Geographic Density: The Hidden Factor That Separates a Good Pest Control Route from a Great One

Two routes, same customer count, same MRR. One is worth significantly more. The difference is density — and the math behind it is straightforward.

Most pest control operators think of route value in terms of revenue. How many customers, how much monthly recurring revenue, what's the retention rate. These are the right things to think about. But there's a variable that doesn't show up in your billing records that buyers pay close attention to: where your customers are relative to each other.

Geographic density — how tightly clustered your stops are — directly determines how many jobs a technician can complete in a day and what it costs to complete each one. That efficiency differential flows straight to the bottom line, and buyers price it accordingly.

The Math That Makes Density Matter

Route A: Dense — stops avg. 8 min apart

Service time per stop45 min

Drive time per stop8 min

Total time per stop53 min

Stops in an 8-hour day~9 stops

Route B: Spread — stops avg. 28 min apart

Service time per stop45 min

Drive time per stop28 min

Total time per stop73 min

Stops in an 8-hour day~6–7 stops

Route A completes 30–40% more stops per day than Route B with the same labor. At $100–$150 per service, that's $300–$400 more revenue per technician per day with no additional cost. From a buyer's perspective, Route A has structurally better unit economics — and that shows up in the multiple they're willing to pay.

What "Dense" and "Spread" Look Like in Practice

Dense route characteristics

• 80%+ of customers within a 15-mile radius of your home base
• Stops typically 5–12 minutes apart in routing software
• A full day's schedule loops efficiently without major backtracking
• Could be serviced by a single technician operating from one location

Spread route characteristics

• Customers scattered across multiple neighborhoods, cities, or counties
• Routing requires significant drive time between clusters
• Outlier customers that are 30–45+ minutes from the rest of the route
• Would require multiple technicians or bases to service efficiently

The Outlier Problem

Most routes have 5–10 customers who are significantly outside the core service area. These outliers disproportionately hurt density scores. A buyer acquiring a 90-customer route might love 85 of them and see the remaining 5 outliers as a liability — because servicing them means dead time that cuts into overall efficiency.

How to Improve Your Route Density Before You Sell

Stop accepting customers outside your core area

This sounds obvious, but most operators say yes to every new customer regardless of location. In the 12–18 months before a sale, be selective. If a prospective customer is 35 minutes from your nearest existing stop, either charge a significant premium or decline the account. New customers in your densest neighborhoods are worth more than outliers at any price.

Shed your outlier customers gracefully

Outlier customers aren't bad customers — they're just in the wrong place. As their service agreements come up for renewal, consider whether you can refer them to a local operator who covers that area. Some operators find they can broker these individual customer transitions informally. Alternatively, simply don't aggressively pursue renewals for customers who are dragging down your density.

Focus growth in your densest neighborhoods

Where you add customers in the next 12 months matters. A new customer two streets over from an existing cluster is worth more than one on the other side of the metro. If you do any marketing, geo-target it tightly around your existing service concentration.

See How Density Affects Your Route's Value

The PestPro route valuation calculator factors in geographic density when estimating your asking price. Run it free in 60 seconds.

Open Valuation Calculator
Browse Route Marketplace