PestBossPro Blog — Quarterly Plans & Recurring Service

Bi-Monthly Pest Control Plans: When 60 Days Between Visits Makes Sense

Quarterly is the default plan for most homes, but it is not the right plan for every home. Some houses need you more often. Selling those customers a bi-monthly plan, with six visits a year instead of four, solves their problem better and keeps them from calling for a re-service every few weeks.

Where Bi-Monthly Fits

The standard quarterly setup is covered in Setting Up Quarterly Pest Control on a 90-Day Schedule. Bi-monthly works the same way with one number changed: the minimum days between visits is 60 instead of 90.

Every time the technician completes a visit, the account drops off the Waiting List and comes back as due 60 days later. A late visit pushes the next one back, a skipped visit stays due until it is done, and the spacing stays even no matter what the weather does.

Which Customers Should Be on 60 Days

Bi-monthly plans make sense where pressure is high enough that a quarterly barrier keeps breaking down before the next visit. In the field, that usually looks like:

• Homes backing onto woods, creeks or fields. More pests are always arriving from outside.
• Older houses with gaps and cracks. More ways in, and more places to hide once they get there.
• Warm, humid climates. Where pests stay active most of the year, a 90-day gap can feel long.
• Customers with a history of call-backs. If the same quarterly house needs a re-service between every visit, it is really a bi-monthly house.
• Customers who just want you around more. Some people will pay for the peace of mind. Let them.

A good technician will spot most of these on the initial service. Have them note it on the job so the office can offer the right plan.

Pricing a Bi-Monthly Plan

Bi-monthly visits are usually priced a little lower per visit than quarterly, because each visit has less built-up activity to deal with, but the yearly total is higher. A simple example:

• Quarterly: $125 per visit, four visits, $500 a year.
• Bi-monthly: $95 per visit, six visits, $570 a year.

Those numbers are only an illustration. Your own prices should come from your costs, your market and the size of the home. PestBossPro keeps the home's square feet and perimeter linear feet on the property, so you can price both plans off the same measurements and show the customer the difference side by side. The method is covered in Pricing Quarterly Pest Plans Off Square Feet and Perimeter.

Moving a Customer From Quarterly to Bi-Monthly

The cleanest upgrade happens when the customer asks for a re-service. You are going back out anyway, you can see what the problem is, and the customer already feels the gap. The technician fixes the problem and explains that the house would hold better on a 60-day plan.

In the software, the change is just the service on the address. Swap quarterly for bi-monthly and the account starts coming due every 60 days from its next completed visit. No calendar to rebuild, no dates to move.

It works in the other direction too. A bi-monthly customer whose house has been quiet for a year can step down to quarterly, which keeps them on a plan instead of cancelling because they feel they are overpaying.

Bi-Monthly on the Waiting List

Bi-monthly accounts sit on the same Waiting List as quarterly ones, colored the same way: not due yet, due now, and overdue once they are more than 7 days past due. When you circle an area to build a route, they come along with the quarterly stops, so a technician working a neighborhood picks up every due account at once regardless of which plan it is on.

Because bi-monthly accounts come due more often, they turn overdue faster when routes fall behind. If a busy week leaves due stops sitting, look at the bi-monthly and monthly pins first.

Seasonal Bi-Monthly

Some companies run a hybrid: bi-monthly during the warm months and quarterly in winter. If you sell it that way, keep it simple. Change the service on the address at the start and end of the season, or sell the warm-season visits as a separate add-on alongside a year-round quarterly plan. Whichever you choose, use the same approach for every customer so the office and the reports stay consistent.

Making the Offer

Bi-monthly is easiest to sell when it is presented as the fix for a real problem, not as an upsell. “Your house backs onto the creek, so quarterly will leave gaps. Every 60 days keeps the barrier fresh.” That is an honest recommendation, and customers can hear the difference. For how bi-monthly fits with quarterly, monthly and the program types, go back to the recurring pest control software overview.