READERS’ RIDES
Readers’ Rides: In Focus
THE PEST PESTERER NAME:
MARK HAYMAN
BUSINESS: ACCURATE PEST, SUNSHINE COAST, QLD FLEET:
15 x D-MAX 4x2 SX
Pest control guru Mark Hayman is a creepy-crawly’s worst nightmare. How did you get into pest control? Through my old man—he had a big pest control company here on the Sunshine Coast. When he retired I found my perks dried up pretty quickly, so I took my ute and trailer and started my own business. How many employees do you have now? We have 27, soon to be 28. I’ve had a constant appetite for growth, and dad’s a great mentor. Why the D-MAX? I’m a bit of a rev head and I was sent a technical diagram of the Isuzu motor back in 2016. Everything was just over-engineered and built like a really durable truck engine versus a lightweight diesel! With that build quality, if you look after the exterior and they present well, the interior components will easily outlast your lease, so it was a no brainer. And they’re cheap to maintain. Plus now the tech in the new one is so good. Safety is key, because our technicians do a lot of miles. But with the technology, our technician can hop into his car, cool it down with the air-con jets, select his job through Apple CarPlay, from there notify the client, then send the address to the GPS as they’re driving along. And saving a few minutes on each job adds up. Are you still on the tools day-to-day? I mostly do pre-purchase inspections. I get a kick out of helping someone make a big life investment and providing as much advice as I can. The rest of my work is on the back end.
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What’s the worst infestation you’ve seen? One old fella who was, ah, let’s say in his final house and just band-aiding everything that went wrong with the place until he … exited. So he’s built this homemade box sauna that he’d twisted wires and plugged into the wall to get power to. And the hot water system solar installers came in for that, but when they were walking on the roof, the whole thing was moving. I crawled up in there, and you know the big square gang nails on the corner of a truss? I grabbed one, and the whole truss fell apart in my hands. They had to demolish his house. It was heartbreaking. How often have you been covered in bugs? Never, but I’ve worn a lot of spiderwebs. When you go under a house you can tell how far the previous person made it because there’s a tube they’ve made pushing through the webs. And you come out with them all over you: on your face, in the corners of your mouth. And then there’s the snakes and dogs snapping at you. But bugs don’t creep me out. I’m more disgusted by the hygiene of some houses. In hoarders’ places you’ll find yourself stepping over dog poop and dirty nappies piled up beside each other in the same loungeroom. You think, well, I can see where the pest problem may have come from. How many bugs do you think you’ve iced? I’ve killed them by the billions. But once I got in trouble with the wife for squashing a bug when we were away on holidays. I said, “Dear, you do know what I do for a living?” Finally, you’re a proud Queenslander. Are you annoyed that the Origin goalkicking genius of Cameron Smith means that, to NSW fans, you can only ever be the state’s second most accurate pest? Haha! Yes.
