About Zach
Certified Arborist · Licensed Structural Pest Control Operator · Qualified Applicator (DPR) · Founder, Smith’s Pest Management
Zachary Smith is the founder of Smith’s Pest Management and the licensed pest control professional behind every article, case study, and video published on smithspestmanagement.com.
Since founding the company in 2009, Zach has personally led pest control jobs for thousands of homes, commercial properties, schools, parks, municipal grounds, and vineyards across the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast in California, from Marin to Monterey.
He has more than 20 years of hands-on pest control experience and a background in horticulture and ecology.
Before starting Smith’s, Zach spent nine years as a landscape professional after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Agriculture / Horticulture program, noticing along the way that no one in the industry was solving burrowing pest problems (gophers, moles, ground squirrels, voles) in an effective or humane way. He built the company to fill that gap.
That deliberate, on-the-ground model is why Smith’s is the company local landscapers, city parks departments, and property managers call when the standard pest control has already failed.
Credentials & Experience
Zach holds the licenses required to operate a full-service pest management company in California and maintains them in good standing:
- California Qualified Applicator’s License (QAL) — Department of Pesticide Regulation, License #123471
- DPR Business License — Department of Pesticide Regulation, #44996
- Structural Pest Control Board Business License (SPCB) — California Structural Pest Control Board, #8261
- Certified Arborist
- Bachelor of Science, Agriculture / Horticulture — California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), 2002
Smith’s Pest Management is an active member of:
17+ years running Smith's Pest Management — founded in 2009 in San Jose, CA
20+ years hands-on pest control experience (including 9 years as a landscape professional pre-Smith's)
Thousands of properties served across the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast — from Marin to Monterey
Works with: homeowners, businesses, schools, parks and recreation departments, cities and municipalities, HOAs, property managers, apartment communities, and vineyards
Featured expert on burrowing pest control in the California landscape
How Zach Works
Zach personally reviews the strategy on every large or complex job Smith’s takes on — commercial IPM programs, municipal contracts, wildlife exclusions, and burrowing pest work on large residential properties.
Day-to-day residential jobs are handled by Smith’s licensed field technicians, all trained under Zach’s methodology and operating from the same San Jose office.
The approach he built is straightforward:
Inspect the property in person
Before recommending any treatment, a technician walks the site to identify the actual pest, entry points, and contributing conditions.
Recommend the least-toxic effective solution first
Smith's leads with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) — exclusion, habitat modification, trapping, and eco-friendly treatments — before reaching for chemical controls.
Follow up and monitor
Whether it's a one-time gopher removal or a year-round commercial program, every job includes documented follow-up so results are measurable, not assumed.
Zach’s team serves the Greater Bay Area with a fleet of licensed technicians and support staff, focused on both burrowing pests (gophers, moles, ground squirrels, voles) and structural pests (rats, mice, ants, spiders, cockroaches, stinging insects, wildlife).
On YouTube
Zach hosts the Smith’s Pest Management YouTube channel — a growing library of on-location videos where he walks Bay Area homeowners through real gopher, ground squirrel, rodent, and structural pest problems, city by city.
Recent videos have covered pest activity in Pinole, Rodeo, Hercules, San Rafael, Menlo Park, Larkspur, Ross, Richmond, Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Novato, and Contra Costa County more broadly.
Every video is filmed on real Bay Area properties, not in a studio.
Articles by Zach
Zach personally writes or reviews every article on smithspestmanagement.com. A sample of his recent work:
Signs You Have Gophers in Your Concord Yard (And How to Get Rid of Them)
A Note From Zach
“Pests are persistent, but so are we. Whether you’re a homeowner tired of watching gophers destroy your lawn, or a property manager who needs help at scale, we’re here to deliver real results – sustainably.
Every job we take on, my team and I want you to feel like you got the right answer, not just the fastest one. Looking forward to helping you reclaim your space from pesky critters and creepy crawlies.”
— Zach Smith, Founder, Smith’s Pest Management
Follow Zach and the Smith’s team on
Contact
For editorial questions, media requests, or interview opportunities:
Phone:
Office
Smith's Pest Management, 1931 O'Toole Way, San Jose, CA 95131