Termite Inspections in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie
A termite inspection from Benefit Pest Management covers the whole property: subfloor, roof void, interior, exterior, the fence line and trees close to the house. Thermal imaging and moisture detection are included as standard rather than charged as extras. We work across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter, and you get a written report setting out what we found and what to do about it. Our head technician holds licence 5083379.
We get back to every enquiry within one business day.
Termite workings inside a wall cavity, opened up on one of our jobs.
5083379
NSW EPA licencePest management technician
What a termite inspection covers
The inspection is a walk over the whole property, not just the rooms you are worried about.
Inside, we carry out a visual inspection of every accessible room. That means the wet areas, the skirtings and the architraves. We tap and probe any timber that looks suspect. Outside, we work around the full perimeter looking at the slab edge, the weep holes, the piers and any point where timber meets soil. Then the two places most people never see: the subfloor and the roof void. Most issues turn up in one of those two.
Beyond the building we look at the fence line, sleepers, stumps, stored timber and any tree within about a hundred metres. A nest in a tree at the back of the block is often the source of the problem in the house. Skip the yard and you can miss it completely.
Not to scale. Six areas, walked in this order. Most issues turn up in 3 and 4.
Every accessible room: the wet areas, the skirtings and the architraves. Suspect timber gets tapped and probed.
The full perimeter: slab edge, weep holes, piers and any point where timber meets soil.
One of the two places most people never see.
The other one.
Sleepers, stumps and stored timber included.
A nest at the back of the block is often the source of the problem in the house.
Every one of those goes into the report as a limitation. Leaving them out quietly is how a house gets passed as clear when nobody actually looked.
Thermal imaging and
moisture detection, included
Both come as part of the inspection. Working without them means missing things.
The readingA moisture signature on the thermal camera, on a wall that looked perfectly normal.
The spot worth opening upWorkings packed behind a wall sheet, on one of our jobs.
A thermal camera reads surface temperature. Active termites generate heat and hold moisture, so a working nest behind a wall sheet often shows as a warm patch on a wall that looks perfectly normal.
A moisture meter does the other half of the job, finding the damp that draws termites in before there are any termites to find.
Neither tool sees through walls, and anyone telling you otherwise is overselling. What they do is point us at the spots worth opening up, which is the difference between a thorough inspection and a walk-around.
We were called for a second opinion by a woman about a year out from retiring, after another company had inspected her house and told her everything was fine. She did not believe the answer. We found roughly $80,000 of damage. She refinanced, and by her own estimate she will work about another six years to cover it.
A thorough inspection costs a fraction of a repair like that. That is the whole argument for doing it properly.
What's in the report, and why your builder can use it
Most termite reports say “activity present: yes”. A box ticked, and it leaves you paying somebody else to work out what it means.
Ours does not do that. So if there are active termites in a subfloor, the report does not stop at recording the fact. It says where they are, which wall they are running along, what is feeding them, and what the next tradesperson needs to do about it. If the cause is drainage, we write what kind of drainage work fixes it, so that when you ring a plumber they are quoting on a defined job rather than starting from scratch.
This is the part that saves money. The next person through does not have to redo the diagnostic work, because the relevant information is already written down.
Half of what ends up in these reports is not our work at all. We write it anyway, because it is your house and you should know.
“I received great communication from first contact and Nathan arrived promptly for the inspection. I felt that he went above and beyond, really taking the time to be thorough and provide so much helpful information and recommendations throughout the inspection, additional to the comprehensive report we received.”
Most reports
Activity present✓Yes
Ours
ActivityActive termites located
WhereSubfloor, under the kitchen, along the adjacent wall
Feeding onMoisture from the drainage at that wall
Who to ringA plumber
Quoting onThe drainage work that fixes it, written out as a defined job
An illustration of the shape our reports take, not a customer report. The detail is written for your house.
What a termite inspection costs, and what changes it
We quote before we start, always, and there is no call-out fee for the quote or for the advice that comes with it.
The price is not the same for every house, because the work is not the same. What moves it:
What does not change the price is the tooling. Thermal imaging and moisture detection are in every termite inspection we do.
Ring us with the address and roughly when the house was built and we can usually give you a number on the phone.
01
Size and layout
A large single-storey home on a big block takes longer than a small unit
02
Access
A subfloor you can crawl through is straightforward. One with 400mm of clearance and a pier every metre is not
03
Construction
Rendered slab edges, sheeted walls and split levels all add time, because more has to be checked indirectly
04
What is already known
A property with a history of activity, or a treatment that needs verifying, needs more attention than a routine annual check
05
Distance
We book geographically, furthest job first and work back, so where you sit in a run can affect it
90
Minutes
About that, for a standard house
How long it takes
About ninety minutes for a standard house, and we would rather quote you ninety minutes and take it than quote forty and rush.
The report follows afterwards, along with the invoice.
How often should you get a termite inspection?
Every twelve months, and sooner in a few situations.
AS 3660.2, the Australian Standard covering termite management in existing buildings, puts the maximum interval at twelve months. Shorten it for an older house, a history of activity, a bush block, or a subfloor that is hard to inspect properly. Those conditions all mean a colony can be established for longer before anyone notices.
Sooner, if
Last inspectionOr the day you moved in
12 monthsThe maximum, AS 3660.2
Shorten it for
- An older house
- A history of activity
- A bush block
- A subfloor that is hard to inspect properly
Got a baiting system in?
Monitoring runs on its own cycle and the annual inspection still happens on top of it. They answer different questions.
Buying rather than maintaining?
Different inspection, different report.
Termite inspections across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie
We inspect right across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, north through the Hunter Valley and up into the Upper Hunter, east to the coast, and south onto the Central Coast.
Days are booked geographically. The furthest job goes first and we work our way back, which is how a property two hours out still gets a proper inspection rather than a rushed one at the end of a run. If you are not sure whether you are in range, ring and ask. The full list is on our service areas page.
- 1The furthest job goes firstTwo hours out gets a proper inspection, not a rushed one at the end of a run.
- 2Then we work our way backEach job closer to base than the last.
- 3Not sure you are in range?Ring and ask.
- CoreNewcastle and Lake Macquarie
- NorthThe Hunter Valley and the Upper Hunter
- EastThe coast
- SouthThe Central Coast
What happens if we find something
You get told on the day, before we leave, in plain terms. Nobody should be waiting on an email to find out whether their house has termites.
THEN The written report follows with the detail: species, location, extent, what is driving it, and the options.
NEXT What happens next depends on what we found. Active workings in the building need dealing with before anything longer-term goes in. A colony in a tree at the back of the block is a different job again.
OPTIONS Set out on termite treatment and termite baiting systems.
THEN You get a report saying that too, along with the conducive conditions worth fixing before the next one.
WORTH IT That is not a wasted inspection. You were hoping for exactly that result, and now you have it in writing with a date on it.
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Straight answers
Common questions about termite inspections
Do I need to be home?
Not for the whole inspection, but somebody needs to let us into the house, the subfloor and the roof space. Most people stay and ask questions as we go, which we would rather than not.
Will you need to get into the roof void and the subfloor?
Yes, wherever there is safe access, because that is where most activity is found. Where access is blocked or unsafe we note it in the report as an area not inspected, rather than passing the house as clear.
What if you don't find anything?
You still get the full written report, including the conducive conditions worth sorting before the next inspection. Knowing the house is clear on a given date is worth having, particularly if you are about to renovate or sell.
Is a termite inspection the same as a pre-purchase inspection?
No. A pre-purchase timber pest inspection is written for a buyer making a decision under a deadline, and it covers all timber pests rather than termites alone. It is a separate service on pre-purchase pest inspections.
Do you inspect units and townhouses?
Yes, though what we can access is narrower in a strata property, since common areas and neighbouring subfloors are usually outside what one owner can authorise. We note the boundary of the inspection in the report.
How much notice do you need?
Depends on the season. Routine bookings are usually a week or two out; through the summer peak it runs longer, sometimes a month or more. Where there are active termites in a building we prioritise it, so ring rather than filling in the form.
The next step
Book your inspection
Termites do not wait for a convenient month. If your last inspection is more than twelve months back, or something has caught your eye, get it looked at now rather than after the repair quote.
Prefer not to ring? Use the form and we will call you back.
A probe test on a hardwood bearer, during one of our inspections. Timber that gives like this has almost nothing left inside it.