Louisiana pest control license: phases LP1 to LP6, technician registration and business permit
What license do you need to do pest control in Louisiana?
Louisiana requires an individual structural pest control operator's license from the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, earned by passing a $50 exam in each phase you work in, from six numbered phases: LP1 (general pest control), LP2 (commercial vertebrate control), LP3 (termite control), LP4 (structural fumigation), LP5 (ship fumigation) and LP6 (commodity fumigation). The company also needs a Place of Business Permit, and every technician must register within 30 days of hire.
Louisiana organizes its structural pest control license into six phases, coded LP1 to LP6. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) administers all six, each covering a defined slice of structural pest control work, and the Structural Pest Control Commission reviews applications at quarterly public meetings before an applicant may sit the exam. The credential is individual: the operator earns it, the company holds a separate Place of Business Permit, and every technician registers within 30 days of hire.
Who is telling you this, and why: Fieldwynn is a field-service app for small pest-control crews, we are building it, and it has not launched. The next step at the foot of this page is an early-access email ask, not a purchase. Read the page as a funnel rather than a disinterested verdict. Every Louisiana figure below is quoted from an LDAF page or form and linked back to it, which is the part that holds whoever ends up running your route.
The six phases
LDAF requires an individual to be licensed to control pests and fumigate structures, and the license is organized into six numbered phases.
| Phase | What it covers | Eligibility note |
|---|---|---|
| LP1 | General pest control: household pests and rodents or vertebrates in households | Standard eligibility (see below) |
| LP2 | Commercial vertebrate control: rodents and other vertebrates at businesses | Standard eligibility |
| LP3 | Termite control: termites and other wood-destroying organisms | Standard eligibility, plus Commission-approved termite program |
| LP4 | Structural fumigation: fumigating structures | Standard eligibility plus 30 completed jobs under a structural fumigation licensee |
| LP5 | Ship fumigation: fumigating on ships | Standard eligibility plus 200 completed jobs under a ship fumigation licensee |
| LP6 | Commodity fumigation: keep food-based products and other commodities safe from pests | Standard eligibility |
The legislature declared the Formosan termite a public nuisance under R.S. 3:3391.2, and LP3 is the phase that authorizes termite treatment. The termite swarm season calendar maps swarm months by species and state from university extension pages, which is the operational calendar for staffing the inspection schedule and timing the marketing spend. The termite and WDO treatment hub covers the sizing arithmetic on trench gallons and bait stations once you hold the license; LP3 is the gate, not the instruction.
If you want the federal layer underneath all of this first, the national pesticide applicator license hub owns and sources the EPA rules; come back here for what Louisiana adds on top. Mississippi, Louisiana’s eastern neighbor, runs licensing through the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC) but organizes it as four credentials (company license, operator license, permit and registered technician ID) rather than numbered phases, charges no application fee and sets a 36-month license term. For any other state, look up your state’s pest control regulator instead of assuming Louisiana’s phase system applies.
Four routes to sitting the exam
LDAF publishes four eligibility routes: two by degree and two by four years of experience within the last six.
- Entomology degree. A degree from an accredited four-year college or university with a major in entomology. No experience required.
- Degree plus experience. A degree from an accredited four-year college or university with at least 12 semester hours of coursework in entomology, plus at least one year of experience within the last six years as a registered technician under a licensee.
- Experience under a Louisiana licensee. Four years of experience within the last six years as a registered technician under the supervision of a licensee in the phase for which the applicant wants to take the examination.
- Out-of-state experience. Four years of experience within the last six years as a technician under the supervision of a structural pest control operator in another state, substantiated by evidence acceptable to the Commission.
Two phases layer an additional requirement on top of whichever route you use. For a structural fumigation license (LP4), you must have completed 30 jobs in structural fumigation working under the supervision of a licensee in structural fumigation. For a ship fumigation license (LP5), the count is 200 jobs under a ship fumigation licensee. Those job counts are not alternatives to the qualification; they sit on top of it.
The Commission, the exam and the termite gate
The licensing steps are: submit the application at least 30 days before the next quarterly meeting of the Structural Pest Control Commission, which reviews all license applications at its quarterly public meetings and notifies applicants of the decision in writing; study the exam summary LDAF publishes for each phase (LP1 through LP6, plus a General Standards summary); schedule the exam after Commission approval; pay the $50 per-phase exam fee on the day of the test; and pass it.
LP3 (termite control) adds a requirement: the applicant must also complete a Commission-approved comprehensive termite program before sitting the exam.
Since November 2025, in-person testing is only at the LDAF Main Office in Baton Rouge, plus remote testing through an online vendor. District office testing ended on 15 October 2025. The online vendor (Everblue) carries an additional fee beyond the $50 LDAF charges.
One number this page will not print is a pass mark for the exam. LDAF does not publish one on its licensing page, and a plausible-looking percentage invented here would be worse than no figure at all. Ask the Structural Pest Control Program at (225) 925-3763.
Place of Business Permit: fees, insurance and bond
A licensed operator is a person. Operating a structural pest control business requires a separate Place of Business Permit from LDAF, renewed annually. Permits expire on June 30.
| LDAF fee or requirement | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Place of Business Permit (2 or fewer employees) | $150 | Annual, expiring June 30 |
| Place of Business Permit (3 or more employees) | $200 | Annual, expiring June 30 |
| Licensed operator, per phase | $10 per phase | Per operator listed on the permit |
| Technician or salesperson | $25 per technician | Per technician listed on the permit |
| Operator exam fee | $50 per phase | Submitted on the day of the exam |
| Technician exam fee | $25 | At registration |
| Technician registration processing | $25 | At registration |
| Technician change of employment or duplicate card | $10 | When changing employers or replacing a card |
| Insurance: public/general liability per occurrence | $250,000 minimum | Continuous, per La. R.S. 3:3367(C) |
| Insurance: property damage | $100,000 minimum | Continuous, per La. R.S. 3:3367(C) |
| Insurance: combined single limit (alternative) | $350,000 | In lieu of the split above |
| Surety or fidelity bond | $2,000 minimum | Continuous, per La. R.S. 3:3367(C) |
On insurance, Louisiana names its floor. LDAF’s Certificate of Insurance form (AES-23-35) states that La. R.S. 3:3367(C) requires not less than $250,000 public/general liability coverage per accident/occurrence, not less than $100,000 for property damage, or combined single limits of $350,000. That is the number the state checks; your actual premium depends on your carrier, revenue and the work you take, and the certificate of insurance your agent issues is the document that proves it to LDAF and to commercial customers alike. The pest control business insurance guide covers the other coverages a pest business carries.
On bond, LDAF’s Bond Reporting Verification form (AES-23-36) sets the floor at $2,000 surety or fidelity, with 10 days’ written notice to the Structural Pest Control Commission before any cancellation or replacement.
Technician registration: the 30/90/180 timeline
Technicians are not licensed; they are registered under a licensee. The timeline is strict: registration is required within 30 days of employment. The licensee or the permitted business submits the technician registration certificate application.
After registration, the technician must pass the exam within 90 days of employment. If they fail, they may work for another 90 days while retaking it. If they have not passed within 180 days after employment, they cannot work as a registered technician until they do. The technician exam fee is $25, and the administration processing of registration fee is a separate $25.
The company must send a termination notice to the department within five working days when a technician leaves.
Study guides for the technician exam and Wood Destroying Insect Report (WDIR) training are available through the Louisiana Pest Management Association (LPMA).
Two recertification clocks
Licensees and technicians renew on different cycles, and conflating the two is a common mistake.
Licensees recertify every three years by attending an approved recertification program. The deadline is December 31 of the year preceding the third anniversary of either the original certification or the most recent recertification.
Technicians recertify annually, between January 1 and December 31. Each program must be a minimum of four hours, with at least one hour per category in which the technician is registered.
Where the paperwork ends and the label begins
Notice what this page has covered and what it has not. It has covered who may operate a structural pest control business in Louisiana, under which phases, at what fee, on which renewal clock, and what insurance and bond the state requires. It has said nothing about what goes in a tank. That boundary is deliberate: the product label carries the force of law, and what you apply, at what rate, and with what handling, storage and re-entry precautions is set by that label and by the training behind your certification.
When you are ready to run the licensed route, scheduling, recurring billing, customer records, and the certification and permit renewal dates you cannot afford to let lapse: Fieldwynn is the field-service app we are building to carry that back-office load for a small crew. It has not launched, so the next step below is an early-access email ask, and the calculators and the licensing facts stay free either way.