Questions, answered plainly
The same handful of questions come up right across the site, so here they are in one place: how quoting works, why we take enquiries through the form, what a treatment means for pets and kids, the licensing behind the work, and where in the Hunter we cover. Plain answers, with nothing hiding in the fine print.
How pricing works, in words
No prices are published on this site, and that is a decision, not an oversight. Honest pest work is quoted on the actual job, not read off a menu. A German cockroach problem in a single kitchen and a whole-house treatment on a terrace with a shared roof are not the same job, and a fixed number on the page would only ever be right for one of them.
What we can say up front is how a quote gets built. General treatments are quoted per visit or as an annual program, whichever suits the house. A termite inspection is one flat figure, agreed with you before anything goes in the calendar. Termite management, the barrier or baiting work itself, is never quoted until an inspection has shown what is really happening, because until then any figure would be a guess. Whatever the job, the quote lands free and in writing, and it stands alone, with no follow-up pressure.
Is the quote really free?
Yes. You describe the sign, we come back with what it most likely is and what your place would cost, and you decide. There is no charge for the quote and no obligation once you have it.
Is there a call-out fee just to get a price?
The quote itself is worked out from what you describe, at no cost. Some jobs, a termite or timber pest inspection in particular, need a technician on site first; that inspection is the set fee we confirm before you commit, and it is a real piece of work with a written report at the end, not a fee to turn up.
Can you give me a rough ballpark in the meantime?
We would rather not throw out a number that turns out wrong the moment we see the house. A real quote needs the actual job: which pest, where it is living, how far it has spread, and what the building is like. Describe the sign in the enquiry and you will get a straight figure quickly, not a guess now and a correction later.
Do you do ongoing or annual programs?
Yes. General pest work can be a one-off treatment or an annual program that keeps ahead of the seasonal spikes, ants and spiders through the warm months, rodents through autumn and winter. Which one makes sense depends on the house and how much pressure it sits under; the quote lays out both so you can choose.
Why a form, and not a phone number
While this site is being re-established, the form is the one channel we watch, and there is a genuine upside to it rather than an apology. A licensed technician reads your actual words, not a call-centre summary written by someone who has never seen your roof. Put down what you would have told us over the phone: what caught your eye or your ear, where in the house it lives, and roughly how long it has been going on. One photo of the sign does more than a paragraph of careful description.
Enquiries are read as they come in, and you get back a straight answer and a free quote. Your phone number is used to call you back with that answer, and nothing else; it goes on no list. If the wording of this page ever mentions a form where you expected a number, that is the reason, and it is temporary.
Can I just phone instead?
For now the form is the way through, and it is watched constantly. It also means your description reaches the technician intact rather than as a note taken by someone else. Write it as you would say it; that is all a phone call would have been.
It is urgent. Does the form still make sense?
It does. Say plainly that it is urgent at the top of the message, a wasp nest by the front door, termites you have just uncovered, and it is read that way. We do not print a guaranteed response time, because we would rather keep a promise than break one, but urgent enquiries are treated as urgent.
What happens to my details?
They are read by a licensed technician so we can quote your job and call you back, and they may be passed to a suitable local pest-control provider to actually do the work. Your number is not added to any marketing list and your details are never sold. The privacy page says it all in one short read.
What a treatment means for pets, kids and the house
The honest answers here matter more than a reassuring blanket claim. Tell us about your household in the enquiry and the plan starts from there.
Are your treatments pet-safe?
There is no blanket pet-safe treatment, whatever a label implies, and we will not pretend otherwise. What there is: products and placements chosen for your household, locked bait stations set out of reach, the option to trap instead of bait, and clear instructions on keeping pets and children off a treated area until it is dry. Name the dog, the cat and the chooks in your enquiry and they shape the plan from the very start, rather than being an afterthought.
Do we have to leave the house during a treatment?
For most general treatments, no; once treated surfaces are dry you are back to normal, and the technician tells you how long that is. Some jobs have real preparation and a re-entry window, a flea or bed bug treatment for instance, and you will be told exactly what to do and when before the day, not surprised on it.
Is it safe around the veggie patch, chooks or a fish pond?
That depends on the product and the placement, which is exactly why we do not make a one-line promise. Point out the vegetable garden, the chook run and the pond in the enquiry and the method and placement are chosen around them. Where something cannot be done safely near a sensitive spot, we say so and work another way.
I can hear something in the roof. Is it rats, or a possum?
Fast scratching and scurrying overhead at night is usually a rat. A slower, heavier drag or a single thump around dusk points to a possum instead: protected wildlife in NSW and a different job entirely, exclusion once it has gone out for the evening, with no baits ever. Should the inspection find a possum, you hear exactly that. The annotated house walks through the difference, and possums and birds covers the protected side.
Can you knock out termites in one visit, or with a spray?
No, and anyone promising it is guessing. If you have found what looks like termites, do not disturb it, do not spray it, and book a licensed inspection. Breaking into a working nest just scatters it to somewhere you cannot see. Management is planned to AS 3660 only after an inspection to AS 4349.3 has worked out what is really there and where. The termite page sets out the calm version of all this.
The licensing behind the work
NSW licenses this trade. A pest management technician holds a licence to do the work, with termite and timber pest jobs sitting behind their own endorsement again. Every job described on this site is licensed work, no exceptions. You will not find badge walls, class numbers or star ratings decorating the page; the knowledge in these pages is the thing to judge us on.
What are AS 3660 and AS 4349.3?
They are the Australian Standards the termite work follows. AS 4349.3 is the standard a timber pest inspection is carried out to, and AS 3660 is the standard termite management is planned and installed to. When you see them on the site they describe the method being used, not a certificate on a wall.
Do you guarantee the work?
Any warranty on a specific job is spelled out in that job's quote, once we know the job, rather than promised in advance on a web page. We would rather tell you exactly what is covered for your place than print a blanket guarantee that does not fit it.
Is it white ants or termites?
Same thing. White ant is the common name people search for, but they are not actually ants at all, they are termites, and that is how we treat them. If you have been told you have white ant, read it as termites and see the termite page.
Where we cover
Local means the whole Hunter: the terrace and weatherboard streets of Newcastle, the postwar brick-and-tile around the lake, the river towns of the Maitland floodplain, and the sandy bush blocks out to Port Stephens. Four pest environments, one service. Each area page walks through what shifts from one to the next, since the street you live on decides what turns up.
Newcastle · Cooks Hill · Hamilton · Mayfield · Merewether · Stockton · New Lambton · Wallsend · Charlestown · Warners Bay · Belmont · Toronto · Cardiff · Maitland · East Maitland · Rutherford · Raymond Terrace · Medowie · Nelson Bay · and the streets between
My suburb is not on the list. Do you still come?
The list is a sample, not the boundary. If you are anywhere from Newcastle out through Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens, put your suburb in the enquiry and we will confirm. Being between two of the named areas is not a problem; it is most of the Hunter.
Which area page is mine if I am on the edge of two?
Pick whichever reads closest to your house; the pages are organised by the kind of building and setting, not by a hard line on a map. A weatherboard on the Maitland side of the floodplain and a brick-and-tile place near the lake face different pressures, and that is what the pages describe. When in doubt, just describe your place in the enquiry.
Do you handle rentals, strata or holiday lets?
Yes. Strata and common-area programs, end-of-lease treatments with the receipt an agent asks for, and the changeover work a holiday let needs between guests are all normal jobs here. For a rental, responsibility turns on who caused it and when it started, and the split is fairer than landlords or tenants usually assume; the renting guide covers it plainly.
Booking, and what happens next
One enquiry starts the whole thing. Here is the shape of it, and the questions people ask right before they send.
You describe the sign
What caught your eye or your ear, whereabouts in the house, and roughly how long. A photo helps. Not sure what it is is a fine answer.
We come back with the likely answer
What it probably is, what doing something about it looks like, and a free written quote for your place, general treatment per visit or annual, or a flat inspection fee for termite work.
You decide
The quote stands on its own, with no follow-up pressure. Book it when you are ready.
I don't know what the pest is. Should I still enquire?
Yes. Identifying it is our job, not yours, and the sign you describe usually settles it. If you would rather narrow it down first, the annotated house starts from where in the house you noticed it, which is often the fastest way in.
How soon can someone come out?
We do not print a guaranteed time, on purpose, but every enquiry is read promptly and urgent ones are flagged as urgent. Say in the message if it cannot wait and it is handled that way.
Can I send a photo?
A clear photo of the sign, the droppings, the mud lead on a skirting, the nest under the eave, is worth more than a paragraph and often names the pest on the spot. Describe it in the enquiry and mention you have a photo; the technician will let you know the best way to send it.
Tell us what you have seen
A description and a suburb is enough. A licensed technician reads every enquiry, works out what the job needs, and comes back with a straight answer and a free quote. No obligation, no pressure.