How Much Does Termite Treatment Cost in Sydney? The Complete Guide

Last updated: July 2026

Most termite and pest companies won't put a number anywhere near their website. I'd rather just tell you what things typically cost, what actually drives the final figure, and what the wider cost of getting this wrong looks like, with sources for every number that isn't mine.

Here's the honest version up front. I price every job on the property, so everything below is a typical "from" figure, not a fixed quote. Every house is different, and the only way to give you a real number is to look at yours. But this page will give you a fair, sourced picture before you call, whether you're comparing quotes, budgeting for a new build, or just want to know what you're actually dealing with.

Sydney termite costs at a glance

These are typicals, not quotes. The inspection prices are fairly firm because the work is much the same on most homes. The treatment and new-build figures move around more, for the reasons in the next section.

What actually moves the price

No two termite jobs are the same, and a handful of factors explain almost all of the variation you'll see between quotes, mine included.

Property size and storeys. A larger footprint or a double-storey home takes longer to inspect properly and has more area to treat. That's the entire reason the inspection price splits between single and double-storey.

Access. A tight subfloor I have to crawl, concrete paths and driveways that need drilling through, or heavy landscaping against the walls all add time to a treatment.

How far the activity has spread. Catching termites early, in one spot, is a smaller job than treating a colony that has already reached several parts of the structure.

The type of treatment. A full chemical barrier around the whole house is a bigger job than a targeted treatment, and a monitoring and baiting system is priced differently again.

Perimeter, not floor area. This is the one most people don't expect, so it's worth its own section below.

Why perimeter drives cost more than floor area

Termite sheeting for new builds is priced at $14 per linear metre, and chemical barrier work on existing homes follows the same underlying logic even when the final quote comes back as one number.

Sheeting runs around the slab perimeter, and a chemical barrier is trenched and drilled around the foundation, so both scale with the length of that boundary, not the internal floor area. A large single-storey home with a simple, compact rectangular footprint can have a shorter perimeter than a smaller home with lots of external corners, wings, or extensions. Since termites travel through soil and enter through the foundation or subfloor, the barrier has to run the full length of that perimeter to be continuous. Extra corners and awkward shapes mean more linear metres of trenching or sheeting, even when the internal floor area is modest.

That's a useful check if you're comparing quotes. If one quote is priced per metre and another is a flat figure, ask for the perimeter measurement behind the flat number. A properly measured quote reflects the actual length being treated, not a rough estimate from a floor plan. I measure the perimeter on-site as part of pricing every job, because that's the only way to give an accurate figure. There's a full per-metre breakdown if you want the detail.

The $3,500–$5,500 chemical barrier, honestly

A full chemical barrier on a home with an active infestation is the number people worry about most, so here it is plainly. It varies with the size of the house and how easy it is to access, but most jobs land in the $3,500–$5,500 range. Some jobs are less, some are more. I'll give you the actual figure after I've inspected, in writing, with what's involved. No surprises on the day.

A chemical barrier uses a termiticide applied to the soil around and beneath the building to create a treated zone. Termites passing through it carry the chemical back to the colony. It targets the soil, not the structure, and when properly applied and maintained it carries a warranty of up to 8 years, conditional on keeping up annual inspections.

Monitoring and baiting systems are priced differently again, since they involve placing and servicing bait stations rather than a single barrier application, and are often the better fit where drilling or trenching isn't practical.

New-build termite protection cost

If you're building, the cost structure is different again, because pre-construction protection is two things done at specific points in the build, not one product.

The physical barrier I install is TermSeal. Collars go in before the slab is poured, and the sheeting bonds to the slab edge just after, while it's still exposed. It carries a 50-year warranty conditional on keeping up annual inspections. Alongside it, a pre-pour soil chemical treatment using Termidor goes to the penetrations and pipes passing through the slab, the points a physical barrier alone can't fully seal.

The sheeting component is billed at $14 per linear metre, so the total scales with your slab's perimeter the same way existing-home barrier work does. A compact, simple rectangular slab needs less sheeting than a larger home with a complex perimeter, wings, or multiple slab sections. I can't quote a single number over the phone without seeing the plans and measuring the perimeter, but that $14/m rate is the basis for the calculation. The new-build cost guide goes deeper on this.

Physical barriers are pre-construction only. The option closes for good once the slab edge is covered over, by cladding, render or landscaping, not at the moment the slab is poured. If you're building, this is the one decision in the whole process that has a hard deadline attached to it, it just isn't the deadline most people assume.

Why treatment costs more than a can of surface spray

A cheap can of surface spray might kill the termites you can see, but it does nothing to the colony behind them, and disturbing them that way can make the nest split and spread somewhere else in the house. That's a bigger, more expensive problem than the one you started with.

A proper treatment uses a non-repellent product the termites carry back to the nest themselves, so the whole colony is affected, not just the workers on the surface. It comes with a warranty too: a 6-month guarantee on general treatments, up to an 8-year warranty on a chemical barrier, and up to a 50-year warranty on a pre-construction physical barrier, each conditional on keeping up annual inspections. That's what the money is actually buying: the colony addressed, and cover that stays valid as long as the inspection schedule is kept.

What it costs to get this wrong

The figures above are what Active Termite Control charges. The figures in this section come from published industry and insurer sources, not from us, and are shown so you can weigh the cost of an inspection against the cost of not having one.

Home insurance will not usually cover termite damage. Insurers generally treat termite damage as a gradual, preventable event rather than a sudden one, and many policies specifically exclude damage from insects, vermin, and rodents (Finder.com.au, updated 2024). Some pest control providers offer separate termite-specific policies covering timber replacement, typically running three to five years and requiring annual inspections to stay valid.

Repair costs, once termites are found, are not small. AEPMA's current published figures put average repair costs per affected property between $18,000 and $50,000. A separate, older AEPMA-linked estimate from a 2012 study put the average closer to $10,000 per house, with roughly $4 billion in annual cost to the Australian housing industry. The two figures don't agree, and rather than pick one to sound more precise than the data actually is, both are shown here. Separately, University of Technology Sydney research, reported by Canstar in 2025, put the national termite damage bill above $1.5 billion a year.

Annual inspection is the standard, not an upsell. AS 3660.2 sets a maximum gap of 12 months between termite inspections for ongoing management, tightening to 6 months where termites are actively being managed. Our own 8-year and 50-year warranties are conditional on keeping up that same annual schedule, which is the same principle the standard already sets, not something we added on top of it.

Whichever repair-cost figure you use, the comparison holds. An inspection, from $280, is the cheap side of that ledger. A confirmed infestation, at $18,000 to $50,000, is the expensive side, and insurance generally will not be the one paying it.

New-build compliance and cost

Every new residential building in NSW requires a termite management system under the National Construction Code, Part 3.4, with no size or value threshold. The system, physical barrier or chemical, has to comply with AS 3660.1 or pass the testing set out in AS 3660.3. A durable notice also has to be fixed permanently somewhere prominent, commonly near the meter box, recording which system was installed, when, and the recommended future inspection schedule. In my experience, that notice is one of the most commonly missed items at handover, worth checking for on any property, new or established.

Why the inspection fee is worth paying

A termite inspection isn't a quick look around. I bring a thermal imaging camera and a moisture meter to every one, standard, not as a paid extra, and go through the whole property: subfloor, roof, perimeter. You get the written report on-site, before I leave, so you know what's going on in your house that day, not a follow-up email days later.

Plenty of inspections turn up nothing that needs treating. You've spent the inspection fee and found out your home is fine, which is worth knowing on its own. If there is something, you've caught it before it became one of the repair-cost figures above. Inspection pricing has its own detailed guide too.

Common questions about cost

Do you charge to quote?
For termite work, the quote comes out of a proper inspection, and the inspection is from $280 single-storey or $320 double-storey. I won't quote a treatment without seeing the property first, because a real number depends on what's actually there. Once I've inspected, the treatment quote itself is free and in writing.

Why is a pre-purchase inspection priced like a termite inspection?
Because it's the same kind of work. A pre-purchase termite and timber-pest inspection sits in the same pricing band, from around $280, depending on size and access. It covers termites, borers, and decay fungi, with the report handed to you on-site before you need to make a decision on the property.

Is the inspection cost separate from the treatment cost?
Yes. The inspection tells us what's there. If treatment is needed, that's quoted separately based on the findings. The two are never bundled, so you're never paying for treatment you don't need.

Does a bigger house always cost more to treat?
Not always. Perimeter length matters more than floor area. A large home with a simple, compact footprint can have a shorter perimeter, and cost, than a smaller home with an irregular shape.

Can you give me a price over the phone?
I can give you the typical figures on this page. I won't quote a treatment or a new-build job over the phone, because it depends on the size, the access, and how far any activity has spread. Call me on 0405 790 927 and I'll come have a look.

What does the 50-year or 8-year warranty actually depend on?
Both are conditional on keeping up annual inspections. Skipping an inspection doesn't reset the underlying risk, and it can affect the warranty. That condition matches AS 3660.2's own annual-minimum standard, not something layered on top of it.

Get a real number for your place

Call me on 0405 790 927. I'll inspect the property, hand you the report on-site, and give you a straight quote with no upsell. I work across all of Sydney.

Related reading:what happens when live termites are found and how long a chemical barrier lasts.