MR THOMAS Fernandez absolutely detests cockroaches and rats.

If the Pestbusters chief executive spots a cockroach at home, he does not rest until he sees its dead body.

He has made a healthy living and more from exterminating these pests, turning his home-grown $250,000 business into a regional brand name with annual turnover set to hit $4.5 million this year.

The 50-year-old father of three says: 'Cockroaches and rats - I just hate them. If I see a cockroach in my room at night, I won't sleep until I physically see that the cockroach is dead. That's how hysterical I am when I see one.'

What started out as an attempt to earn some pocket money after national service at his brother's pest control firm in the early 1980s has become a full-time passion.

Mr Fernandez's career breakthrough came in the 1980s when he went to the United States to learn the intricacies of pest management, as there was no proper course available in Singapore.

Mr Ken Doty, a renowned US pest control expert, became his mentor. Mr Fernandez says: 'He taught me everything he knew. I didn't know pest control was so scientific. Through him, I met other gurus of pest control.'

The first thing that strikes you about Mr Fernandez is his passion for his profession. He can talk at length about stopping roaches and rats, and has even read a 1,500-page book, which he terms 'the bible of pest control'.

Striking out

IN 1991, Mr Fernandez decided to start his own business and Pestbusters was born. He refinanced his car and re-mortgaged his home to raise the $250,000 start-up capital.

That was not an easy plunge to make as he was in his mid-30s and had three children. As he puts it: 'I broke into a cold sweat doing it.'

By that time, his brother had sold his own pest control firm and had moved into the travel industry, so there were no hard feelings when Mr Fernandez started his own company.

Pestbusters began with 12 staff and three vans. Now, it has 200 employees, 38 vans and operations in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

He broke even in less than two years, and soon found a niche clientele in hotels and hospitals in Singapore.

Applying a precision approach instead of using fumigation enabled Mr Fernandez to solve the cockroach problem in hotel kitchens. That involved inspecting the affected area and killing the critters where they were living, instead of fogging the entire place.

Says Mr Fernandez: 'Cockroaches have feelers that detect danger. And they go into deeper harbourage and find safer havens.'

He also gained the trust and loyalty of his clients by offering a money-back guarantee approach.

'I told them - if I can't solve your problem, don't pay me.'

Mandarin Hotel became Pestbusters' first major client - way back in 1991.

In the following few years, the company also secured business from the former Glass Hotel, Marina Square and the Singapore General Hospital.

Quality control

AN EMPHASIS on staff education and innovation is a key ingredient in Pestbusters' success.

He says: 'I train them to be like Thomas Fernandez. I can't be everywhere.'

His A-Z Building office in Paya Lebar has a classroom area and a small laboratory.

Here, his research team came up with, for example, a mosquito trap that uses carbon dioxide and heat to attract female mosquitos.

Then there is his approach to professionalism and discipline in the workplace. Staff are not allowed to have long hair, a beard or tattoos.

This has helped him secure a 95 per cent share of the pest control business in the hospitality industry, in which a clean environment is crucial.

In 2001, Mr Fernandez was named among the top 10 entrepreneurs in Singapore.

Being in a 'sunrise industry' also aids his company's cause. He says: 'The World Health Organisation says there'll be two pests still alive after the atomic bomb - cockroaches and rats. So I'll be in business till kingdom come.'

However, the industry is also a 'vicious' one. With more than 200 pest control firms in the Republic, competition is keen.

Pestbusters' worst slump came during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2003, when revenue halved as the hotel industry took a hit and hospital access became restricted.

The quick-thinking Mr Fernandez diversified by busting germs, providing an air-sterilising service that soon became a hit with kindergartens, restaurants and even KTV lounges.

Good riddance

SOME of Pestbusters' more interesting jobs have included removing a monkey from a mall, catching cobras in country club toilets and apprehending snakes in public places.

'We retrieved a monkey from Marina Square. We caught the biggest python, about 4.5m-long, near Telok Ayer market.'

The most memorable incident for Mr Fernandez was ridding a coconut-processing plant in Indonesia of cockroaches in the late 1990s.

He recalls: 'When I first walked on the jetty, I was stepping on cockroaches. The whole factory floor was filled with cockroaches. At the end, we filled 30 sacks of cockroaches, and flushed away many more.'

Mr Fernandez's long-term vision is to build a school to teach pest control in Singapore and to expand to more countries overseas.

His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

'Running a business is not for sprinters, it's for those who want to do the marathon.'