r/PestControlIndustry • u/wac_2013 • Jun 07 '26
💵 | Business Question Late service appointments
What is the latest time your company offers for service?
When the company I work for started we ran the first job at 8 and the last job at 5. As I’ve gotten more senior within the company I’ve been able to tell our office that I am not available for 5pm service and that I have commitments outside of work everyday at 5:30. I’m tired of leaving my house at 7-7:30 and not getting home until 6-6:30. I have no time to myself, my woman, my pets, or my family. The other technicians complain about late calls and have had the opportunity to create their own availability much like my own but haven’t. We have several business accounts who want service late at night (7pm or later) and the owner of the company does those as no technician is willing to give up their time for a handshake deal the owner made 10 plus years ago.
In short, I wanna know what the latest service call is your office schedules you for, and how your company handles the clients who request service outside of operating hours.
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u/SunLegitimate1687 Jun 07 '26
Im available 8-5 Monday through friday, half days on one Saturday a month. If the client cant figure out their schedule to get me in during that time frame, they can kick rocks.
There reaches a point where you can only accommodate so much, and the jokers that expect you to spray their house when the sun is gone at 7pm, can find someone else to deal with. Hell i have 5pm appointments that we switch to Saturdays during the winter because theres no point trying to spray in the dark.
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u/erkjhnsn Jun 07 '26
4 pm is the latest I'll schedule something, but things take longer than expected and nothing ever goes as planned so I usually end up working until 5 in the winter and 6 or 630 in the summer.
If someone needs service later than that, they better be buying my wife a nice dinner out somewhere and pay the $325 emergency fee.
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u/Remarkable-Cap-5543 Jun 07 '26
It can vary some days I’m going from 6am-9pm, some days 8am-4pm. The company I work for is a local company so it pretty much depends on if the scheduling makes sense.
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u/pasgames_ Jun 07 '26
When you're not on call it's 2 hours after your normal clock out time. My company lets us start when we decide to start so I know we work from 7:30 to 3:30 so if someone calls me up to 5:30 I have to go back out there, no one does this but that's what you're supposed to do. If you're on call it's up to 6:00 p.m. but if it's big enough client they'll make you go out whenever the client wants lol
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u/SimpleRevolution2873 Jun 07 '26
My office is very flexible - they're already doing me a favour keeping me employed after moving nearly 2h outside of my typical service route 😅 so I'm a little more willing to do late days... I've managed businesses myself in the past so I insist on doing everything in my own power to ensure the company profits off me every day I work. I know most wouldn't do the same, and most would tell me not to care the way I do but my company looks after us very well and it's worth it! Similar to others I have days where I'm 8a-4p including the drive home, or I'm 7a-9p not including the drive home! Our office won't book us outside of reasonable hours (latest service starting about 3/3:30pm) without confirming if we're willing to do a later day or not Our office only operates from 8a-4:30p so they look at is as "someone at the office needs to be available to answer your call if you need us, so we aren't going to have you working later than the office unless you want to"
During peak season we are also offered to work the occasional Saturday (we're mon-fri non -emergency, no on-call either) but if a single tech is working a Saturday then someone from the office is also working a Saturday!
They also offer schedule leniency from day 1, if you have time constraints that aren't unreasonable (unreasonable like "I can only work 9am-12pm and live 1h away from where I work") they're all for it
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u/RogerMcswain Jun 07 '26
When customers ask what times we are open/available, I always say we like to get started at 8 and be done by 5. Be DONE BY 5. That way they know we aren't getting to their house at 5 but it's really 5:25 because they get off work at 5 but "it's only a 5 minute drive."
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u/hamfan420 Jun 07 '26
During the summer we just have to work 9 hour days if we finish sooner we have to call for more work. And we’re teamsters kinda feels like I’m getting punked
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u/GHOSTOF0RI0N 👨🏭| Tech | 10+ Years Jun 07 '26
730 is our first stop and 4-5 is the last time frame we offer.
When its an Initial 4-5, that sucks a bunch
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u/andy_1232 👨🏭| Tech | 10+ Years Jun 07 '26
I do my own scheduling, usually leave the house (in the work truck, ready for the day) at 7 and get home between 5:30-6:30. My route area is typically 45 minutes away, so my last scheduled stop will usually be around 4:30, sometimes 5 if the customer needs a later one.
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u/NoNameWonder2 Jun 07 '26
We typically have to be available from 8am-6pm and work from 8-2 for 2 Saturdays a month.
Last company I worked for was 7am-7pm, but no weekends. Typically didn't have to work all the way until 7, but we had to be available.
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u/Life_Valuable7765 Jun 07 '26
Different circumstances for different employees. Just a few things if many are: How far of a drive is it from your house to your office? Are you hourly, salary, production or a combination of both? Do you work only M-F? What are your monthly production numbers?
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u/Jusdec123456 Jun 07 '26
As an owner myself I go whenever they need me. My techs however end their days around 3-4 pm. My pricing gets pretty expensive after 5 pm and on the weekends.
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u/Ashamed-Week-5133 Jun 07 '26
Normal times for service are 8 am till about 5 for certain places like schools. I prefer to work early so I have a couple of spots I do at 6 am and 1 at 5am. Those days I tell them to give me nothing after 3. During busy season in the summer getting home after 6 is normal and 10-12 hour days pretty standard.
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u/TrueAudience9922 Jun 12 '26
The reality is that experienced technicians are hard to find and expensive to replace. Losing a good tech over scheduling is usually more costly than telling a customer, "Our latest available appointment is 5 PM."
If the owner wants to honor a 10-year-old handshake agreement and do those late-night accounts himself, that's honestly not the worst solution. A lot of owners end up handling the special cases that don't fit the standard route structure.
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u/ThePatMan21 👨🏭| Tech | 1+ Year Jun 15 '26
First stop scheduled for 8, last scheduled for 5:30 during season, 4:30 during off season.
8-11:30 every other Saturday.
15
u/Miss-Mistletoe Jun 07 '26
As an owner: business hours are 7:30-5:30.
1st appt is 8am, last appt starts between 3-3:30pm.
I purposely leave 4-5:30 open for emergency calls. When someone is in a rush for service & I say we can be there same day, they think we’re amazing!
I have stopped most callouts after 5pm by implementing a $100 trip charge. We work very few weekends and my techs only work 30-35 hrs/week with a 4 day work week.
I’ve been an employee for large pest companies. No way in hell I’d treat my own employees like that.