Why Check at These Two Moments
Most inspections happen after someone has been bitten. The ones on this page are different: nobody may have noticed anything, but something is about to move. Furniture from another house is coming through your front door, or a room is about to be emptied, stripped and filled with dust sheets and ladders. Once that has happened, a small problem in one place becomes a larger problem in several.
What the inspection itself involves, where we look and what we are looking for, is on the London bedbug inspections page for the full explanation. This page covers when to book one and what to do with the answer.
Before a Relative Moves In
When a parent or grandparent comes to live with you, they usually bring the things that matter to them: a bed, an armchair, a bedside table, bags of clothes. If there is any reason to wonder about the place they are leaving, such as bites they have mentioned, marks on their sheets, or a flat in a block where neighbours have had treatment, it is far easier to check there than after everything has arrived.
Where we can, we look at the relative’s current bedroom and the furniture they plan to bring. If it is clear, you move with more confidence. If it is not, the items can be treated or left behind before they travel. The practical side of the move itself is on the Stanmore page.
Before the Builders Arrive
A loft conversion or an extension usually starts with emptying rooms: beds dismantled, wardrobes carried downstairs, children moved into a sibling’s room for a few months. If bedbugs are already in one bed, that shuffle spreads them round the house before anyone has noticed.
An inspection a week or two before work starts means you know what you are moving. If it finds nothing, carry on as planned. If it finds something, treating before the house is turned upside down is much simpler than treating around scaffolding and builders. The Kenton page covers what happens if the work has already begun.
What We Ask You Beforehand
A few questions on the phone help us focus the visit on the right rooms and furniture:
- Which rooms, and which pieces of furniture, are about to move or be emptied.
- Whether anybody in the house, or the relative moving in, has had bites, marks or itching.
- Where anything second-hand has come from recently, including furniture from a family member.
- Whether the relative’s current home is a flat, and if neighbours have mentioned bedbugs.
- When the move or the building work is due to start, so the visit comes in time to act on it.
Some people do not react to bites at all, so a household with no bites is not proof of anything. Bites that appear days after the event can also point you at the wrong room; the guide on why bites can appear days later explains that.
What Happens With the Result
If we find no sign of bedbugs, we tell you so and explain what we looked at. If we find them, we tell you where, how far they seem to have spread, and whether heat or chemical treatment suits the rooms involved, with the price for each. Nothing is booked on the spot unless you want it to be. You can then decide whether to go ahead with the move or the building work as planned, or wait a few weeks until the treatment is finished.
The heat treatment page for Harrow suits a house where several rooms are involved; the chemical page suits a single room found early.
Cost and Booking
Inspections start from £120. If treatment is needed, treatments start from £220, depending on the number of rooms and whether it is heat or chemical, and you hear the figure before anything is booked. Ring 0800 955 1018 and tell us what is about to change in the house. The Harrow bedbug control page covers treating a house whose layout and household are changing.
← Bedbug Control Harrow · Bedbug Inspections London, in full
Bedbug Inspections Harrow — Questions
Is it worth an inspection if nobody has been bitten?
It can be, just before furniture moves or rooms are emptied. Some people never react to bites, so the absence of bites does not settle the question.
Can you check my parent's flat before they move in with us?
Where we can get access, yes. Checking their bedroom and the furniture they plan to bring is simpler than checking everything after it has arrived.
How long before building work should we book?
A week or two before is sensible, so that if treatment is needed it can be done before the rooms are emptied.
What does an inspection cost?
Inspections start from £120. If treatment is needed, we give you that price separately before anything is booked.
Should we get rid of old furniture before the move just in case?
Not without checking. Throwing out a bed or chair can spread bedbugs if they are there, and it may be unnecessary if they are not.
Bedbug Treatments in Harrow
Every service has its own page for Harrow: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Inspection Advice
The guides that go into bedbug inspection in more depth.
Bedbugs, or Something Else?
A walkthrough you can do tonight with a torch, and what to do with what you find.
Read more →
What Happens During an Inspection
From your side of it: how long, whether you stay, what we will ask and what we will move.
Read more →
The Places That Get Missed
Beyond the bed and the two-metre radius: the harbourages that survive a mediocre inspection.
Read more →
The Early Signs, and the Timeline
Week one to month six. What is detectable when, and why 'early' is mostly invisible.
Read more →
Inspection First, or Straight to Treatment?
When the £120 saves you money, and when it is £120 you did not need to spend.
Read more →Bedbug Control Across Harrow
Each area page is written around one situation we deal with.
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us what is about to change in the house and when, and we will ring to arrange a visit.