How do I review a pest control company’s customer treatment logs?
Pull a sample of customers and follow each from the first visit through every treatment, noting dates, products, areas covered and technician. Check that logs match billing and that repeat problems were followed up. Gaps and rewritten entries are signals to question, not to ignore.
Choose customers at random rather than letting the seller choose. For each one, line up the treatment log, the invoices and the schedule. Do the dates agree? Is every visit recorded, with the same level of detail? A log that is full for some technicians and thin for others suggests uneven habits worth discussing.
Read what the logs say about results. Look for customers who return with the same problem and see whether the next visit changed the approach. Ask how complaints are recorded and who decides on a free re-treatment. A company that tracks repeat issues usually has a better grasp of its quality than one that handles each call fresh.
Ask about storage and access. Are the logs on paper, in a program or on technicians’ phones? Who can change an entry and is the change visible? Because the logs hold customer details, ask your lawyer how they may be handed over. A buyer will want a record they can rely on from the first day. Ask what happens if a technician leaves, and whether the log would still tell a replacement what was done at each home.
Key takeaways
- Sample customers yourself and match logs to invoices and schedules.
- Look at repeat problems and how the company responded.
- Ask who can edit entries and how the logs would pass to you.
- Ask whether a replacement technician could carry on from the logs.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
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