre Highland State Recreation Area sits right at the edge of residential neighborhoods. That’s not just beautiful — it’s a constant source of pest pressure that most companies aren’t equipped to handle at this level.
What changes when you get the right pest control in place isn’t just fewer bugs. It’s being able to use your deck again. It’s not checking your dog for ticks after every walk. It’s not finding evidence of mice in your garage when the temperature drops in October. West Highland homes sit on larger lots with wooded perimeters, which means rodents have natural habitat close by and a reason to push indoors every fall. A good pest control program addresses that specific reality — not a generic suburban checklist.
The other thing worth saying: bed bugs don’t care that you live somewhere peaceful. Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and residents who commute along M-59 toward Pontiac or send kids to Huron Valley Schools face the same exposure risk as anyone else in the state. Knowing what’s actually in your home — with certainty — matters.
We founded First Choice Pest Control on May 31, 2005 — which makes 2025 our 20th year serving Michigan homeowners and businesses. Roger, who leads the company, has 26 years of hands-on pest control experience. That’s not a tagline. It’s a verifiable track record from someone who has been doing this work in Michigan’s specific climate, across Michigan’s specific housing stock, long enough to know what actually works.
We’re IPM-certified — Integrated Pest Management, the EPA-recognized framework that uses the least invasive treatment first. That matters for families in West Highland who spend real time outdoors and care about what gets applied around their property. We’ve also earned recognition from Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor, and hold BBB accreditation. Those credentials exist because the work is consistent, not because the marketing is loud.
Serving West Highland and other Oakland County communities like Highland Township means we understand the pest environment here — the wildlife corridors from the state recreation area, the moisture from 25-plus inland lakes, the wooded lots that create year-round pressure. This isn’t a company guessing at your pest problems. We recognize them.
It starts with understanding what you’re actually dealing with. Before any treatment happens, a trained technician — not a seasonal hire, not a part-time worker — walks your property and assesses the specific pest pressures present. In West Highland, that typically means looking at wooded perimeter conditions, moisture points near lake-adjacent or low-lying areas, entry points along the foundation, and any outbuildings or structures that attract wildlife or insects moving in from the state recreation area corridor.
From there, we build a personalized program around your property. Not a package pulled off a shelf — an actual plan based on what was found and what your home needs. If mosquitoes are the primary concern, the program accounts for the standing water sources on or near your lot. If rodents are the issue, exclusion work addresses the entry points so the problem doesn’t cycle back every fall. If bed bugs are a concern, we offer certified canine detection — dogs trained to identify infestations with 95 to 98 percent accuracy, compared to roughly 50 percent for visual inspection alone. That’s the most accurate detection available, and we’re one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire United States offering it.
After the initial treatment, you get the same technician back every visit. They already know your property, your history, and your specific concerns. That continuity isn’t a small thing — it’s how problems actually get solved instead of managed indefinitely.
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We handle both residential pest control and commercial pest control in West Highland, MI and throughout Highland Township. On the residential side, that includes mosquito control, tick treatment, rodent control, carpenter ant treatment, stinging insect removal, bed bug detection and treatment, and overwintering pest management for stink bugs, cluster flies, and similar intruders that push into homes along wooded corridors every fall.
One thing that stands out: our mosquito program includes flea and tick treatment at no extra charge. Most companies bill those separately. Here, it’s part of the same program — which makes practical sense for West Highland, where deer ticks are documented as common and the Highland State Recreation Area supports a substantial deer population that keeps tick pressure elevated throughout the warmer months. If you have horses, dogs, or kids who spend time near wooded areas or on the trails, that combined coverage is worth paying attention to.
For commercial customers along the M-59 and Milford Road corridor, we build programs around the specific demands of your operation — not a residential plan repurposed for a business. Pricing is transparent, and we offer price matching for reasonable competitor rates, along with discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. All our technicians are licensed under Michigan’s MDARD requirements, fully insured, and experienced. No rotating faces, no surprises.
The pest profile in West Highland is shaped by the landscape itself. With more than 25 inland lakes and wetlands throughout Highland Township, mosquitoes are a consistent warm-weather problem from May through September. Deer ticks are documented as common in the area, which isn’t surprising given the large deer population in and around the Highland State Recreation Area. Carpenter ants are another frequent issue — the heavily wooded lots and mature trees that make West Highland properties beautiful also create ideal habitat for wood-destroying insects.
Rodents push indoors every fall as temperatures drop, and homes near the state recreation area have less buffer between wildlife habitat and their foundation than most suburban properties. Stinging insects — wasps, hornets, and yellowjackets specifically — are a documented problem in the Highland area through summer and into early fall. Stink bugs and cluster flies are common overwintering intruders for homes with wooded perimeters. And bed bugs, while not landscape-dependent, are a real concern in any Michigan community given the state’s ranking as second in the nation for infestations.
Mosquito control near water requires a different approach than standard suburban treatment. Standing water is the breeding source, and in West Highland — with more than 25 inland lakes, wetland areas, and low-lying lots — there’s no shortage of it. Effective mosquito treatment targets both the adult population and the breeding conditions on and around your property. That means treating vegetation where adult mosquitoes rest, addressing any standing water on your lot, and timing treatments to the seasonal cycle that runs from late spring through early fall in Michigan.
Our mosquito program also includes flea and tick treatment at no additional charge. For West Highland residents with properties near the state recreation area or with pets and kids who spend time in wooded areas, that combined coverage matters. Tick pressure here is real — deer ticks have been documented as common in the Highland, MI area, and the 2024 mosquito-borne virus detections in adjacent Livingston County are a reminder that these aren’t abstract concerns. A well-timed, properly applied mosquito and tick program lets you actually use your outdoor space instead of avoiding it.
Yes — and it’s worth taking seriously. Deer ticks, the primary vector for Lyme disease, are documented as common in the Highland, MI area. The reason isn’t hard to understand: the Highland State Recreation Area covers 5,900 acres of forest, wetland, and trail systems, and supports a large deer population. Deer carry ticks. Those ticks don’t stay in the park — they move with deer into residential yards, especially on properties with wooded edges or proximity to the recreation area’s borders.
Highland Township is also Michigan’s first officially designated equestrian community. Horse owners in the area deal with tick pressure on their animals regularly, and that exposure extends to the people and other pets on the property. Professional tick treatment — applied to lawn perimeters, wooded edges, and transition zones where grass meets brush — significantly reduces the tick population on your property. We include tick treatment in our mosquito program at no extra charge, which is a practical way to address both problems with one service. If you’re spending time on the 44 miles of trails in the recreation area or just using your backyard, protection at the property level makes a real difference.
Canine bed bug detection is significantly more accurate than a standard visual inspection. Trained detection dogs identify bed bug infestations with 95 to 98 percent accuracy. A visual inspection by a human technician — even a thorough one — lands closer to 50 percent accuracy. That gap matters when you’re trying to confirm whether your home actually has a problem, or when you’ve treated and want to verify the infestation is gone.
We’re one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire United States offering certified canine bed bug detection. No other pest control provider identified in the West Highland or Highland Township area offers this service. For West Highland residents, the relevance is straightforward: Michigan ranks second in the nation for bed bug infestations, and bed bugs travel with people — in luggage, on used furniture, through schools, and via commuter routes. Residents who travel M-59 toward Pontiac or Metro Detroit, or whose children attend Huron Valley Schools, face the same exposure risk as anyone in the state. Canine detection gives you a definitive answer instead of a guess.
Yes, and it’s one of the more common calls we get from West Highland-area homeowners — especially in fall. When Michigan temperatures drop, mice and other rodents stop tolerating the cold and start looking for a way inside. Homes near the Highland State Recreation Area have less separation between natural wildlife habitat and their foundation than most properties in more developed parts of Oakland County. That proximity means the pressure is higher and the entry points matter more.
Effective rodent control isn’t just about eliminating the current population — it’s about finding and sealing the gaps, cracks, and vulnerabilities that allowed them in. Without that exclusion work, the problem comes back the following fall. We address both sides: treatment to handle what’s already inside, and a thorough assessment of how they got there. Older homes and lake cottages — common in the West Highland housing stock — often have foundation gaps, crawl space access points, and aging exterior details that need attention. A technician who knows your property and returns visit after visit is better positioned to catch new vulnerabilities before they become new infestations.
We offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. West Highland has a strong sense of community, and a family-owned business that has been operating in Michigan for 20 years reflects that same orientation. These discounts are part of how we operate — not a promotional add-on.
We also offer price matching for reasonable competitor rates. So if you’ve gotten a quote from another pest control provider in the West Highland area and it’s a fair comparison, we’ll work with you on pricing. That removes the pressure of wondering whether you should get another estimate before committing. Between the discounts available to specific groups and the price-match policy, the goal is straightforward: make it easy for the right customers to say yes without feeling like they left money on the table. If you’re a senior homeowner, a veteran, or a first responder in the West Highland area, call and ask — it takes about 30 seconds to find out what applies to your situation.
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