Open Range Pest Control does not usually make national headlines, but last month we did. In July 2026, FieldRoutes, one of the largest field service software companies in the country, published a four part series about our family owned, veteran operated company right here in the West Valley of Arizona. A month later, the questions keep coming, so we are telling it again for the neighbors who missed it.
If you have seen our trucks around Surprise, Sun City, or Peoria, you know we take this work seriously. What you might not know is that one curious question, plus a lot of honesty about where we wanted to go, is what caught the attention of a national publisher.
The West Valley Pest Control Crew FieldRoutes Featured Four Times
The series follows a decision most small business owners would not think to make. Rather than call a salesperson to choose new software, owner DeLane Patterson opened an AI tool and asked it to interview him. Fifty questions later, the research pointed to a clear path, and Open Range took it. FieldRoutes found the story compelling enough to break it into four parts: the software switch, the automation that followed, a shift toward recurring revenue, and the personal decision that made all of it possible.
Read The Full Story
We pulled the whole series together on one page so you can read it in order. See the full FieldRoutes feature on our site.
He was not planning to stay small. FieldRoutes, on Open Range owner DeLane Patterson
Can AI Really Help a Small Business Choose the Right Software?
For us, the answer turned out to be yes, with a catch. The AI did not run the company; it asked sharper questions than any sales pitch ever would, and it forced a clear look at where we wanted to be in three years. The tools still had to prove themselves in the field, on real routes from the White Tank Mountains to the Sun City golf communities. What made the difference was pairing an honest self assessment with software built to grow, and that is the part other West Valley owners keep asking us about.
The recognition was a proud moment, but the real payoff is the same one our customers feel every visit: a company that plans ahead, answers the phone, and keeps its word across the whole Valley of the Sun. That is the story worth passing along.
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