San Jose, CA – The Aust Group is pleased to announce our client, Smith’s Pest Management (“Smith’s”) has partnered with CERTUS. This marks the largest partnership CERTUS has completed to date.
Smith’s Pest Management, based in San Jose, CA, is a full-service pest management business specializing in burrowing and household pests. Zachary Smith founded the company in 2009 with an emphasis on being responsive, courteous, professional, and results-focused. Over its 15-year history, Smith’s has become one of the leading pest control providers throughout the Bay Area. Zach’s expertise has been featured in Forbes, Yahoo!, Realtor.com, Newsweek, Family Handyman, and more. Smith’s is an active member of National Pest Management Association (NPMA), Pest Control Operators of California (PCOC), and National Wildlife Control Operators Association (NWCOA).
Zach Smith, owner of Smith’s Pest Management, Inc., said, “I worked with The Aust Group during the recent sale of my business, and I can confidently recommend them for business brokerage and transaction advisory work. I believe their ability to showcase a pest control company to the suite of prospective buyers is outstanding. Throughout the process, Stuart, Dan, Nick, Chris, and Jake were consistently professional, responsive, and effective. They handled a significant amount of the heavy lifting involved in preparing the business for market, managing buyer interest, and navigating the transaction process from start to finish. The team obviously worked very hard and pulled some seriously long hours to get us over the finish line. I was quite impressed with the energy and upbeat attitude throughout! The Aust’s represented us well, communicated clearly, and helped us achieve a fantastic outcome! We felt supported through what is, by nature, a complex and emotionally demanding process, and The Aust Group’s industry experience showed at every stage. I would not hesitate to work with The Aust Group again or to recommend them to other business owners considering a sale. I can’t imagine a seller could have had a better experience than we had throughout this transaction.”
Stuart Aust, Principal of The Aust Group said, “On behalf of The Aust Group team, we are thrilled to share the news on Smith’s Pest Management’s partnership with CERTUS. Having known and worked with Zach for several years, it was a pleasure for us to represent him and his business. Zach has truly built an incredible company, and we are very excited for him as he begins this new chapter with CERTUS. We look forward to seeing the future growth that will come as a result of this partnership.”
The Aust Group represented Smith’s Pest Management, Inc. as the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction. The transaction closed on November 3rd, 2025, and the terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
