Pest control services in Johannesburg

Our pest control services in Johannesburg cover homes, complexes, offices, restaurants and factories across the city, from rats in the roof to termites under the floor. Every job starts with an inspection to find out why the pest is there, then a targeted treatment and practical advice so it doesn't simply come back.

What Johannesburg throws at a property

Johannesburg isn't one pest environment, it's several. The older northern suburbs sit under a dense canopy of trees that gives roof rats a highway from garden to garden. The inner city and its blocks of flats have warm, connected plumbing where German cockroaches breed all year. Soweto and the south deal with dense housing, backyard rooms and open ground on the edges. And many of the newer estates around Fourways and Midrand were built on old veld, so harvester termites, scorpions and ants were there long before the houses.

Then there's the Highveld climate. The first summer storms in October bring flying termites, ants, mosquitoes and millipedes out in numbers. Dry, frosty winters push rodents indoors and let harvester termites strip lawns. Knowing the time of year tells us a lot before we've even seen the property.

The pests we're called out for most

• Rats and mice: scratching overhead at night, droppings in the pantry, chewed wiring in the garage. Our rat control in Johannesburg combines lockable bait stations, traps and proofing.
• Cockroaches: small German cockroaches in kitchens and flats, and the big American cockroaches that climb out of drains on hot summer nights.
• Termites: subterranean termites in timber and harvester termites in lawns, both covered on our Johannesburg termite page. Termite work carries a 5-year guarantee and a treatment certificate.
• Ants: trails along skirting boards and paving joints, usually worst just before rain.
• Fleas, ticks and bed bugs: the biting pests, which need the right timing and a follow-up visit more than they need stronger chemicals.
• Wasps, bees and birds: nests under the eaves, swarms inside walls, pigeons on ledges and the bird mites they leave behind.

How a visit works

1. Tell us what you're seeing. Call, or send a photo on WhatsApp. A clear picture of the insect, the droppings or the damage is often enough for us to identify it.
2. Inspection. We look for the cause: the gap under the eaves, the leaking pipe behind the dishwasher, the compost heap against the boundary wall, the cardboard stacked in the storeroom.
3. Treatment matched to the pest. Gel baits for cockroaches, baits ants carry back to the nest, lockable stations and traps for rodents, odourless residual sprays where a barrier makes sense, soil treatments for termites.
4. Advice and follow-up. We show you what to fix, and we come back where the pest needs a second round.

For ordinary insect treatments you can stay at home; just keep children and pets off treated surfaces until they're dry. Gas fumigation with registered fumigants is the exception. The sealed area has to stay empty until it's cleared, so we only use it where nothing else will work.

Homes, complexes and businesses need different plans

A freestanding house is the simplest case: one owner, one property, one plan. Townhouse complexes and security estates are different, because units share roofs, walls, drains and gardens. Treat one unit for rats or cockroaches while the neighbours do nothing and you usually get a short break followed by the same problem, so we prefer to work with the body corporate or managing agent on the whole site.

Businesses need proof as well as results. Restaurants, food factories, warehouses, schools and offices can have a scheduled monitoring contract with regular visits, numbered bait stations and a written service record that health inspectors and auditors can check. We also do entomological inspections and pest reports for property sales and food businesses.

Where we work

We cover the whole city and towns around Gauteng. Each key area has its own page because pests behave differently from one side of Johannesburg to the other. Compare pest control in Sandton, with its office towers, restaurants and leafy stands, with our work in Soweto, where dense housing, backyard rooms and spaza shops shape the problem.

The mistake we see in almost every suburb

Most people reach for a spray can first. For some pests that's harmless; for others it makes the job harder. Spraying a German cockroach colony drives it deeper into walls and appliances. Spraying an ant trail can split one nest into several. Loose rat poison in the ceiling leaves dead rats in cavities and does nothing about the hole they came through. If a problem keeps returning after you've treated it yourself, the cause hasn't been found yet.

A Johannesburg tip that can save a call-out

Before the first big storm of the season, walk around the outside of the house. Clear leaves from the gutters, pull mulch and soil back below the damp-proof course, move firewood and cardboard away from the walls, and cut back any branch touching the roof. That hour of work removes the shelter, moisture and access most summer and winter pests depend on.

What pest control costs, and why

The price comes down to a few honest factors: which pest it is, the size and type of property, how established the problem is, and whether one visit will do or a follow-up is needed. A cockroach treatment in a two-bedroom flat is a small job. Termite work, whole-complex rodent programmes and factory monitoring contracts are quoted to suit the site. Each service page shows a guide "from" price, and our pest control price guide for Johannesburg puts them side by side. If a trap from the hardware store will sort it out, we'll tell you.

Who you're dealing with

Combat Pest Control is owned and run by Jason van Heerden, who has worked in pest control for 25 years. We're SAPCA registered and registered with the Department of Agriculture under Act 36 of 1947. General treatments carry a 3-month guarantee, meaning that if the treated pest returns in that time, so do we. Our 24-hour pest control service page explains how quickly we can get to you.

Call 084 200 2700 to book, or WhatsApp us a photo of what you've found and we'll tell you what it is and what it will take to fix.