In the wet tropics, termites never take a season off. Tropical Palms Pest Management inspects your roof void, subfloor, walls and yard to AS 3660.2, then emails a photographed report within 24 hours, so you find the problem while it is still cheap to fix.
A Cairns home should have a termite inspection at least every 12 months, and every 6 months if it is a high-risk property. Australian Standard AS 3660.2 says regular inspections should never be more than 12 months apart, and CSIRO rates humid coastal Cairns as high termite hazard, so for the riskiest homes Tropical Palms recommends halving that interval. A home counts as high risk when it is timber-framed or highset, backs onto bushland, a creek or mangroves, has had termites before, or has no working termite management system. Most termite barrier and bait warranties also require a documented inspection at least once a year to stay valid.
Down south, a cold winter slows a colony down. In Cairns it never gets cold enough, so termites forage every month of the year and peak when the build-up storms roll in. Here is how the year runs, and why we suggest booking before the build-up.
Find your row. Be honest: most people we ask guess a year and find the paperwork says three.
Good. Put the next one in the calendar before the anniversary, and move it forward if you renovate, add a deck or a garden bed against the slab, or see winged termites near the house.
That report was a snapshot of one day, taken for the sale. Your 12 months started on the inspection date, not settlement day. Still buying? See pre-purchase inspections.
A Coptotermes colony can do serious structural damage in a Cairns summer. If you have a barrier or bait system, a missed annual inspection may also have put its warranty at risk. Book now.
This is the row where we find the expensive surprises. Do not go looking yourself first: breaking open mud leads or spraying them makes termites retreat and hide, and makes treatment harder. Call us.
We work the same list on a Redlynch highset and a Trinity Beach unit, and we name in the report anything we could not get to, so you know exactly what was and was not seen.
Cool, damp patch: look closer
Termites carry moisture into the timber they eat, so an active gallery behind plaster often reads as a cool, damp patch. A thermal camera flags it in seconds; a moisture meter and a sounding tool confirm it before anything goes in your report. Nothing is cut open.
Illustrative image.Skirtings, architraves, door jambs, window reveals, built-in robes and wet areas. We sound the timber and scan the walls with a moisture meter, which AS 3660.2 requires, and a thermal camera, which it recommends, looking for the damp, cool patches termites leave behind linings.
Rafters, battens, hanging beams and top plates, wherever the space is safely accessible. In a humid Cairns roof this is often where Coptotermes shows up first, well above anything visible from the rooms below.
Bearers, joists, stumps, ant caps and piers on a highset. Slab edge, penetrations and expansion joints on a slab home. Brick and concrete are not barriers: termites go around and through the gaps.
We read the durable notice, then check the system itself: bait stations serviced and active, chemical zone intact, physical barriers not bridged by pavers, render, garden beds or a new deck. A barrier that has been built over is not a barrier.
Fences, retaining walls, sheds, old stumps, landscaping timber and trees inside the boundary. The nest is usually out here, not in the house, and finding it is what makes treatment work.
Leaking air-con condensate, hot water overflow, downpipes that drain against the slab, soil above the slab edge, timber touching the ground. Fix these and you make the house far less attractive to the next colony.
Homes built with a termite management system under AS 3660.1 must carry a durable notice, usually fixed inside the electricity meter box. Take a photo of it and send it when you book. It tells us more about your risk than any other piece of paper you own.
No meter box notice and no paperwork? That is fine. We will tell you what is installed, if anything, on the day.
Three different jobs that get called “a termite inspection”. Pick the column that sounds like you.
| Annual termite inspectionYou are on this page | Pre-purchase inspectionBuying a property | Termite treatmentTermites found | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You are | An owner or landlord keeping a home protected | A buyer with a building and pest condition in the contract | Anyone who has seen live termites, mud leads or damage |
| Standard | AS 3660.2, reported to AS 4349.3 | AS 4349.3 | AS 3660.2 treatment, product used to its label |
| When | Every 12 months, or 6 if high risk | Inside the contract window, often 7 to 14 days | As soon as possible, without disturbing them |
| You get | Photographed report, conducive conditions, system check, next due date | Photographed report for your solicitor, costed repairs to negotiate with | Colony treatment, then a barrier or baiting system with written warranty |
| Go to | Book an inspection | Pre-purchase inspections | Termite control |
Photographed findings, plain-English risk, and a clear list of what to fix and in what order.
Emailed as a PDF within 24 hours, with a phone call if anything needs a decision.
Anyone who does not tell you this is selling certainty nobody can deliver.
Far North Queensland has year-round warmth, heavy wet-season rain and a species list southern inspectors rarely deal with. Identifying the species on the day changes what we recommend, so it is part of every inspection.
If you have moved up from the south, the risk 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. It attacks structural timber, fence posts, poles and even living trees and garden plants. A Cairns inspection has to be looking for it.
Nests in tree stumps, under slabs and inside wall cavities, then works up through the frame out of sight. Soldiers exude a milky fluid when disturbed, one of the things we look for on the day.
Two distinct soldier sizes in one colony, which trips up inspectors who do not see it often. Correct identification changes the treatment, so it matters.
Humidity and wind-driven rain mean decay fungi and wood-boring beetles turn up in Cairns far more than down south. They are timber pests too, and they belong in your report.
Kurt Bradshaw owns Tropical Palms Pest Management, and the team that inspects your home is the same team that treats termites across Cairns every week. When something turns up, you hear how serious it is and what it costs to fix from the people who would be doing the fixing.
No commission-driven upsell either. If your home is clear, the report says so, and all you book is next year’s inspection.
No call-out fee and no travel surcharge anywhere in our service area. Every price includes GST.
Priced to the property. A unit costs less than a house; acreage, several buildings or tight roof and subfloor access add time.
Get my priceColony treatment first, then a barrier or baiting system chosen for your construction, with the price in writing before any work starts.
About termite controlRats in the roof as well? The Superior Home Defender Plus adds a rodent program to the inspection and general service.
From Gordonvale to Palm Cove and out to Kuranda. Tap your suburb for local detail.
What Cairns homeowners and landlords ask us most. Still unsure? Send us a photo of your meter box notice and we will tell you where you stand.
Ask us anything
Send your address and a photo of your meter box notice if you have one. We will confirm a time and a fixed price, and get the report back within 24 hours of the visit.
Seen winged termites or mud leads? Call 0432 229 104Reviewed September 2026. Sources: AS 3660.1, AS 3660.2 and AS 4349.3 (Standards Australia), CSIRO termite guidance, CSIRO termite hazard survey, Business Queensland and the QBCC.