(07) 3219 2777
Welcome to the Environpest web site!
Environpest are a progressive Queensland family owned timber pest inspection and consultancy company, with a strong, ethical consumer focus. Environpest is owned and managed by Mark Porter. Heavily involved in the termite issue from a consumer perspective, and with over 30 years termite experience, Mark has made extensive topical submissions to the authorities that count. Mark also addressed the Government Termite Working Group meeting that produced the Queensland only Building Code amendments that the Queensland builders have worked to since 2001. Substantial improvements were achieved by these Building Code amendments, but some still try to find a way to take a short cut. Please visit our Concrete Capping page for more information. Mark has also sat on the Australian Standards committee for Australian Standard 3660.1-2000 Termite Management Part 1: New building work since 2006 as the Queensland Master Builders representative. These not positions you get to by doing the wrong thing! Our timber pest clients include the Department of Primary Industries – Forestry, the Building Services Authority, prominent builders, and major construction companies.
Here's a promotional video filmed for our Yellow Pages online advertisement. As you navigate this web site, you'll find that much of the text in red is hyperlinked to other pages in the Environpest web site and beyond. Please enjoy! There's a lot more freely given information here than you'd ever expect!
The main focus of our business today is Termite Inspections (both pre-purchase and for existing homes) and Termite Treatments, predominantly in metropolitan Brisbane and surrounds. We travel a bit further (including interstate) with our dispute inspections. Our timber pest inspections are thorough, and we reach our treatment conclusions ethically and well reasoned. We have all the right equipment (moisture meters, Termatrac T3i, and borescopes etc), and can even guide you through the Thermographic (thermal imaging) side if that's required. Of course we are appropriately qualified, licensed, insured, and hold Building Services Authority licence 714223. If you'd like to book an inspection, please don't hesitate to call Leeanne on (07) 3219 2777, or e-mail her at leeanne@environpest.com.au. For pre-purchase building inspections, we have some very good independent building inspectors we can recommend to you too. Please visit our Preferred Building Inspectors page for their details. Where possible, with pre-purchase inspections, we like to complete our inspections with the building inspector. Sometimes there are building and termite issues that overlap, and there's nothing quite like getting all the answers at the same time. We also like to meet our clients on site as well if it's at all possible. There's nothing quite like being shown an issue, rather than trying to decipher a modern report. If you like, Leeanne can even book the building inspectors for you as well.
Contrary to what most of an industry would dearly like you to think, termites are generally regarded as taking 12 months to do serious economic damage. You really do have time to properly research what will provide you with the best long term value for money, and please remember that finding termites in the yard, or next door is not a suggestion that the termite barriers to your home are failing. Most importantly, don't be panicked into taking the first quotation you are confronted with. If you make panicked decisions, and you tend to make decisions that are not in your best long term interests. (We won't panic you!) Not all termites are considered a structural threat to a home. Typically the termite nests found in the yard are minor species of termites that feed on grass, living or moisture damaged timber. They can actually be quite a useful tool. If they enter a home, they become a treatment trigger, in that if these termites can enter the home, then the more destructive termites can too, but they're typically discovered eating the paper off the plasterboard BEFORE structural or timber damage occurs.
ALERT: For those that are looking for a pre-purchase inspection here in Queensland (and possibly elsewhere), be aware there is a contract being increasingly used by some real estate agents that can limit your ability to vary or void your contract in the termite issue! The best advice we can give our clients in Queensland is that they should ensure that their purchase contract is ONLY an REIQ contract. To our view, it is the Queensland real estate contract that best protects the purchaser's interests in the termite issue. Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information.
We photograph our inspections and treatments. If there is a query on work we've done, our favourite reply is "Can we e-mail you the photos!" Photos only worry those who aren't doing the right thing, and those who aren't prepared to let their work stand scrutiny! Our dispute reports can now include digital video reporting, which is proving to be an exceptional means to get an important point across. Environpest aren't afraid to set the standards in termite inspection and treatment, and as far as we're concerned, let the competition catch up when they're good and ready!
If you have termites in your home, or are concerned that you may have, the Australian Standards for timber pest inspection and treatment provide excellent value for money if they are followed. We'll show you how to get the most from modern chemical treatments, and we'll show you their limitations. With chemical barriers properly installed and not disturbed, 15 to 20 years is a realistic conservative expectation for soil areas treated using Biflex at it's higher application rate, a soil replacement technique, and a thorough treatment preparation. Concrete areas we prefer to treat using Termidor, with a labelled expected protection period of at least 8 years (Termidor may well protect long beyond that). In areas difficult to treat or re-treat, we may recommend using Granitgard or Granitgard's Blockaid, FMC Homeguard or Termimesh's woven stainless steel mesh. Many of our clients have had a number of treatments done by other pest control firms with limited success, and have found REAL answers with us. (We really DO have those answers!) We'll only ever make our recommendations based upon what we believe represents the best long term value for money to our clients. That's what you're paying us to do for you!
In July, 1995, the chemicals we work with were changed, and the new chemicals cannot protect against some common building practices. They can be reticulated (applied through irrigation piping under the soil), and re-applied on a weekly basis, and still not provide protection from some common building practices. If you have had a number of treatments done, and can’t achieve a positive result, please contact us for advice. We really do have positive answers to the termite issue! For more information on this important issue, take a look at our Building Practices page. We do get involved in Building Services Authority, Supreme Court, and Queensland Civil & Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) termite disputes, with our engagements coming from home owners, builders, pest controllers, termite barrier manufacturers, and the Building Services Authority. We are independent, and when Mark's engaged as an expect witness, under the Rules of Evidence, his responsibility is to the court, and not to the client. We really are independent, and must be. For more information, please visit our BSA Case History Pages.
Public liability and professional indemnity insurances are an important part of professional inspection, providing security for the consumer. The Building Services Authority is allowing some pre-purchase timber pest and building inspectors to operate without insurances. (If they don't have insurance, they're supposed to let you know in writing before performing work for you.) For more information, visit our Insurance page.
If
you’re
building, or are a
builder, please contact us.
We're huge fans of physical termite barriers, which are typically permanent, and
don't normally require reinstatement or repair in the life of a building. In concrete slab
construction, we’ve developed a strong preference for an exposed
slab edge, and chemical
free
Granitgard graded stone barrier or
Termimesh's
woven stainless steel mesh to the slab
penetrations. Granitgard is too heavy
for the termites to shift, and packing too tightly for termites to fit between.
Properly installed, it’s considered a true “LIFE OF BUILDING” product.
As you might have gathered, we're really quite focused in the termite issue these days, and as a consequence, we no longer do normal pest control. For the treatment of cockroaches, spiders, ants etc in Metropolitan Brisbane and surrounds, please call Glen Horswill at Ideal Pest Control on (07) 3300 2426. He's one of the best we've seen in a while, and anybody we've referred to Glen have only spoken highly of him in their comments back to us!
Thanks for visiting our web site, and if we can help you in any way, or you'd like further information, please don't hesitate to call us on (07) 3219 2777, or e-mail us at info@environpest.com.au. © Mark Porter 2010
Termite damage
(Click on photos to view full size)
Please click on the links below to take you to the different pages within our web site.
Termite Issue Found Termites? Termite Inspections Termite Treatments
Building? Builders Building Practices Granitgard Thermographics Fire Ants
Commercial Pests Fumigation Consultancy Environpest Interesting Links
Termite Bait Boxes Opportunity Contact Us
If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Get it right the first time!
