As spring weather brings warmer temperatures and draws more people to outdoor activities, insects including mosquitoes also become more active. Just in time to battle the hordes of warm-weather pests, local David Burdine is opening a Mosquito Joe operation to serve the local area. The company sprays properties for mosquitoes, and treatments keep insects away for as long as three weeks, preventing mosquitos from descending on picnics and cookouts, special events, and just plain old-fashioned backyard fun.
Burdine, a Holly Springs resident since 1999, said that as his children grew older, his outdoor activity had become limited to working on vehicles in his driveway. To avoid being devoured by mosquitoes while outside, he’d been coating himself in bug spray.
“If I don’t spray every part of my exposed body, these things will chase me into the house,” he said.
Then he learned about Mosquito Joe.
“That’s really what enticed me, the idea that life in your yard doesn’t have to be that way,” he said. “I had no idea that mosquitoes were something you could actually reliably control.”
Burdine, whose 31-year career had always been in information technology, decided to open a Mosquito Joe after surviving a massive heart attack, which occurred following a church softball game a few years ago. When he took up the sport, he said he’d found himself winded.
“I assumed it had to do with the fact of me being out of shape,” he said.
One game, he said the windedness was particularly intense, and he told everyone he was experiencing indigestion. Following the game, while taking a shower, he collapsed. His son, Paul, found him on the floor and called 911.
Family performed CPR until a town police officer arrived, who continued CPR until the EMTs arrived. Burdine was transported by ambulance to one hospital and then another. He was resuscitated about eight times.
“My wife had gotten the talk from the doctor that it didn’t look good,” he said, adding that she was told that if he survived he’d likely have brain damage due to a lack of oxygen.
“I don’t remember anything about it,” Burdine said.
While in the hospital, he said his pastor laid on him and prayed for him. And Burdine made a full recovery, earning the nickname “Miracle Man.” Burdine said he suffers no lingering effects from the heart attack and that he isn’t on any medicines for heart health.
“Really the miraculous thing is not only did I survive, but I have no lasting effects at all,” he said.
“After my heart attack I started thinking there has to be more to finding joy than an IT job that knows no boundaries between personal and work life,” he said.
Burdine switched information technology jobs a couple times following his heart attack, but he said he still didn’t find his niche. Then a family member told him about Mosquito Joe.
“As I started considering it more … things started to happen around me that made me think maybe this could be an opportunity for me,” he said.
Part of what attracted him to the business was that he’d be running it with his family. His son Paul will be handling the operations of the business, and his wife, Erica, will provide office support.
“Spending the rest of my days with my wife and kids, working with satisfied customers, providing them a service that really sells itself – how could I say no to that?” he said. “It’s an exciting opportunity, to provide a useful service to people in Holly Springs and elsewhere.”
Mosquito Joe employees use backpack sprayers to treat yards, targeting shrubs and plants. The barrier spray kills mosquitoes on contact and bonds to foliage, repelling mosquitoes for up to 21 days. The treatment also kills ticks and fleas.
Technicians also inspect property for active mosquito larvae populations and advise customers on how to identify and eliminate potential mosquito breeding grounds. Synthetic and all-natural treatments are available.
Mosquito Joe CEO Kevin Wilson said the idea behind his company is allowing families to enjoy their backyards.
“A lot of people don’t know a service like this exists,” he said, adding that his company doesn’t lose customers with a 100% satisfaction-guaranteed policy.
Out of about 4,000 sprays during the last year, the company re-sprayed properties about 40 times, in most of those cases because rain fell minutes after the technicians treated the property, he said.
“We don’t lose customers because the product works very well,” Wilson said. “Customers keep coming back year after year.”
In addition to regular yard treatments, Mosquito Joe can spray before special events, such as barbecues and weddings.
For more information, call Burdine at (919) 371-4522 or visit the Mosquito Joe website at http://www.mosquitojoe.com/.
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