Pest control services
Termite control and what the guarantee covers
The species decides the treatment. The contract decides what you are protected against, and that part varies from one company to the next.
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Written by HyrePest Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Termite control cuts a colony off from your house and keeps it that way, using a treated zone in the soil, monitored bait stations, or treatment of the wood itself.
The species and how the house meets the ground decide which fits. It often comes with a multi-year contract, so read the terms as closely as the method.
Key takeaways
Subterranean termites live in soil and travel to wood. Drywood termites live inside the wood. A soil treatment cannot reach a drywood colony.
A liquid treatment makes a continuous treated zone in the soil. Bait stations get carried back to the colony. They fail in different ways.
Retreatment only, or retreatment and repair of damage? Georgia makes companies state it in a heavy black border.
It records what was visible on the day of the inspection.
Georgia’s termite contract rule makes the contract warn that removing them may end your protection.
How do I know if I have termites?
You rarely see the insect. You see what it leaves behind, and each sign points to a species and a place.
Pencil-width tubes of soil running up foundation walls, piers or crawl space walls. Subterranean termites build them to stay moist between soil and wood.
Small, hard droppings in neat piles below a wall or on a sill. That is drywood termite frass. The colony is in the wood, not the ground.
Pairs of equal-length wings on sills, in cobwebs or near lights after a swarm. Swarmers shed them soon after the flight.
Bubbled paint, trim that gives under a screwdriver, or a stud that sounds papery when tapped. Termites leave the surface intact.
Deck posts set in dirt or siding buried by a garden bed. Not proof of termites, but a common way they reach the house.
Tubes, pellets and wings are the evidence. Sweeping them away before an inspection removes what it is and where it is.
Is it a termite or a flying ant?
Both swarm indoors in spring and both have wings. A phone camera shows three differences.
| Often mistaken for | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Waist | A termite is straight-sided. An ant has an obvious pinched waist. |
| Antennae | A termite’s are straight and beaded. An ant’s bend at an elbow. |
| Wings | A termite’s four wings are equal length and reach well past the body. An ant’s front wings are longer than its back wings. |
| Why it matters | Flying ants may mean a carpenter ant colony and a moisture problem. A termite swarm means a mature colony and a structural question. |
What does a termite inspector look at?
An inspection is a visual survey of what can be reached. That is why the inspection report is worded so carefully.
Mud tubes, soil height against siding, and anywhere wood meets soil.
Sills, band joists, piers, subfloor and any insulation hiding them.
Leaking hose bibs, condensate lines, failing gutters, downspouts that drain at the foundation, and damp crawl space soil.
Drywood termites can nest here, well away from the soil.
Expansion joints, bath traps, plumbing holes and slab cracks.
The report should list it. That list tells you as much as the findings.
How is termite treatment done?
The order is the same whatever the method. Companies differ in how much of step one they do before proposing step four.
Species, evidence, location and the conditions behind it, in writing. An inspection that does not name subterranean or drywood is not finished.
A sketch of the house showing where evidence was found and where treatment goes. Keep it. A second opinion and a future buyer’s inspector will both want it.
Break wood-to-soil contact, pull mulch back from siding, fix leaks, dry the crawl space. EPA tells you to ask a hired professional to find and correct the source before applying pesticides.
Trenching and rodding soil, drilling and injecting through slabs, installing bait stations, injecting infested wood, or tenting for widespread drywood. The method should follow from the species found.
It states the term, what triggers a retreatment, whether repair is included, what you must maintain, whether it transfers on sale, and the yearly renewal cost.
Bait stations only work if they are checked on schedule. Liquid treatments are checked yearly for breaks, such as new plumbing, a patio or a garden bed.
Which termite treatment is right for my house?
Five methods, and they are not interchangeable. A company that offers only one will propose only one.
| Method | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Liquid soil treatment | A continuous treated zone in the soil around and under the house. Needs trenching, and drilling wherever concrete covers soil. It protects the house rather than killing the colony. A gap is a way in. |
| Bait stations | Stations around the house, checked on a schedule. Termites carry the bait back to the colony. Slower, and aimed at the colony. Georgia requires the contract to warn that removing them may end protection. |
| Direct wood treatment | Borate or foam applied to reachable wood, usually during building work or for a small drywood job. It only reaches wood someone can get to. |
| Tenting (fumigation) | For widespread drywood that cannot be reached locally. You must leave the house. In Texas, structural fumigation is a separate license category from pest control. |
| Pre-construction treatment | Soil treated before the slab is poured. The easiest time it will ever be done. Ask your builder in writing. We found no state rule requiring it to be disclosed to buyers. |
What will be applied in and around my home?
Termite treatment puts more product into the ground, and sometimes under your floor, than most pest work. The label controls who may apply it, where, how, how much and how often.
Ask for the product name and EPA registration number before the crew arrives.
Ask where it will and will not be applied (soil trench, slab injection, wood) and have it marked on the graph.
Ask for the re-entry time, and whether it differs for children or pets.
Say if anyone is pregnant or has a breathing condition, or if there is a well, pond, vegetable bed or beehive. Each changes what may lawfully be used and where.
Ask whether drilling could hit a radiant heat line, a post-tension cable or a pipe, and who carries that risk.
A pesticide label is a legally enforceable document, not packaging copy: it is a violation of federal law to use a product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. The full explanation is on pesticide safety in the home.
Find a pest control company for termites
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyrePest reads your request and replies. Matching with pest control companies is not live yet, so this is not a quote.
What moves the price
Termite work is priced on the house, not the insect. The first-year price and the renewal are two purchases. Compare both, and run your own numbers in the termite treatment cost calculator.
| Factor | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|
| Foundation length | The basic unit for soil treatment. A long, angled footprint costs more than a compact one of the same floor area. |
| Construction type | A slab means drilling. A crawl space means access. A basement means depth. Each changes the hours. |
| Concrete to drill | Driveways, patios, porches and garage floors over the treated zone must be drilled, injected and patched. |
| Species and method | A drywood job may be a local injection or tenting the whole house. Those are very different jobs and licenses. |
| How widespread | Evidence at one pier costs less than tubes around the whole house. |
| Contract type | Retreatment and repair costs more than retreatment only, because it covers more. |
| Yearly renewal | Ask what the renewal costs now and whether it can rise. The term runs longer than the price you are quoted. |
| Your obligations | If the contract requires you to fix a leak or keep soil below the siding, failing to do it can void the cover. |
HyrePest publishes no average price for this work and holds no dataset of pest control invoices. Species, severity, construction, regional pressure and whether the job is sold as a one-off or a contract move the number far enough that a single figure would mislead.
Ask which contract you are being sold before you ask the price
Georgia requires a termite contract to carry one of two statements in heavy black borders.
One: “This contract provides for retreatment of a structure but does not provide for the repair of damages caused by wood destroying organisms.”
The other: “This contract provides for retreatment of a structure and the repair of damages caused by wood destroying organisms within the limits stated in this contract.” The rule binds Georgia companies.
Other states do not all require the wording, so ask which of the two your contract is.
What to ask before you sign
Which species did you find, and on what evidence?
Is this retreatment only, or retreatment and repair of damage?
What is the term, what does the yearly renewal cost today, and can you raise it?
Does the contract transfer if I sell, and is there a fee?
What must I maintain, and what voids the cover?
Who checks them, how often, and what happens if they are removed?
Where will you drill and trench, and what will be left untreated?
What is the product name, the EPA registration number and the re-entry time?
Will I get the graph and written findings before I decide?
What would make you say this house does not need treating right now?
What to have ready
To the crawl space hatch, the basement walls and the garage walls.
Off the floor along foundation walls, so the sill can be seen.
Where you found tubes, pellets or wings.
A past bond, an earlier WDI report or a builder’s pre-treatment certificate.
The well, septic field, vegetable beds and any beehive.
Whether it has post-tension cables or radiant heat, before anyone drills.
Where this goes wrong
A soil treatment around a house with drywood termites in the roof is the right work on the wrong problem.
Termite work is a first treatment plus a renewal that runs for years. The total over the whole term is what you agree to.
Many do not. Retreatment only means the company treats again, and the repair bill is yours.
Removing them, or letting a landscaper remove them, can end the protection. Georgia requires the contract to say so.
A new patio, French drain, garden bed or plumbing repair can cut through a soil treatment. Tell the company before the work.
It records what was visible on one day. North Carolina’s guide says it is not a warranty that no termites are present.
Your inquiry
Tell us about the work
Three short steps: the job, your home, and how to reach you. Nothing goes to a pest control company unless you agree.
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyrePest reads it and replies. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote or a dispatch line. For an active problem today, call local pest control companies directly and check their license first.
Find a Pest Control Company
Tell us what you have seen and where you are. A person at HyrePest reads it and replies about the next step.
Questions
How do I know if I have termites?
What is the difference between subterranean and drywood termites?
Is a bait system better than a liquid treatment?
What is a termite bond?
Do I need a termite inspection to buy a house?
How long does a termite treatment last?
Can I treat termites myself?
I had a swarm indoors. Is my house infested?
Written and audited by
HyrePest Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We are not a pest control company. We read the pesticide label rule, the agency guidance and the state board record ourselves, and publish each point with its source and the date we retrieved it.
Where a claim cannot be traced to a primary source, we leave it out and say so. We hold no dataset of pest control prices, so we publish no average price.
- 25
- primary-source pages (EPA, CDC, eCFR, state boards) behind the fact base
- 7
- common claims we checked, could not verify, and do not repeat
- 10
- calculators that use your numbers, not a national average
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- average prices published, because we hold no price data
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Label law comes from FIFRA and 40 CFR 156, safety guidance from EPA and CDC, licensing from the state board that issues the license. We do not cite an article that cites a source.
- Every figure carries its retrieval date. Agency pages and board rules change. A statement without the date it was read cannot be checked.
- Identify before treating. We describe what separates one pest from another and what a good inspection looks at. We never diagnose a species from a description, and we never give pesticide application instructions.
- What we could not verify is published too. Claims that circulate widely but trace to no current primary source are listed and left out of the pages.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
Information on this page is general and varies by species, region, construction and your own circumstances. It is not pesticide application advice, and a pesticide label is a legally binding instruction that takes precedence over anything written here.
HyrePest is not a pest control company: we inspect nothing, treat nothing, apply no pesticide and bond no structure. This page explains the work so you can read a proposal and judge the company that wrote it.