Termites don’t announce themselves.

A perimeter spray does nothing to a termite colony.

This is why termites are not part of our monthly or bi-monthly plans, and why the Prowl Promise does not extend to them. A recurring pest control program treats a band of soil and vegetation around your foundation to stop insects crossing into the structure. Subterranean termites are already past that line. They are working inside the wood, reached from a nest in the soil through mud tubes you will probably never see. Different problem, different product, different method.

Any company that folds termite coverage into a monthly perimeter plan is selling you something that fails quietly for years. We would rather quote it as its own job.

What Long Island homeowners actually notice first

• Swarmers in spring. Winged reproductives near a window or a light fixture, usually a warm day after rain. People mistake them for flying ants. The difference is straight antennae, a thick waist, and four wings of equal length.
• Discarded wings on a sill or in a spider web, after the swarm.
• Mud tubes, pencil-width soil tunnels running up a foundation wall, a pier, or the inside of a crawl. This is the colony’s covered highway between soil and wood.
• Wood that sounds hollow when tapped, or a paint surface that looks faintly blistered or rippled.
• A sticking door or a soft spot in a floor that appeared without a plumbing leak to explain it.

Termites do not swarm because they just arrived. A colony is typically several years old before it produces swarmers, which is why finding them is a reason to inspect now rather than in the spring.

How we handle it

• Inspection first, always. We do not quote a termite job over the phone. We need to know the construction, the soil contact points, where the activity is, and how far it has gone.
• Then a written quote for the program that fits what we found, scope, method, and what the follow-up schedule looks like.
• All applications are made by a NYSDEC-certified applicator in accordance with the product label and New York State regulations. Product names and EPA registration numbers are available on request and are left with you.
• Keep people and pets off treated surfaces until dry, about 30 minutes.