Why twelve months

Annual timber pest inspections are strongly recommended for Australian homeowners, and AS 4349.3 covers routine inspections as well as pre-purchase ones. The reasoning is simple: termite activity develops over months, not years, and the earlier it is identified the smaller the scope of any damage.

It also matters for a reason owners rarely consider. Where a property has a termite management system installed, that system typically requires periodic inspection to remain effective and to keep any warranty attached to that system in place. Skipping inspections can quietly undo protection that has already been paid for.

When more often makes sense

The interval should reflect the risk at the specific property, not a generic rule. In our own Gold Coast inspections, the properties where live termites and damage actually turn up share a recognisable profile.

  • Older established detached houses. Live termite activity in our inspections has overwhelmingly turned up in older standalone houses rather than units or townhouses, and typically in the yard before the building.
  • Properties with tree stumps, timber retaining walls, garden sleepers or timber boundary fences near the building. This is where activity shows up first, and it is the single most overlooked check an owner can do themselves.
  • Properties with a subfloor that stays damp, or with drainage that directs water toward the building rather than away from it.
  • Properties with no visible durable notice, where a termite management system cannot be confirmed.
  • Properties where activity or damage has been found previously.

What changes between one inspection and the next

More than owners expect. A garden bed built up against the slab edge, a new deck, a retaining wall, mulch piled against the wall line, a leaking flexi hose under a vanity, a blocked downpipe discharging beside the footings — each of these creates a conducive condition that did not exist at the last inspection. None of them look like a termite problem. All of them make one more likely.

This is also why a clear result last year says little about this year. It was accurate on the day. It was not a forecast.

What about units and apartments?

Lower risk, but not zero. In our own inspections, strata properties have been far less affected than standalone houses — but not immune, and conducive conditions are present in units just as they are in houses, most often through wet areas and balcony planters. An owner-occupier in a ground-floor or low-rise unit is worth inspecting routinely; a high-rise apartment is a lower priority.

More on this in our article on termite risk in ground-floor units.

Booking a routine inspection

A routine timber pest inspection is a standalone service — you do not need to be buying or selling. See annual building and pest inspections on the Gold Coast for what is involved.