Every pest control operator knows the season is coming. Far fewer have changed anything before it arrives.
Why it matters
Peak does not raise demand evenly. It raises reactive work, which is the least plannable kind, while recurring work continues at its own rhythm. The two collide in the same calendar, and the thing that gives is usually route quality: recurring visits get moved to make room, lanes break, and the route book comes out of the summer worse than it went in.
How you notice it slipping
The same two months produce most of the year’s overtime and most of its cancellations. Recurring work is routinely postponed during peak and never properly re-seated afterwards. Capacity planning uses an annual average, which describes no actual week.
What to do
Plan the shape, not the average. Decide before the season which recurring work can shift, how much flex capacity each week holds, and what the office is allowed to promise when the phone does not stop. Then plan the recovery too — the weeks after peak are when the route book is repaired or abandoned.