Should I deal with cockroaches myself or call pest control?

Many cockroach problems clear at home if you do things in the right order. Some need a professional: large numbers, a whole building, or no progress after a month. Your trap counts tell you which.

Cockroaches 3 min read Updated 9 October 2026

Doing it yourself works in a lot of homes, as long as you go in the right order and stick with it. Others need a professional: big numbers, a whole building, or a month of proper effort with nothing to show. You do not have to guess which group you are in. A few weeks of trap counts will tell you.

And if money is the worry, there is a real route that costs far less than a contract. It takes more of your time instead.

What doing it yourself involves

For the small indoor German cockroach, the home plan is not a spray. It is a routine:

Name the species. The plan for a German cockroach is different from the plan for a big one coming up a drain. Our four cockroaches side by side helps.
Take away water and food. Dripping taps, a wet sink overnight, grease behind the cooker, pet bowls left out.
Close the gaps around pipes and behind kickboards. See sealing gaps.
Put down gel bait in small dots where they hide: hinges, corners, behind appliances. Top up as the label says.
Add an insect growth regulator so young ones cannot grow into breeding adults.
Count with monitor traps on the same day each week, and do not spray over the bait.

That is it. The hard part is patience. It takes weeks, not days, and young ones can keep appearing for a while as eggs hatch.

When a professional is worth it

You see them in daylight, often, or in several rooms.
Neighbours have them, or the whole building does.
You have baited properly for a month and the counts are not falling.
Health, time or mobility make the work hard for you.
There is a baby, a pregnancy or asthma in the home, and you would rather a trained person chose and placed the products.

Sealing every gap and still seeing young ones is a common turning point. It means they are breeding inside already. Sealing stops more from coming in, but it does nothing about the ones already there.

What to ask before you pay

Which species do you think it is? A good company names it.
Bait and growth regulator, or spray? For German cockroaches indoors, bait-led treatment is the usual approach.
How many visits are included, how far apart, and is there a follow-up?
What does each visit on a monthly contract actually do? A spray around the outside of the building will not reach cockroaches living in your kitchen.
What should I do, and stop doing, between visits?
Will you treat the flats next door, and will I get a written report?

Kids and pets: whether you or a professional does it, bait goes where children and pets cannot get to it. Ask the company what they will use and read the label yourself. The label wins over any advice, ours included.

Let the traps decide

Write the weekly counts down. Falling counts mean keep going, even if you still see the odd one. Counts that stay flat or rise after four weeks of proper baiting mean it is time for a professional, or a hard look at what is going wrong. Our page on why treatment fails goes through the usual causes.

If you cannot afford a professional

If you rent, the landlord may be responsible. Tell them in writing, with dated photos and trap counts. Our pages on a landlord who will not act and renting with pests cover who to contact where you live.

With a heavy infestation, DIY is slower but not hopeless. Hoover up the ones you can see and bin the bag outside. Then bait at more spots than you think you need, add a growth regulator, and keep counting. Skip foggers. They do not reach the ones in the walls, and the residue can put cockroaches off the bait. See why foggers disappoint.