Kevin McKee Built Ross Pest and Lawn for 25 Years. Now He's Building It for His Son.

Kevin McKee started Ross Pest and Lawn in 2000 in Texas with one customer, a tank in the back of his truck, and no intention of leaving his day job.

The chemical engineer at Lockheed Martin, 37 years in, managed a global supply chain that covered everything from WD-40 to the low-observable coatings on military aircraft. The pest control company was a contingency because Lockheed was a government contractor, the work could disappear, and McKee wanted something of his own if it did. 

So he went out nights and weekends, knocked doors, and grew. One customer became five. Five became enough to hire someone. 

He never did need the backup plan. He retired from Lockheed in 2023 at 60 — on his terms. The company he built as insurance had crossed $1.1 million in gross revenue the year before.

"I've got no regrets," says McKee, the president and CEO. "It was an awesome experience."

Now he is doing even more vital work for Ross Pest and Lawn.

The son who came back

Connor McKee is 29. He got his pest control license before he graduated high school. He went to a school in Dallas for audio engineering, got married, the couple had a daughter, and he went home to Aledo.

"I wanted something I knew would be secure," Connor McKee says. "The area the business is in is just growing. It was a no-brainer."

He is now Ross Pest and Lawn's business development manager. His day runs across three open tabs — Google Maps, email, and FieldRoutes — coordinating incoming leads, tracking customer follow-ups, communicating notes to technicians in the field, and managing the route activity that keeps nine employees moving efficiently. His job, in his own words, is "all things growth." 

Marketing. The website overhaul. The leads and proposals. In addition, a seat on the Parker County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. And, gradually, the parts of running a company that Connor has not yet had to run: payroll taxes, insurance renewals, the full weight of the financial picture.

Kevin's plan is to step back by 65. The company, he estimates, will be close to $2 million by then. But there will be no sale, no outside transaction, because Kevin built it to give away.

"When I'm done," Kevin says, "I'm done, and it'll be his business to take on and run."

The engineer and the artist

The two of them are, by their own description, opposites.

Kevin is methodical. He spent nearly four decades managing billion-dollar contracts, tracking budgets, building systems. He is, in his own words, "OCD." He thinks in frameworks. He plans in years, not quarters.

Connor plays guitar in a Fort Worth band. He still books studio time. He describes himself as someone who, left to his own devices, would say “yes” to everything and sort the consequences later. Kevin taught him to prioritize. Connor taught Kevin to see past his own structures.

"Connor has really challenged me to see outside the barriers I put on," his father says. "Connor has creativity that I welcome."

Kevin wants to hand Connor more responsibility, although he’s already carrying more than his father expected. The growth has been real — Ross Pest and Lawn has maintained at least 20% annual revenue growth since 2000, reached 30–35% in recent years, and was running 28% ahead year-to-date near spring’s arrival in 2026. 

More business means more of Connor's time goes to the leads already coming in, less to the systems he needs to build to run the company when Kevin is gone.

"My drowning is dealing with things we're presented with as opportunities," Connor says. "I'd like to say ‘yes’ and get them out as quickly as possible."

Kevin hears that. He is also watching for it.

"I'm wanting to put more and more on him," Kevin says, "but at the same time, not have him drown in what he's doing."

What the P&L meeting taught the team

One of the things Kevin has made sure his son understands is the P&L.

In 2024, Kevin McKee started sharing the company's profit and loss statement quarterly with all nine employees. The decision came out of an experience with his first hire. The employee had been bringing in stacks of checks at the end of every route, watching the revenue come in, and drawing his own conclusions about what McKee was keeping. And how he deserved a raise.

"If it weren't for me,” the employee told him, “you would not be able to be a business. It's because of me.”

The employee left. But the problem he identified was real. People doing the work were not seeing the full picture of what running a company costs. McKee decided to show them.

The first few sessions required explanation. Most of the team did not know what a P&L was. McKee used ten one-dollar bills to walk through where the money goes — vehicles, chemicals, insurance, workers' comp, general liability. By the time the exercise was done, there was not much left.

"I think the guys, when we do that on a quarterly basis, what I see is them taking ownership," McKee said. "And it's exciting for me."

Now the numbers go on the wall. The team knows what good looks like. They know what net profit means. McKee believes this matters beyond Ross Pest and Lawn.

"It's hopefully teaching them some financial responsibility, some business skills," he said. "Whether it's for us — I hope it's for us — or somebody else, it builds them as a better employee."

Building it to last

Connor knows the P&L. He does payroll. He is learning insurance renewals. He handles every incoming lead and is now working to develop a technician into a sales role so the passive business — the calls and inquiries that come to him — frees up time for active outreach.

The operational infrastructure he is inheriting looks different from the one his father started with. Ross Pest and Lawn moved to FieldRoutes in 2022, replacing a desktop system that required technicians to print paper routes each morning, handwrite their notes, and hand them off at the end of the day for manual input. 

Connor, who learned the old system as a teenager, calls the difference clear. 

"It's pretty much necessary in the industry," he says. "If you're not using any tool like FieldRoutes, you're going to be behind the game." 

He says the company's future, when it arrives, will look a little different from its present. Not because he wants to change what his father built, but because his strengths are not his father's strengths. Connor is, by temperament, a connector: The chamber. The relationships. The social media community pages where locals ask for a pest control recommendation and Connor's network answers.

"I would love my ownership to look like I'm focusing on my strengths," Connor says. "My happiness with the company would be continuing to work in the capacity that I feel like my strengths are.”

Kevin does not disagree. He has watched Connor in front of a room. He has heard people introduce Kevin as "Connor McKee's dad." He knows what that means.

"Connor is a genuinely kind individual," Kevin says. "And people love that."

The business Kevin built will one day belong to a musician who became a licensed pest control technician who became a chamber board member who became the person his father is betting on. That arc was not planned. It was grown, the way the company was grown — one step, one season, one conversation at a time.

"Every day comes and goes, and we make it through it,” Connor says. “Even difficult days."

He pauses.

"I just really try to stay in the current moment," he adds. "Plan, make goals, plan for the future, but try not to spiral thinking of this huge, looming thing."