What is termite?

I panicked when my neighbour asked me if I had a termite protection system installed in

my home. This was 10 years ago and I had just purchased my property overlooking a

beautiful national park.

I spent all my money providing deposit for the bank and if I had termites, I would not be

able to recover financially. My neighbour paid over $7000 for his system! What do I do?? I

started researching on the internet and find out that I could study part time while

working. I was a degree qualified mechanical engineer at the time and within 12 months I

was also a licensed pest controller! I then read the pest report that my Real Estate agent

organised at the time. It was a disgraced report! The guy didn’t even have a licence! No

insurance and a big disclaimer to cover his backside. His job was to help his friend selling

my house to me!

Anyway being a licensed pest controller is one thing, being a professional termite

inspector and exterminator is another! It takes years of experience looking for termites in

the gardens, roof voids, garages and damp and tight subfloors. If you are claustrophobic ,

Achluophobic- Fear of darkness , Altophobic- Fear of heights, Amathophobic- Fear of dust,

Arachnophobic- Fear of spiders , Herpetophobic-fear of snakes, Cynophobic-fear of dogs

and last but not least Automysophobica- Fear of being dirty! Then I wouldn’t recommend

you to pursue this career! But sometimes when your credit card debt is reached its limit,

you may develop another phobia that crushes them all!

Not long after I got my licence, I started my own pest control company where I treated

homes for all sorts of pests. A few years later I established another company called Home

Termite Control, dedicating to termite inspection and treatment alone. It gave me the

freedom of trying new techniques and products. I participated in countless of courses and

classes, and gradually I established myself as the termite whisperer! I was excited when

one of the biggest multi national companies, Dupont sent a film crew to interview and

film me while using their termitcide, Altriset.

Whilst getting busy with lots of work, I became frustrated to discover that some

companies are taking advantage of ignorant clients. Many of them use only one product

and technique to eradicate every termite infestation. Some of them use dangerous

poisons that are less effective than environmental products because they are much

cheaper. Some companies aren’t doing the techniques right, resulting in more damage to

homeowners. Some use flashy gadgets that are not effective and charge customers more.

I have become inspired to build up a site to educate home owners and pest controllers on

different products and techniques and I called it Termite Tutorials. You can visit the site

on termitetutorials.com this site will not only show you how to inspect your properties for

termites but also show you different treatment techniques, their advantages and

disadvantages. Watch this video called Termite Identification. This can be a good start to

familiarise yourself with signs of termites.