Founder, Novare Partners
Clay Grantham
Clay leads Novare Partners, which advises owner-led service businesses and builds software for them. He works with owners on finance and operations, and on their systems, data and AI tools.
Background
Experience
Career and education.
Since founding Novare Partners in 2025, Clay has focused on pest control, lawn care and landscaping, HVAC, pool service and cleaning companies.
In Finance & Operations, he advises on pricing, forecasts and capital decisions. He works out what each customer and job earns net of the cost to serve, and whether cash covers another truck or hire.
His Systems, Data & AI work covers integrations, data warehouses and dashboards that tie out to the books. He also builds AI agents and an AI analyst that answers owners' questions from their own data.
Most work with Clay begins with the Business Diagnostic. It answers a defined question using the owner's own financial, operating and systems data, reconciled to the books.
Before Novare Partners, Clay worked in strategy and operations at venture capital-backed, AI-native technology companies. He began his career at a private equity firm, where he invested in service businesses.
He holds a BBA in Finance with High Honors from the SMU Cox School of Business.
| Title | Founder, Novare Partners |
|---|---|
| Practices | Finance & Operations, and Systems, Data & AI |
| Industry focus | Pest control, lawn care and landscaping, HVAC, pool service, cleaning |
| Early career | Private equity investor in service businesses |
| Technology career | Strategy and operations at venture capital-backed, AI-native technology companies |
| Education | BBA in Finance with High Honors, SMU Cox School of Business |
| From | Georgia |
| Lives in | Dallas, Texas |
| linkedin.com/in/clay-grantham | |
| clay.grantham@novarepartners.com |
What we work on
What does Clay work on?
Two consulting practices and the software the firm builds.
Clay advises owners through the two practices below. The firm also builds Novare Pest, its analytics and software for pest control operators.
Finance & Operations
The decisions that move margin and cash, priced with your own books and job data.
- Unit economics by service line, customer and job type
- Pricing and margin: where to raise, hold or cut prices
- Cost to serve, with route and crew economics
- Capital spending and expansion decisions, with base, upside and downside cases
- Cash and accounts receivable, including collections and the seasonal low point
- Budgets, forecasts and key performance indicator (KPI) packs reconciled to the books
- Decision and scenario models for the calls an owner makes
Systems, Data & AI
The integrations, data and AI tools that keep those answers current, built on your systems.
- Integrations between field-service, customer relationship management and accounting systems
- Databases and data warehouses that keep the numbers consistent across systems
- Custom dashboards and reporting, reconciled to the books and tied to dollars
- Agentic AI: AI agents that work on your own data
- Workflow automation for recurring reports, customer lists and handoffs
- Custom internal tools, such as a quote checker or pricing calculator
- AI analysts that answer recurring questions from your own data
Novare Pest
Novare Pest is analytics and software for pest control operators, a software product built by Novare Partners. Novare Pest reads your FieldRoutes data and does not change it. The operating platform is now in Beta with pest control operators.
Pest control analytics and software → Visit novarepest.com →
FieldRoutes is a trademark of its owner. Novare Partners and Novare Pest are not affiliated with or endorsed by it.
Bookkeeping and tax stay with your bookkeeper and certified public accountant (CPA).
Method
How does Novare Partners work?
The same method for every engagement, from the question to a working tool.
We use the same steps for a price change and for a system integration. Each is framed, underwritten, piloted and read back.
Frame
Agree on the decision and its guardrails up front, such as breakeven month, maximum cash at risk and target margin.
Underwrite
Build base, upside and downside cases from your own books, job data and systems data. Reconcile them before we show a number.
Decide
Sit down with the owner and reach a clear go, no-go or go-if, with the downside and the cash in plain view.
Pilot
Start small, with a control group or a clean before-and-after, so the result can be measured.
Read back
Measure what happened, with seasonality and growth separated out. Attribute results conservatively.
Scale, fix or stop
Act on the read. Turn the recurring question into a dashboard or tool so the answer stays current.
We believe strong operators deserve to win.
Engagements
How do engagements with Novare Partners start?
The Business Diagnostic is the entry point to every engagement.
The Business Diagnostic answers a defined question with your own financial, operating and systems data, reconciled to your books.
It is fixed scope, with a fixed fee agreed before work begins. You keep all outputs either way.
Work after the Diagnostic takes these forms.
| Engagement | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Consulting retainer | Ongoing work across Finance & Operations and Systems, Data & AI, sized to the work |
| One-time projects | A defined piece of work with a fixed scope, in either track |
| Monthly KPI & Forecast Pack | A monthly KPI pack and rolling forecast, reconciled to the books, with a short monthly review |
Scope and cost are agreed in writing before any work begins.
Industries
Which service businesses does Novare Partners work with?
Owner-led service businesses, commercial and residential.
We work with owner-led service businesses that have recurring or route-based work, multiple crews or techs, and data spread across several systems.
Those systems are often the books, a field-service system, customer relationship management software and call tracking.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing and electrical
Service calls, installs and maintenance agreements, with techs in the field
Pest control, lawn and landscape
Recurring service plans run on routes, with seasonal swings in demand
Pool service, cleaning and janitorial
Recurring visits on set schedules, with crews across a service area
Commercial print and job shops
Quoted jobs on the shop floor, with recurring commercial customers
Company
About Novare Partners
A Dallas firm that advises service businesses and builds software for them.
Novare Partners runs consulting engagements in Finance & Operations and in Systems, Data & AI. It also builds software for service businesses, starting with Novare Pest.
| Legal name | Novare Partners, LLC |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2025 |
| Founded by | Clay |
| Based in | Dallas, Texas |
| Consulting | Finance & Operations; Systems, Data & AI |
| Software | Novare Pest, analytics and software for pest control operators |
| Website | novarepartners.com |
| Contact | clay.grantham@novarepartners.com |
Case studies
Case studies
Questions owners brought to Novare, with the analysis and the result.
Each case study covers a Novare engagement, with client names withheld. Each shows how we framed, underwrote and read back a decision or a build, and what changed for the business.
Questions
Questions about Clay and Novare Partners
Short answers about Clay, the firm and Novare Pest.
What is Clay's background?
Clay started out investing in service businesses at a private equity firm. He then held strategy and operations roles at AI-native technology companies backed by venture capital, and founded Novare Partners in 2025. He studied finance at the SMU Cox School of Business and graduated with High Honors.
Who founded Novare Partners?
Clay founded Novare Partners, LLC, in 2025. The firm consults for owner-led service businesses and builds Novare Pest, its analytics software for pest control operators.
What is Novare Partners?
Novare Partners is a Dallas-based firm that advises service businesses and builds software for them. Its consulting work covers Finance & Operations (pricing and margin, cost to serve, cash and forecasts) and Systems, Data & AI (integrations, data warehouses, dashboards and AI agents). Novare Partners also builds Novare Pest, analytics and software for pest control operators.
Where is Novare Partners based?
Novare Partners is based in Dallas, Texas, where Clay lives. He is originally from Georgia.
What is Novare Pest's relationship to Novare Partners?
Novare Pest is a software product built by Novare Partners. It provides analytics and software for pest control operators. Novare Pest reads your FieldRoutes data and does not change it. It also has an operating platform now in Beta with pest control operators. Details are at novarepest.com.
What experience does Novare Partners have with service businesses?
Clay first worked with service businesses as an investor at a private equity firm. Novare Partners works with owner-led companies in industries including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest control, lawn care and landscaping, pool service, cleaning, janitorial, commercial print and job shops.
Is Novare Partners a bookkeeping or CPA firm?
No. Novare Partners does not close the books or file taxes, and works alongside your bookkeeper and CPA. The work covers Finance & Operations decisions (pricing, margin, cost to serve and cash) and Systems, Data & AI builds (integrations, data warehouses, dashboards and AI agents).
How do I contact Clay?
Use the contact form at novarepartners.com/contact or email clay.grantham@novarepartners.com. Please do not send financial files through the contact form. A secure way to share files is set up after the initial conversation.
Start a conversation
Tell us about the decision or the system question in front of you.
We will tell you what we would need to answer it.