How to Vet a Pest Control Company for Termite Work

Vetting a pest control company means reading its license record and its contract yourself, before you sign either. About half the licensed pest control businesses in California and Florida hold no termite license at all, and their state register says so on the record.

That check takes about a minute and rules companies out faster than anything else on this page. The rest of it is what else the license record shows, which sales moves EPA tells you to walk away from, what your state makes the contract say on its first page, and how long you have to change your mind once you have signed.

How do I know this company can even do termite work?

You read the category on its license, not just the fact that it holds one. Termite work is its own category in the states that publish one, and plenty of licensed pest control businesses do not hold it.

A company can hold an active, valid pest control license and still have no license to treat your house for termites. EPA sets the baseline: firms offering termite services must be licensed by your state, and you should ask to see that license. Several states go further and license the work by category, with termites in a category of their own.

California writes it into statute. Business and Professions Code Section 8560 splits the practice into three numbered branches and says a license is limited to the branch or branches its holder passed an exam in. Branch 1 is fumigation, meaning control by poisonous or lethal gas. Branch 2 is general pest, which the statute defines as household pests and excludes fumigation. Branch 3 is termite: controlling wood-destroying pests or organisms, the things that eat structural wood, by insecticide or by structural repairs and corrections, and it excludes fumigation too. A company can hold a combination, and the statute treats a combination as one license.

The register prints those branches as words rather than numbers, so my reading of the statute against the register’s own wording is that a registration showing “Pest Control” on its own is Branch 2, “Termite Control” is Branch 3, and “Pest & Termite Control” is the combination. On August 4, 2026, California’s Structural Pest Control Board register listed 3,892 active business registrations, and 1,943 of them carried a specialty that included termite. That leaves 1,949 registrations with no termite element at all, 1,876 of them showing “Pest Control” and nothing else.

Florida separates the same work without the branch numbering. Its Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services issues a numbered business license to every active pest control company each year, and those numbers all start with the prefix JB. On August 4, 2026, Florida’s register listed 4,486 active business licenses, and 2,169 of them held the category “Termite and Other WDO Control.” That leaves 2,317 that did not. The register’s other categories are general household pest and rodent control, on 3,527 businesses, lawn and ornamental on 2,743, and fumigation on 748.

So the first thing to ask a company for is its license number, and Florida’s department says you can simply request a copy of the license itself. Look it up on your own state’s register, then read past the status line to the category. A current license means the company may work; the category is the part that says on what.

What else does a state license lookup tell me?

Whether the license has been disciplined. California’s Department of Consumer Affairs says every license record on its search reflects whether a license is current, expired, or has been subject to disciplinary action like suspension or revocation.

One limit on that search matters before you rely on it. The Structural Pest Control Board states that cancelled licenses and registrations do not appear in the results at all, and it gives a phone number for anyone who needs to ask about one. So an empty result means the search found nothing, which is not the same finding as a clean record, and the phone call is the only way to tell the two apart.

California runs a second search most people never hear about, this one by address rather than by company. Wood-destroying organism reports and completed work have to be filed with the Board under Business and Professions Code Section 8516, and the Board’s Property Address Search will tell you whether a report was filed on any address in the state within the last two years. If a company tells you it filed a report on your house, that is where you find out.

Two Florida checks need no computer at all. The department’s rules require every service vehicle used for pest control to be permanently marked on both sides with the business name as registered with the state. A sales vehicle that carries no pesticides or equipment has to be marked too, but it is allowed a temporary marking such as a magnetic sign. My read of that pair is that a magnetic sign on its own proves nothing either way, and an unmarked truck with equipment in it is the thing to ask about.

The second is about how you are asked to pay. Florida’s department tells consumers to be suspicious of anyone asking for a check made out to cash or to them personally, and says flatly that under-the-table payments are illegal.

They are standing in my kitchen with a contract. Do I have to sign it now?

No. Michael F. Potter, of the University of Kentucky’s entomology department, writes that termites damage wood slowly, and that the damage caused by taking an additional day, week, or month to make an informed decision is generally inconsequential.

Three sources say the same thing in three ways. EPA writes that most problems can wait a few days while you select a competent, reasonably priced company, and that most companies give free estimates. Florida’s department tells consumers never to rush a treatment decision, and that an extra couple of days or weeks spent getting more estimates and finding contract terms they like is always to their advantage. Potter’s advice is to call at least a few companies, because inspections from more than one both verify that there really is an infestation and let you compare what is being sold. What one of those inspections actually covers, and what it is allowed to leave out, is on my page about the termite inspection itself.

Potter is blunt about the sales side too: avoid firms that try to pressure you into signing a contract immediately with specials or scare tactics. EPA publishes a list of the specific moves, and each one is worth recognizing on sight:

• Claiming to have material left over from a previous job, offered at a reduced price if you treat right now.
• Quoting a per-gallon price. EPA’s own note is that termite control can require several hundred gallons of diluted insecticide, and my page on liquid barrier treatment carries the label rate you would need to work out the gallons your house takes.
• Selling door-to-door, or targeting elderly or infirm people living alone.
• Turning up unannounced and showing you insects they say came from a neighbor’s house as evidence of a neighborhood problem.
• Claiming a secret formula. Every pesticide product has to be registered with EPA and the state departments of agriculture, and a registered label lists its active ingredients.
• Pressing you to sign by telling you the house is structurally unsound and may collapse if it is not treated.
• Bundling pest control into a package deal such as general home repair or tree trimming, or offering a special price for treating immediately.
• Having no listed or working telephone number.

One more from that list is worth keeping in your pocket. A company claiming to be endorsed by a state department of agriculture, by EPA or by another government agency is claiming something that does not exist, because in EPA’s own words, government agencies do not endorse any service company or specific pesticide product. I do not endorse anyone and I do not stand behind anyone’s work either.

EPA’s list does not cover the pitch that turns up when a house is changing hands. A company promising a clear inspection report is promising something North Carolina’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says should not be sought at all, and its home buyer’s guide adds that issuing a subsequent report of “no evidence” where evidence had been found would violate the state’s structural pest control rules and could be considered fraud. The standard an inspector actually signs to is printed on the form: on the NPMA-33, the inspecting company certifies that neither it nor the inspector has had, presently has, or contemplates having any interest in the property inspected. If you are on the buying side of this, my guide to what a WDI report is is the one to read next.

What am I looking for on the contract before I sign?

You are looking at the first page, and in Florida the law puts the warranty category and every limit on it right there in bold, which makes that page the fastest useful read of a proposal you will get.

Under Florida Statute Section 482.227, any wood-destroying organism treatment contract must specify on its first page in bold print whether it is offered for repair and retreatment, for retreatment only, or with no warranty at all. That single line tells you most of what the paperwork is worth, and my guide to what a termite bond covers and my comparison of a repair bond against a retreat-only bond go through what each category obliges the company to do.

The same statute carries a one-word test you can run in a few seconds. If the contract contains any disclaimer, limitation, condition or exclusion on the company’s obligation to repair or retreat, Florida forbids the terms “full” and “unlimited” from appearing together with “guarantee” or “warranty.” Those limitations also have to sit under bold headings, on the first page.

Read what the warranty section says about a spot treatment with particular care. Potter writes that most reputable firms will not warrant one, since termites are likely to find other points of entry into the building eventually. He also notes that in some cases no warranty is offered at all, where wells, drainage systems, sub-slab heat ducts or inaccessible crawl spaces make it impossible to treat in accordance with industry standards. My read is that a quote carrying no warranty is not automatically a bad quote, given the reasons Potter lists, but the company should be the one raising it rather than you finding it in the paperwork later.

EPA’s factsheet says any company, including one advertising itself as green, should inspect the place and lay out a recommended program covering the pests to be controlled, the extent of the problem, the active ingredients in the pesticide chosen, the potential adverse health effects and typical symptoms of poisoning associated with those ingredients, the form of the pesticide and how it will be applied, the nonchemical alternatives available, the special instructions for reducing your exposure, and the steps to take to keep the problem from coming back. Get that in writing before work starts, not after.

Two paperwork moves tend to arrive later, once you are already a customer. Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says that if your warranty is sold to another company, or your company ceases operations, state law requires your present company to send you written notice of it, and it tells consumers to be very cautious of anyone turning up at the door claiming to have bought their contract. And if you decide to change companies while your coverage is still active, you will be required to sign a state-mandated consent form first.

I already signed. Can I get out of it?

If you signed at your home for a service costing $25 or more, and you did not call the seller out to repair or maintain your personal property, the FTC’s rule gives you until midnight of the third business day after the transaction to cancel without penalty.

Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Period rule (16 C.F.R. Part 429), sales of consumer goods or services priced at $25 or more that take place at your residence carry a mandatory cancellation window. The seller must inform you orally of your right to cancel at the time of purchase and provide a completed written cancellation form.

The FTC rule mandates that the contract carry explicit language explaining this right: “You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction.” If you submit a valid notice of cancellation, the seller must refund all payments made under the contract within 10 business days.

An important exclusion applies if you initiated the contact and requested the seller to visit your home for the purpose of repairing or performing maintenance upon your personal property. However, if the seller sells you additional services beyond that specific maintenance during the visit, the FTC rule dictates that those extra services do not fall within the exclusion.

This federal rule sets a minimum protection standard and does not displace state laws that provide equal or greater rights to cancel.

If they botch it, who do I complain to, and will anyone actually do anything?

The regulator handles the work, and a court handles the money. California and Florida both draw that line in writing, and knowing which side of it your problem sits on saves you filing in the wrong place.

California’s Structural Pest Control Board says it investigates complaints about licensed and registered companies, infestations missed or not reported during an inspection, unlicensed activity, poor workmanship or repairs not meeting trade standards, failure to complete work, false or misleading advertising, and fraud, theft or misrepresentation. It also names what it will not take: landlord and tenant issues, real estate agents, and contractors. Complaints have to be filed within two years of the activity, and within four where the allegation is fraud, gross negligence or misrepresentation. The Board asks you to upload the paperwork with the complaint, and it names inspection reports, service agreements, escrow instructions and payment receipts, which is a decent reason to keep all four from the start.

Then the limit on all of that. The same page says the Board has no authority over payment disputes or monetary issues between consumers and licensees, and that an investigation may need enough evidence to stand up, including testimony. Florida’s department puts the same boundary more briefly: parties who disagree about contract terms, or about compliance with them, have to resolve it in civil court.

Holding three quotes, here is what I would do. Take the couple of days Florida’s department says are always to your advantage. Look up all three license numbers on the state register and read the category before anything else, because a company that cannot lawfully do the work is not a quote, it is a problem. Then read the first page of each proposal for the warranty category and the bold headings, and put anything a salesperson said out loud into the written program before work starts. I have not seen your house, your proposals or your paperwork, and none of this substitutes for reading your own.

Sources

• Termites: How to Identify and Control Them — US Environmental Protection Agency, 2025-10-21. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Tips for Selecting a Pest Control Service — US Environmental Protection Agency, 2026-06-25. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Choosing a Pest Control Company: What you need to know (EPA 735-F-05-010) — US Environmental Protection Agency, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• California Business and Professions Code § 8560, Issuance of Licenses — California Legislative Counsel, 2015-01-01. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Search For A License — California Structural Pest Control Board, Department of Consumer Affairs, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• DCA License Search — California Department of Consumer Affairs, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Wood Destroying Organism System Search — California Structural Pest Control Board, Department of Consumer Affairs, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Structural Pest Control Board Online Complaint — California Structural Pest Control Board, Department of Consumer Affairs, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• How do I know if a pest control company is licensed? — Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• 16 C.F.R. Part 429, Rule Concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Homes or at Certain Other Locations — US Federal Trade Commission, via the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 2015-01-09. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Termite Control: Answers for Homeowners (ENTFACT-604) — University of Kentucky Department of Entomology — Michael F. Potter, 2026-03. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Fla. Stat. § 482.227, Guarantees and warranties — The Florida Legislature, 2020. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Conducive Conditions and Contracts for Wood Destroying Organisms (FDACS-P-02044) — Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2020-06. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• Form NPMA-33: Wood Destroying Insect Inspection Report (7/01/19) — National Pest Management Association, hosted by US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2019-07-01. Accessed 2026-08-07.
• A Home Buyer’s Guide for Wood Destroying Insect Information Report (WDIR) — North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Structural Pest Control Division, undated. Accessed 2026-08-07.