Pest control in Boston is a gap problem between old houses that touch. Mice travel floor to floor inside a triple-decker as if the units were one attic. Rats use alleys, bulkheads, and the space under rear porches in dense blocks from the North End to Dorchester. Cockroaches persist in multi-family kitchens where a wall void links the stoves. Carpenter ants show up where a porch or a sill stays wet. Say which creature and which floor.
Squirrels in the eaves of a Jamaica Plain or Roslindale house sound huge at dawn and chew the trim at a roof return. Pavement ants thread in along a basement slab. Fruit flies and drain flies are a plumbing clue as much as a pest clue. Raccoons in a chimney are an exclusion job with a cap, not a spray. Bedrooms over a warm restaurant space, or a first floor over a dirt crawl, each have their own pattern. Describe the neighbor condition if pests are coming through a party wall.
Trash day, open bulkheads, and bird seed on a rear deck will undo any trapping plan. So will a hole where a pipe leaves for a hose bib and was never sealed. Look at the bottom corners of doors to the alley and at the rim joist if the basement is open. Droppings in a drawer, gnawed pasta boxes, and rub marks along a pipe are enough detail.
A wet sill from a flat-roof leak will keep carpenter ants fed no matter how many times the trail is wiped up. Fixing the insect without mentioning the leak wastes the visit. Mention children, pets, and whether a kitchen must stay in service. Multi-family buildings need a plan for more than one unit when the nest is in a shared wall. Say if you can speak for the building or only for your floor.
Give the neighborhood, the building type, and where you see the activity, kitchen, cellar, or roof edge. Note whether it surged after a tear-out, a move, or the first cold week. A spring swarm of winged ants and scratching in the attic are different problems. Have the entry points you can already see. Call the number on this page.