About Termite Registry

Who's writing this

I'm James Frame. This is a one-person site, and it will stay that way.

I'm going to lead with the thing you probably want to know.I am not a licensed pest control operator, I am not an entomologist, and I do not have a degree in this. I have never taken a course in it. Nothing on this site is reviewed by anyone who holds a licence.I've never treated a house and I'm not going to offer to. If a page anywhere here ever makes you think otherwise, that's a mistake and I want to hear about it.

James Frame is a pen name. I use one because I write about an industry I sometimes criticise, and because I'd rather the work be judged on whether it's right than on who I am. It doesn't mean there's a team behind it. There is one person here, and every "I" on this site is the same human being.

Why this exists

I went looking for straight answers about termites and found that almost everything written about them was written by a company that wanted to sell a treatment. Some of it was fine. Some of it was wrong. Almost none of it said what anything cost, what the alternatives were, or how to tell whether you needed the thing you were about to be sold.

So I read the sources those companies weren't citing.

What I actually do

I read primary and near-primary sources and write down what they say in plain English, with the citations attached. Specifically:

• University extension publications from the land-grant universities in the states with the worst termite pressure. These are written by working entomologists, they have no product to sell, and they are the best free termite information in the world. Hardly anyone reads them.
• EPA guidance and the National Pesticide Information Center.
• State agriculture departments and structural pest control boards — the people who license this industry, publish consumer guidance, and keep the public disciplinary records.
• The pesticide labels themselves. A label is a legally binding federal document. It says exactly what a product can be used for, at what rate, with what precautions. Most homeowners never open one. I read them, and I'll tell you when a claim someone made to you isn't on the label.
• The forms. The NPMA-33, the loan program documentation, the state regulations. Where I quote one on this site, I've read the document itself rather than someone's summary of it.

That's the whole method. If it seems modest, good. I'd rather you calibrate correctly than be impressed.

What I won't do

• I won't scare you. Termite damage is real and expensive, and it is also slow. It is measured in years. Urgency is the industry's oldest sales tool and you will not find it here.
• I won't recommend a treatment without telling you about the alternative. Every time.
• I won't give you a price without the range and what drives it.
• I won't pretend I've seen your house. I haven't. Where that matters, I'll say so and tell you what would settle the question.
• I won't publish a number I can't source. Where the only figures available come from sites that don't say how they got them, I say that on the page instead of repeating them.
• I won't tell you to skip a professional when you need one. Plenty of the time the answer here is "get a licensed operator out there this week." I'll say that plainly when it's true.

About the name

Termite Registry is a publication. It is not a register, and the name should not be read as one.

I don't vouch for pest control companies. Not one of them.I don't endorse anyone, I've never watched any of them work, and nothing here tells you a particular company is good. If a directory ever runs here, a listing will mean that I added the company, and nothing more. Where I've looked something up — a licence number against a state's public lookup, say — I'll tell you what I looked up and the date I did it. That's a record of what I did on one day. It says nothing about how the company treats a house.

How I make money

I'd rather you know this before you read anything else. The full version is on thedisclosure page, and it's written in specifics rather than principles.

What I don't do: I don't accept payment to change a rating, remove a criticism, or write about a product. I don't sell your contact details to anyone you didn't ask to be connected with. I don't take sponsored posts and I don't intend to.

If I get something wrong

Tell me. I publish corrections with the date rather than quietly editing, and I'd rather be corrected than be quoted being wrong. Here'sthe corrections log and here'show to reach me.

More on sourcing, review dates, and how these pages are made:editorial standards.

One thing before you go

If you found something tonight and you're scared: put it in a ziplock bag, photograph it on something white next to a coin for scale, and go to bed. It has waited this long. It will wait until morning.