Termite Licensing

General Inspection Topics General Inspection Discussion
1

Hi everyone, a bit of a strange question. I’m licensed as a professional home inspector in Texas. I was a realtor for 9 years, and so I’ve read 100s of reports and shadowed many inspectors knowing I would like to become an independent inspector at some point, so here I am. At first, I applied to some inspector companies, and they all said they would sign me up for a class in order to do termite inspections. Now that I’m on my own, I dissected the internet trying to find out how to become licensed to complete termite inspections. Apparently, I must get an applicator’s license from the Department of Agriculture. This could possibly take several years in order to complete them on my own, including working underneath someone at a pest control company for a certain period of time. I’m curious as to what these inspection companies were offering me, education wise, in order to complete termite inspections. I’ve poked around a bit and asked a very generous inspector who is also my mentor (otherwise I’d have to ask my competitors) and he says he contracts the termite inspection out, and he suspects that companies who do have their inspectors do termite inspections, have someone they pay to sign-off on the inspector’s termite inspection form.

I’d appreciate any feedback.

2

I’m not a Texan, but…
IMO, it’s one way off vetting you! If you aren’t willing to "get your back dirty in a crawlspace, then they won’t waste their time with you! This training also overlaps significantly with home inspector work, with termite damage being a key concern to be aware of to stay out of the courtroom!
Secondly, it takes so long to get through the WDI process, they need to get you started asap. It’s a business operations decision.

3

I am licensed in Missouri to do termite inspection. All I had to do was take 2 state tests and pass both of them. Then I got my license from the Missouri department of agriculture. But every state is different. Just call the Dept of AG and get the correct info needed to do termite inspection. Here if I wanted to do treatments I would have had to take more classes , more tests and work under someone for awhile. Inspection license and treatment license should not be the same.