Plano rules and resources · Updated November 4, 2026

Hiring a licensed rodent control company in Plano

Texas licenses structural pest control through the Texas Department of Agriculture. Ask for the company's business license number and the technician's license, check them against the current license lists TDA publishes, and confirm the license includes the pest control category, which covers rodents.

Your call goes to an independent provider, and you should still check its license yourself. It takes a few minutes. In Texas, anyone doing structural pest control for hire has to be licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture, and the agency publishes lists of everyone who currently holds a license.

This guide covers the license types, the category that matters for rats and mice, how to look a company up, the rules on rodent poison and the questions worth asking before anyone climbs into your attic.

Who needs a license

TDA's Structural Pest Control Service licenses pest control in Texas. Its licensing page says anyone performing structural pest control for hire must be licensed, whether a business or an individual. It also says people doing pest control at apartment buildings, day-care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, motels, lodges, warehouses, non-restaurant food-processing sites and schools must be licensed, even when they aren't working for a pest control company.

License types

The rules are in Title 4, Section 7.121 of the Texas Administrative Code. These are the ones a homeowner runs into:

• Business license: required for each business location, including branch offices, in the business's operating name
• Responsible certified applicator: each location must name one certified commercial applicator responsible for training and supervising all pest control work there
• Liability insurance: a business may not operate without a responsible applicator and current general pest control liability insurance
• Certified commercial applicator: may do the work without direct supervision, only in the categories they're certified for
• Technician: works under the direct supervision of a certified applicator
• Apprentice: a registered employee in training for the technician license

The category that covers rodents

TDA licenses applicators by category: pest control, termite control, lawn and ornamental, structural fumigation, commodity fumigation, weed control and wood preservation. The licensing page describes the pest control category as inspecting or controlling pests in and around homes, businesses and industries, including animals that invade buildings, such as rodents.

So when you ask about a license, ask whether the applicator holds the pest control category. A lawn-only license isn't the right fit for trapping rats in your attic, and a termite-only license doesn't cover rodents either. Ask the technician for their own license number too, not just the company's, and look both up.

How to look a company up

TDA's Structural Pest Control reports page offers downloadable lists of current licensees in CSV format: commercial businesses, noncommercial businesses, applicators, technicians and apprentices. Download the commercial business list and search it for the company name or license number. Then do the same in the applicator or technician list for the person coming to your house.

If something doesn't match, ask the company about it. The business may operate under a different name than the one on its truck, or the number may have been read out wrong. If you still can't match it, that's a reason to look elsewhere. TDA's page also lists an email contact for other information requests.

Rodenticide rules

TDA's rodenticide page summarizes the EPA's rodenticide decision from May 28, 2008. For consumers, second-generation anticoagulants are not sold at retail. First-generation anticoagulants and non-anticoagulant products sold to consumers come in packages of one pound or less and must be sold in or with a bait station. Pellets aren't sold to the general public; bait has to be in block or other solid form.

For professionals, the same page says second-generation anticoagulants are sold in cases of 16 pounds or more, all outdoor above-ground placements require bait stations, those stations must be tamper resistant where children or non-target animals could reach them, and outdoor placements must be within 100 feet of a building.

Ask your provider which products they plan to use and where. If you'd rather avoid poison inside the house, say so. Many rodent jobs can be done with traps and sealing alone, and poison indoors can leave a dead rodent in a wall.

What a good first visit looks like

The first visit tells you a lot about a company. A thorough technician asks what you've seen and heard before touching anything, goes into the attic, opens the small attic doors beside bonus rooms, checks the garage and the kitchen, then walks the outside from the slab to the roofline. They should point out entry points as they find them, and many take photos.

At the end you should get a plain explanation of what you have, how they'd handle it and a written price. A technician who stays on the driveway and quotes a bait plan without looking in the attic hasn't done an inspection.

Insurance and paperwork

Section 7.121 requires a licensed pest control business to carry current general pest control liability insurance. You can ask for a certificate of insurance before work starts, especially for roof work or a commercial job. A company that does this regularly can send one quickly.

Get the plan in writing: what they'll do, how many visits, what's sealed with what material and any service terms. If bait is part of the plan, ask where each station goes and what product is in it, so you know what to tell your vet if a pet ever gets into one.

Questions to ask before hiring

A good company answers these without hedging:

• What is your TDA business license number, and who is the responsible certified applicator?
• Does the technician hold the pest control category?
• Can you send a certificate of insurance?
• Will you be in the attic, or just walk the outside?
• Which entry points did you find, and what will you use on each?
• Do you trap first or seal first, and why?
• Where will bait go, if any, and how is it locked?
• How many follow-up visits are included, and what's in writing?

Red flags

A price over the phone before anyone has seen the house. A plan that's all bait and no sealing. Loose poison in the attic or the living space. Pressure to sign today. A company that can't give you a license number. Any of those is a reason to get a second look.

Prices vary a lot from house to house. The cost guide shows published ranges and what pushes a Plano job up or down. If you're not sure what you have yet, start with a rodent inspection. If you manage an apartment community, the apartment rodent control page covers the licensing rule for on-site staff.

Related reading

• How much rodent control costs in Plano
• Rats and mice in a Plano rental: tenant and landlord responsibilities
• The best rat and mouse traps, and how to use them

Related services: Rodent Inspection, Entry Point Sealing, Prevention and Monitoring