How to Price a Pest Control Service Plan
Price a pest plan from the time on site and on the road, plus your product. The first visit is the big one, and the plan has to pay for free return trips too.
Price the plan from the time each visit takes
Price each visit from your time, then add the product you spray. Add the first visit and a bit for free return trips. That is your plan for the year.
A service plan is a set of visits the customer signs up for. Most are every 3 months, called quarterly. Some are every 2 months or every month.
Do not start from what the shop down the road charges. Start from your hours. A plan that looks cheap can lose money on every stop.
Many techs spend:
- 1 to 2 hours on a first visit, inside and out.
- 20 to 45 minutes on a quarterly visit, mostly outside.
Time a few of your own stops. Your real times beat any chart.
A worked example for a 3-bedroom house
Here is one way the numbers can add up. Every figure is an example. Use your own rate, your own times and your own product costs.
Say your rate is $110 for each hour of truck time. It has to cover pay, the truck, gas, insurance and your office.
- First visit: 1.5 hours on site, plus 30 minutes of drive, is 2 hours. That is $220.
- First visit product: about $30 of spray and bait.
- Each quarterly visit: 30 minutes on site, plus 15 minutes of drive, is 45 minutes. That is about $83.
- Quarterly product: about $15 a visit.
So this house is about $250 for the first visit and $100 for each visit after. A year with the first visit and 3 more comes to about $550.
Drive time is where a plan wins or loses. Stops close together on one route cost less to reach. A house far off your route should cost more.
The first visit does the hard work, so price it on its own
The first visit often takes 2 to 3 times as long as a regular one. Price it from those hours, not as a normal stop.
On a first visit you are knocking down bugs that have been there a while. It often adds:
- A walk of the whole house, inside and out, to find where bugs live and get in.
- Spray along the base of the house and around doors and windows.
- Spray or bait inside, in the kitchen, baths and garage.
- Knocking down webs and wasp nests under the eaves.
- Bait in the yard for ants, where you need it.
Some shops cut the first visit price to win the plan. That can work, but only if the customer stays long enough to pay it back. Put a term on the plan, like 12 months, if you do.
Plan for free return trips between visits
Most plans promise to come back for free if bugs show up between visits. That trip is not free to you, so build it into the price.
Look at your own records. Say 1 in 4 customers calls you back once a year. Each trip is 45 minutes and $15 of product, so about $100.
Spread over 4 customers and 4 visits each, that is about $6 a visit. Round it up to cover a bad bug year.
Say in writing which bugs the free trips cover. A plan for ants, roaches and spiders should not promise free trips for something else.
The things that change the price
Ask about these when you quote. Each one adds time or product, so each one is fair to price.
- Size: a big house or a big yard takes longer to treat.
- A bad problem: many bugs means more product and maybe an extra visit early on.
- Inside work: some plans treat inside every visit, some only when asked.
- Crawl spaces and attics: slow, tight work that takes extra time.
- Pets and kids: you may need to pick products with more care.
- Sheds and garages: each building you treat adds time.
- Distance: a stop far from your route costs more drive time.
Most states require a license to put down bug spray for pay. Many want a license for the business and a certified person on staff. Rules change by state, so check with your state's farm or agriculture office.
Show it on the quote as a few clear lines
Give the customer 2 or 3 real choices, each with its own total. For example:
- One-time visit: a single treatment, inside and out.
- Quarterly plan: the first visit, then 3 more in the year, with free return trips.
- Every 2 months: the first visit, then 5 more in the year, with free return trips.
For each plan, show the first visit price, the price of each visit after it and the total for the year. Say how long the plan runs and how the customer can stop it.
Then say what is not included. For example: termites, bed bugs, mice and rats, mosquitoes, and wild animals like raccoons. Each one can be its own job on its own quote.
Keep your first visit, your regular visit and your extras in your price book. Then the next house takes a few minutes to quote, and it comes out the same every time.
Fair questions
- Should I charge for each visit or by the month?
- Both can work. Charging after each visit is simple and easy to explain. A monthly charge spreads the year out evenly for the customer. Either way, build it from the same yearly total.
- Should termites be part of the plan?
- Most shops keep termites out of a general plan. Termite work takes different tools, products and often a different license. Quote it as its own job, with its own terms.
- Can I make a customer sign up for a full year?
- Many shops ask for a 12-month term, mostly when the first visit is priced low. Rules on contracts and renewals vary by state. Put the term and how to cancel in writing, and check your state rules.