The People Behind the Scores

The Standards Desk owns the rating methodology and carries final responsibility for everything on this site. It sets the editorial rules the other desks work under: every claim carries a date, every unverified figure is labeled an estimate, every exit fee gets named, and no score changes without documented evidence. This desk signs off on every rating change and every correction — and because our methodology is public, you can check its work at any time at /methodology.

Owns: Rating methodology, editorial standards, score sign-off, corrections.

The Reviews Desk writes and maintains our brand reviews and head-to-head comparisons. The job in practice: re-shopping quotes each quarterly cycle, re-reading BBB complaint records and review-platform data, and turning a 40-page service agreement into the three sentences you actually need. House rule this desk enforces: we show both reputation numbers — the corporate letter grade and the customer score — because in pest control they routinely disagree, and you deserve to see the gap.

Owns: Brand reviews, comparisons, complaint-record analysis, reputation data.

The Field Desk handles the hands-on side: testing DIY products the way a homeowner would use them, evaluating what professional treatments should include, and translating pesticide label instructions into plain English. When a guide tells you a spray can't fix an entrenched roach infestation and it's time to call a pro, that's the Field Desk's call — grounded in treatment protocols, product labels, and the documented failure patterns of DIY-only approaches. All product observations follow the verification standards in our editorial policy.

Owns: DIY product evaluation, treatment methods, how-to guides, safety and label guidance.

The Data Desk owns every number on this site. It runs our mystery-shop program — requesting quotes as an ordinary homeowner across metros and plan types — maintains the national benchmark tables behind our cost guides and calculator, and recomputes all fifty sub-scores each quarterly cycle. It also flags "quiet" changes: a fee that appeared in new agreements, a promo price that stopped being honored. If a PestWatchDog figure disagrees with a quote you got, this desk wants to see it: /contact.

Owns: Cost data, price benchmarks, calculators, score computation, quarterly re-verification.

The Advocacy Desk covers the part of pest control nobody markets: what happens when you want out. It maintains the cancellation-fee table, writes the scripts in our cancellation guide, tracks complaint themes across BBB and review platforms, and pressure-tests every "cancel anytime" sales claim against the signed agreement behind it. The transparency sub-score in our methodology exists largely because of what this desk's complaint-file reading keeps finding.

Owns: Contracts, cancellation terms and fees, billing disputes, complaint trends, consumer rights.