Before you waive your building and pest condition, find out what is living in the timber. Tropical Palms Pest Management inspects to Australian Standard AS 4349.3 and puts a photographed, plain-English timber pest report in your inbox inside 24 hours, in time for your deadline.
Tropical Palms Pest Management carries out pre-purchase termite inspections across Cairns and the northern beaches. In Queensland the job is formally called a timber pest inspection. It must be done by a licensed pest technician and reported against Australian Standard AS 4349.3, and it is a separate job, under a separate licence, from the building inspection that checks the structure. Cairns buyers have three choices: a specialist pest firm for the timber pest half, a QBCC-licensed building inspector for the building half, or a combined building-and-pest company that arranges both. Tropical Palms does the timber pest half, and because the same team treats termites in Cairns homes every week, a finding in your report comes with a real number for what it costs to fix, not just a referral.
People book it as one thing. It is two jobs, two standards and two licences, and plenty of buyers only discover that when one half comes back missing. Here is the difference, in one table.
| Building inspectionIs the structure sound? | Timber pest inspectionIs anything eating it? | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Standard | AS 4349.1 | AS 4349.3 |
| Queensland licence | QBCC Completed Residential Building Inspection licence | A QBCC licence covering timber pest work, held by a qualified pest management technician |
| Looks for | Structural defects, movement and cracking, roof and plumbing faults, safety hazards, unapproved work | Live termites, termite workings and damage, wood-boring insects, wood decay fungi, and the conditions that invite them |
| Typical Cairns cost | Usually bundled from around $500 for both halves | Roughly $200 to $450 as a standalone inspection |
| Can also treat what it finds | No | Yes, if the inspector is a pest firm |
| Does Tropical Palms do this? | No. Book a licensed building inspector. | Yes. This is our half. |
A standard Queensland contract makes the sale subject to building and pest for a set number of days, commonly seven to fourteen from the contract date. Miss the notice deadline and you lose the right to walk. Here is how the week usually runs.
General information only, not legal advice. Timeframes are negotiated in your contract and can differ from the standard. Your solicitor or conveyancer confirms your actual dates and gives the notice. If your deadline is tight, tell us when you call and we will tell you honestly whether we can make it.
AS 4349.3 sets what a timber pest inspection has to cover. We work the same list on every property, whether it is a Redlynch highset or a Cairns City unit, and we name in the report anything we could not get to.
Skirtings, architraves, door jambs, window reveals, built-in robes and wet areas. We tap and sound timbers and take moisture readings where anything reads wrong.
Where accessible, we get into the roof space and check rafters, battens, hanging beams and the top plate. In the tropics this is where a lot of Coptotermes activity shows up first.
Bearers, joists, stumps and piers, plus ventilation and drainage. Highset Queenslanders and older Cairns homes live or die on what is going on under the floor.
Cladding, weep holes, slab edge, expansion joints, patios, decks, steps and the ant caps. We look for the mud leads that show termites are already crossing.
Fences, retaining walls, sheds, old stumps, garden beds and trees inside the property boundary. Nine times out of ten the nest is not in the house, it is out here.
Leaking air-con condensate, poor drainage, soil above slab level, timber-to-ground contact, blocked weep holes. The things that turn a clean house into next year’s problem.
Not a page of ticked boxes. Photographed findings, plain-English risk, and a number next to anything that needs fixing, so you can negotiate from facts.
Emailed as a PDF within 24 hours of the inspection, written to AS 4349.3-2010.
Any inspector who does not tell you this up front is selling you certainty they cannot deliver.
Far North Queensland is one of the highest termite-pressure regions in Australia. There is no cold season to slow a colony down, annual rainfall keeps soil moisture high, and the same warmth that makes Cairns pleasant to live in makes it excellent to be a termite in. Colonies here feed and expand all year.
It is also one of the few parts of the country where the giant northern termite is a live risk. If you are moving up from Brisbane or down from the Tablelands, the risk profile on your new address is not the one you are used to.
Found only in northern Australia and widely regarded as the most destructive termite in the country. Soldiers reach around 13mm, colonies can run into the millions, and it will attack living trees, fence posts, power poles and structural timber alike. A Cairns inspection has to be looking for it. A Sydney one never does.
The species responsible for more structural damage in Australia than any other. Nests in tree stumps, under slabs and inside wall cavities, then works up through the frame out of sight. Regularly does serious damage to a Cairns home in months rather than years.
Very common along the Queensland coast and frequently mistaken for a less serious species by inspectors who do not work here. Two distinct soldier sizes in the one colony, which is exactly what trips people up. Correct identification changes the treatment entirely.
Humidity, wind-driven rain and long wet seasons mean decay fungi and wood-boring insects turn up in Cairns inspections far more often than down south. They are timber pests under AS 4349.3, they belong in your report, and they can cost real money to put right.
Including us. If a firm cannot answer these in one phone call, that is your answer. It costs nothing to ask and it is the cheapest insurance in the whole transaction.
In Queensland, timber pest inspections, treatments and advice are licensed work. Get the number, then check it yourself on the QBCC licensee register. Confirm it is current and that the class actually covers the work being quoted. A business name on a van is not a licence.
A timber pest report is written to AS 4349.3. A building report is written to AS 4349.1. If the person on the phone cannot tell you which standard your report will be written to, they are not the person you want walking your roof void.
Plenty of professional indemnity policies quietly exclude timber pest inspections. Ask for confirmation in writing that theirs includes it. If the report misses something and the policy excludes it, you are the one holding the bill.
A good one has photographs, named locations, moisture readings where relevant and plain-English risk. A weak one is two pages of ticked boxes and a wall of disclaimers. You can tell the difference in thirty seconds, and you should look before you book.
This is the one most buyers forget. A report-only inspector will hand you a phone number and wish you luck, with your contract deadline still running. Ask whether you get a costed treatment plan in the same week, because that is what you actually need to negotiate with the seller.
Some firms sell the job and subcontract the inspection to whoever is free. Ask for the name of the technician who will be on site and how long they have been inspecting in Far North Queensland. Local years matter here more than almost anywhere else in the country.
Licensing and standards information last checked September 2026 against the QBCC. Requirements can change, so verify current licence classes before you engage anyone.
Kurt owns Tropical Palms Pest Management and is a licensed pest management technician working across Cairns and the northern beaches. Pre-purchase inspections are not handed to a subcontractor. The person who writes your report is the person who walked the roof void.
That matters more than it sounds. Kurt and the team treat termites in Cairns homes every week, so when something turns up in your report you get a straight read on how serious it is and what it costs to fix, from someone who would be doing the fixing. Buyers use that to negotiate. Some use it to walk away. Either way, you are deciding on facts.
No call-out fee, no travel surcharge inside our service area, and no invoice surprises. If access or property size changes the price, you hear it on the phone, not afterwards.
One number, given on the phone before anything is locked in. No call-out fee and no travel surcharge anywhere inside our service area.
A unit costs less than a freestanding house. Acreage, multiple structures, heavy renovations and restricted roof or subfloor access all add time on site.
The number we quote is the number you pay. If something on the day genuinely changes the job, we stop and talk to you before we carry on.
Already buying and want the general pest treatment done before you move in? See the bundles on our pricing page, or ask when you book.
“Booked a termite inspection before buying. Detailed report, photos and a clear explanation of the risks. Saved us from a very expensive mistake.”
“Contract deadline was Friday and Kurt got out on the Wednesday. Report the next morning with photos. Made the whole thing painless.”
“Found old termite damage the building inspector had not picked up, then quoted the treatment on the spot. We used it to negotiate the price down.”
Buying anywhere from Gordonvale to Palm Cove? We are on the road every day. Tap your suburb for local detail.
The questions Cairns buyers ask us most, answered properly. Still unsure? Send us the address and your contract due date and we will tell you what is possible.
Ask us anythingThe window between contract and moving in is the easiest time to get a place treated. Empty house, no furniture to work around.
Send the address and your building and pest deadline. We will confirm a time, usually within 48 hours, and get the report back to you inside 24 hours of the inspection.
On a tight deadline? Call 0432 229 104