Termite inspection cost dataset

Four products, one name

The free row is in this dataset on purpose, priced at zero and flagged in the report column, because leaving it out would be the dishonest choice. A free termite inspection is a sales visit — partial rather than useless, since the person deciding whether you have termites is the one who gets paid if you do. What the paid rows buy is the second column: a report on a standard form with a licensed inspector’s signature on it, which is what a lender or a buyer wants and what cannot be given away, because somebody carries the liability for what it says.

What actually decides the bill

⚠️ This is a finding rather than a preamble, and it corrected the first draft of this model, which claimed access was decisive. Measured: the spread across the four products is $412; across every kind of access it is $54; and between a 1,000 and a 4,000 square foot house it is $47. Access and size are real and secondary. What access genuinely changes is what the report can promise: on a slab there is nothing to get underneath, so a clean report means what could be seen was clean — a narrower claim than it sounds. And a crawl space is a confined space with restricted entry and poor ventilation: OSHA, Confined spaces (retrieved 2026-08-25). An inspector who will not go under the house has not inspected it; one who goes under alone is doing it wrong.

Looking against treating

All from models on this site at the same wage data. The inspection is 14% of the cheapest treatment, so 7 of them fit inside one soil barrier — and it is the step that decides which treatment is needed at all, which matters more here than in most trades: a soil barrier does nothing to drywood termites and fumigation does nothing to a subterranean colony — EPA, Termites: how to identify and control them (retrieved 2026-08-25). ⚠️ And a third figure on neither list: replacing the timber they have eaten, which is carpentry and which American homeowners policies generally treat as deterioration rather than sudden accidental damage. Your policy and your state decide that, not us — but it is why $220 for a second opinion from somebody with no treatment to sell is the best-value line in this dataset after a free inspection has produced a large quote.

Line items

67% of the reference total comes from estimated rather than official figures. The reference job is a signed wood-destroying insect report on a 2,000 square foot house with a crawl space you can move in, one outbuilding, sounding and moisture readings included: 2.3 trade hours. Products that are not selected sit at zero quantity, so the table below is all four rather than one job.

The reasoning behind each figure

Inspection fee — Annual check under an existing bondestimated, ±50%

• The yearly look that comes with a warranty, usually already paid for in the renewal. It is a check that the treated zone is still intact and that nothing new has come up — quick, and worth being present for so you hear what they actually found.
• The fee covers turning up, the equipment and the administration. Time on site is the separate line below, so a bigger or more awkward house costs more without this figure moving.

Annual check under an existing bond — time on site

• Modelled at 0.8 hours for a 2,000 square foot house with an easy crawl space. Half of that is fixed and half scales with floor area, because getting there, getting under and getting out costs the same on a small house as on a large one.
• ⚠️ Multiplied by the access factor, which is what actually decides this bill: a tight crawl space is 45% more than one you can move in, and a slab is less than either — not because it is a better inspection, but because there is nothing under it to inspect.
• Rate from BLS wage data for pest control workers. A wood-destroying insect report is signed by a licensed inspector, which is a trade with a certification behind it rather than a pair of eyes.

Inspection fee — Signed wood-destroying insect report for a saleestimated, ±42%

• ⚠️ The reason most people search this. A lender or a buyer wants a report on a standard form, signed by a licensed inspector who is putting their name to it. That signature is what you are paying for, and it is why this one cannot be free: somebody carries the liability for what it says.
• The fee covers turning up, the equipment and the administration. Time on site is the separate line below, so a bigger or more awkward house costs more without this figure moving.

Signed wood-destroying insect report for a sale — time on site

• Modelled at 1.6 hours for a 2,000 square foot house with an easy crawl space. Half of that is fixed and half scales with floor area, because getting there, getting under and getting out costs the same on a small house as on a large one.
• ⚠️ Multiplied by the access factor, which is what actually decides this bill: a tight crawl space is 45% more than one you can move in, and a slab is less than either — not because it is a better inspection, but because there is nothing under it to inspect.
• Rate from BLS wage data for pest control workers. A wood-destroying insect report is signed by a licensed inspector, which is a trade with a certification behind it rather than a pair of eyes.

Inspection fee — Full wood-destroying organism survey with moisture readingsestimated, ±41%

• The thorough version: termites, but also carpenter ants, powderpost beetles, wood rot and the moisture conditions that invite all of them, with meter readings and photographs. It is the one to buy on an older house you are about to commit to, and it finds the things that are not insects at all.
• The fee covers turning up, the equipment and the administration. Time on site is the separate line below, so a bigger or more awkward house costs more without this figure moving.

Full wood-destroying organism survey with moisture readings — time on site

• Modelled at 2.8 hours for a 2,000 square foot house with an easy crawl space. Half of that is fixed and half scales with floor area, because getting there, getting under and getting out costs the same on a small house as on a large one.
• ⚠️ Multiplied by the access factor, which is what actually decides this bill: a tight crawl space is 45% more than one you can move in, and a slab is less than either — not because it is a better inspection, but because there is nothing under it to inspect.
• Rate from BLS wage data for pest control workers. A wood-destroying insect report is signed by a licensed inspector, which is a trade with a certification behind it rather than a pair of eyes.

Sounding and probing the accessible timberestimated, ±54%

• ⚠️ The difference between an inspection and a look, and it costs almost nothing. Termite-damaged timber looks perfectly sound from outside because they eat it from the inside out: what gives it away is that it sounds hollow when it is tapped and a screwdriver goes into it.
• It leaves small marks in the wood, which is why some inspectors avoid doing it in a finished room and why it is worth asking for explicitly in a crawl space and an attic, where nobody will ever see them.

Sounding and probing — labour

• Modelled at 0.7 hours, multiplied by the access factor because most of it happens lying down under the house.

Moisture readings and the conditions reportestimated, ±56%

• Meter readings at the sill, the piers, under the bathrooms and anywhere the ground is close to the timber, written up with what is causing them.
• ⚠️ This is the part of the report worth reading twice, because it is the part that predicts. Subterranean termites need moisture, so damp framing is not a separate problem from termites — it is the invitation. Fixing a downpipe that discharges at the foundation is the cheapest termite control there is.

Attached porches, garages and outbuildingsestimated, ±55%

• Each structure with its own foundation and its own soil contact is another perimeter to walk and another place they can be. A detached garage is frequently where an infestation is found first, because nobody looks in it.
• ⚠️ Worth checking whether a report covers them: a wood-destroying insect report written for the dwelling only, on a property with three outbuildings, is a narrower document than it looks.

Second opinion from an inspector who does not sell treatmentestimated, ±50%

• ⚠️ The single most useful line on this page when a free inspection has just produced a four-figure quote. An inspector with no treatment to sell has no stake in the answer, and this is one of the few trades where that separation can actually be bought.
• It is worth it on a big quote and a waste on a small one. Sensible rule: if the treatment quote is more than about ten times this line, it has paid for itself the moment it disagrees.

Not included in this dataset

Treating anything that is found

An inspection tells you what is there. Our termite treatment page prices dealing with it, and the whole argument for paying for an inspection rather than accepting a free one is that it tells you which treatment you actually need — the species decides the method, and the wrong method does nothing at all.

Repairing the damage

⚠️ Not priced here and not priced by the treatment either. Replacing a hollowed-out sill plate or a run of joists is carpentry, and what it costs depends on what has to be opened up to reach it. It is the expensive end of this whole subject and it is the reason the cheap end exists.

What is under a slab, or behind a finished wall

⚠️ The honest limit of the product. An inspection covers what is accessible and visible, and on a slab house a great deal is neither. A clean report says that what could be seen was clean, which is a smaller statement than most people hear — and it is why the moisture readings and the conditions matter as much as the findings.

What your insurance will pay

⚠️ Asked on both of our termite pages. American homeowners policies distinguish sudden accidental damage from deterioration and lack of maintenance, and a years-old infestation falls on the second side of that in practically all of them. Your policy and your state decide it and we do not advise on insurance — but the consequence is worth saying: the downside here is uninsured, which is precisely what makes looking early worth the money.

Any promise about the future

An inspection is a photograph of one day. A bond bought from a treatment company is the thing that carries forward, and those come in two flavours that are easy to confuse: retreatment cover pays to treat again, repair cover also pays for the damage. Which one is being offered is the question to ask, and it is priced on our treatment page.