Buying a pest control company in South Florida

• A large base of recurring residential and commercial accounts, with low cancellations and automatic billing.
• Termite agreements with a clean claims history and renewal fees that reflect the risk. A renewal that hasn't gone up in years may be covering more than it should.
• Tight routes, so each technician treats more homes per day.
• A certified operator in charge who plans to stay, and other certified staff as backup.
• Technicians who sell added services during regular visits.
• A mix of services that spreads risk, without heavy dependence on one commercial customer.
• Good records: service tickets, chemical use and inspection reports kept in software.
• Strong reviews in the neighborhoods the routes cover, where most new customers come from.

• The account list: customers by service type, recurring billing, how long they've stayed, and cancellations by month.
• Termite agreements in force: what each promises (retreatment only, or repair of damage), renewal rates and claims paid in recent years. Damage-repair guarantees are a real liability.
• Pending complaints or disputes, especially termite damage claims.
• FDACS inspection and enforcement history.
• The certified operator's plans, and the backup if they leave.
• Chemical storage, fumigation practices and any safety incidents.
• Commercial contracts, and whether they can be assigned to you.
• Technician pay and turnover, and whether routes depend on one or two people.
• Identification cards and training records for every technician, which FDACS can ask to see.

• How many recurring accounts do you have in each service line, and how many canceled last year?
• How many termite agreements are in force, and what do they cover?
• How many termite damage claims have you paid in the last five years?
• Who is your certified operator in charge, and will they stay after a sale?
• Do you do fumigation yourselves or subcontract it?
• How are technicians paid, and how long do they usually stay?
• What do customers usually say when they cancel?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.