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What a new pest account is worth, and what cancels cost

A new quarterly account at $130 a visit, with a $150 initial fee, brings in about $1,828 in revenue and $1,005 in gross profit over five years. The average account stays about 4.3 years, using our assumption that 65% are still paying in year two and Rentokil's 80.5% North American retention after that.1 On a 3:1 rule you can pay up to $335 per sale. If yearly cancels rise 1 point on a 1,000-account book, that costs $5,720 in revenue over the next 12 months.

By Neil, founder of Isoline Growth. Wharton MBA, published marketing research.Updated
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80.5%of Rentokil's North American customers were retained in 2025, up from 80.1%.Rentokil Initial, Mar 20261
85.4%of US residential pest control service revenue is recurring.NPMA, Apr 20262
70–75%of annual revenue: what one door-to-door sale can cost in acquisition.PCT, May 20213
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What one account is worth, and what cancels cost you

Put in your plan price and how long accounts stay. The math runs in your browser. Your numbers stay with you unless you email yourself the link.

1. The plan

$520 a year in plan revenue (4 visits).

Quarterly service at $130 a visit is $520 a year. Guides put a quarterly visit at $100 to $300 (Bob Vila). The initial fee is often $150 to $300.

2. How long accounts stay

Year 2 at 65% is our assumption: more accounts leave in the first year, and more still from door-to-door sales. 80.5% is the customer retention Rentokil reported for North America in 2025.

3. Add-ons and margin

Add-ons (mosquito, rodent, termite) as a share of plan revenue. Ancillary work was about 10% of revenue at Rollins in 2025, a large company; yours may be lower. 55% margin sits between Rollins (52.8%) and the 58% average in the 2025 NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers cost study.

4. Your book

Active recurring accounts today, and the share that cancel in a year. 19.5% is 100% minus Rentokil's 80.5%. A whole book that includes first-year accounts usually cancels more.

5. More settings: years, payback rule, channel costs

Most to pay per sale

3:1 means an account should return three dollars of gross profit for each dollar it cost, over the years you count. Year-one payback means first-year gross profit covers the cost.

Cost per account, by channel

$53 is the blended LSA lead cost across trades in ad-account data from 888 contractors (February 2026); no pest figure is published. 42% is ServiceTitan's all-trades booking rate (June 2022); it doesn't report pest control on its own. Half of booked general pest calls starting a plan is our assumption. Calls from your Google profile cost nothing per call, so this is the high end for map calls.

$149 is the January 2026 non-branded Google Ads average across 816 HVAC and plumbing contractors' ad accounts (no pest figure is published), run through the same booked and plan rates. Mailers: enter what a mailer-sold account cost you, or leave 0.

PCT put door-to-door acquisition cost at 70 to 75% of annual revenue (May 2021); we apply it to first-year revenue. D2D year 2 at 50% is our assumption: PCT notes first-year attrition runs higher for door-to-door sales.

One account, 5 years$1,828See results
One new account, 5 years
$1,828

in revenue and $1,005 gross profit. The average account stays about 4.3 years.

First 12 months
$722
$397 gross profit
Expected life, 4.3 years
$2,629
$1,446 gross profit

Why expected life is worth more: the 5-year figure stops at year 5, and expected life also counts the accounts that keep paying well past year 5.

Most to pay per sale
$335

on 3:1 gross profit over 5 years. Paid back from year-one gross profit: $397.

What cancels cost on 1,000 accounts
If yearly cancels rise 1 point: 10 more accounts lost
Revenue, their next 12 months
$5,720
$3,146 gross profit
Revenue, the life they had left
$29,333
$16,133 gross profit
If cancels rise 1 point a month (12 a year): 120 more accounts lost a year
Revenue, their next 12 months
$68,640
$37,752 gross profit
Revenue, the life they had left
$352,000
$193,600 gross profit

Each lost account takes $572 a year of plan and add-on revenue. At 19.5% yearly cancels, an account that stays past year one lasts about 5.1 more years.

Keep these numbers

Calls from your Google profile are the cheapest plan sign-ups. A free map scan shows where homeowners near your routes find you. Get my free map scan

Gross profit per marketing dollar, 5 years

Survival-adjusted: each channel's accounts follow its own year-2 share. Longer is better.

Share of new accounts still paying
Share of new accounts still paying, by yearExample: year 1 100%, year 2 65%, year 3 52%, year 4 42%, year 5 34%. Yours: year 1 100%, year 2 65%, year 3 52%, year 4 42%, year 5 34%.0%25%50%75%100%Yr 1Yr 2Yr 3Yr 4Yr 5Yours, year 1: 100% still payingYours, year 2: 65% still payingYours, year 3: 52% still payingYours, year 4: 42% still payingYours, year 5: 34% still payingExample, year 1: 100% still payingExample, year 2: 65% still payingExample, year 3: 52% still payingExample, year 4: 42% still payingExample, year 5: 34% still payingYours 34%
Share still paying at the start of each year
YearExampleYours
Year 1100%100%
Year 265%65%
Year 352%52%
Year 442%42%
Year 534%34%
Cost and gross profit per account, by channel
ChannelCost per accountHow it's figuredStill paying in year 2Gross profit, 5 yrGross profit per $1
Maps and Local Services Ads$252$53 lead ÷ 42% booked ÷ 50% start a plan65%$1,005$3.98
Google Ads$710$149 lead ÷ 42% booked ÷ 50% start a plan65%$1,005$1.42
Door-to-door$50570% of $722 first-year revenue50%$865$1.71
MailersNot usedWhat you enter–––

Example math with your inputs, for planning only. Year 1 counts the initial fee and a full year of plan revenue; later years count plan and add-on revenue for the share still paying. Five-year and lifetime values are not discounted.

Where plan sign-ups come from

Your map reach shapes how many plan sign-ups come from free calls. The free 49-point map scan shows where homeowners near your routes find you.

The Booked-Job Audit ($1,500) scores 20 of your recorded calls for how many became plans. Route Fill, in the Growth Program ($2,000 a month), aims profile work, LSA service areas and mailers at the streets next to your existing routes.

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How do you work out what a pest account is worth?

Account value = initial fee + yearly plan revenue × (1 + add-ons) × years still paying

Years still paying = 1 + (share still paying in year 2 ÷ (1 − retention after year 1)). With 65% in year 2 and 80.5% after, that's 1 + 0.65 ÷ 0.195 = 4.3 years. Gross profit is revenue × your gross margin.

Year one counts the initial fee and a full year of the plan. Starting in year two, only the accounts still paying count: 65% in year two, then 80.5% of those each year after.1 At $130 a quarterly visit, $520 a year plus 10% in add-ons, the example account brings in $722 in its first 12 months and $1,828 over five years, or $1,005 in gross profit at 55%.

Two rules set the most to pay for a sale. On 3:1, five-year gross profit divided by three gives $335. Our pest control marketing page works from the plan alone and lands a little higher, so call it about $335 to $380, depending on how you count the first year. On year-one payback, first-year gross profit gives $397. The cost of a cancel point is the accounts lost times what each one pays a year, $572 in the example, over the next 12 months or over the life it had left.

What retention is normal for pest control?

Few companies publish it. Rentokil, one of the largest operators, reported 80.5% customer retention for North America in 2025.1 That's our default for retention after year one. First-year attrition runs higher, so we start year two at 65%, an assumption you should replace with your own number from your field software.

SourceFigureDateHow solid
Rentokil, North America80.5% customer retention (80.1% the year before; all customers, commercial and residential)1FY2025, Mar 2026Company results, large operator
RollinsAbout 75% of business recurring, 10% ancillary, 15% one-time4FY2025 10-K, Feb 2026SEC filing, large operator
NPMA industry analysis85.4% of residential service revenue recurring22025 data, Apr 2026Industry estimate
NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers cost study74% of total income recurring; 58% average gross margin5Released Dec 16, 2025Member cost study
PCTDoor-to-door first-year attrition runs a little higher; some traditional firms see average tenure of 5 to 7 years3May 2021Trade press, no sample size
Still paying in year 2: 65%Used as the example defaultOct 2026Our assumption

Recurring share is measured on different bases: 85.4% is of residential service revenue only, 74% is of total income across the cost study's members, and Rollins reports its whole business.

PCT's note that some traditional firms see average tenure of five to seven years sits above our 4.3-year example.3 If your accounts stay that long, raise retention in the calculator and watch what each one is worth.

Does the initial fee or the plan price matter more?

The plan, by a wide margin. In the example, the $150 initial fee is about 8% of five-year revenue. Adding $10 to each quarterly visit adds about $129 over five years per account, because it repeats every visit for every year the account stays. A $50 higher initial fee adds $50 once.

Published ranges give room on both. Bob Vila puts the initial visit for ongoing service at $150 to $300. Guides put a quarterly visit at $100 to $300 (Bob Vila).6 Monthly plans run about $40 to $80 a visit.6,7 Use the plan toggle in the calculator to compare quarterly, every-other-month and monthly service at your prices.

Is door-to-door cheaper than Local Services Ads per account?

Not in the example. A Local Services Ads lead at $53, booked 42% of the time, with half of booked calls starting a plan, works out to $252 per account.8,9 PCT put door-to-door acquisition at 70 to 75% of annual revenue; at 70% of the example's $722 first year, that's $505 per account.3 The same article notes door-to-door first-year attrition runs a little higher and that some buyers cancel after the first commitment, so we start door-to-door accounts at 50% still paying in year two, our assumption.

ChannelCost per accountHow it's figuredGross profit, 5 yearsPer $1
Maps and Local Services Ads$252$53 lead ÷ 42% booked ÷ 50% start a plan$1,005$3.98
Google Ads$710$149 lead ÷ 42% booked ÷ 50% start a plan$1,005$1.42
Door-to-door$50570% of $722 first-year revenue$865$1.71

Example defaults. Lead costs: contractor ad-account data, early 2026; neither figure is specific to pest control.8,10 Booking rate: ServiceTitan all-trades average, June 2022.9 Plan starts and door-to-door year two: our assumptions. Calls from your Google profile cost nothing per call, so map calls from your profile cost less than the LSA row.

Door-to-door still beats Google Ads at these defaults ($1.71 against $1.42 of gross profit per dollar). The point is to compare channels on accounts still paying a year later, with each channel's own cancel rate. Put your own costs and survival rates in the calculator's settings.

Do add-ons change what an account is worth?

Some. At Rollins, ancillary services were about 10% of the business in 2025, a large company with a wide service menu.4 In the example, 10% add-on revenue adds $52 a year per account and about $153 over five years. Housecall Pro lists mosquito treatments at $50 to $150 a visit and rodent bait stations at $25 to $75.7

Add-ons sold to plan customers need no new marketing, and a customer with more than one service has more reasons to stay. Set your own add-on share in the calculator; a shop that sells little beyond the plan should use 0 to 5%.

Worked example: a 1,000-account book

Take a shop with 1,000 quarterly accounts at $130 a visit and 10% add-ons. Each account pays $572 a year.

  • If yearly cancels rise 1 point, 10 more accounts are gone. That's $5,720 of revenue over their next 12 months, and $29,333 over the 5.1 years an established account would have stayed at 19.5% yearly cancels.
  • If cancels rise 1 point a month (12 a year), that's 10 accounts a month and 120 a year: $68,640 over their next 12 months.
  • To replace 10 lost accounts through Local Services Ads at $252 each costs about $2,524 in marketing.

And the replacements start over at year-one cancel rates. So look at why accounts leave (callbacks, missed services, billing problems) alongside what new sales cost.

Track it monthly

Three numbers tell you whether the book is growing: new plan sign-ups by source, cancels by month (split first-year and older accounts), and the share of last year's sign-ups still paying. Pull them from FieldRoutes, PestPac or whatever field software you run, and put them in the calculator each quarter. Our free booked-job scorecard has a pest tab for new accounts, cancels and net accounts by month.

Comparing lead sources before plan value? Start with the cost per booked job calculator.

Where do plan sign-ups come from?

Your map reach shapes how many plan sign-ups come from free calls. The free 49-point map scan shows where homeowners near your routes find you, in 2 business days.

The Booked-Job Audit ($1,500) scores 20 of your recorded calls for how many became plans. Route Fill, in the Growth Program ($2,000 a month), aims profile work, LSA service areas and mailers at the streets next to your existing routes and reports new recurring accounts by route. Get the free map scan or book a 15-minute call. Your Google listing and ad accounts stay in your name.

More on how pest control marketing works: our pest control marketing page.

Questions owners ask

What is a recurring pest control account worth?

In our example, a quarterly account at $130 a visit with a $150 initial fee and 10% add-ons brings in about $722 in its first 12 months and $1,828 over five years, or about $1,005 in gross profit at a 55% margin. Your price, retention and margin change that, so use the calculator.

What retention is normal for pest control?

Rentokil reported 80.5% customer retention for North America in 2025.1 Most owner-run companies don't publish theirs. Expect lower retention in an account's first year, especially from door-to-door sales.3

How much of pest control revenue is recurring?

It depends on the base. The NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers cost study, released December 16, 2025, puts recurring revenue at 74% of total income.5 NPMA's 2026 industry analysis puts it at 85.4% of residential service revenue.2 Rollins reports about 75% of its business as recurring.4

What does one point of cancels cost?

On 1,000 accounts paying $572 a year, yearly cancels rising 1 point means 10 more accounts lost and about $5,720 in revenue over the next 12 months. If cancels rise 1 point a month (12 a year), that's 120 accounts a year and about $68,640.

Is door-to-door cheaper than Google for pest control?

It depends on the Google channel. At the example defaults, a door-to-door account costs about $505 (PCT put acquisition at 70 to 75% of annual revenue),3 more than a Local Services Ads account at $252 and less than a Google Ads account at $710.8,10 Compare channels on accounts still paying after a year, because door-to-door accounts tend to cancel more in year one.

Do add-ons matter for customer value?

They help. Ancillary services were about 10% of Rollins' business in 2025.4 At 10% of plan revenue, add-ons are worth about $153 per account over five years in our example.

What gross margin should I use?

Your own, from your P&L: revenue minus technician labor, materials and vehicle costs on the route. Without one, 55% sits between Rollins (52.8% in 2025) and the 58% average in the 2025 NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers cost study.5,11

Sources

How this calculator works: one account that signed a plan pays the initial fee and a full year of plan revenue in year one; later years count plan and add-on revenue for the share still paying. Retention after year one defaults to Rentokil's 80.5% for North America in 2025.1 Year-two share (65%), door-to-door year-two share (50%) and the share of booked calls that start a plan (50%) are our assumptions. Prices: Bob Vila and Housecall Pro.6,7 Add-ons: Rollins 2025 10-K.4 Margin: between Rollins (52.8%) and the NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers cost study (58%).5,11 Lead costs: published contractor ad-account data (early 2026; 888 contractors blended across trades for LSA, 816 HVAC and plumbing contractors for Google Ads).8,10 Booking rate: ServiceTitan, June 2022.9 Door-to-door cost: PCT, May 2021.3 The plan-start share matches our trade value model.12 Values are not discounted. All defaults are examples to replace with your own numbers.

  1. Preliminary results FY2025 (North America customer retention 80.5%). Rentokil Initial plc, Mar 2026. www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/rentokil-initial--rto/preliminary-results/9459207
  2. U.S. pest control industry sustains steady growth with 6% increase in 2025. NPMA, Apr 1, 2026. www.npmapestworld.org/your-business/latest-news/us-pest-control-industry-sustains-steady-growth-with-6-increase-in-2025/
  3. D2D in pest control: past, present and future. PCT (Pest Control Technology), May 2021. www.pctonline.com/article/d2d-in-pest-control-past-present-future
  4. Rollins, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2025. U.S. SEC, Feb 2026. www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/84839/000008483926000008/rol-20251231.htm
  5. NPMA and PCO Bookkeepers release comprehensive 2025 pest control industry cost study (recurring revenue 74% of total income, gross margin 58%, marketing 6.6% of revenue). NPMA, Dec 16, 2025. www.npmapestworld.org/your-business/latest-news/npma-and-pco-bookkeepers-release-comprehensive-2025-pest-control-industry-cost-study/
  6. How much does pest control cost? (initial visit for ongoing service $150 to $300; quarterly visit $100 to $300; monthly visit $40 to $70). Bob Vila, updated Sep 5, 2024. www.bobvila.com/articles/pest-control-cost/
  7. Pest control prices (monthly plans $40 to $80 a visit; mosquito $50 to $150 a visit). Housecall Pro, updated May 27, 2026. www.housecallpro.com/resources/pest-control-prices/
  8. Google Local Service Ads cost per lead by trade (888 contractors, February 2026; blended $53, book rate 43.9%). SearchLight Digital, Mar 9, 2026. searchlightdigital.io/google-local-service-ads-cost-per-lead/
  9. Call booking rates: data from 3,000+ trades businesses. ServiceTitan, Oct 2022. www.servicetitan.com/blog/data-call-booking-rates
  10. What is a good cost per lead for HVAC Google Ads? (816 HVAC and plumbing contractors, January 2026; non-branded search $149). SearchLight Digital, Feb 12, 2026, updated Mar 27, 2026. searchlightdigital.io/what-is-a-good-cost-per-lead-for-hvac-google-ads/
  11. Rollins Q4 and full-year 2025 results (gross margin 52.8%). Rollins, Inc. (SEC 8-K), Feb 11, 2026. www.boardroomalpha.com/sec/rol-8-k-2026-02-11-0000084839-26-000003/rol-20260211xex991.htm
  12. What a booked call is worth, by trade (Isoline trade value model v1.0: job mix per search, Charlotte-area search weights, sourced tickets and margins). Isoline Growth, Oct 2026. www.isolinegrowth.com/tools/cost-per-booked-job/#value

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