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Guide 1 of 7

What a quote should show before anyone sprays

Two regulators set the same ground before any spray, and a quote can answer each part of it or skip it: the pest seen, the look, the identification, and the decision about whether any pesticide is needed. Queensland Health asks it as questions a customer can put to a business, and the NSW EPA sets it as an order of decisions.

A pest control job drawn in the order the regulators describe it. A dark wedge narrows in eight steps: you see a pest, inspect, identify the pest, ask whether a pesticide is needed at all, prevent first, raise your concerns, a pre-treatment advice, targeted not general. It comes to a point at a registered pesticide used to its label, which forks into general pest work and termite work. From there a line runs on, ticked: stay out until it is dry, ask the re-entry time, tell your neighbours, its name and active constituent in writing, ask for its full name and safety data sheet, and it can linger for days, weeks or longer. Solid marks are law; open marks are a regulator's advice. Every mark names its state or NAT. Each mark opens its guide. NSW EPA: seeing one pest does not always mean control is needed. You see a pestNSW EPA Queensland Health lists what pest management technicians typically do: inspect the premises. InspectQLD Health Both regulators put identification before any treatment: identify the pest and its habitats, and identify it before deciding how to control it. Identify the pestNSW EPA QLD Health Queensland Health: in some cases, a pesticide treatment may not be necessary. Is a pesticide needed?QLD Health asks this NSW EPA: keeping pests from becoming a threat can carry little or no risk to people or the environment. Prevent firstNSW EPA Victoria: raise concerns such as pregnancy, young children or allergies with the operator before the work starts. Raise your concernsVIC Queensland law: before starting a pest control activity for a customer, a licensed technician must give the customer a pre-treatment pest control advice for the activity. Before startingQLD, law NSW EPA: targeted spraying is the fallback where watching shows other methods are not working, and a wide spray of a non-specific product is its last measure, after the others have failed. Targeted, not generalNSW EPA A registered pesticide, used to its label. NAT · NSW, VIC, QLD. Termites: QLD, a QBCC licence as well; NSW, a timber pest licence being phased in; VIC, check that the licence covers the job. A registered pesticide, used to its label NAT · NSW, VIC, QLD general pest termites Termites: QLD, a QBCC licence as well; NSW, a timber pest licence being phased in; VIC, check that the licence covers the job. Victoria: leave the premises while the pesticide is being mixed and applied, and stay out until it is dry; the same page moves pets out for the same stretch. Stay out until it is dry VIC WA Health: ask what the recommended waiting or re-entry time is, for people and pets. Ask the re-entry time for people and pets WA Victoria recommends telling neighbours before external treatments; NSW good practice says the same, especially where the pesticide has an odour, and some labels require notice. Tell your neighbours VIC · NSW Queensland law: the post-treatment advice is dated and signed, and states the name and the active constituent of each pesticide used. Its name and active constituent, in writing QLD, law NSW EPA asks the customer to ask for the full product name and the safety data sheet, which a pest controller must provide on request; Victoria asks for the full chemical name, which helps in an emergency. Ask for its full name and safety data sheet NSW · VIC Victoria: sprays used on surfaces and treatments for termites can stay in the environment for days, weeks or longer after application. It can linger for days, weeks or longer VIC Where a step carries a state's name, that is the regulator who says it. Your own state's or territory's regulator governs your job.
The same pest control job drawn upright: eight bands stepping in as the job narrows, from seeing a pest to spraying only where it is needed, then a registered pesticide used to its label, then the fork into general pest work and termite work, then the line of waiting and naming that runs on after the van has gone. NSW EPA: seeing one pest does not always mean control is needed. You see a pest NSW EPA Queensland Health lists what pest management technicians typically do: inspect the premises. Inspect QLD Health Both regulators put identification before any treatment: identify the pest and its habitats, and identify it before deciding how to control it. Identify the pest NSW EPA · QLD Health Queensland Health: in some cases, a pesticide treatment may not be necessary. Is a pesticide needed? Queensland Health asks this NSW EPA: keeping pests from becoming a threat can carry little or no risk to people or the environment. Prevent first NSW EPA Victoria: raise concerns such as pregnancy, young children or allergies with the operator before the work starts. Raise your concerns VIC Queensland law: before starting a pest control activity for a customer, a licensed technician must give the customer a pre-treatment pest control advice for the activity. A pre‑treatmentadvice QLD, law NSW EPA: targeted spraying is the fallback where watching shows other methods are not working, and a wide spray of a non-specific product is its last measure, after the others have failed. Targeted, notgeneral NSW EPA A registered pesticide, used to its label. NAT · NSW, VIC, QLD. Termites: QLD, a QBCC licence as well; NSW, a timber pest licence being phased in; VIC, check that the licence covers the job. A registered pesticide, used to its label NAT · NSW, VIC, QLD general pest termites Termites: QLD, a QBCC licence as well; NSW, a timber pest licence being phased in; VIC, check that the licence covers the job. Victoria: leave the premises while the pesticide is being mixed and applied, and stay out until it is dry; the same page moves pets out for the same stretch. Stay out until it is dry VIC WA Health: ask what the recommended waiting or re-entry time is, for people and pets. Ask the re-entry time for people and pets WA Victoria recommends telling neighbours before external treatments; NSW good practice says the same, especially where the pesticide has an odour, and some labels require notice. Tell your neighbours VIC · NSW Queensland law: the post-treatment advice is dated and signed, and states the name and the active constituent of each pesticide used. Its name and active constituent, in writing QLD, law NSW EPA asks the customer to ask for the full product name and the safety data sheet, which a pest controller must provide on request; Victoria asks for the full chemical name, which helps in an emergency. Ask for its full name and safety data sheet NSW · VIC Victoria: sprays used on surfaces and treatments for termites can stay in the environment for days, weeks or longer after application. It can linger for days, weeks or longer VIC Where a step carries a state's name, that is the regulator who says it. Your own state's or territory's regulator governs your job.

General information from the regulators' and health departments' own pages. It is not advice about your own property, your own treatment or your own quote.

Queensland Health's questions for a pest business

Queensland Health's customer fact sheet is written for a person about to engage a business, and it lists what to ask. When making enquiries to pest management businesses regarding their services, you may wish to consider the following:

  • the services their quote includes;
  • whether an inspection is included as part of the service;
  • the pest management technician's experience in carrying out the pest control activity you require;
  • the preparation you may need to do prior to the activity being carried out;
  • the pesticides used by the business and how they are applied;
  • the safety precautions you need to take prior to and after the pest control treatment.

Each of those questions is about a step in the job, not a courtesy around it: the inspection is work, and the sheet's first question, what the quote includes, is the one that decides whether the rest are answered before the work or after it.

The NSW EPA's decision steps

New South Wales writes the same ground as an order of decisions rather than a list of questions. Its environment authority says one pest seen is not always a reason to act, which is why its advice starts with the pest itself: which one it is, how many there are, and what they are doing.

Its two middle steps are the look and the identification. The authority's point is practical: knowing what the pest is before acting cuts the risk of using the wrong pesticide, or of using one where another method would have worked better.

Queensland Health then asks the question that decides the middle of the job. Its words are: "In some cases, a pesticide treatment may not be necessary." The fact sheet gives its reason in the next sentence: "A thorough initial inspection by the pest management technician will help to determine if a pesticide is the best choice for a particular situation." Whether an inspection is included as part of the service is one of the sheet's own questions.

Australia's healthdirect service puts the same limit on the material itself: its advice is to use a pesticide only when it is necessary, and as its label directs.

The two sets side by side

Queensland Health's questions and the NSW EPA's steps, each under its own state's name
Step of the jobQueensland Health asksThe NSW EPA decides
The pestWhether an inspection is included as part of the service.One pest seen is not by itself a reason to treat.
The lookThe technician's experience in the activity you require.The look and the identification come before any control decision.
The decision"In some cases, a pesticide treatment may not be necessary."Knowing the pest and watching it cuts the risk of the wrong pesticide, or of a pesticide where another strategy would work better.
The productThe pesticides used by the business and how they are applied.Ask the pest controller to identify the pesticide that will be used, by its full product name.

Victoria's health service adds one more thing a quote can settle before the work: bring up any concerns, such as how the pesticide might affect pregnancy, young children or allergies, with the operator before they start, which gives them a chance to discuss options instead.

What two states say a quote itself should carry

Western Australia: WA Health's page on choosing a pest management business says a quote should carry the technician's contact details, including an address, the licence details, an ABN and any terms and conditions, where possible. Those are the details that let a customer check the licence before the work, rather than after it.

South Australia: SA Health asks a customer to request written information on the pesticides to be used, the treatment methods, evidence that the treatment method is effective, and what its limitations are. A material safety data sheet is one of the documents it names as part of that request.

Neither of those is a price. One is about who will do the work and on what terms; the other is about what will be applied, how, and what it can be expected to achieve.

What a quote can be read against

Four sentences cover most of a written quote: which pest the price is for, whether a look at the property is part of it, what will be applied if anything, and what happens after the technician leaves. The guides that follow take up the rest of the job: whether a pesticide is needed at all, what may be used, how long to stay out, and what a customer must be told afterwards.

None of the questions above asks what a job should cost. They ask what a job is, which is what the regulators' own customer pages put first, and what a quote can be read against line by line.