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You stop finding them behind the stove at midnight. You stop wondering if the one you just saw means there are fifty more inside the wall. That mental weight lifts and it lifts faster than most people expect when the treatment is done right the first time.
In Gravesend’s older brick apartment buildings especially in the blocks around Stillwell Avenue and the Avenue U corridor cockroaches don’t stay in one apartment. They move through shared plumbing chases, wall voids, and utility lines. A single-unit treatment that doesn’t account for that reality is just a temporary fix. What you actually need is someone who understands how these buildings work and treats accordingly.
If you’re in the southern end of the neighborhood near the Belt Parkway, you’ve probably dealt with waterbugs coming up through drains after a heavy rain. That’s a different problem than a German cockroach colony nesting behind your kitchen cabinets, and it needs a different solution. Getting the identification right matters because the wrong treatment wastes your time and your money.
We’ve been operating out of Brooklyn since before most of Gravesend’s current residents moved in. Founded by Richard Kourbage Sr. and built over four decades with his son Richard Jr. joining in 1987, Kingsway Exterminating is a family business not a franchise or a rebranded national company. We bring over 100 years of combined staff experience to every job, and we maintain a consistent A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of New York State.
We’re based in Marine Park, just a few miles from Gravesend via the Belt Parkway. That proximity matters. Our technicians know the difference between treating a private home near Ocean Parkway and handling a cockroach infestation in a mid-century apartment building near the Marlboro Houses. Gravesend’s housing stock is specific, and so is our approach.
Every technician we send is fully licensed under the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Every material we use is NYS DEC registered which means it’s been tested, regulated, and approved for use in homes where kids, elderly family members, and pets are present. We’re fully licensed, bonded, and insured. No gaps.
It starts with identification. Before anything is applied, one of our technicians figures out what species you’re dealing with and where they’re coming from. In Gravesend, that usually means distinguishing between a German cockroach infestation the small, fast ones colonizing your kitchen and an American cockroach migration coming up from the sewer system through your basement or bathroom drain. The treatment for each is different, and skipping this step is how infestations come back.
Once the source and species are confirmed, we target the harborage points directly. In multi-unit buildings, that means addressing wall voids, plumbing entry points, and utility chases not just spraying visible surfaces. For residents near the Belt Parkway drainage corridor or Coney Island Creek, where waterbug pressure is highest after heavy rain, we include drain treatment and barrier application to interrupt that migration path before it reaches your living space.
After treatment, you’ll get a clear picture of what we did and what to expect. Some infestations clear in one visit. Others particularly in buildings with shared walls where reinfestation from adjacent units is possible require follow-up. That’s not a sales pitch for more visits. It’s just an honest answer about how multi-unit cockroach control works in a neighborhood as dense as Gravesend.
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We offer cockroach pest control in Gravesend for both residential and commercial properties. For homeowners and renters, that means full inspection, species identification, targeted treatment of harborage and entry points, and follow-up guidance on what to watch for. For landlords and property managers dealing with an NYC Housing Maintenance Code Class C violation the most serious category, which requires landlord action within 24 hours of written notice we can work directly with building management to document and resolve the infestation in a way that satisfies HPD requirements.
For the restaurants, delis, and food businesses along Avenue U and 86th Street, we provide commercial cockroach control that includes the kind of documentation that matters when the NYC Department of Health shows up for an inspection. A cockroach sighting during a DOH visit means immediate point deductions and a potential failing grade. Our commercial service is built around preventing that outcome and resolving it fast if it’s already happened.
Seniors in Gravesend receive a 10% discount on all our services. That applies whether you’re in a private home near Kings Highway, an apartment off McDonald Avenue, or a unit in one of the neighborhood’s older residential buildings. All materials we use are NYS DEC registered, meaning they meet state safety standards for use in occupied homes including homes with children, elderly residents, and pets. If you have specific concerns about what’s being applied and where, ask. You’ll get a straight answer.
What most Gravesend residents call a “waterbug” is actually the American cockroach a large, reddish-brown species that lives primarily in sewer systems and migrates upward through drain pipes when heavy rain drives them out. In the southern parts of Gravesend near the Belt Parkway and Coney Island Creek, the stormwater drainage infrastructure creates a direct migration pathway from the sewer system into residential buildings. You’re not imagining a pattern there is one, and it’s tied to rainfall.
The fix isn’t just spraying the bathroom floor. It involves treating the drain entry points, applying barrier products that interrupt the migration path, and in some cases addressing basement access points where these insects are entering the building’s lower levels. If you’re in an apartment, your landlord may be responsible for this under the NYC Housing Maintenance Code, but if they’re not responding, we can address your unit directly while you navigate that process.
Yes and in Gravesend’s older brick apartment buildings, it happens more easily than most people realize. Cockroaches move through shared wall voids, plumbing chases, and the gaps around pipes and conduit that run between units. A well-maintained apartment on one floor can develop an infestation because of activity two units away, and the residents in that unit may have no idea they’re the source.
This is why single-unit treatment often doesn’t hold in multi-unit buildings. If the colony has spread through the building’s infrastructure, treating one apartment addresses the symptoms but not the source. In buildings where multiple tenants are affected, coordinated treatment across units ideally managed through the landlord or property manager produces far better results. If you’re a renter dealing with this and your landlord isn’t acting, a cockroach infestation in a NYC residential building is classified as a Class C violation under the Housing Maintenance Code. That means your landlord is legally required to address it within 24 hours of written notice. Filing a 311 complaint triggers an HPD inspection, which creates formal pressure for action.
Under New York City’s Housing Maintenance Code, a cockroach infestation in a residential building is classified as a Class C violation the most serious category. Your landlord is legally required to address it within 24 hours of receiving written notice from you. That’s not a suggestion. It’s a code requirement enforced by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
If you’ve notified your landlord and haven’t gotten a response, you can file a 311 complaint online or by phone. That complaint triggers an HPD inspection. If the inspector confirms an infestation, a formal violation is issued to the landlord, which creates legal pressure and potential fines for non-compliance. In the meantime, if you’re dealing with an active infestation and can’t wait on the landlord’s timeline, we can treat your unit directly. That doesn’t waive your right to landlord remediation it just gets your home back to a livable condition faster while the formal process plays out.
It depends on the species, the severity of the infestation, and the building type. A moderate German cockroach infestation caught early in a private home or a single apartment unit can often be resolved in one to two treatments. A more established colony one that has been building for months inside wall voids and behind appliances typically requires two to three visits to fully eliminate, because egg cases left behind after the first treatment will hatch and need to be addressed before the population rebounds.
In Gravesend’s older multi-unit buildings, particularly those built in the mid-20th century like the structures near the Marlboro Houses area, the building’s shared infrastructure can create ongoing reinfestation pressure even after a thorough treatment. If cockroaches are moving through the building from other units, follow-up visits aren’t a sign that the treatment failed they’re a sign that the problem is bigger than one apartment. A technician who’s honest with you about this upfront is worth more than one who promises a one-visit fix and disappears.
We use only NYS Department of Environmental Conservation registered materials substances that have been tested and approved by the state for use in residential settings. That regulatory standard exists specifically to protect people in occupied homes, including children, elderly residents, and animals. It’s not a marketing claim. It’s a compliance requirement that every licensed pest control operator in New York must meet.
That said, there are practical precautions that apply regardless of what products are used. Depending on the treatment type, you may be asked to vacate the treated area for a period of time typically a few hours and to keep pets away from treated surfaces until they’re dry. Our technician will walk you through exactly what’s needed before the job starts. If you have specific concerns about a particular product or application method for example, if someone in your household has respiratory sensitivities, which is a real consideration given that cockroach allergens are a documented asthma trigger in dense urban housing bring it up before the treatment begins. You’ll get a direct answer, not a brushoff.
We offer a 10% senior discount on pest control services. Gravesend has a significant population of elderly residents many of them long-term Brooklynites who have lived in the same apartment or home for decades and for anyone on a fixed income, that reduction is meaningful in a real way, not just a token gesture.
The discount applies to residential cockroach pest control services and doesn’t require you to jump through hoops to use it. If you’re a senior resident in Gravesend whether you’re in a private home near Kings Highway, an apartment off Avenue U, or a unit in one of the neighborhood’s older residential buildings just mention it when you call. The 10% comes off your service cost. There’s no contract, no complicated qualification process, and no fine print that makes it harder to use than it sounds.
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