How to choose an exterminator in Montreal, the 6 checks to make before you sign

The short answer, the six checks to make before you sign

Before you sign with an exterminator, ask for six proofs. All six exist on paper, all six can be verified, and a company in good standing emails them to you the same day.

• 1. The technician's CD5 certificate. The CD5 subcategory certificate for pest management application, issued by the MELCCFP and valid for 5 years.
• 2. The company permit. The pesticide sale and use permit, also issued by the Ministry, valid for 3 years.
• 3. The Montreal municipal permit. An annual permit for commercial pesticide use, $215 per year, required by the City of Montreal.
• 4. The guarantee and the follow-up visit. Written into the contract, with timeframes, not a verbal promise.
• 5. Liability insurance and AQGP membership. Two checks recommended by CAA-Quebec.
• 6. A detailed quote. Products, rooms treated, number of visits, re-entry delay for the home.

The first two documents come from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks. The third comes from the City of Montreal. The last three depend on the company itself, and that is usually where the difference shows.

None of these six proofs costs anything to produce. A refusal, a hesitation, or a promise to show you everything on site is already an answer. If you are looking for an exterminator in Montreal, all six points can be settled in a single phone call.

Check 1, the CD5 certificate of the technician who shows up at your door

The certificate is issued to a person. It belongs to whoever handles the product, not to the company and not to the truck. So ask for the certificate of the technician who will come to your home, not the owner's.

In Quebec, pesticide application for pest management falls under subcategory CD5. That certificate for pest management application is issued by the MELCCFP and is valid for 5 years, according to Quebec.ca.

Since January 1, 2025, renewing a CD5 certificate also requires continuing education. The holder must have completed activities accredited by the Ministry during the previous five years, as stated in the Ministry notice on CD5 certificate renewal. A certificate renewed after that date therefore also confirms updated knowledge.

A technician who cannot name their own subcategory should not walk into your home with a sprayer. This is not suspicion, it is the basics of the trade. For a bed bug treatment in Montreal, the product goes into your bedroom, onto your furniture, centimetres from where you sleep.

Check 2, the company permit from the MELCCFP

The company needs its own pesticide sale and use permit. It is a separate document from the individual certificate, and one never replaces the other.

The permit is issued by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks. It is valid for 3 years, except for companies with no establishment in Quebec, where validity drops to 1 year, according to Quebec.ca.

That distinction is worth knowing. A company with no Quebec establishment renews every single year, which tells you something about how locally rooted the supplier knocking at your door really is. Ask for the permit number and the address of the Quebec establishment.

Remember the two-level logic. The permit covers the company, the certificate covers the person. A subcontractor sent by a fully permitted company still needs their own CD5 certificate. When you compare pest control services, ask the question both ways, for the company and for the individual.

Check 3, the Montreal municipal permit almost nobody asks about

This is the check nobody makes, and it is the one that separates companies fastest. To apply pesticides commercially within Montreal, a company must hold an annual municipal permit on top of its provincial paperwork.

According to the City of Montreal, this annual permit for commercial pesticide use costs $215 per year and is non-refundable. To obtain it, the company must supply a copy of its provincial permit and a copy of the applicator certificates of every one of its employees. In practice, the municipal permit is proof that the City has already verified the first two checks.

There is a duty attached to it that few customers know about. The company must send the City its pesticide use register before January 31 of the following year. A company that neglects that obligation risks having its permit revoked, and in the case of a repeat offence, being banned from operating within Montreal.

There is a second local duty, declaring interventions. In Montreal, the exterminator must declare every bed bug intervention within 5 days, under the by-law concerning the sanitation, maintenance and safety of dwelling units 03-096 as amended. CAA-Quebec notes that Montreal, Laval and Longueuil are cities where declaring an infestation is mandatory. The same question therefore applies across the areas we serve on the South Shore and in Laval.

Check 4, the guarantee and the follow-up visit, in writing

A verbal guarantee is worth nothing. Insist on a written guarantee in the contract, with its length, what it covers and how many visits are included. CAA-Quebec lists the return guarantee among the things to verify before hiring an exterminator.

With bed bugs, this is not commercial comfort, it is biology. A single treatment is not enough, explains the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, because the half-life of registered insecticides is too short to kill the bugs that hatch from eggs.

The reference timeframes published by the INSPQ are clear.

• 2 to 6 weeks between the first and the second treatment.
• 2 to 4 weeks after each application for the follow-up visit.
• At least 6 hours before going back into the home after an application.
• At least 24 hours before walking barefoot on a treated surface.

A quote that plans a single visit for bed bugs therefore contradicts current public health knowledge. One technical detail also gives away how serious a supplier is, mattresses are treated with steam rather than insecticide, again according to the INSPQ, because steam kills the eggs. If someone offers to spray insecticide on your mattress, the conversation should end there.

Finally, ask what you have to do before the technician arrives. Our bed bug treatment preparation checklist goes room by room through what has to be washed, bagged and moved, and a serious exterminator gives you the equivalent before booking the date.

Checks 5 and 6, insurance, the AQGP and a quote that actually says something

These last two checks are not regulatory, they are contractual common sense. Each one costs you a single question.

Liability insurance

The treatment happens in your home, with products, sometimes with heat or steam. In its page updated on June 16, 2025, CAA-Quebec recommends verifying the company's liability insurance, alongside its pest management contractor licence. Ask for the certificate of insurance, not a reassurance.

AQGP membership

CAA-Quebec also recommends checking membership in the Association québécoise de la gestion parasitaire. It is not a legal requirement and its absence disqualifies nobody. It is one more signal, to be weighed alongside the mandatory documents, never instead of them.

The detailed quote and the written protocol

A quote has to name things. The target pest, the rooms treated, the products applied, the number of visits included, the re-entry delay and the preparation expected from you. A single amount on a single line is not a quote, it is a price.

This applies to every pest, not only bed bugs. For rodent control in Montreal, the quote should say where the bait stations go, who checks them and how often. For a building or a business, a commercial pest management contract should also state the frequency of preventive visits and the format of the report left after each one.

What an RBQ licence actually covers, and the signals that should end the call

One correction is needed, because this circulates backwards on several industry blogs. An RBQ licence is not required to apply pesticides.

According to CAA-Quebec, RBQ licence 7 is required for sealing entry points, which counts as construction work. It is not required for pesticide application itself. The distinction is practical. If the fix for your rat and mouse problem involves sealing openings in the structure of the building, you are in construction territory and that licence becomes relevant. For a bed bug or cockroach treatment, what matters is the CD5 certificate and the Ministry permit.

The rest fits into a short list of warning signs.

• No written quote. Everything is agreed verbally and nothing can be enforced later.
• A firm price over the phone with no questions asked. Nobody can price a job without knowing the pest, the surface and the type of dwelling.
• A refusal to give permit and certificate numbers. Those numbers exist to be shared.
• No follow-up visit planned. The INSPQ places follow-up 2 to 4 weeks after each application.
• Insecticide offered for your mattress. Steam is what kills the eggs.
• No re-entry delay given. The INSPQ says at least 6 hours, and at least 24 hours before walking barefoot on a treated surface.
• A signature demanded on the spot. A real emergency still leaves time to read a contract.

None of these signals is an accusation on its own. Each one is a question, and how a company answers tells you more than any advertisement.

How Axion answers the six checks

Here are our answers, in the same order, with no superlatives and no figure we could not show you.

• 1. The technician's certificate. Our technicians are certified in category CD5/CD6.
• 2. The company permit. Axion holds the Ministry of the Environment permit for pesticide application and has operated as a certified exterminator since 2011.
• 3. The municipal permit. We serve 57 areas, including Montreal and its boroughs. Our permit numbers are provided on request, before the intervention.
• 4. Guarantee and follow-up. A written guarantee, and the follow-up schedule is explained to you before the treatment starts.
• 5. Insurance and the AQGP. Ask us on the phone, exactly as you should ask any supplier.
• 6. The quote. Service from $99, often within 24 hours, with products registered by Health Canada and a protocol explained before the first application.

We are a team of roughly 15 people, which is why the technician who answers the phone is often the one who shows up at your door. You can check whether your neighbourhood is covered on the service areas page, read more about the company, or write to us through the contact page.

One last thing. Run these six checks on us too. A supplier that tells you to run them and then fails the test has not earned your trust, and that goes for everyone, ourselves included.

Frequently asked questions