Recurring service plans are the best revenue in pest control — predictable, high-margin, and sticky. But most operators run them on a mess of spreadsheets, paper contracts, and manual card charges. Here's what the workflow looks like when software handles it.
The four pieces of a clean recurring-revenue system
1. Card on file, collected securely
Never take card numbers over the phone. Send the customer a secure link; they enter the card themselves and it's stored with your payment processor (Inspection Authority uses Square). You see only the last four digits and the expiration — and get warned before cards expire.
2. Automatic scheduled charges
Set the plan — $275 yearly, $89 quarterly, whatever your pricing — and the system charges on schedule, retries intelligently, and records every charge against the plan. No more "did we bill the Hendersons?"
3. Signed service contracts
A plan without a signed agreement is a dispute waiting to happen. Send a contract from a template, let the customer sign on their phone (typed or drawn signature), and keep the signed PDF attached to the plan.
4. Service visit records
Every visit gets logged — date, technician, notes, and condition photos — so when a customer asks what they're paying for, the answer is one tap away. Field techs can log visits offline and sync later.
Why this belongs in your inspection software
If you run WDO inspections and treatments, your service plans start where your inspection reports end: the termite job becomes the annual contract. Inspection Authority is built around exactly that hand-off — inspection, work authorization, completion notice, then a recurring service plan with billing and contracts, all on the same customer record. Generic billing tools can charge a card; they can't connect the charge to the inspection history that justifies it.
See it in the field, not a sales deck
Inspection Authority was built by a Certified Master Inspector who still inspects every week. Home inspections, termite/WDO reports, recurring pest-control billing, and true offline mode — in one app.