White ant treatment typically costs between $500 and $2,500 for a standard home, depending on the method used, the size of your property, and how far the infestation has spread. “White ants” is another name for termites, and the treatment options and pricing are identical. The total you’ll pay depends on whether you choose a chemical soil barrier, a baiting system, or a targeted spot treatment, plus any ongoing monitoring fees afterward.
Chemical Barrier Treatment Costs
Liquid termiticide treatments, where a chemical barrier is applied to the soil around your home’s foundation, run between $3 and $16 per linear foot. For a standard 2,000-square-foot house, that works out to roughly $500 to $2,500 total. The price varies based on the product used and how much foundation perimeter needs coverage.
Chemical barriers work by creating a treated zone in the soil that termites can’t cross without being killed. The residual pesticide stays active in the ground for years, which means you get ongoing protection without frequent re-application. This is the most common treatment approach and generally the most straightforward for homes with accessible foundations.
Baiting System Costs
Bait station systems cost between $800 and $1,500 for the initial setup. Unlike chemical barriers, they come with mandatory annual monitoring fees of $200 to $400 per year. Over time, those recurring costs add up, so it’s worth factoring in the long-term expense rather than just the upfront price.
Bait stations are placed in the soil around your property’s perimeter. They contain slow-acting compounds that termites carry back to the colony, eventually killing it from the inside. The tradeoff is that once the colony is eliminated, no residual pesticide remains in the soil. If you cancel your monitoring agreement, you lose protection entirely. That makes the annual renewal essential, not optional.
Depending on the pest control company and the product used, monitoring visits may happen monthly, quarterly, twice a year, or annually. Each visit involves checking the stations for termite activity and replenishing bait as needed. Baiting can end up costlier than a liquid treatment over several years because of the repeated service visits, according to entomologists at the University of Kentucky.
What Drives the Price Up or Down
The treatment method is the single biggest driver of your total cost, but several other factors push the number higher or lower.
Property size matters across every method. Soil treatments are priced by linear footage of your foundation. Baiting programs factor in the perimeter of your lot. Fumigation, when needed, is priced by cubic footage. A larger home simply requires more product and more labor.
Infestation severity adds another layer. A small, localized colony caught early might only need a targeted spot application, which sits at the low end of the cost range. But termites that have been active for years can spread through multiple structural members, requiring broader treatment coverage and potentially expensive wood repairs after the infestation is cleared. Catching the problem early consistently leads to lower bills.
Pre-construction vs. post-construction timing creates one of the biggest cost gaps in the industry. Treating soil and framing before a home is built costs just $0.10 to $0.25 per square foot of foundation area, because technicians have open, unobstructed access. Post-construction treatment requires drilling through concrete, crawling through tight spaces, and working around finished walls, flooring, and landscaping. That added complexity pushes prices up considerably.
Inspection Fees
Before any treatment, you’ll need an inspection. Many pest control companies offer free inspections when they’re bidding for your treatment business. Standalone inspections, the kind ordered for real estate transactions or annual checkups, typically cost $75 to $150.
If you’re buying or selling a home, you may need a formal wood-destroying organism (WDO) report, which is the official inspection document required in many property transactions. If you’re already on a termite service agreement or warranty plan, most companies include one annual inspection at no extra charge.
Ongoing Protection and Warranty Costs
Most professional treatments come with a one-year warranty covering the treated area. After that first year, you can typically renew the warranty annually for a fee. The renewal keeps your coverage active and usually includes a free annual inspection plus spot treatments at no additional cost if termites return to the covered area.
Whether the ongoing cost is worth it depends on your risk level. Homes in high-termite regions, homes with prior infestations, and homes with heavy soil-to-wood contact face the greatest risk of reinfestation. For these properties, maintaining a warranty plan is one of the cheapest forms of insurance against a much larger repair bill down the line.
Repair Costs if Damage Has Already Occurred
Treatment kills the colony, but it doesn’t fix what the termites already ate. Structural timber repair is a separate expense that can dwarf the treatment itself.
Small, surface-level repairs to window frames, door trim, or fascia boards generally fall between $500 and $1,500. Once the damage reaches floor joists, wall framing, subfloor sheathing, or sill plates, costs typically land between $1,500 and $6,000. Large-scale structural failures involving multiple framing members can push the total well above $10,000. Some specific benchmarks:
- Subfloor replacement: $1,500 to $4,000
- Floor joists or sill plates: $2,000 to $6,000
- Structural framing members: $5,000 to $10,000+
This is the strongest argument for early detection. A $500 treatment now can prevent a $10,000 repair bill later.
DIY Treatment: Cheaper but Limited
DIY termite products cost significantly less upfront. You can buy termite sprays, foam treatments, boric acid powder, and retail bait stations for a fraction of professional pricing. For very minor, surface-level activity or as a preventive measure, these products can reduce termite activity when applied correctly.
The problem is that termite colonies are large and hidden. Sprays only kill termites on contact and don’t reach the colony itself. Foam and dust products can treat cracks and crevices but miss the broader infestation. Home remedies like vinegar solutions or essential oils may deter termites in a small area but won’t eliminate an established colony. The hidden nature of termite damage means you often can’t see the full extent of the problem, so treating only what’s visible leaves the rest unchecked.
Professional treatment uses specialized equipment to assess and treat both visible and hidden colonies, with deeper penetration into the structure. For an active infestation threatening your home’s structural integrity, the cost difference between DIY and professional treatment is small compared to the cost of letting damage progress unchecked.
How to Compare Quotes
When getting estimates, ask each company to break down the cost into initial treatment, any required follow-up visits, and ongoing monitoring or warranty fees. A lower upfront price with expensive annual renewals can cost more over five years than a higher one-time treatment with a cheaper maintenance plan.
Ask specifically what the warranty covers. Some plans only cover the areas originally treated, while others protect the entire structure. Confirm whether retreatment is included at no extra cost if termites return during the warranty period. And find out what happens if you skip a renewal year, because with baiting systems in particular, lapsed coverage means zero residual protection in the soil.