Top Notch Termite Company

Worked with Mike and Trevor and Eva and Tina in the office, with Top Notch, great experience, nice people, inspected and tented my house with no problems. Would recommend to others.

Wow, it is not often, more like never when you are referred to a company and they meet your expectations. Mike was awesome, very candid, honest and professional. Best money I ever spent. Trust me it was not a lot.
Outstanding service. I never posted good or bad before but had to learn in this case.

I really wanted to like this company. Trevor and Eva were both quite nice. However…
After Trevor’s inspection in 2013, the call was subterranean termites along two sides of the house and underneath slab leading to a central kitchen. The exterminators arrived later, without Trevor, and pumped Fipronil into the foundation. The termite swarm re-​appeared in 2014. Trevor arrived again, inspected, and told me that I should have allowed for holes to be drilled into my floor to have access under the slab. I paid again (half price) for additional Fipronil treatment. This year, 2015, the termites are swarming my house again. So, the pesticide is not getting to where the termites are located. Is this due to a poor inspection or a poor application? I do not know, but now I am going with another company. I’ll start with a fresh inspection and compare it to my old inspection that I got from Top Notch.

I’ve been a REALTOR in San Diego for 24 years (still Practicing) and have been relying on Top Notch Termite for many years to take care of all my Termite Inspection and Service Needs. Their entire team of employees, Eva, Trevor, Tina, Mike and the rest are committed to providing excellent customer service. They Wow! me and my clients every time they provide service. Honesty, Integrity and Customer Satisfaction is the foundation of their service.

I thought this was a top of the line pest control company. Come to find out it’s just a franchise with the owners deciding how high of a quality to uphold their employees. The man that came to spray my house looked familiar. After he left I realized that that he had been a convicted felon. I did not appreciate this gentleman being in my house around my family in my personal space. I chose a bigger company over a local company thinking I was making a better decision. Next time I will save the time and just stay local.

I don’t normally write reviews but I feel Top Notch Termite is very deserving of a great one… more specifically the Tech who came out Trevor. We found termites in our kitchen cabinets and feared the worst, and the co$t. Trevor came out and immidiately put our minds at ease, was very honest, friendly, and knowledgeable. He also didn’t try to sell us what we did’nt need, and for the price of a few prices of wood problem solved! Will definely use Top Notch/​Trevor in the future (god forbid) if the problem returns.

My wife and I noticed that we had some evidence of some termites. So we gave Top Notch a call. Trevor came out and looked it over. He said that it wasn’t that bad and told us we could just go to Home Depot and buy a can of termite killer. It’s nice to see someone that is honest about the problem and suggests a cheaper way of fixing it. He could have easily done the work himself a charged us a large fee for his service.

I met with Top Notch twice and each time had good experiences with them. I’m fairly vigilant when it comes to looking for termite damage, and called immediately when I saw termite frass. Trevor took the time to inspect the site and told me simply that I could save money and buy the inexpensive termite product myself. I appreciate the honesty and will definitely continue to use Top Notch again.

When escrow open for my home I had originally contracted D&S termite to do the escrow, they told us that the only thing that was wrong was that there were some problems on the deck and there were no other issues with the home. After closing escrow and hiring a different company to do the work on the deck and realized that the cost of repairs was about 3 times as much as D&S termite estimated I hired top notch to make sure that D&S didn’t make any other mistakes. The owner of the company Mike did the inspection himself and just as I feared he found termites in the attic and we had to fumigate the whole house. I hired them to do the job and they were done before schedule. I had some problems with them afterwards because the fumigation had killed some of my plants, and although they were not liable they still helped with those problems. They weren’t hiding like D&S termite, they were very good to me and called me, made sure that everything was ok with their work. Even though I came to them in a bad situation they tried to make that bad situation as comfortable as they could. And the owner Mike particularly is wonderful!!! I would work with them again :)

I would absolutely recommend this company to inspect and take care of any termite issues! I called in the beginning of the week to see if I could schedule for someone to inspect an area of our house today (Friday) and spoke to Mike to schedule the appointment. Mike just left our house and I can say that not only will we be calling him again for termite issues, but we will promote him and Top Notch to our family and friends. He came to inspect a back patio overhang and ended up taking the time to inspect our entire house. He informed us of the two areas with issues and how we could care for them on our own, and even pointed out some areas with dry rot that we should keep an eye on. He didn’t try to up-​sell or exaggerate any issues and simply has a very kind, honest demeanor that we really appreciated. I found this company by looking on Unilocal and despite a couple unhappy customer reviews decided to call them up and my husband and I are so glad we did! We absolutely appreciate and support companies like Top Notch who are honest, community businesses and we hope others in the community will too.

I requested a fumigation bid and specified that I wanted to be home when the inspector came. When the inspector came, he told me that the property was too large and he had to send someone else back another day.
He ended up showing up a few days later unannounced despite the fact that I had said from the beginning that I did not want them coming by when I was not home. This is not why I am giving 1 star.
The low review is because of the terrible way they talk to and treat their customers. When I called and inquired about the situation, I was given nothing but attitude and apparently had really unreasonable expectations because I wanted to be notified in advance.
1) I was never notified of when they would be coming back (e.g. one or two days in advance)
2) They apparently did call 5 minutes before arriving but did not even leave a voicemail so I had no way of knowing.
3) When I asked why they sent someone out without notifying me, they said ‘oh we never notify you so you are lucky they even called you 5 minutes in advance and did not leave a voicemail.‘
4) I understand if their policy is that they don’t call in advance. Nothing wrong with that. But the problem I have is that I was not told this was the case. If I had known, I would not have asked them to come out.

TopNotch treated our house during escrow and after 1 year living in the house, we had a new inspection for termites made with another company. This 2^nd company told us we had a very bad termite case in the same place TopNotch treated before we moved in.
I called TopNotch and one of their professionals came in for his inspection and guaranteed there was no problem.
Now, and past TopNotch warranty time, we have our yearly inspection done by our regular pest control company and learned that the situation is pretty bad, requiring thousands of dollars in treatment.
I called TopNotch to ask how they could help us since we didn’t treat the house last year basend on their inspection (which now looking back sounds obvious they didn’t want to acknowledge the problem) and their receptionist was unfriendly and rude — as she was last year. She dismissed me and just didn’t want to consider the scenario that maybe they did cause this problem.
We would appreciate basic plain old good customer care and understanding that we’re talking about our home, our biggest investment and we’re not trying to rip business owners off.
Never. EVER referring anyone to TopNotch.

They did an inspection of my property this morning. They were great, in pointing out the termites and fungus damage but because this was contained to the back shed and not the main building he said he would not tent the shed because it is too small and the minimum charge of $ 900 is not worth it. Trevor also said for me to use my handyman to replace the wood. I have used many termite companies in the past being a Real Estate Broker and property manager and I appreciate them looking out for my best interests. Some other companies will quote outrageous prices to replace wood when it can be done cheaper by other workers.

As a person with a strong skeptical bias, you could imagine how I might have immediately associated the termite inspection guy with his partners in crime, the used car salesman, the appliance repairman, and the neighborhood ghost-​buster.
I can tell you now. Trevor from Top Notch Termite just doesn’t fit into that category. Not by a long-​shot. You will never have to question whether or not you are getting an honest, objective, and thorough inspection & recommendation for your home.
I would have to say that Trevor provided me with the most comforting, inclusive, detailed, and completely transparent experience I can recollect ever having with a service company.
Trevor confirmed my suspicions about a questionable inspection and treatment recommendation provided by another company (within five minutes of the inspection of one area outside, the guy is saying «tent the house»).
He quickly, objectively, and honestly informed me that the minor signs of termite activity I had did not require my house to be tented. Instead, he recommended the things I could follow up on MYSELF and even taught ME how to properly keep an eye out to identify and control further termite activity.
Trevor and Top Notch Termite are a true asset to this community. Run by honest, personable people who seem to truly care about helping you with your termite problems, above and beyond how much money it’s going to make them in the process.
Even if you might continue to be skeptical of the termite inspection guy and his partners in crime, rest assured that you won’t have to be skeptical of Top Notch Termite.
I cannot recommend them highly enough!

What a refreshing dose of honesty!
We bought our house 2 years ago and it was tented right before we moved in. I am new to the area so wanted to make sure we didn’t have termites again. I had one company give me an inspection and you would have thought it was going to fall apart tomorrow from termite damage.
I had Mike give me an inspection and he said I had nothing to worry about and to call him again in 2 years. I’ll be sure to contact Top Notch Termite when I need an inspection again.
Thanks Mike!

I wanted to a share a great experience that I had with this company. I found some termite droppings in my bathtub and I called Top Notch because of its excellent Unilocal reviews. Trevor came out to look at the problem and after careful inspection diagnosed the droppings as coming from a painting that I hung above the tub (the painting originally came from Brazil). He was incredibly helpful and suggested that I just remove the painting and see if the problem occurs again. He also suggested a commercial product for treating wood that I could buy myself at Home Depot and use to spray the wood, if I felt it was necessary.
I called another highly rated local termite company, but I think that they did not look as carefully, suggesting that I tent my entire house ($ 3000) or buy a spot treatment warranty for $ 1500 per year. It is entirely possible that I have a termite infestation, and I will certainly have one someday (its like death and taxes). However, I really appreciate the honesty that Top Notch showed and they will be getting my business in the future.

If you think all termite guys are barrel-​chested 50-​somethings, barely able to contain their drool over charging you $ 2k, you’re wrong. 5 out of 6 are, but the exception is Top Notch.
I had 6 separate companies come out and give me evaluations/​estimates. I called Top Notch, based solely on the reviews below. And sure enough, they’re the real deal.
Trevor arrived on time (a San Diego rarity). He was down to earth, didn’t BS me at any point, or wax poetic on «educating» me about termites. He cut to the chase, told me exactly what he’d do if this were his house. And what a revelation: his suggestions don’t cost us any money!
If only the other guys could take a lesson from Trevor, as going forward, we’ll only call Top Notch. While we didn’t get far re: pricing, I do know Top Notch is among the less expensive companies. However it won’t really matter, I’d pay a little extra for their services.
Many thanks.

You’re just not going to find better service out there. Its as simple as that. Top Notch did the termite inspection and tenting on my house prior to us moving in. Right before we moved in, we saw a few questionable areas we thought they missed. Fast-​forward to some back and forth and the owner came out to meet me at the house. He explained why something wasn’t included (I thought there was wood when it was actually a putty made to look like wood) and another spot that he said they’d come out and take care of immediately. Honestly, it was something I could probably do within a few minutes.
The guy was inanely nice, we talked football a little bit, and he basically said that if I find anything to just let him know and they’d take care of it. No point in even going w/​another service… seriously… and it looks like the other reviewers agree with me.

Ever since I have been working with Mike Keller and Top Notch Termite I would have a tough time ever having to use another company. I have consistently received prompt and excellent service at great prices. Time after time my clients have been happy with their services and when my clients are happy, I’m happy.

My go-​to Termite company…
Ask for Michael Keller.
He’s fast, efficient, and reliable.
Cost was only $ 50, and most inspections don’t have termites.
That’s what my buyers and sellers like to hear.