Hear from Our Customers
If you’ve been seeing large roaches the ones Greenpoint residents call waterbugs appear out of nowhere after a heavy rain, that’s not a coincidence. Greenpoint’s aging combined sewer infrastructure and its proximity to Newtown Creek create the exact conditions that push American cockroaches up through floor drains and utility lines and into your building. A store-bought spray doesn’t fix that. Understanding where they’re coming from does.
German cockroaches the small, fast ones taking over your kitchen are a completely different problem. They live inside your walls, travel through shared plumbing chases between apartments, and reproduce fast enough to turn one unit’s problem into a building-wide infestation before anyone realizes what’s happening. In Greenpoint’s pre-war walk-up buildings along Manhattan Avenue and the surrounding side streets, that interconnected infrastructure means your neighbor’s roaches can become your roaches faster than you’d think.
When cockroach pest control is done right, you stop reacting and start preventing. You’re not reaching for a can every few weeks. You’re not finding roaches behind the stove or under the sink. You’re not wondering whether the problem has spread to the unit next door. The goal is a treated, protected space and a clear understanding of why it worked.
Kingsway Exterminating Company is a family-owned, Brooklyn-based pest control company that has been operating continuously for over 40 years. Founded by Richard Kourbage Sr. and joined by Richard Kourbage Jr. in 1987, we’re not a franchise with a local phone number we’re a Brooklyn business built by a Brooklyn family, serving Greenpoint and surrounding neighborhoods the right way.
Our team collectively brings over 100 years of combined pest control experience to every job. Every technician is certified through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and every material we apply is DEC-registered tested, regulated, and legally approved. In a neighborhood like Greenpoint, where residents already live next to one of the country’s most contaminated waterways, that regulatory accountability matters.
We hold a consistent A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of New York State and are fully licensed, bonded, and insured. We work with individual tenants, property managers, and commercial operators including restaurants along Greenpoint Avenue that can’t afford a NYC Department of Health cockroach violation on their record. If you’re in Greenpoint, ZIP code 11222, we know your neighborhood and we know your building.
It starts with identification. Not all cockroaches are treated the same way, and a technician who skips this step is guessing. Our certified technicians determine whether you’re dealing with German cockroaches the small ones living inside your walls and cabinets or American cockroaches migrating in from the sewer system through floor drains and utility penetrations. The treatment plan depends entirely on which species you have, where they’re coming from, and how far they’ve spread.
For German cockroach infestations in Greenpoint’s apartment buildings, our approach typically involves targeted gel bait placement and insect growth regulators materials that interrupt the reproductive cycle and eliminate the colony over time, without the fumes or residue of a blanket spray. This is especially important in multi-unit buildings where shared walls and utility chases connect your unit to your neighbors. Treating one apartment without addressing the building’s shared infrastructure is a temporary fix at best.
For waterbug pressure which spikes in Greenpoint during heavy rain events when sewer surcharges push cockroaches up through drains we focus on entry-point identification and targeted treatment around floor drains, utility penetrations, and basement access points. If you’re in a building near the waterfront or close to Newtown Creek, that seasonal pressure is something we account for specifically. After treatment, we’ll walk you through what to expect, what to watch for, and whether a follow-up or maintenance schedule makes sense for your situation.
Ready to get started?
We handle cockroach pest control for both residential and commercial properties in Greenpoint. On the residential side, that means individual apartments, multi-unit walk-up buildings, and mixed-use properties where a ground-floor restaurant or deli shares structure with apartments above. On the commercial side, it means restaurants, cafés, food retail, and any business operating under NYC Department of Health inspection standards where a cockroach finding is a critical violation that directly impacts your letter grade.
Every service starts with a proper inspection. From there, treatment is built around what’s actually happening in your specific space not a default protocol applied to every job. For Greenpoint’s pre-war apartment buildings, that means paying close attention to shared plumbing walls, utility chases, and basement access. For the newer waterfront buildings near Greenpoint Landing, it means accounting for construction-driven pest displacement from nearby excavation and demolition activity, which has been pushing established cockroach populations into adjacent residential blocks throughout the development process.
We also offer ongoing maintenance schedules for clients who want consistent protection rather than repeated emergency calls. For commercial operators on Greenpoint Avenue or Manhattan Avenue who need documented, recurring service to stay ahead of DOH inspections, that’s exactly the kind of arrangement we’re set up to handle. We also offer a 10% senior discount a straightforward acknowledgment of the multigenerational residents who have made Greenpoint what it is.
This is one of the most common questions Greenpoint residents ask, and the answer is directly tied to where you live. Greenpoint’s sewer infrastructure is a combined system meaning stormwater and sewage share the same pipes. During heavy rainfall, that system gets overwhelmed, and the pressure pushes American cockroaches (what most New Yorkers call waterbugs) up through floor drains, utility penetrations, and basement openings into the buildings above.
The fact that Greenpoint borders Newtown Creek a federally designated Superfund site with decades of industrial contamination and active sewer outflows makes this pressure more acute here than in many other parts of Brooklyn. These aren’t roaches that have been living in your apartment. They’re being pushed in from below. The fix involves treating the entry points directly: floor drains, utility line penetrations, basement access areas, and any gap in the building’s foundation perimeter where they can get through. Spraying the kitchen counter doesn’t address any of that.
Yes and in Greenpoint’s pre-war walk-up buildings, it happens more easily than most people realize. German cockroaches travel through shared plumbing walls, electrical conduits, and utility chases that run continuously between units and floors. A colony that starts in one apartment can redistribute through an entire building before anyone on the upper floors notices a single roach.
This is why treating one unit in isolation often doesn’t hold. If the source population is living in the shared infrastructure between your apartment and your neighbor’s, the roaches will simply repopulate your unit from the wall cavity after treatment. We work with property managers and landlords as well as individual tenants specifically because a building-level problem requires a building-level approach. If you’re a renter dealing with a landlord who’s slow to act, knowing that a professional can document the infestation and the treatment is also useful if you need to escalate through NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development complaint process.
The core biology is the same, but the stakes and the logistics are completely different. In a restaurant especially one on Greenpoint Avenue or Manhattan Avenue operating under NYC Department of Health inspection a cockroach finding is a critical violation. Depending on severity, that can mean multiple points against your score, a grade downgrade, and the kind of public visibility that costs real business. The goal in a commercial kitchen isn’t just elimination; it’s documented, ongoing compliance.
Treatment in a commercial setting also has to work around your operating hours and your food safety requirements. We understand both. We work with restaurant operators to schedule treatments during off-hours, use materials appropriate for food-handling environments, and can set up recurring maintenance schedules that give you a documented service record something that matters when an inspector shows up unannounced. We’re also credentialed to issue Demolition Clearance Certificates to the NYC Department of Health, which speaks to the level of regulatory familiarity we bring to commercial pest control work in this city.
It’s a legitimate concern, and the short answer is yes it can. When demolition and excavation disturb established harborage sites, cockroach populations that were living in basement and sub-grade spaces get displaced. They don’t disappear; they migrate. And the buildings closest to the construction activity are the first ones they move into.
The Greenpoint Landing development on the East River waterfront is one of the largest residential construction projects in recent Brooklyn history, with thousands of units projected at full build-out. That level of ongoing excavation and demolition creates a sustained displacement effect on the surrounding residential blocks. If you’ve noticed an uptick in cockroach activity in your building over the past year or two and you’re anywhere near the waterfront, the construction timeline is worth factoring into the conversation. Our technicians can assess whether what you’re seeing looks like a construction-driven migration pattern and treat accordingly including focusing on the entry points most likely to be exploited by a displaced population looking for a new harborage site.
This is one of the most important questions to ask before any pest control treatment, and you should expect a straight answer. Every material we apply is registered with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation meaning it has been reviewed, tested, and approved for use in residential settings. That’s not a marketing claim; it’s a regulatory requirement that every licensed commercial pesticide applicator in New York State must meet.
In a Greenpoint apartment especially in a building where you share walls with neighbors, have kids in close quarters, or have pets the application method matters as much as the product itself. Gel bait formulations, for example, are placed in targeted locations that cockroaches access but children and pets typically don’t, and they don’t produce the airborne residue that spray treatments do. Your technician will walk you through exactly what’s being used, where it’s being applied, and whether you need to be out of the space during or after treatment. In most cases, the answer is no but you’ll get a clear, specific answer based on your actual situation, not a generic script.
Pricing for cockroach pest control in Greenpoint depends on a few real variables: the size of your space, the severity of the infestation, whether you’re dealing with one species or two, and whether you’re in a single apartment or a multi-unit building that needs a more coordinated approach. A single-unit residential treatment for a moderate German cockroach infestation will generally run less than a building-wide treatment or a commercial kitchen setup that requires documented recurring service.
What’s worth keeping in mind is the cost of not treating it professionally. Over-the-counter sprays and bait stations can suppress a cockroach population temporarily, but German cockroaches in particular have developed significant resistance to many common synthetic pyrethroid products which is why the problem keeps coming back after you spray. Every month you spend on products that don’t work is money spent without results. A professional treatment that actually eliminates the colony costs more upfront and less over time. We also offer a 10% senior discount for Greenpoint’s long-term residents a straightforward acknowledgment of the community members who have been part of this neighborhood for decades.
Local Resources
Useful Links
Other Services we provide in Greenpoint
