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Pest control KPI benchmarks: type your numbers in, get told the truth
Every benchmark in this grader has a source you can check. Enter what you know, skip what you do not, and see which of your numbers are elite, good, normal, or a problem.
Example numbers loaded. Type yours over them.
Overall read
4 of 6 at good or better, nothing on fire. The normal-band numbers are where the next dollar is.
Annual cancel rate 15%
GoodInside the healthy retention range. Watch the trend, not the level.
Reservice rate 4.2%
GoodAround the good line. Keep the summer under 8 and this stays fine.
Gross margin 51%
GoodRight on the published benchmark range.
Recurring revenue share 82%
GoodAbove the 80 percent line where the book reads as a platform.
Revenue per route day $1,100
NormalInside the normal band. Density is the usual next dollar.
Completion rate 93%
NormalOne stop in ten is not happening. That is a quiet revenue leak.
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Where these benchmarks come from
Most KPI benchmark content is a number someone heard once, repeated until it hardened into fact. This grader only uses lines that trace to a named source or say plainly that they are an operator rule of thumb:
| Metric | Benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cancel rate | 13-18% residential, under 6% commercial | Kemp Anderson, PCT Magazine (retention 82-87% and 94%+, flipped) |
| Reservice rate | Under 3% elite, around 5% good, over 8% a problem | Operator data, detailed in our reservice guide |
| Gross margin | 50-55% | Dan Gordon, CPA, PCT Magazine |
| Recurring revenue share | 85.4% of residential service revenue | Specialty Consultants, LLC, reported by NPMA |
| Revenue per route day | $800-1,200 good, $1,500+ top | Commonly traded operator benchmark |
| Completion rate | 95%+ good | Operational rule of thumb |
The number this grader refuses to grade
You will notice revenue per hour is not on the list, and that is on purpose. Revenue per hour moves with your market, your price book, and your service mix, so a dollar figure that is elite in one town is average in the next one over. Any tool that grades your RPH against a national number is grading your zip code.
The honest benchmark for revenue per hour is your own last ninety days, plus the spread between your best tech and your worst. The revenue per hour guide covers how to set that baseline and the spreadsheet mistakes that ruin it.
How to read your grades
Three rules keep the grades useful instead of decorative:
- Fix the worst one first. One problem-band metric usually explains two normal-band ones. A schedule that only 88 percent happens will drag revenue per route day down with it.
- Trend beats level. A 16 percent cancel rate falling is a better book than a 14 percent rate climbing. Grade yourself quarterly and watch the direction.
- Respect the season. Reservice pressure runs hotter in summer everywhere. Judge a July number against July, not against February.
The best way to benchmark against the industry
Split your numbers in two piles. Quality and money ratios travel well between companies: cancel rate, reservice rate, gross margin, and recurring share mean roughly the same thing in Ohio and Arizona, so published benchmarks like the ones above are fair anchors for them.
Production dollars do not travel. Revenue per hour and revenue per route day depend on your price book and your density, so for those the industry is a sanity check and your own trailing ninety days is the real benchmark. Beating your own last quarter is the only benchmark nobody can argue with.
PestMetrics computes every gradeable number on this page from your FieldRoutes and time tracking data, daily, per branch, and keeps your own baselines so the trend is always in view.
Common questions
What's the best way to benchmark my pest control company's KPIs against the industry?
Use published anchors for the ratios that travel between companies: cancel rate against Kemp Anderson's retention figures, gross margin against Dan Gordon's 50-55 percent, recurring share against the industry's 85.4 percent. For market-dependent dollars like revenue per hour, benchmark against your own trailing ninety days instead, because national dollar figures grade your market, not your operation.
What is a good cancellation rate for pest control?
Annually, 13-18 percent residential and under 6 percent commercial, which is Kemp Anderson's published retention benchmarks in PCT Magazine flipped upside down. Always annualize a monthly rate before comparing, because monthly framing makes the same leak sound ten times smaller.
What is a good gross margin for a pest control company?
Dan Gordon, CPA, writing in PCT Magazine, puts the widely cited benchmark at 50 to 55 percent gross. Net margin varies too much with overhead, debt, and owner pay to carry one universal number.
What percentage of pest control revenue should be recurring?
The US residential industry runs at 85.4 percent recurring, per Specialty Consultants, LLC, in research reported by NPMA. Above 80 percent, buyers price the book as a platform. Under 60, they price it as a job shop.
Why does this grader skip revenue per hour?
Because RPH moves with your market and price book, so grading it against a national figure grades your zip code. Benchmark RPH against your own trailing ninety days and the spread between your best and worst tech.
Graded daily, without the typing
PestMetrics computes every number on this page from your FieldRoutes and time tracking data, per branch, and watches the trend so a slipping metric gets caught in week one, not quarter three.
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