State pest controllers convene in Bonita

It’s been three years since William Sklaroff left his job as a Miami kindergarten teacher and tried to make it in the bee removal business.

Today, he is Willie the Bee Man.

It’s the name plastered on his black button-up shirt. It’s the title engraved on his brown leather belt and on a bright-yellow business card that bears the slogan “same day buzziness.”

It’s the words he used to introduce himself Wednesday as those on the forefront of the Florida pest control industry gathered in Bonita Springs this week.

“I only do bees,” Sklaroff, 55, said.

Sklaroff was one of nearly 400 pest controllers and suppliers who convened at the Hyatt Regency hotel at Coconut Point for the three-day annual convention of the Florida Pest Management Association. In the hotel parking lot, pickups advertising everything from the removal of termites to the eradication of ants filled spaces next to luxury cars such as Bentleys and BMWs.

Willie the Bee Man drives a Lexus RX400 hybrid.

He has yet to regret leaving his Miami classroom to chase after a career removing pesky bee populations in Florida, a state where pest control is a $1.3 billion industry.

“Business is good,” Sklaroff said.

While Sklaroff built his business on the removal of a specific insect, most pest controllers who filled the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency didn’t discriminate.

They also were well aware they have their competition carved out for them in a state that offers the perfect tropical climate to make it big in the extermination business.

“It’s more competitive here,” said Dave Merrick, a district manager for Residex, a supply company that provides insecticides, rodenticides and pest control equipment.

“Up north people are almost embarrassed to have a pest control truck come to their house,” Merrick, 58, said. “Down here it’s almost a status symbol.”

Merrick, born in Jacksonville, spent 20 years as an exterminator in Sarasota and there are few pests he hasn’t encountered.

Ants. Termites. Roaches.

Name the insect, Merrick has probably killed it.

“I think anyone in the business can think of one or two houses that they wish they would have never stepped foot in,” he said.

But the stark realities of the pest control business seemed far away as the group milled through the hallways of the luxury hotel. The annual convention of the state pest control association is usually held in a relaxing venue and places where families feel welcome, said Rebekah Frail, who coordinated the convention for the Florida Pest Management Association.

“A lot of them schedule their vacations to coincide with the convention,” she said.

Between buffet lunches and dips in the hotel pool, the pest controllers attended workshops and received the latest information on exterminating invasive insect populations that threaten Florida homes and lawns.

Today the group will hear a keynote address from Chip Eichelberger, a motivational speaker who once worked under renowned self-help guru Tony Robbins. “We wanted somebody very energetic,” Frail said. “He’s all about energy.”

Stamina is a requirement when you’re in the pest control business in Florida, said Randy Stout, an entomologist who sold his pest control business five years ago and now represents a supply company.

“There are always new insects that keep popping up; we have the perfect weather for them,” Stout said. “Every hurricane seems to bring in a new type of bug.”

Exterminator John Christ sat in a dimly lit boardroom and listened to a presentation on the Africanized honey bee, a species of the insect that is invading parts of south Florida.

Christ started his Bonita Springs business, Scientific Pest Control Services, 11 years ago after failed attempts to become a real estate agent. He now spends the bulk of his time combating ant, spider and termite populations in Lee County.

“Then you’ve got your roaches and the big palmetto bugs,” Christ, 60, said. “Those scare the women to death.”

Christ charges about $300 per home to exterminate the insects for an entire year and does most of his business in Bonita Springs. Sometimes he thinks about his former job, one that required him to wear a suit and a tie and work in an air-conditioned office.

“I never thought I’d be doing this,” said Christ, who pulled up his right sleeve to show a large, reddened patch of skin.

“Look at this,” he said. “I got poison ivy doing a job yesterday.”

But Christ also decided he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“When you work for yourself it’s more fun,” said Christ, who plans to hand down his extermination business to his two sons, James and Scott, and his daughter, Nicole.

“There’s a good life in the pest control business,” he said.