Ant control works on the colony, not on the line you can see
The line crossing your counter is the foraging party, a small fraction of the colony. Killing it changes nothing, because the queen and the brood are elsewhere and will send another. The treatment is bait the foragers carry back and share with the nest.
How to tell you have ants
- A steady line running the same route, usually to a food source or a water point.
- Fine soil or sand pushed out at a skirting joint, a window frame, or a floor tile edge.
- Winged ants indoors, which means a colony nearby is producing new queens.
- Ants appearing in a bathroom or around a leaking pipe rather than in the kitchen.
- Activity that stops when you clean and restarts within a day or two.
Why supermarket sprays do not work
Wiping the line away removes the scent trail for a few hours and nothing else. Spraying it kills the foragers, and the colony compensates by sending more, sometimes along a new route. Repellent sprays can split a colony into several smaller ones, which turns one line into three.
What the technician actually does
- The technician follows the line back to the entry point and, where possible, to the nest.
- Bait is placed on the trail itself so foraging ants find it on the route they already use.
- Moisture sources get identified, because a slow leak under a sink is a common reason a colony settled indoors.
- Entry gaps at skirting joints, window frames and tile edges are sealed after activity has stopped.
- A check visit confirms the line is gone rather than relocated.
An hour or so for the visit. Expect the line to persist for several days while the bait is carried back. That is the treatment working, not failing.
The written guarantee on ants
The 5-year written guarantee covers the same colony returning in the treated unit.
What we cannot do
If the nest is outdoors, in a garden bed, under a paving slab, or in a neighbour's planter, we treat the route and the entry point rather than the nest. That holds, but it needs re-checking after heavy watering or rain.
How the price is set
Two things set it: the floor area, and how far the infestation has spread by the time we inspect. A flat with a single focus point is not the same job as a villa with activity on two floors, and the gap between them is wide. That is why there is no fixed figure we can give before seeing the place. We give you the number on the call or on WhatsApp after a few questions, and always before anyone comes out.