Termites cause over $1.5 billion of damage a year, and your home insurance almost certainly excludes it. That single fact turns a $300 inspection from a nice-to-have into the cheapest protection you can buy. What the standards mean, and how often to check.
A termite inspection is one of those purchases that feels optional right up until it isn't. The case for it rests on a single, under-appreciated fact: termite damage is the one thing your home insurance almost certainly will not cover. That changes the maths completely.
Most Australian home-insurance policies specifically exclude damage caused by termites, vermin and insects. So when termites get into a home, the owner pays for the repair, all of it. With termites causing more than $1.5 billion of damage a year, and most of it hidden until it is structural, an inspection stops being a nice-to-have and becomes the only protection actually available to you.
Because no insurer carries the risk of termite damage, you do. An inspection and, if needed, a barrier are simply how you carry that risk sensibly, instead of hoping.
A proper timber-pest inspection is done to AS 4349.3 and produces a written report. It covers the interior, exterior, roof void and sub-floor, takes moisture readings, and records active termites, past damage, and the conditions that invite them, things like timber-to-ground contact, poor drainage and excess moisture. Crucially, it lists any areas that could not be fully accessed, rather than pretending they were checked.
An inspection (around $250 to $500) is not the same as a barrier (around $3,000 to $5,000). The inspection tells you whether you need protection at all. A good operator inspects first and only then talks treatment; anyone quoting a barrier over the phone, before looking, has it backwards. And whatever you do, do not disturb active termites yourself, leave them for the inspection.
We will never sell you a termite job with a scare. The facts do the work: insurance excludes it, the damage is expensive and hidden, and an annual inspection is the cheapest way to stay ahead of it. If an inspection shows you do not need a barrier, that is the result we are happy to report.