Pest Inspection

Two different inspections

A general pest inspection looks for the pests that make a building unpleasant to live in: ants, roaches, rodents, wasps. It is diagnostic, it usually leads to a treatment plan, and no lender asks for it.

A wood-destroying pest inspection looks for the organisms that make a building structurally unsound: termites, powder-post beetles, oldhouse borers, and in most states wood-decay fungi. It produces a written report on a form the state prescribes, and it is the one that appears in property transactions.

The licensing differs too. Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services licenses pest control businesses in categories, with termite and other wood-destroying organisms, general household pest, lawn and ornamental, and fumigation recorded separately. Texas records a termite category against a business licence independently of its general pest category.

Why this site focuses on the second kind

Because that is where a licence record actually means something. Termite work is separately categorised in both Florida and Texas.

Many companies do general pest work too, and some also handle fumigation, which matters if the problem turns out to be drywood termites and the structure needs tenting. Treat that as something to ask about directly.

Which do you need?

If you have found frass, mud tubes, discarded wings, or hollow-sounding wood, you want the wood-destroying-pest inspection. If a lender, buyer or escrow has asked for a report, you certainly do, and in Florida it will be on the form FDACS prescribes. See what a WDO inspection covers.