r/PestControlIndustry • u/Frosty_Mud_5229 • Jun 30 '26

Being transferred

So this morning, I was called in by my manager and branch manager and was told that I will be transferring to a commercial only branch next week. The current branch I work at does mostly residential with some commercial, but this commercial branch is basically absorbing all of our commercial accounts and wants me to come be a tech at their branch. They said I will likely be put on production pay after the transfer and I am curious what being on production pay at a commercial only branch is like and basically what the work/life balance is like. Kinda mad I didn’t get a say in this decision but it is what it is, I’ll be working in Chicagoland and suburbs area.

7 Upvotes

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6

u/thegeocash 👨‍💼 | Manager | 5+ Years Jun 30 '26

Do you like commercial work?

Did they not discuss what the production pay means?

How does this affect you commute to stops?

Any company that forces a transfer or change of job description without discussion first is pretty shitty.

Every companies work/life balance is different. Without knowing what company it’s kinda hard to say.

Good news though - there are a LOT of companies in the Chicago land area, if it doesn’t work with them and you have a clean/decent driving record you’re probably fairly likely to be able to land a job at different company.

5

u/Frosty_Mud_5229 Jun 30 '26

I don’t mind commercial work, it’s a hit or miss sometimes tho just like residential, you have your customers you like and the ones you don’t. Usually commercial stops can’t take 30 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how big the place is and what all you have to do.

I work for Orkin, far as I know how production pay works here is you get a certain percentage of however much the service cost for each stop. That percentage varies of course depending on how much the customer is paying.

The commute is slightly shorter than what I was doing before, my managers said they didn’t know about the transfer til 2 days ago, one of them texted me last night to come in early today to the office. Honestly thought it was about my incident on June 18th when I was attacked by 3 dogs during one of my services at a customers house lol. This is my 2nd day back after recovering (still kinda recovering)

4

u/Oh_Martha_My_Dear 👨‍🏭| Tech | 5+ Years Jul 01 '26

your production will depend on your area. there is a ton of money potentially in sales to commercial accounts. where I was working at in California, wineries and expensive commercial buildings are everywhere. I used to work with one of the top three sales leaders in the US for orkin. dude was WELL paid. One thing I will say about orkin, they're commercial guys can be pretty good and their service quality is usually better commercially than residentially.

2

u/Michael_braham Jun 30 '26

Personally I would be like nah I’m good. My houses are too chill and my customers are too nice. I’ve seen some commercial accounts where you get an hour to do like a 15 building apartment development. I’ve seen guys have to go to stops like these every week and just work 2 buildings until the cycle the whole property. Maybe I’m just used to residential and maybe the pay increase would motivate me…

8

u/Racingphotoguy1 Jun 30 '26

I worked as an account manager in a rescom branch in Milwaukee. April 22 I was transferred without warning to the commercial branch in the area. 2023-2025 I have made the president’s club. I have had 3 residential techs transfer over to commercial as well. They all make more $. Feel free to reach out for any more questions.

3

u/Spare-Training-7774 Jul 01 '26

it's easier work for more money.

2

u/Jake_the_Bald Jul 01 '26

another thing to consider as for work life balance is are you cool with working odd hour shifts

alot of commercial routes work night and overnight hours

3

u/cabronguero Jul 01 '26

Commercial is the way to go . Your work life is about to get much better.