The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce says anyone who receives fees for pest control in Mississippi must be licensed. The Certified Commercial Applicator card is a separate credential. A caller can ask the technician for the licence details, and check them with the Department's Bureau of Plant Industry, which handles licence questions.
Key takeaways
- MDAC's FAQ says anyone who receives fees for pest control in Mississippi must be licensed.
- The Certified Commercial Applicator card is separate from the licence, and a quote that treats them as the same is wrong.
- The licence details are given on request, and a caller is entitled to ask for them before work starts.
- The Bureau of Plant Industry handles licence questions, and its contact details are on the Department's own pages.
- A Tennessee address is covered by Tennessee's licensing, which is separate from Mississippi's.
Who has to be licensed
Under MDAC's FAQ, anyone who receives fees for pest control in Mississippi must be licensed, so the licence is required of the business as well as of the individual technician.
The rule is about payment. A company that charges a fee for a treatment in Mississippi is doing paid pest control, and the Department expects it to hold a licence. A technician who works for that company is covered by its licence, and the company is responsible for making sure its work is performed under it.
This matters for a homeowner because a licence is the one credential that tells a caller a business is permitted to do the work at all. It is a basic check, and it should be made before any product is applied, not after a problem has been treated.
The licence and the card are different things
A Certified Commercial Applicator card is a credential for a technician who applies pesticides at a commercial level. It does not replace the licence, and the licence does not replace it.
A caller may be told that a technician is certified, and it is reasonable to ask which credential that refers to. The licence confirms the business may do paid pest control in Mississippi. The card confirms the individual is certified to apply at a commercial level. Both can be relevant to the same job.
A business that answers a licence question with a card number, or a card question with a licence number, has not answered either. Ask for each one by name.
What to ask on the phone
A short set of questions covers the licence, the card, the technician and the state. Most of them take a minute to answer on a call.
The answers should be given without hesitation. A business that does not know its own licence, or that will not say which technician is attending, is giving a caller a reason to ask a second question elsewhere.
- Which licence does this company hold for pest control in Mississippi, and what is its category?
- Does the technician who will attend hold a Certified Commercial Applicator card, and if so, which one?
- Which state's licence applies to the address I am giving you?
- Will you give me the licence details in writing on the report?
- Who should I contact at the Department if I want to check the licence myself?
How to check the licence yourself
A caller can check a licence with the Department, through the Bureau of Plant Industry, which handles licence questions. The number is on the Department's own pages and is not repeated here.
Start from the Department's website and look for the pest control licensing pages, which explain the licence and the Bureau's role. Have the company name, the licence details the technician gave you and the address of the work. The Bureau can confirm whether the licence is current and in what category.
This site does not print the Bureau's phone number, because the number should be taken from the Department's own pages on the day a caller checks, rather than from a copy that may be out of date.
| Check | What a satisfactory answer looks like |
|---|---|
| Licence held | Named, current and in the category for the work |
| Card held | Named for the technician who will attend |
| State | The state that matches the address of the work |
| Written record | The licence and card details appear on the report |
| Verification | The caller knows where the licence is checked |
Addresses on the Tennessee side
A licence from Mississippi does not cover work at a Tennessee address, which is licensed under Tennessee's rules.
A caller in Germantown, Bartlett, Collierville, Whitehaven or any other Shelby County ZIP code should expect the technician to hold the Tennessee credential for that work. The Mississippi licence is not a substitute, and a company that uses one for the other is answering the wrong question.
Give the ZIP code at the start of the call. It is the simplest way to make sure the right licence is checked from the beginning.
Reading a licence on site
A licence shown on site should carry the business name, the licence category and the period it covers, and the caller can compare those with what was given on the phone.
A technician who shows a licence should not be asked to hand it over. A caller can look at it, note the business name and the category, and check that the name matches the company that sent the technician. If the name on the licence and the name on the invoice differ, that is a question to put to the company before the work starts.
The category matters because a licence may cover one kind of pest work and not another. A caller with a termite problem should check that the category includes termite work, and a caller with a rodent or ant problem should check the same. The technician should be able to point to the category without difficulty.
What a licence does not promise
A licence is a permission to operate under state rules. It does not guarantee the quality of a particular treatment or the result.
A licensed company can still do a poor job, and a licence does not show that the technician is careful, quick or right about the species. It shows that the business has met the state's requirements to perform paid pest control. The quality of the work is shown by the inspection, the written findings, the follow-up and the record, which the licence cannot supply.
A caller should also not assume that a licence from another state covers the work. The Mississippi licence is for Mississippi work, and the Tennessee licence is for Tennessee work. The question of which licence applies is one of the first to ask, and it is answered by the address, not by the company's name.
A worked example from a Southaven kitchen
A short example shows how the checks fit together on a real call without naming any customer.
A caller in Southaven reports a trail of ants on a kitchen counter every morning for a week. The caller gives the Southaven ZIP first, and the call line confirms that the work falls under the Mississippi licence. The caller then asks the technician for the licence details and the category, and the technician gives them by phone.
On the visit, the technician shows the caller the licence category and names the card held by the technician who has come out. The inspection finds the trail leading to a gap behind the dishwasher. The report lists the licence, the card, the species and the treatment, so the caller has every check on paper before the bait is placed.
Answers that should prompt a second question
Some replies to a licence question are a signal to ask again or to look elsewhere, and a caller should notice them early.
None of these proves a company is unlicensed. They are reasons to stop and check with the Department before any product is applied, and a caller is entitled to do that without giving an explanation to the company.
- A company that names a licence but cannot give a category or a licence period
- A technician who says the card is the licence, or that no licence is needed for a small job
- A company that gives a licence number but will not say which state issued it
- A caller who is asked to pay before the licence has been confirmed
- An answer that changes when the caller asks the same question a second time
What to do if a licence cannot be confirmed
If the licence details cannot be confirmed by phone or in writing, the household should stop before any product is applied and check with the Department directly.
A business that cannot give its licence name, its category and the state that issued it is not in a position to start work. The household should say that the work will wait until the licence has been checked, and should not agree to a treatment until it has.
The Department's Bureau of Plant Industry handles licence questions, and a household can contact it with the company's name and the address of the work. The Bureau's contact details are on the Department's own pages and should be taken from there on the day of the check. If the Bureau cannot confirm the licence, that is the answer the household needs, and the company should be told so.
Keeping the licence check with the file
The licence details belong in the same file as the report, so that anyone who reads the record later can see which licence covered each visit.
Write the licence name, the category, the state and the date of the check on the front of the report or on a sheet filed with it. A later visit by a different company can then be compared with the first, and a buyer or an insurer can see that the licence was confirmed at the time. The check is a single line, and it saves a question later.
If the company changes its licence details during the life of a contract, ask for the updated details in writing and file them with the record. A change of name or category is not unusual, and the file should show which licence was in force for each visit.
Frequently asked questions
Is a licence the same as a certification?
No. A licence allows a business to do paid pest control in the state. A certification such as the Certified Commercial Applicator card is held by an individual technician. Ask for both by name.
What if the technician cannot give the licence details?
Take that as a reason to pause. The licence details should be available on request, and a caller who is not satisfied can check with the Department before any product is applied.
Does the licence guarantee the work?
A licence is a permission to operate under state rules. It does not guarantee a result, and the written report and follow-up are the record of what was done.
Sources
This guide is general information for DeSoto County homeowners, not a substitute for an on-site inspection. Prices are estimates. See our disclaimer.