It depends on the size of the home and whether it is detached or attached, and the price is fixed before we book. Nearly a fifth of dwellings here are townhouses or semi-detached, and those are smaller jobs than a full detached house, so one advertised number would be wrong for a lot of this suburb. Call 1300 545 489 with the property type and the symptoms, and that number holds. Free either way. Set against it: CSIRO places Brisbane in a high termite risk zone and no policy covers termite damage.

Because the habitat here genuinely warrants it, and Tingalpa is one of only two suburbs on this side of the city that appears by name. Bulimba Creek forms the western boundary and runs through Minnippi Parklands, ninety hectares carrying reed-lined lagoons, which is prime freshwater breeding habitat. Council monitors around 2,500 known freshwater breeding sites citywide and treats with Bti and methoprene, running aerial applications after significant rainfall. The upside is that the large habitat is being managed. What is left is the water on your own block, and on most properties that is more of the problem than people expect.

No, and it is a genuinely common mix-up worth clearing up because it changes what you should worry about. Tingalpa Creek rises out at Mount Cotton and Burbank and reaches Moreton Bay at Thorneside, roughly five kilometres east of the suburb that shares its name. The waterway that actually matters to your house is Bulimba Creek, which forms the western boundary and sits in a 122 square kilometre catchment running from Kuraby and Runcorn through to Hemmant and Murarrie. If you are near the creek, it is Bulimba you are dealing with, and that is the one in council’s treatment notices.

Every twelve months at a minimum, six to nine if you back onto the Bulimba Creek corridor or Minnippi Parklands. The QBCC recommends a licensed pest controller inspect and report on your property annually, or more often in high hazard areas. Tingalpa is largely post-war so the original barriers are finished, and creek-corridor vegetation carries mature timber inside foraging range of the house. Coptotermes acinaciformis occurs throughout Queensland and nests in tree bases and stumps. Book a termite inspection.

A steady stream, because ninety hectares of reed-lined lagoon and creek corridor is a permanent habitat corridor with water, cover and food along the whole length. Practically that means mosquitoes from the lagoons, rodents along the creek line, huntsman and web-building spiders, and wasps nesting in eaves and sheds. On the termite side, the retained vegetation holds mature timber within foraging distance of the building. None of that is a reason to be unhappy about backing onto parkland. It is a reason to inspect on a shorter cycle and keep timber, mulch and clippings off the fence line rather than stacked against it.

Same day or next, Saturdays included. Tingalpa sits on the Gateway between Brisbane and the bayside suburbs, so it is one of the easier suburbs on the run to reach and we are through most weeks. Ring 1300 545 489 and you get the genuine next available appointment rather than a place on a list. Anything urgent gets prioritised if you say so on the call: rats in the roof, a wasp nest over the back deck, or termite damage you have just uncovered. After heavy rain the mosquito calls climb here because of the lagoons, so ring earlier in the week if the water has been up.

Twelve months on every general pest treatment, and if the pests we treated for come back inside that window we return and re-treat at no cost. Cover follows the pests named on your certificate, so a standard job means ants, cockroaches, spiders and silverfish. Termite work, rodent baiting and bed bugs are quoted and warranted separately because they run to their own cycles. Mosquitoes are the honest exception: with reed lagoons and a creek corridor through the suburb, and council treating that habitat from the air, the breeding sites sit outside your boundary and we will not pretend to warrant them. The terms and conditions set out the rest.