When Ken Naulty started Bug Away Exterminating in the spring of 1995, his startup kit was modest by any measure. A used Toyota pickup truck, bought on installment from the owner of the small company where he had spent years learning the trade. Every piece of equipment that was already in the truck. And a handshake, more or less, from a mentor who told him good luck and meant it. What Ken had that was harder to quantify was eight years of accumulated knowledge, a clear sense of how he wanted to run things, and a growing family that needed him to get it right.
Thirty years later, Bug Away Exterminating is the pest control company that real estate firms, property management companies, and longtime Delaware County residents call first. Not because of a marketing campaign, but because Ken built something that compounds quietly over time: a reputation for showing up, telling the truth, and doing the work correctly whether or not anyone is watching.
The Problem With Most Pest Control Companies
Ask around long enough and a pattern emerges. A homeowner notices signs of a problem, calls a large company, and gets a technician who runs through a standard protocol, hands over an agreement to sign, and is back in the van before the conversation has really started. The treatment may or may not address the actual source of the problem. The agreement auto-renews. The insects return.
It is not always that blunt, but the underlying tension is real. Pest control has historically been a high-pressure sales environment, and the companies that have grown largest have often done so by leaning into that pressure. Sign the agreement today. Protect your home. The language is urgent by design, and it does not always reflect what a particular property actually needs.
There is also the honesty gap. Some companies will tell a customer they can eliminate pests entirely, permanently, as a way of closing the sale. It sounds reassuring and it is not true, and at some level most homeowners sense that even as they are signing the paperwork.
"I'm a firm believer that you tell the customer the honest truth. As long as you are truthful with that customer, it goes so much further than giving them what they want to hear."
Ken Naulty, Bug Away Exterminating
Ken has built his entire business around that belief, and it is not a recent development. It has been the operating principle since the truck was paid off.
Eight Years of Learning Before He Went Out on His Own
Ken entered the pest control industry in March of 1987, joining a small company called Davison out of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. He spent roughly five years there before making a brief detour to Terminix. Corporate life did not suit him. He lasted about six months and moved on to another small company called Dockerty of Delaware Valley, where he learned something that would prove more valuable than any single technical skill: how to run every part of the operation.
At Dockerty, with just two people on staff, Ken answered phones, handled scheduling, managed billing, made deposits, ordered supplies, and ran the service route alongside the owner. He was absorbing the whole business from the inside out. By the time he bought that Toyota pickup and struck out on his own in 1995, he was not starting fresh. He was launching with nearly a decade of accumulated knowledge and a very specific idea of what good pest control looked like.
The decision to go independent was also personal. A child on the way, a ceiling he could see clearly at every company he worked for, and a conviction that the only way to build the life he wanted for his family was to build the company himself.
What Makes Bug Away Different in Practice
The phrase Ken uses is "less is more," and it describes a real shift in how the industry has moved since the days of saturating every surface in a house. Bug Away operates on an integrated pest management model, which means the treatment is tailored to what is actually present, where it is concentrated, and what conditions are allowing it to persist. The exterior perimeter gets treated to intercept insects before they enter. Interior work focuses on kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and any specific areas a client is experiencing activity. Nothing gets applied for the sake of looking thorough.
For termite and wood-destroying insect work, Ken and his team go further than most. If there is a crawl space, they get into it. Fully. Slithering on their bellies if the space requires it, to complete an inspection that is not just a visual pass from the entrance. Every garage door frame, window frame, and door jamb gets checked. Treatments come with at least a one-year guarantee, sometimes two, three, or five years depending on what the client needs.
His team is small and deliberate. Anthony Giorgio has been working alongside Ken for about eight years, holds licenses in categories 11 and 12 through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and handles termite work, bed bug treatments, and stinging insect jobs. Ryan Farrow is newer, brought in with no prior pest control experience specifically because Ken has found it easier to train someone correctly from the start than to retrain someone who learned different habits elsewhere. Ryan finished his technician training program through Bug Away and is now a registered technician under the Department of Agriculture's licensing framework.
Ken does not use scare tactics. He does not push service agreements on clients who only need a one-time treatment. He offers agreements, explains the value, and lets the client decide. His own account of it is that nine times out of ten, a client who gets a one-time service calls back when they need something again. The relationship builds on results, not pressure.
"Integrity, to me, is doing the right thing even when no one's watching. If we go to a home and you're not there, we do the service to perfection. Even though no one is watching. Even though you could get away with not doing the full thing."
Ken Naulty, Bug Away Exterminating
Where They Work and Who They Serve
About 90 percent of Bug Away's client base is in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The company also services commercial accounts in Philadelphia on a scheduled basis, has clients in Chester County including the West Chester area, and covers properties along the Main Line including Radnor, Paoli, and Malvern. Montgomery County work comes in for termite inspections and one-time services. Bug Away is licensed in Pennsylvania only and does not operate in New Jersey or Delaware.
The client mix is broader than most people would expect from a small operation. Real estate companies, property management firms, private investors with large rental portfolios, restaurants, commercial buildings, and longtime residential customers — some of whom have been with Ken since the neighborhood he grew up in. The company is roughly 70 percent commercial by volume, but residential clients have been part of the foundation from the beginning.
Senior citizens get a discount. That is not a policy Ken was asked about directly. He just mentioned it, the way you mention something that has always been obvious to you.
If you have been looking for a pest control company that will tell you what you actually need instead of what closes the sale, and do the work correctly whether or not you are home to watch, now you know where to find one.