The Pest People: Schendel Pest Control Changes Ownership After 40 Years in Business

Byron Nelson has responded to countless calls from property owners who want to be rescued from all manner of bugs and pests. But one of those calls stands out in his memory.

“I was doing bird control on the Barton County Courthouse,” Byron recalls. “My heart defibrillator went off while I was on top of the building. We had an ambulance and fire trucks; we had pandemonium.”

That was 14 years ago and his doctors told him a couple of years later that it might be a good idea for him to retire from Schendel Pest Control of Great Bend Inc.

“I don’t listen very well,” Byron said.

Now, however, he and his wife Carolyn have decided it is time to kick back a little and let someone else do battle with life’s nuisances of the creepy, crawly kind.

Changing Hands – Byron and Carolyn Nelson, owners of Schendel Pest Control, Inc., stand with one of their former employees, Kyle Roberts. As of this month, Byron and Carolyn are shifting ownership over to Kyle so that they can “retire.” “I wouldn’t say that we’re entering retirement,” Byron Nelson says. “We raise horses and are going to start growing hay for them.” Nelson also commented that he is looking forward to the opportunity to “play farmer.”

As of Jan. 1, Kyle Roberts is taking over ownership of the business, which will be called Schendel Pest Control LLC. It will be the result of a merger with Roberts’ dad’s business, Roberts Pest Management, 2221 Franklin. The newly merged business will remain at the current Schendel location, 5217 8th. Kyle has been working for the Nelsons for several months.

“We have been talking about the ownership change for about a year,” Byron said. “I was told by doctors to retire 12 years ago because of my heart. I haven’t actually gone out and done service for some time. I do ride along sometimes.”

The Nelsons have horses and hay to tend to, which will give Byron the chance to “play like a farmer.” They are also very involved in their church.

Bob Schendel started Schendel Pest Control in 1946 in Topeka. The Nelsons went to work for the company in 1969 in Lawrence but came to Great Bend the following year. They opened up shop in their home at the time, 2201 Jefferson - at first with four children, then five.

The business moved in 1976 to 5605 10th, where Pro-Tint is currently located. The move to 8th Street came in 1983.

Locked and Loaded – Schendel Pest Control, LLC employees stand armed and ready to take on whatever pests their customers need taken care of. From left to right are service technician and new co-owner Max Roberts, office manager Becky Love, service technician Dan Converse, and co-owner Kyle Roberts. “It’s just going to be the four of us in the new year,” Roberts said. “My dad and I co-own the operation and will be doubling as service technicians with Dan Converse. Becky will continue to hold anchor at the office. ”When Schendel Pest Control was owned by the Nelsons, they employed a total of 5 people. Now that Roberts and his dad, Max who owned Roberts Pest Control, are partnering to take over the existing business, the staff will be reorganizing a little bit. The Nelson’s son, Stan, who formerly took care of the weed department of the business will no longer be employed by Schendel, but says he will be on hand to help the new owners with their transition.

“I was a route service tech in Lawrence, and Harvey Converse was ready to sell his termite business here,” Byron said, noting it was called Great Bend Floor and Termite Service. “He would kill them and fix what they ate.”

Converse ran an ad in a trade journal and Byron and Bob Schendel spotted it simultaneously. “I called Bob when I saw the ad and he said ‘I was just getting ready to call you.’ We came out here the next day. He had wanted us to go to Bartlesville, Okla., at one point but we weren’t ready. But the timing for Great Bend was good.”

The Nelsons saw the ad in August and took over the business on Sept. 1, 1970. They attribute their long-time success to a number of things.

“Lots of hard work,” Carolyn said. “And you don’t give up when it gets tough. We have been dedicated to the customers; they had a need and we filled it.”

Byron added, “We also have to brag on the Central Kansas community as a whole. They are good people to work for.”

On the Lookout – Schendel Pest Control service technician Dan Converse demonstrates how a routine service call for roaches or termites would be taken care of. “We are extremely careful when we go out on calls,” Converse says. “We take extra precautions to make sure that we use safe and effective methods in our customers’ homes and businesses.”

Residential and commercial customers depend on Schendel for a variety of pest control services, whether it be a one-time thing or monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. The company also has a selection of retail products.

Retail accounts for only about 2 percent of the company’s business but it not only sells the products, it also offers advice on how they should be used.

Kyle Roberts, the new owner, noted that some problems can be solved without a pesticide. “For example,” he said, “sometimes you just need structural changes. We can change areas that are conducive to harboring pests.

“We use integrated pest management,” Roberts continued. “That’s what sets us apart from general retailers. We are licensed and trained professionals. We can explain how to use it and how to dispose of it.”

The most common pest-control problems vary from year to year. Byron notes sometimes it is the “year of the cricket, sometimes the year of the ant. The last few years have been the year of the flea because of the moisture.”

Ready for Anything – Schendel Pest Control’s main business is generated through service calls in their customers’ homes and businesses. However, Schendel also carries a wide variety of retail pest control methods for the do-it-yourselfer. “The difference between picking up your pest control products from the store or purchasing the products from us is that we have the expertise and the customer service to back them up,” former owner Byron Nelson says. “We can tell you how to most effectively use these methods as well as how they work.”

Mice are now moving inside because of winter, and spring may bring the grub worms and bagworms.

The rarest of rare calls are attributed to “dulusory parasitosis.” At least that is what it is called in pest-control lingo. It means that people think they have bugs but they don’t.

“They could have something but they don’t have pests,” Carolyn noted. “They may have dry skin or some other medical condition causing an itch. It is rare but it does crop up now and then. They think the bugs are in their eyes, nose or mouth at night when they are sleeping.

“We set out monitors and sticky traps but all we get are pieces of lint or dust,” she added, noting people also hear noises they can’t explain and blame them on a variety of pests.

Stan Nelson, weed department manager and the Nelsons’ son, noted that bed bugs are becoming more common because of this era of easy world travel. “People are bringing things back from foreign counties,” Stan said.

The younger Nelson also remarked that he has responded to snake calls, a bird in a dryer vent and a squirrel in a furnace. Stan is also leaving Schendel but his sister, Becky Love, will stay on as office manager.

Schendel of Great Bend quit the termite biz in the late 1980s but Roberts will start it up again.

Behind the Scenes – Schendel Office Manager Becky Love sits at her desk at the Schendel office. As the Nelson’s daughter, Love has been involved with Schendel Pest Control for a number of years. “When mom and dad took over the business, it was just natural that I would help out,” Love says. “I make a lot of the appointments and working out new pest control contracts with businesses and individuals alike, a lot of which is done behind the scenes.”

“When the Environmental Protection Agency took chlordane away from us in 1988, we left the termite business shortly thereafter,” Byron said. “The products available back then weren’t working. But today we have effective termite products so Kyle will get back into it, along with the general pest control.”

Other service additions are mosquito control, and treatment of lawns, shrubs, flowers and trees.

“This will pretty much be full-premises treatment, instead of just structural,” Roberts said. “We will be inside and outside.”

Schendel Pest Control will continue to enhance efforts save energy and protect the environment. “The Nelsons have been great stewards of the environment in a lot of ways,” Roberts said. “We have cut back on the amount of pesticides and this year we restructured our routes to save fuel. And we are using less paper in the office.”

Over the years, Carolyn and Byron have devoted their time and talents to the Kansas Pest Control Association and the National Pest Management Association. Both have held board and executive positions in the associations and both have been inducted into the KPCA Hall of Fame.

They also provided comprehensive continuing education to employees, including Purdue University courses in pest management.

A Familiar Face – When customers enter the Schendel Pest Control office, there’s one familiar face always on hand to greet them. Roy, the Nelson’s dog, has been a part of Schendel Pest Control for over 12 years. “We like to think of Roy as our customer greeter,” Carolyn Nelson says. “A lot of the time, though, he’s just holds our couch down.” Roy will be retiring in January as well.

As of Jan. 1, Schendel will go from five employees to four. Those four are Roberts, his dad, Max, Becky Love, and Dan Converse, who is Harvey Converse’s great nephew. Dan has been with the company since 2003.

“We wanted to make sure our customers have the best,” Stan said. “Kyle is just the type of buyer we were looking for and the customers will be in good hands.”


For more information, contact:

Schendel Pest Control, LLC
5217 8th Street
Great Bend, KS 67530
620-792-4351