I started a repair job today replacing some rotted T-1-11 and cedar trim. After removing the T-1-11 we found termites. We alerted the homeowner who contacted his pest control company, who holds his termite bond. They came out and found live colonies of termites and stated THEIR company must do the repairs or their bond will not cover the repaired areas in the future.
Sounds fishy to me. Since when does a homeowner have no control over who works on his home. (The homeowner wants to use my company). I also question pest control companies that treat for termites AND repair the damage. There are too many senior citizens who have fallen for “The temites in the test tube are from your crawl space and it will cost ten grand to fix scam.”
Any people out there with insight?
Constructing in metric…
every inch of the way.
Replies
Don't know what the laws are in your state or local juristiction, most laws require the bonding company to retreat. If the contract incuded repairs of damage, then the pest control company can chose who does the repairs.
Chuck S
live, work, build, ...better with wood
That occurred to me that the pest control company was paying for the repairs so they could use whom ever they wanted. But... if the homeowner wants to use someone other than the pest control company, who wins?Constructing in metric...
every inch of the way.
that how it works here, the termite company has company carpenters, drive the same type trucks as the pest people. same logo,
hh,
If it helps any, when we found some termite damage a few years ago, I did all of the repairs myself. Terminix came and retreated the house but said nothing about having to do the work. They never even mentioned it. I guess it depends on how the termite contract is written though.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Mr Bill,(hh, sorry for the interupt., Southern MD is termite country as well)) Used to live in Tuxedo MD. Kept my boat in Benidict and Hollywood. Is the 'Drift Inn" still going on?The Bretton Bay Oyster Festival at the fire house was the greatest. Fresh oyster on a saltine for a quarter.Is Vera's Still there? The 'Green Door'?live, work, build, ...better with wood
Steven,
Drift Inn is still going strong. Vera's was sold about a year ago and the guy that bought it did a complete resto, keeping all of the original features. Southern Md has changed greatly, unfortunately I would say not for the better :( Too many people too quickly. Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Man, Vera. What to say. Strange woman; strange place.
In-laws are close; had dinner ther a few times - never great; always an experience.
orrest
"If it helps any, when we found some termite damage a few years ago, I did all of the repairs myself. Terminix came and retreated the house but said nothing about having to do the work."
Mr. Bill,
That's what I have always experienced in the past.
I grew up just North of you in Bowie. Man has Waldorf changed. La Plata too!Constructing in metric...
every inch of the way.
No experience here but... it would seem logical that whoever is paying for the repair would be the one to choose the contractor or carpenter who does it.
We have a termite contract on our house - truth be told, I was not sure what it guarantees - other than a yearly inspection, so, after getting out the paperwork I find it says the pest control company will "arrange for any repairs or replacement" blah blah blah, which kinda says to me that if repairs are necessary they get someone to do it.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of termites do you have in Charleston? I was talking to the pest control guy on the job the other day, and he told he that we have subterranean termites here in Raleigh, whereas in Florida they have Formosan termites, the difference being that subterranean termites have to return to the soil to get water (unless the wood is wet enough), whereas Formosan termites eat dry wood and do not need water. I was having a relatively new (to this area) treatment done on some new construction houses - Bora-Care, which is a above soil treatment and has the added benefit that it is supposed to be a fungicide too.
Wanting to find out more about were what type of termites are, I did a Google and found this map: http://www.lipca.com/documents/formosan.gif showing where Formosan termites are in the US
This map showing termite infestation levels in the US: http://www.utoronto.ca/forest/termite/Azores/index38.htm
and this: http://www.utoronto.ca/forest/termite/termite.htm everything you ever wanted to know about termites web page.
I also noticed that our termite contract excludes Formosan termites. At this point I'm kinda guessing that Formosan termites are a larger threat than other kinds... not sure.
"Just out of curiosity, what kind of termites do you have in Charleston? "
Matt,
Thanks for all the great info!
We have subterranean and formosan here. The formosans came in off ship's cargo in the port. I have not come across them yet, but we see subterranean often. The formosans can tear up a house pretty quickly. I believe they eat ten times faster than subterranean.
I was in Raleigh for game seven of the Stanley Cup last June. Great experience. Great city. Unbelievable fans. The Hurricanes are not getting off to such a good start this year. I think they lost too many guys.Constructing in metric...
every inch of the way.
Yea - I wish we could afford to go see the Canes. We occasionally get a pair of tickets from my wife's work or similar but they are few and far between.
Funny thing is before the Canes, we had the Icecaps - a minor league team - tickets were like $10, parking was free and you could go buy any ticket you wanted in the (smallish) arena a few days before the game. Same absorbent prices on beer, etc though... But I LOVED it! I remember one time my favorite player got checked from behind in a very nasty manner. They took him out on a stretcher. His name was Lester Meany! Everyone in the rowdy crowd was booing the heck out of the guy who did the checking and me, with several brewskis under my belt rushed the a low fence that was right next to the player exit as the guy was ejected. Not sure what I thought I was gonna do.... Luckily some security guards held be back :-) The guy probably woulda kicked my azz from here to Tuesday...
Did you go party in downtown Raleigh? The downtown district is not very extensive, but they are revitalizing it and it's coming up to be a nice little city.
Edited 11/11/2006 10:11 pm ET by Matt
my boss has season tickets to the sub hockey team, the ticket he did not use, he would give me. I could trade them in for floor seats. so I would save about five tickets and take the boys to a fight and maybe a hockey game break out.