When choosing a termite inspector, asking the question, “How long does a termite inspection take?”, is a very smart move. To carry out a professional and comprehensive termite inspection, it’s important not to rush. So, an experienced termite inspector will take their time to carry out the inspection. Whereas a longer inspection doesn’t necessarily mean a better inspection, you certainly cannot get a thorough inspection with a quick inspection.
Here are the key factors that influence how long a termite inspection should take…
5 factors that can affect the price of a termite inspection:
- Size of the building
Clearly the bigger the house, the longer the inspection should take. Each room needs to be inspected in turn, so the more rooms and the bigger the rooms, the longer the inspection will take.
The length of the external perimeter needs to be inspected. So, in that regard, a single story house will take longer to inspect than double story house of the same size.
- Type of construction
The type of construction has a big impact on the time taken to carry out an inspection. If the house is built on piers there is a sub-floor to inspect, and so it will take significantly longer to inspect than a home build on a concrete slab (without a sub-floor). As you can imagine, crawling through a sub-floor inspecting every timber in turn, takes some time… and it’s important to be very thorough in sub-floors, as that is often the main route of termite entry.
Similarly, it takes time to crawl through a roof void to inspect all the timbers. So, the larger the roof void, the longer the inspection will take.
- Size of the property
The size of the property, not just the size of the building, is also important. In a termite inspection, the inspector needs to inspect land within the property boundaries up to 50 m from the main building. The inspector needs to inspect any outbuildings, fences, retaining walls, trees and tree stumps. Depending on the size of the property, this can take quite a while.
Often it is necessary to check drill large trees to determine if there is a termite nest inside the tree trunk, although this is typically an additional charge.
- Experience and skill of the termite inspector
As with anything, generally the better the service or product, the more it costs. It’s no different with termite inspectors. If you want the best inspectors, with all their knowledge and experience, it will typically cost a bit more. If the inspection is using specialist equipment such as thermal cameras, there may also be an additional fee.
- Insurance
Any pest control company offering termite inspections and termite treatments as services need to have the appropriate licenses and insurance. The insurance is quite expensive, and it is there both to protect the inspector and the customer. Unfortunately, some of the less scrupulous in the industry provide these services without the appropriate insurance and will often offer the cheapest prices. Always ask to see insurance certificates to make sure you are protected.
Definitely asking questions around how long an inspection will take will help you in making a good choice on which termite inspector to use. But the checklist above can also be used in making sure the inspector does a thorough job when on site.
Here at Rebel Pest Professionals, we typically take 1.5-2 hours to carry out a termite inspection on an average house, but this may increase to 3 hrs or more on a large property.
It is also worth asking the same questions if you are booking an inspector to carry out a pre-purchase pest inspection on a property you are interested in buying. In many ways it is even more important, as often the real estate agent will put pressure on the inspector to carry out the inspection quickly…. and when you’re making a decision on buying a house, you definitely want a comprehensive inspection.