Mice would come into my basement in the winter months. I'd had this problem the past few years. It was never a big problem but I would see droppings in certain areas of the basement. I would use store bought poison and it seemed to work. Recently, I saw a dead mouse. I wanted to figure out where they were coming in so that I could permanently prevent them from accessing the house.
I contacted Power Pest Control and spoke with Peter. He was friendly and was able to book an appointment to come out within a few days which I appreciated. I explained the situation to him and that my main concern was future prevention. He told me exactly how much he would charge so I was aware of the cost. That was also helpful.
When he arrived he did a check of the exterior of the home to see where they might be getting in, as well as the interior of the house in the areas I had identified, and my garage. He said he didn't see any areas needing sealing and that he felt the only plausible location they were coming in was through my dryer vent. He recommended that I buy a pest control barrier to place over the dryer vent and range hood vent and drill into the brick. He tried to describe it to me and said I could find it at Home Depot. I did not have a clear understanding of what this product was after hearing the description (and had trouble finding it when describing it to sales staff at Home Depot as well). He screwed in my dryer vent which wasn't properly attached. I was surprised that someone in the pest control business wouldn't have this type of product on hand or that he didn't offer to go to Home Depot (very nearby) to pick it up and install it for me. I would have been happy to pay him for the additional cost of the pest control barriers (which were $6 each).
He pointed out a connection problem with one of the ducts to my dryer vent which was helpful. He also removed some insulation from that area which he examined and confirmed there were mouse droppings but then just left the insulation he pulled out of the ducts on the basement floor. I found it unusual, especially when there was a garbage bag nearby. He left some bait stations in a few areas in the basement and under the sink and said once I installed the barriers over the vents I shouldn't have any further issues and that I could call him in a month to give him an update if I wanted (it hasn't yet been a month).
I've never used a pest control company so I have no basis for comparison from a value perspective but I did feel that for a short visit with a cost of $240 he should have supplied (or purchased) the barriers and installed them for me.