Notes on running a home-services business.

A healthy lawn maintenance operation runs a 38-45% gross margin, thinner than pest control on purpose. Route density and windshield time decide whether you keep it. Here's the real math, and the QuickBooks trap that makes your number look better than it is.

Revenue is the number on the wall and it tells you the least. A well-run pest control company keeps about half of every dollar as gross profit and targets near 20% net operating profit, after the owner is paid a real salary. Here's what to measure, and the traps that distort it.

Every pest, lawn, and HVAC owner gets hit by the slow season. The owners who come out clean see the cash dip eight weeks early instead of three days early. Here's the math, and the moves that change the outcome.

Most owners underpay themselves, then resent the business for it. There's a clean answer: pay yourself a real market salary, then take owner's profit on top. Here's the math by revenue tier, plus the trap that catches most $1-3M owners.

"Financial software" means three different things, and owners shop for the wrong one all the time. You probably don't need new accounting software. You need something that reads the books you already have.

You can show a profit and still miss payroll. Three things drain pest control cash even in a good month: late-paying invoices, prepaid annual plans, and a season that funds twelve months of bills.

Connect QuickBooks or your bank and Ando turns the numbers you already have into your real margin, the invoices to chase, and the moves to make this week.

A healthy pest control business runs around 50–55% gross. If your books show higher, your field labor is probably misclassified. Here's how to find your real number.

QuickBooks is the right place for your books. But it won't show your real margin, push you the overdue invoices, or tell you what to do. Here's the fix.

Hiring because you're busy is how owners get burned. It's a two-gate call: are you actually full, and do the numbers carry the cost?

Profit First is a great system. It's also written for businesses with steady revenue. Here's how to make it work when half your year is busy and the other half isn't.

A real look at week one of a fractional COO engagement, what gets asked, what gets read, what gets changed. Nothing dramatic, mostly listening and math.

Cash runway, gross margin by job type, and what's recurring out the door. Most owners can't answer all three without logging in.

AI doesn't replace your CSR. It covers the gap they never had time to fill: the follow-ups that quietly cost you revenue.

The most expensive employee in a $2M home-services business usually isn't a tech or the office manager. It's the owner doing $15/hour work.