Termite Inspection Pricing Calculator (Australia): annual and pre-purchase
Price an Australian termite inspection in AUD by the square metre: regular AS 3660.2 or pre-purchase AS 4349.3, subfloor, roof void, extra tests and GST.
How this is calculated
The fee is a straight build-up from time you enter, ex GST, with GST added once at the end. Three things behave deliberately: on-site time is per inspector and crew size multiplies it while the report is written once; thermal and radar scans are priced flat while their hours are still counted; and the drive lands in full in your cost but only the share you bill lands in the charge.
areaHours = (areaM² ÷ 100) × walkMinutes ÷ 60
onSite = fixed + areaHours + subfloor + roofVoid + outbuildings × each
crewHours = onSite × crewSize + reportHours
testHours = thermalHours + radarHours (paid, never billed hourly)
driveCrew = driveHours × crewSize
buildUp = (crewHours + billedDrive) × rate + thermal + radar + addOns
rush = buildUp × rushPct
discount = (buildUp + rush) × accountDiscountPct
fee = max(buildUp + rush − discount, minimumFee) ex GST
customer = fee × (1 + GST) (GST = 0 if not registered)
annual = fee × inspectionsPerYear (regular product only)
cost = (crewHours + testHours + driveCrew) × costRate
hoursPerJob = onSite + reportHours + testHours + driveHours
jobsPerDay = floor(bookableHours ÷ hoursPerJob)Worked example, regular inspection. These are example inputs, not Australian market rates. A 200 m² house at 15 minutes per 100 m² is half an hour of walking. Add half an hour of fixed on-site time, half an hour in the subfloor, a quarter-hour roof void and a quarter-hour shed, and the visit is 2 hours for one inspector. A half-hour report makes 2.5 billable crew-hours, and at a $120 charge-out rate that is a $300 fee ex GST, $330 inc GST. The half-hour round trip is unbilled but paid, so the job consumes 3 hours and returns $100 per paid hour; an 8-hour day holds two of them.
Worked example, pre-purchase. Same building, the 0.75-hour pre-purchase report seed and a $90 thermal scan taking half an hour: 2.75 billable crew-hours make $330, plus $90 for the scan, so $420 ex GST, $462 inc GST, returning $112 per paid hour across 3.75 hours.
What the standards are, and what this page does not say about them. The regular inspection sits under AS 3660.2:2017, Termite management, Part 2: In and around existing buildings and structures, which the Standards Australia store lists as current. The pre-purchase inspection sits under AS 4349.3-2010, Inspection of buildings, Part 3: Timber pest inspections, which the store lists as pending revision. Both are paywalled, so this page cites their titles only. It does not state an inspection interval, what either report must contain, or whether a thermal or radar scan is required, recommended or neither. Those are clause-level questions, and asserting one without the document would be inventing it.
No fee presets anywhere. Every currency field starts empty. The only pre-filled numbers are the walk rate, the fixed on-site, subfloor, roof-void, outbuilding and report times, the example 200 m² floor, half-hour round trip and crew of one, and a placeholder cadence of one inspection a year, which is your product, not an interval from the standard. Every one sits in an editable box. They say only that a subfloor takes longer than a slab; how much longer is your number.
Everything runs in your browser. No account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent.
Why this is a separate page, not the WDO calculator in dollars
The WDO termite inspection pricing calculator prices the same kind of job, but “WDO” means nothing to an Australian customer, and the structure of what you sell is different. This page changes the parts that change an input or an output, not just a label.
It works in square metres, with a sq ft toggle for anyone who thinks in it, and a walk rate per 100 m². It prices two products separately: the regular termite inspection of an existing building, and the pre-purchase timber pest inspection a buyer orders before committing to the purchase. It treats thermal imaging and termite radar as separately priced add-ons whose time is still counted. And it puts GST on as a line, with the headline showing what the customer pays.
What it keeps is the parent’s honesty about where the money goes. The walk scales with the floor area. The subfloor does not: a suspended floor costs time a slab never does. The report is written after you leave, which is why it falls out of a fee quoted over the phone. And the drive is paid whether or not you bill it.
Two products, two standards, titles only
The regular inspection sits under AS 3660.2:2017, Termite management, Part 2: In and around existing buildings and structures, which the Standards Australia store lists as current. The pre-purchase inspection sits under AS 4349.3-2010, Inspection of buildings, Part 3: Timber pest inspections, which the store lists as pending revision.
Both documents are paywalled, so this page cites their store titles and nothing else. It deliberately does not state how often a building should be inspected, what either report must contain, or whether a thermal or radar scan is required, recommended or neither. Those are clause-level answers, and printing one without the document in hand would be inventing it. The product toggle changes the seeded report time and the labels, and switches the yearly agreement off for pre-purchase.
If you sell the regular inspection on a yearly agreement, enter how many inspections a year you are selling and the tool values the agreement. That number is your product, not a figure from the standard. For pricing the warranty-style cover that sometimes rides on an agreement, the termite bond pricing calculator builds the renewal from what the cover costs you to carry, though it is framed for the US market.
Every money field starts empty
Search for a termite inspection price in Australia, or a white ant inspection, and city-by-city ranges come quickly. Follow them and they resolve to homeowner cost pages and directories, not to a regulator, a trade body or a published survey. Under this site’s cite-or-omit rule that means none of them ship here.
The only pre-filled figures are time conventions in editable boxes: the walk rate, the fixed on-site time, the subfloor, roof-void, outbuilding and report hours. The 200 m² floor and the half-hour round trip are example dimensions so the page has a job to work on, and there is a placeholder cadence of one inspection a year, which is your product, not an interval from the standard. Replace the conventions after three timed inspections.
Licences and insurance are overheads, not invoice lines
In Queensland, QBCC lists, within the scope of its Termite management (chemical) licence class, inspecting or investigating a completed building and giving advice or a report about termite management systems and termite infestation. QBCC says you must demonstrate professional indemnity insurance to apply for a contractor licence in that class, and that anyone supervising or performing the work must also hold a Queensland Pest Management Licence issued by the Department of Health. Its published total application fee for a contractor individual in the smallest revenue band (SC1, up to $200,000 a year) is $773.89 (QBCC licence page, last reviewed 31 August 2021).
None of that belongs on the customer’s invoice. The licence, the insurance premium and the renewal are what it costs to be allowed to do the work, so they belong in your cost per crew-hour, where the margin check can see them. The other states and territories regulate pest management separately (the ACT by environmental authorisation; Tasmania is unverified), and Australian pest management licence by state sets out the issuing bodies, fees and terms for each one it could verify.
After the inspection
Record what you find on the WDO and termite inspection worksheet, a field-notes sheet laid out in the US NPMA-33 section order. It is a notes tool, not an Australian report form, and the report you issue is still yours to write.
If the inspection finds activity, the treatment prices on a different axis entirely. The termite treatment sizing hub maps the calculators that turn a perimeter or a footprint into product and station counts; they are framed in US units (linear feet, square feet), so check each one’s unit toggle before you enter metres.
Everything runs in your browser: no account, no email gate, nothing stored or sent. A planning aid, not a binding quote.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for a termite inspection in Australia?
Should a pre-purchase timber pest inspection be priced differently from a regular one?
How do I price thermal imaging or termite radar?
Do I charge GST on a termite inspection?
What licence covers termite inspection work in Queensland?
Sources
- Register for goods and services tax (GST): "Goods and services tax (GST) is a tax of 10% on most goods, services and other items sold or consumed in Australia"; you must register if "your business has a GST turnover of $75,000 or more"; registered businesses must "include GST in the price of most goods and services you sell". Australian Government, business.gov.au. Retrieved .
- AS 3660.2:2017, Termite management, Part 2: In and around existing buildings and structures. Store status: Current; published 22 December 2017. Title and status only; the document is paywalled.. Standards Australia. Retrieved .
- AS 4349.3-2010, Inspection of buildings, Part 3: Timber pest inspections. Store status: Pending Revision; published 20 September 2010. Title and status only; the document is paywalled.. Standards Australia. Retrieved .
- Termite management (chemical) licence class: scope includes "Inspect or investigate a completed building, and give advice or a report about" termite management systems for the building and termite infestation in the building; "You must demonstrate you have professional indemnity (PI) insurance to apply for a contractor licence in this class"; if supervising or performing this work "you must also hold a Queensland Pest Management Licence as issued by the Department of Health"; contractor-individual total application fee $773.89 (SC1, maximum revenue up to $200,000 a year). Queensland Building and Construction Commission. Retrieved .