Finding termites is a bad moment, but it is rarely the emergency it feels like. Colonies work slowly; the damage you have just discovered took months, and the next few days will not meaningfully change it. What those days should change is the plan. Here is the process, step by step.

Step one: touch nothing

The single most expensive mistake is disturbing them — breaking open mud tubes, spraying with supermarket insect spray, pulling damaged timber apart. Disturbed termites do not leave; they seal off, reroute and keep feeding somewhere harder to find, and the evidence a professional needs to trace them is destroyed. Take photos, close the cupboard, and leave the site exactly as you found it. Our guide to the signs of termites covers what you may be looking at.

Step two: confirmation

A licensed termite inspection — $269 flat, in line with AS 4349.3 — maps the full picture: where the activity is, how far it extends, the species involved, and the moisture or entry conditions feeding it. Rapidkil’s technicians carry Termatrac detection technology for confirming activity in suspect areas without opening anything up, which matters when the goal is tracing termites rather than scattering them. The written report sets out findings and options, and it is the document every decision after this rests on.

Step three: treating the activity

Active termites are treated at the source — externally from $250, internally from $1,150 with the required follow-up treatments included until the infestation has been eradicated. Treatment resolves the current colony; it does not, on its own, stop the next one arriving, which is why the report also addresses step four.

Step four: protection going forward

With activity resolved, the conversation turns to keeping it that way: a termite management system suited to the home — chemical, baiting, physical or reticulation — and the annual inspection rhythm that keeps any protection honest. Homes with a termite history are exactly the higher-risk category Australian Standards recommend inspecting more frequently.

We run this process regularly across Stretton, Calamvale, Forest Lake and Boronia Heights — bushland edges and established timber keep it a weekly conversation. Found something today? Call 0490 425 521 or request a quote online — licensed technicians, QBCC Licence 15104001.