Do not spray anything first
People do this out of embarrassment and it costs them the inspection. A live termite lead is the fastest route to the nest, and spraying it scatters the colony into the surrounding soil where we cannot follow it. The same applies to an ant trail: if you kill the run the morning we arrive, we lose the route back to the entry point, which was the thing you were paying us to find.
Do not tidy the evidence away
The pile of wings on the windowsill, the fine soil at the paver edge, the droppings in the roof void, the mud on the pier. Leave all of it. If you have already cleaned it up, take a photo first next time, and tell us where it was.
What to have ready
- Any previous timber pest report, and the date of the last treatment
- The durable notice from the meter box if the house has a termite management system
- A note of anything you have seen, and where and when you saw it
- Roughly when the house was built, and whether anything has been added since
- For a pre-purchase, the date on your building and pest clause, so we can work back from it
What you get afterwards
A written report to AS 4349.3 with photographs of every finding, the conducive conditions listed with a plain fix for each, and the management recommendation set out under AS 3660.2 if one is needed. For a pre-purchase it is graded urgent, soon or monitor so you can negotiate on real numbers, and it comes with a phone call rather than being emailed and left. Most reports land inside twenty four hours, and same day for a contract deadline.
