Termite Expert Reveals: Why Your Australian Home Isn't as Protected as You Think!

Follow me on my Socials!
(https://www.instagram.com/duaynepearce/)
(https://www.facebook.com/DuaynePearceBuild)
(https://www.tiktok.com/@duaynepearcebuilder)

Check out Alastair:
🔹Allure Pest — https://allurepest.com.au/team-members/alastair-rogerson/

Check out Duayne’s other projects:
🔹 Live Life Build — https://livelifebuild.com
🔹 D Pearce Constructions — https://dpearceconstructions.com.au
🔹 QuoteEaze — https://quoteeaze.com/Free-Offer.html

In this episode, termite expert Alistair shares everything Australian homeowners and builders need to know about termite protection—including real stories of homes destroyed in just months.

What You'll Learn:
✅ How termites destroy homes faster than you think
✅ Why visual barriers alone aren't enough protection
✅ Common mistakes that leave homes vulnerable
✅ The truth about pre-construction termite systems
✅ Real case studies from Southeast Queensland

Key Takeaway: Termites work 24/7, can travel through concrete joints, and exist across all of Australia (except Tasmania). Pre-construction protection costs a fraction of your build but could save you from devastating damage.

Whether you're building, renovating, or protecting an existing home, this episode could save you thousands.

#termites  #australianhomes  #homebuilding  #construction  #pestcontrol 
#duaynepearce #podcast #melbournebuilder #constructionindustry #builder #buildingconstruction #builders #buildercoach #australianpodcast #aussiebuilder #australianbuilder #constructionindustry #construction #constructionpodcast #builderpodcast #builder #buildingconstruction #buildercoach #smallgoals #smallbusiness #business #entrepreneur

Chapters

• 2:51 Setting The Stage: Termites
• 3:42 Alistair’s Path Into Pest Control
• 5:22 Pre‑Construction Expertise And Training
• 7:22 Why Chemicals Faded And What Replaced Them
• 8:52 Inside A Colony: Workers, Soldiers, Strategy
• 10:32 How Termites Find Food And Travel
• 12:32 Species Across Australia And Risk Zones
• 14:22 Concrete Joints, Slab Edges, And Access
• 17:02 Physical Barriers: What They Prevent
• 19:28 Why Cordon Works On Real Sites
• 21:48 Visual Barriers Versus Reality On Site
• 24:28 Inspections And Homeowner Vigilance
• 26:38 Catastrophic Damage Stories
• 29:28 Treated Timber: Limits And Misconceptions
• 31:28 Visible Mounds Versus Hidden Nests
• 33:08 Ground Access And Colonising Flights
• 34:18 Sponsor: Ventilated LVL Battens
• 35:28 Reproductives, Queens, And Lifecycles
• 37:28 Lessons From Termite Society
• 38:28 Shift To Feral Pest Control
• 40:28 Deer In Suburbia: Risks And Ethics
• 43:28 Pigs, Dogs, And Population Control
• 46:28 Night Work, Safety, And Landholders
• 49:58 Re‑Focusing On Termite Strategy
• 51:28 Renovations, Compliance, And Gaps
• 53:28 Moisture, Shelter, And Misread Signs

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:29

Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are in the shed again this afternoon for another cracking episode. And look, the topic we're going to be going through today is something that I've been wanting to talk to talk to you about for a very long time, but I've really only uh got our guest on today because of a few questions we've been asked over the last few months from some videos I put out on our socials. And today is all going to be all about termites. Um, and I think we've got the best man in the business here with us today, is a good mate of mine, Alistair. So uh welcome, buddy. Thanks, Dwayne. Good to be here. So um not only are we going to be talking about termites today, but we're gonna be talking about shooting and hunting and all sorts of stuff because uh mate, you're a you you do a lot of cool shit.

SPEAKER_02: 2:11

Well, you've got to fill your day in, don't you? I don't go home and knock off, I go home and do stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17

Yeah, yeah, I think it's fantastic, mate. I I love it. The um so I guess to give everyone a little bit of background before we dive into termites, um, how did you get into termites?

SPEAKER_02: 2:28

Oh, a bit of a long story. I don't think anyone sits in high school looking out the window, dreaming about being in pest control. It just one of those things that happened. I was up here, we'd moved off a farm in Western Victoria, moved to Brisbane for bigger and better things, and I was just in between jobs. And a mate uh said, Oh, can you give us a hand for a month or so? I'm a bit busy. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, right, yeah. And uh 14 years later, I'd said to him, like, mate, I can't keep doing this, so I'm gonna go and work for someone else. So, yeah, that's how the I sort of fell into the termite thing. Um certainly, yeah, it wasn't a a uh choice, you know, from years back or anything. It just came along and I did it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:11

But you're um like I've never met anyone like with your knowledge of it. Like you've definitely turned into an expert now. Like you're you're you're um you're an expert in pre-construction, aren't you? Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:23

That's what I well, expert. Yeah, I've been around long enough, I've seen most things that tend to go wrong. So um I actually still enjoy it because as opposed to being you know a chippy onside or a plumber or a tradie of any sort, you're there and you're there all day and the clock's ticking and it's grinding away. Well, I'll do five jobs and they're all different. And whiz in, whiz out. Hopefully you can you know wave a magic wand and go, here, it's easy and it's fixed and it's done, and on to the next one. Yeah. So that's part of the attraction, isn't it? For me, it's also I'm on my own. I just I I'm here, I know what what my schedule is for the day. And um, yeah, generally I can you know slip another job in if I have to, or you know, it's up to me. I manage my own my own day. It's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:14

So and you like you're now like I've seen your passion over the last couple of years, like you're you're going to seminars, you're you're now getting other people from around the country fly down to you, and you're training them on your processes and and what you do.

SPEAKER_02: 4:27

So yeah, it's uh it's been really good this last 18 months. Um made a little change of employer, and um they've just given me the keys and said go for it. So there is a national pest convention called Pesticon every year. So we're down at that in Adelaide, just bumped into some other guys who were interested in the same field in pre-construction termite control. And um yeah, a couple of young guys came down from Mackay, and they actually stayed at my house for a couple of nights, and I showed them around everything I could because our styles of construction are so different. Um, they're all about, well, as they go further north to Bowen, they are um you know a bit more cyclone rated, so it's blocks on slabs, and yeah, there's no big retaining walls, there's very few split levels and things that we like doing down here. Yeah, um, there's no raised Queenslanders and built in underneath. It's uh it's all slab blocks, roof, and pretty, you know, boringly straightforward as far as installing termite barriers in it.

SPEAKER_01: 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 5:32

But uh yeah, I had a meeting with a couple of Japanese guys who I also met down there. They came up and took us out for a coffee last week. Wanted to know all about pre-construction. Well, I told them what I could tell them. Well, in Japan they don't have that same issue. They spray a bit of chemical under the concrete before it's poured and hopefully never have an issue. Well, they want to wanted to move to Brisbane to start another company up here. So I'd yeah, I gave them the offer. If you want to come back, come and have a look at what I do. Yeah, you're welcome.

SPEAKER_00: 6:03

But I would imagine sooner or later over there they're gonna stop using chemical as well and you'd think it'd happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that's like people don't know, I guess, the ins and outs of termites. Like, I until I just started running into you on our job sites and asking more questions and and your knowledge. But like through my whole time in my early career, like that we would do the um the the slab beds or sand up, whatever you want to call it, and then yeah, the guy would roll in, roll out a big hose, yeah, cover the whole thing with chemical, and then we'd come in, put the plastic over and happy days. But yeah, little did we know we were sniffing and breathing and crawling on our hands and playing around with.

SPEAKER_02: 6:46

I think they stopped that because pretty much all those pest control guys died off of various cancers. So but the systems we have now are much better. But termites themselves, they're pretty cool little guys. Yeah, like we could learn a lot from them, just their their desire to create and continue their society. I think it's it's pretty cool. They're happy with what they've got, the workers are workers, the soldiers are soldiers, and the rest of the colony just continues to be to preserve and make the colony better and last for forever. And that workers I think well, they live up to two years. They're deaf and blind, and they don't sleep. They just work. They don't sleep, they work 24 hours a day, and they just wander over there and feed, come back here. A soldier says, feed me, they cough up a bit of food for the soldier, he eats it, off they go and do it again and continue to work. That's what they do.

SPEAKER_00: 7:42

So is uh the worker and the soldier the same breed or what like Oh, they're the same species, but they're a different class in the society.

SPEAKER_01: 7:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 7:51

So yeah, when they're if they come under attack from anything, the soldiers have got to do their job and you're outside, mate. You get stuck into the ants or whatever that's that's a threat, do your thing. So um yeah, and meanwhile the workers will be plugging up the tunnels, so ants typically can't get into the colony.

SPEAKER_01: 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 8:11

And the soldiers are left on the outside. Well, you've thanks very much for coming, but that's the ultimate sacrifice, you're out. So it's it is pretty cool though. That's their job, that's their role, and they do it and they do it well.

SPEAKER_00: 8:23

But the lengths they go to find food is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02: 8:28

Yeah, that's incredible what they'll do. We have seen, I think, a house over at Ginder Lee was only 18 months old, metre or so off the ground, and they'd built a perfect chimney straight up to one of the bearers underneath that they decided that was the spot we're going to eat. And so they did.

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

So, how would they, from a metre down, how would they know that that timber's up there?

SPEAKER_02: 8:49

Oh, they'd pretty good sniffers. So there's scouts that go out first and find where the food source is, and um, yeah, they leave feeding pheromones and the rest will come in and go, right, how are we going to get up there? And for whatever reason, they'd built up it was a good meter off the ground, yeah, and they'd built this perfectly, perfectly underneath um.

SPEAKER_00: 9:09

So they just they form up mud and whatever, dirt, and bits and pieces. Yep. And then travel through because they don't like sunlight, do they?

SPEAKER_02: 9:16

No. No. No, they like their own humidity, so that typically they're sealed inside their own workings. Yeah. And uh sunlight, they're not big on at all. But um I think there's 300 odd species of termites in Australia, and there's like 13 that'll do structural damage to our buildings. And of those, there's sort of five in Queensland, South East Queensland are the the major ones that we see a lot of. Yeah, we've just come back from New Zealand, they don't have termites. It's funny, yeah. Like, how come they're here? They've been in uh one of the studies I read recently, um, Inverloch, just out of Melbourne in Gippsland, they found uh a petrified beach log and opened it up, and inside was a petrified termite nest. It was 125 million years old. So, how come they're here in Australia and not in New Zealand? I don't know. Do they do you still get them in cold climates? Uh different species. There's a couple in Tasmania, but they're damp wood termites, they won't do structural damage. Yeah. Yeah, but the further well, yeah, there's plenty in Melbourne, there's plenty in Adelaide, and plenty in WA. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:29

The um I I think it's important to get this sort of information out there because even like I was probably a bit naive about it as well. Like I didn't understand, like I'd always heard that they like you put your collars on all your penetrations in your slab because to stop termites, but like I just think to myself, it's it's surrounded with concrete. Like, how they where are they gonna go?

SPEAKER_02: 10:50

Yeah, well, they are determined. Like, if you've got a two slabs together, a coal joint in concrete, they will sacrifice part of the colony if they really, really want to get through there, they will nibble away at the concrete and you go over there and die, and thanks for coming, you're dead too. But the rest of us got through, and the colony continued. That's how powerful that that desire to survive is that they will, if they really get the urge to find get to that food source above that, yeah, that yeah, some have to die to get there, they'll do it.

SPEAKER_00: 11:21

Yeah, so incredible how quickly they'll do it. I'll like you know about it. So, this this wall behind us in the podcast here. Like, we I thought oh, it's in my shed, there is no timber in my shed, there's a couple of timber shells, but there is no timber in my shed, it's concrete slab, it's steel portal frame, it's all metal colourblone sheeting. Um and we knocked this wall up to give us a bit of a background to this um podcast. It's it's untreated, it's it's all just leftover shit from some jobs. But down the end there behind Alistair, it actually runs over a coal joint where the previous owner of this property uh extended the shed. And I did not I didn't even think twice about it. And it um it was only a matter of a couple of weeks later where I was down here just cleaning up some shit in the shed, and over this side of the wall, it's still here on the ground actually. The um I noticed this tiny little mud trail. Yep. And at the time, Shay had his the filming gear and stuff stacked over here, and there was a couple of these um weight bags, and I was like, what's that? And I did I kicked it and there was termites inside it, yeah, and then I just followed them back, and like as it turns out, they've gone all the way around this wall and come up through that cull joint there. That's I'm like far out, but they've made this mud, like it's probably four or five hundred mil track over to where these weight bags were sitting, and I and then it was starting to go like they've gone out the other side of it a few inches, then obviously I've disturbed them. You you gave me that bait I put on there and they've they've gone. Yep. But um, would they have been travelling because then there's a my one of my old cars there, would they have been travelling in the dark under that car to find the next lot of timber?

SPEAKER_02: 12:59

Depends on the species. There's some that um one in particular that don't really care for their mud tunnels, and they will just get out and go go on the march and look for something else. But yeah, hard to say in here, who knows? That might have been just looking for moisture, maybe the you know your shot bags had some sort of moisture in it. Yeah. But then if they were still connected with the soil down here, there should be a water source underground somewhere. Yeah, yeah, who knows? They do the strangest things, they um are not where you think they would be, and they turn up where they shouldn't.

SPEAKER_00: 13:33

So yeah, that's that's just the way they roll. Well, for me, it was like I did a video and I put on my socials. Like for me, it was it was good to see that. Yeah. Because I was like, holy shit, that's been like two or three weeks. Yeah. And they've like, I haven't fixed it. Like they've literally eaten out most of the bottom plate, a few of the studs. Like, yep. Oh yeah, if you knock the sheet ISB off the end there, like in behind where the sheet's against the stud that's cracked all the way up to the top, like they've had a really good crack at it. Yep. Yeah, that's what they do. Oh, like to look at that coal joint, like it's not like it's open or there's a big gap there.

SPEAKER_02: 14:03

But they they don't need very much. They like a a termite is, I don't know, less than a millimeter wide. So if you could pour water down there, they could probably get through it, you know, so that they don't need very much access to have access. Yeah. So that's that's what the um physical sheeting barrier is designed to do is it won't keep termites out of your house. They can certainly climb up the side of your slab and build a big mud pack out and around it and get into your house, but then it's a visual thing. You you will see it. So what what I do prevents concealed access by termites. So penetrations, cold joints, yeah, anywhere that's potentially concealed. Yeah, that's what we're trying to stop.

SPEAKER_00: 14:46

Retaining walls have got living space on the other side of them and stuff. And so what's the whole idea of the like we use use a cordon, like we've used that for a long time. Um it it's got a chemical barrier still in it, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02: 15:00

That's right, yeah. Yeah, there's sort of three layers to cordon. I like cordon because I've used it the longest. Um there's probably a dozen different products on the market now. Yeah. And I'm accredited in yeah, quite a few of them. But yeah, cordon's been around the longest. It's sort of the toughest. I like it. It's come back in its price point, so it is quite competitive with the others now. Yeah. Um, it has a chemical in it called delta methrin. It's actually an irritant dust. So if you get it in your eyes, it tends to burn like welder's flash and three o'clock in your morning looking into the cold showers saying, just make it stop burning. And you only do that the once, you learn from that. Um, but uh, yeah, it is it's a it what is kills and repels, so they do detect it, and if they really get the urge to walk through it and try and get through a join where the cordon is, where the delta methrin is, they will die on contact. So yeah, good product.

SPEAKER_00: 16:57

And I think I'm not and correct me wrong, I could be completely wrong, but um like I started using it, that's because what was getting used a lot on the jobs that I had come from doing, and right I know um I'd always been told that cordon was great because when you when you put it along your um under your bottom plates of your walls, you could still do all your fixings through it. Yep. Whereas some of them are supposed to like all penetration is supposed to be parged exactly. It's impossible.

SPEAKER_02: 17:23

Once once you've got a wall frame on there, like how do you I don't know what the answer is to that, and that's also why I like cordon because you can shoot through it as long as it's a nice tight hole or a compression, you know, a bolt with a washer on it, that's fine. Yeah, whereas some of the others you must have a seal around your everything, and it's just come on, it's not practical and can't work.

SPEAKER_00: 17:44

So yeah, no, like not naming names, but like I there's another, like I know of one very common one that gets used, and I just it's impossible. Like, how how can you like you have to treat any penetration through it? Yep. But once you've laid your plate, you've drilled your tie-down bolts, you even if you've just shot your RAM set gun through it. Well there's a frame on top of it, you can't get into it, so you can't. And so I assume if anything was if they were somehow to get in there, they're gonna come straight through that hole.

SPEAKER_02: 18:14

Yeah, and and I sort of doubt it if there's you know a nail going through it. The the the bonus with cordon is there's there's three layers to it. There's a plastic moisture barrier on one side, there's a perforated plastic on the other side, which is the black side, and in between is like a geofabric, and that contains the chemical. Now that fabric is fibrous and it expands and contracts even as you're drilling, it'll bind on your drill occasionally, and it yeah, it seems to cover itself up. So whereas the others that are just a plain sheet, if it tears, yeah, you you've got a spot that's potentially you know can be a termite ingress point, yes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:57

Um, I know a lot of builders out there, and I had uh probably two of them comment on the one of the videos I did recently with um like we got you out because like we we did the slab edge with the walls going on, and then we butted a patio slab in, we got you to do the cold joint, and then the client wants us to tile the 75mm edge, so we're losing our visual there, so I got you out to to paint it, and we'll talk a bit more about that in a minute. But I did a video about that, and like Tubugs said, like, why are you bothering? Like, you're wasting your time, wasting your money, like it's visual barrier. I'm like, Well, it's not visual once we put a tile there.

SPEAKER_02: 19:30

No, it is not, and generally there's always something that'll be stacked in front of it too, a garden shed will go in or something will go in, even when you've got your nice 75mm exposed or 30 or whatever it might be, depending on what product you're using. Um that slab edge exposure which creates a visual barrier. Who knows down the track, you know, someone will come in and and put in a 30 mil paver or some big fat thing will go in there and all of a sudden we've got nothing. So even for your average termite inspector to come around every 12 months and go, Aaron, no visual inspection, he's not going to take any responsibility for it. And oh, termites got in, and it's like, yeah, well, we just kind of told you this was gonna happen. But if you do the the installation at the very start, you can only do it once, and that's you know, before your frame goes on your sled. Yeah, well, then it's there. At least it's it it will help with that preventing concealed access. So it they will have to build out and around. Yeah. So that's that's you know, certain things you don't have to do, you don't have to double up, but uh you know, I'm gee, I sell the product, so I'm I should be saying absolutely you've got to put it in.

SPEAKER_00: 20:42

Oh I mean, as as you know, like we get you back to look at anything we're unsure of or whatever, and I I'd and I'm happy to.

SPEAKER_02: 20:49

I mean, I'd I'd rather now that I'm at this stage of my well career, um, I'm happy to talk to anyone. Like, if you've got a genuine issue or concern, if I can come out and give you a hand, yeah, absolutely, I'll do it. Yeah, yeah, happy to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:04

Yeah, um, like just seeing how quick, like I said, how quickly they've got into this stuff here, and then like you talking about that house, a metre off the ground, and within 18 months they've got there, like like 75 mil, like that's all based on like 75 mil, thinking that the homeowner is going to do enough visual inspections over time to catch them before they get past that 75 mil.

SPEAKER_02: 21:26

Like it's with an annual inspection. So if we came through and did an inspection in January and went, well, we've had a good look around, we really like your exposed slab edge everywhere, can't see anything. Meanwhile, there's a a colonising flight next week, a new colony set up right there, and all of a sudden there's mud tunnels coming up. No one's had a look until next January when your annual inspection is due. Yeah. Yeah, well, there's gonna be a bit of damage in between now and there. So, yeah, it is important to be to be aware as a homeowner. Yeah. Um, and we can recommend that you inspect more than, you know, once a year, you can do three monthly if you want.

SPEAKER_00: 22:08

Yeah. Part of our our um handover process is we like two things, like I spend a lot of time like hand when we hand over house, it generally takes about three hours for me just to run through all the the documents and warranties and bits and pieces or or more. My expectations of what the client does to with that sort of stuff. But we like I physically walk them around the house. So we've got all your paperwork you send through, but uh and then we've added some of that to our handover document. But um like I walk them around the house, especially if it's got an undercroft or something like that. And I explain them like, look, even though this is off the ground, like you need to be sticking your head under here with a torch once every four to eight weeks and like checking things because like they can move quickly. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 22:49

Um one for you, Dwayne. We did uh years ago, we did a house for a guy, I think he was obviously a builder, but he did a lot of civil construction as well. So he's built this house over in the other side of Brisbane. Uh two-story, but the bottom half had a like a three-metre block retaining wall, all backfilled, and then the top went out and up further for the second floor. He had it to the point where kitchen cupboards were in, the bench tops were not on, the doors were hung, and he went out west somewhere building bridges for nearly five years. Came back, now there was a unused pack of pine on the floor in the garage that you could poke your whole hand through the whole thing, it was completely destroyed. The trusses were gone, the benches were gone, you couldn't walk on the the second floor. Like the whole thing was destroyed. Because he hadn't put anything in he'd done nothing in almost five years, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:47

Been away working, too busy, had to be a little bit more than a lot of but he had he'd done some sort of termite perimeter or something.

SPEAKER_02: 23:53

Hadn't done very much at all, no, no, no, but they had absolutely destroyed this house, which was almost completed.

SPEAKER_00: 24:01

Yeah, it's unbelievable, incredible. The worst one um I was just talking about it before, like the worst one I ever saw, um, and another it's another reason why we go overboard, I think, with it, but we were building a house for a client and um his parents were retiring, and he said, Oh, would you mind having a look at um our uh they've got a rental property that they're gonna move into now? The um they've had a building in Pestone by the real estate, and they've said they found some termites under the bathtub. And um, so I'm like, Oh yeah, no worries, like we'll we'll we can do a quick bathroom rent or whatever. Um mate, that turned into uh three-quarters of the house rebuild, yeah. And I felt so bad for the like they were in their late 70s, like they were planning on retiring. Yeah, and it like basically ended up using a lot of their retirement funds to to build their house. But the termites had come up through um the the penetration under the bath, obviously chasing the moisture or whatever. But the guy that had found the termites, like he they were still alive when um he found them, and he they thought it was just gonna be that room. And I've always thought about and thought far out, like they were really lucky, like no one got hurt, like that it was a tiled roof house, and mate, we just kept chasing it, and it just kept going room to room to room, and there was external walls that had next to no timber left in them, and the whole cavity from the back of the plaster board, it was a brick veneer house, and in some cavities the mud was that thick that it had pushed the building paper off the studs, and it was from the studs all the way out to the brickwork. Wow, and like it was literally just muddled.

SPEAKER_02: 25:46

That had the building and pest done before purchase.

SPEAKER_00: 25:49

Yeah, that had shit done, like that had tenants in the house for I think 15 years or something. Right, yeah, yeah. Um, so it was a rental they owned, and their plan was always to move to that area and retire. Ah, I got it. I see. Yep, yep. Yeah, the like the tenants had moved out, and part of the moving out process was getting a building and pest and making sure the tenants had looked after the house and stuff. And but it was like seeing how much such a small animal can do. Like that was a three-bedroom house, and like we pretty much there was one living room, half the garage, and I think the front entry hallway that we didn't touch. Like the rest of the house was destroyed.

SPEAKER_02: 26:26

Most of the species that we deal with are super clever, they will consume from the inside out, so there'll be a veneer of paint left, and you put your finger through it, or your vacuum cleaner, or a broom, or a chair, or anything. Skirting boards are super popular. Um even in structural timbers, they'll eat from the inside out. But as soon as that gets to a point where it's going to collapse, we'll stop here and we'll go up a bit further or over a bit further. So they can sense the they know where it's at. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're super good. The more you get into them, the more nerdy you become, and yeah, really appreciate what they do do.

SPEAKER_00: 27:04

Yeah, they're saying for the cost that it costs to do all your pre-construction stuff, like to fingers crossed avoid all that headache down the road. Yep. Like we we use the termite-reated framing as well. I'm not sure how that really works. I've got to it all helps.

SPEAKER_02: 27:21

Like anything above most of my stuff is at ground level. So anything above there that's extra, I'm all for it. Yeah, get it.

SPEAKER_00: 27:28

Have you seen ever seen termite treated framing that has had a the termite had a garden?

SPEAKER_02: 27:33

No. Oh, I've seen them where they've mudded along it. Um, but even when the ends have been cut and potentially they can get into that cut area, I haven't haven't seen that. Yeah. Not saying it doesn't happen. Yeah. But uh, I haven't seen it. Um, but termites don't eat hardwood, yes they do. Termites don't eat cypress. I've seen them have a nibble, you know, and move on to something else that was more palatable. So yeah, they're tenacious. So yeah, to think that they wouldn't have a crack at termite-treated pine. Yeah, when the treatment only goes in half a mil or something, it's yeah, they they would.

SPEAKER_00: 28:11

It's surprisingly where they are, because like there's certain it's something that I feel people like you expect to see something like a termite man like you see at West and stuff, but yeah, like I know a lot of the sites that we have throughout Brisbane, it's not like we just use a shitty old two, one and a half for our profiling and stuff, and like that stuff sometimes like you'll do it, you'll be walking around picking shit up, putting it in the bin, and like you'll go to you'll pick up a piece of that, and the underside of it's just completely gone. It's only been on the ground for a month.

SPEAKER_02: 28:39

The thing, the the mounds that you see that are above ground, uh, there's a couple of species that we have that will nest in a tree or on a fence post or just make a big ball at ground level, they are the ones that do sort of minimal damage to houses. Uh it's the ones that you can't see, they're the ones that we try and prevent. So it'll they'll be mounting at ground level and uh not obvious, and yeah, not often you find those those nests. Yeah. But uh the other guys are pretty obvious, they're pretty easy to get rid of. If it was close to your house, yeah, we'd suggest you get rid of it, or you know, if they're chewing your fences down, yeah, we can we can treat that. But um yeah, the ones that you can't see, they're the ones that do the damage, which makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_00: 29:26

Can termites only enter your property through the ground or can they come in leaves and uh look we're dealing with subterranean termites, so typically they travel in the top 300 mil of the soil.

SPEAKER_02: 29:38

If they hit a retaining wall or something and they decide, gee, there's something some good down there, they'll certainly you know burrow down um as far as they want. They do have they do do a colonising flight when the junior uh well teenagers want to leave home, they grow wings, they get one colonising flight. Yeah. Those guys get eyes so they can see. Yeah. And they'll get one flight. And typically on a good thundery evening, um, when it's hot, it's humid, they'll just swarm. And that you I've seen them leaving a nest, whether it's in a hollow trunk of a tree or whatever, and they just take off like a you know, air force and off they go, do their thing. They're not good at flying, they're the ones you'll see, they'll be attracted to lights on in your house, they'll be all along your window sills, or you know, sometimes get in your house. If they're in your house, typically they'll die. They need food, water, and shelter. If they're inside your house, they've got a ton of food, they got no shelter, and they got no water. If they're in the nice, fresh mulch outside your house in the garden that's got an automatic watering system in, they've got food, they got water, they got shelter, they can live there. So a king and a queen, they'll, you know, start from Adam and Eve basically, and start from scratch, and yeah, they can potentially form a colony. And that's that's how they travel, that's how they um, you know, colonize an area or a country or all right, guys.

SPEAKER_00: 31:07

I want to introduce you to a really exciting new product that I believe is going to play a massive role in Australia building healthier homes. As you all know, I am extremely passionate about healthy homes, and I'm doing a lot of research and putting a lot of time and effort into making sure my construction business is leading the way when it comes to building healthy homes here in Australia. We've teamed up with the guys from Highwood Timber. Highwood Timber are pioneering condensation management with their high flow ventilated LVL baton system. High flow battons give builders a stronger, straighter, and smarter way to create a ventilated cavity behind cladding and underneath roofs without compromising on structural performance. While tackling condensation to improve building health and ease of insulation, highwood battons are built to perform. When it comes to dealing with condensation and ventilation, high flow battons will help you create continuous ventilated cavities behind all your cladding and underneath your roof sheeting. They reduce condensation risk and support healthier, longer lasting buildings. Highwood timber batttons are also in alignment with the proposed NCC condensation management requirements as well as passive house ventilation requirements. Being an engineered LVL product, they are stronger, straighter, and more dimensionally stable than a solid material such as pine. This helps resist warping, twisting, and shrinkage, ensuring more consistent installs less prone to splitting than solid timber. Howwood timber battons are precisely manufactured, meaning that your installation will be faster and easier than other products on the market. The part that I like the most about these batons are they are H3 treated for long-term protection against decay and turmoiles. They use a waterborne H3 treatment which reduces reactivity with membranes and adhesives when compared to LOSP. These are the exact battens that you want to be using on your homes and your builds if you are considering building healthier homes or passive homes. Check them out. Highwood Timber Products. So how do they get like they don't all of a sudden get eyes?

SPEAKER_02: 33:20

No, well they're the different classes, so it's reproductives, yeah. So uh reproductives, workers, soldiers basically. There's yeah, part of the working force is to tend the you know the nursery because the queen is just flat out laying eggs. She doesn't move. She just lays eggs, pumps out like a thousand a day or something, and you know, X amount of midwives are in there looking after these eggs, doing things with them, and yeah, it's so that they're a whole like yeah, their setup is incredible. The classes in the colony are incredible. Yep. And the the junior reproductives, most of them leave, but some will be queens in waiting. So if the queen gets sick or old or bored or whatever, or goes on strike, you're out, get a new one in, and she'll start laying eggs.

SPEAKER_00: 34:10

I just I think it's incredible how our scientists or whoever study this stuff and figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What an unbelievable, like strong community. Like it's and I guess it's one that we shouldn't be um avoiding. Ah, look, I I still think we can learn a lot from it.

SPEAKER_02: 34:26

Just you know, you don't we don't need the structured classes like that, but be happy with what you've got. I mean, you know, it's it's nice to strive and be better, but you don't kill yourself doing it. It's uh yeah, look after your family.

SPEAKER_00: 34:43

Yeah, so Matt, it's not only uh termites that you um you help control, uh you do feral pest control as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um Alistair uh oh, just a quick story about Alistair. We uh so Alistair and I are good mates, we do a few things together, and um Alistair and his wife helps us help us out with the horses. So um, I guess for those of you that listen to the podcast for a long time, um Alistair's wife is Helen, the leadership um who has written the book Leadership Leadership for the Everyday Leader, uh Leadership EQ. Um and I met Alistair's wife through Alistair um because he's done our work for such a long time. But um anyway, we did a trip up to our farm, I don't know, it's probably over a year ago now, and um there was meant to be I can't remember, there were four or five of us meant to be going, and three pulled out. And so it was Annie, myself, Alistair, and another old black, uh, one of our neighbours. And um, I said to Alistair, hey, it's fine, there's plenty of room, just jump in with me. And Alistair, no, it's all good, I'll I'll drive myself. And we turned up to the farm, and I've figured out why we wanted to drive by himself because he opened up his Ute and the backseat, I think it had 16 rifles in it. Well, might have been three. It was a lot. No, that was good, that was good fun. So, yeah, Alistair, um, tell us about that because that I find that really interesting as well, because you um you only live 10-15 minutes from us, but you're out in acreage, more bushland than where we are here, and you expect there to be more wildlife out there, but like you also do hunting like where and where where I live, where we're like this shade, as a crow flies, we're only we'd only be what three kilometres I think from one of Southeast Queensland's like big industrial estates. Yep. And uh you do a lot of hunting uh in around there and housing.

SPEAKER_02: 36:34

Through that big industrial estate, there's quite a large river that runs right up to the side of the mountains here behind us, um, and all the way along there uh feral deer wander along and drink the water and eat the grass and never get hunted. And it just so happens I've yeah, have access to a few properties that are big enough and safe enough for me to chase a few deer on. It's it's great because 20 minutes from home and I can slip out there and probably you know, six days a week and go and knock over a deer if I want to. So as far as um yeah, hunting in South East Queensland, um yeah, they're there. I know a lot of other people do do it, but yeah, it's very tight, it's very risky. Um as far as property size. Well, I'm not shooting in someone's backyard, it's always acreage, but um yeah, you just have to be very, very aware of where you're pointing the thing and where your bullet's going to end up.

SPEAKER_00: 37:39

And it blows um it blows my mind, mate, that they're they're in there. Like you're uh so you get called out by uh people with horses and other animals where deer like I I'd never knew that deer would have a crack at a horse.

SPEAKER_02: 37:52

Well, deer like horses, they'll stand their ground and try and eat the food, but deer are so used to it that they'll see that they've been fed and then hop over the fence, then they want to eat the horse food. So that's where it first started. The lady had a nice Arabian stallion that got scraped by a deer and a lot of blood came out, and yeah, the deer are all of a sudden public enemy number one, where it's the 20 minutes before there'd been these cute little brown things over there. Well, now you try and kill the horse, it's on.

SPEAKER_01: 38:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:23

So um we had a nice drought master bull in another place that was all scraped one morning, and there the farmer there said, come over and shoot every deer you can see. I'm like, geez, that's a bit wasteful, isn't it? We'll just shoot the ones with the horns or something.

SPEAKER_01: 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:38

But um, yeah, we're pretty lucky. We eat a lot of deer, yeah, shoot plenty, and yeah, part of the the the whole deer thing, it's not just around here. I'm out in Brisbane Valley, Stanthorpe, yeah, the other side of Kabulture, Peachester.

SPEAKER_00: 38:56

And you do a lot of that for um like you do feral pest control for some companies, don't you? Like it's not just deer to pigs and yeah, anything feral.

SPEAKER_02: 39:03

Yeah, I'm happy to I only do it on a voluntary basis. It's there's no contract shooting or anything. Um certainly don't get paid for it, but I'd I don't mind. It's spending time on generally I'm on my own, a lot of the time I'm on my own. But um I'm out in the late afternoon, evening, and just you know, you'll sit on the ground under a tree or something, I've slept under trees. Um but yeah, you you get a whole new awareness of what's on out in the dark when you're by yourself because your hearing improves like a thousand percent instead of have relying on someone else to go, did you hear that? No, I didn't hear anything. You're on your own, you go, gee, what was that? Yeah, you know, it you've you get a lot better at being on your own and calm under pressure, I think. If I see a car coming that shouldn't be coming, it's like, oh well, down tools, unload everything, you know, get the torch on and go, who is this and what is it? And the few times it's happened, it's been the property owner or somebody who's come in and said, said, Are you all right? We haven't heard anything.

SPEAKER_00: 40:09

I was like, Well, that's how you shoot things, is you've got to be quiet. Yeah, generally, yeah, yeah, yeah. But um, like feral pests are a big problem, aren't they? Like, especially pigs and stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 40:20

Like pigs pigs are hard. Um, there's especially this last couple of years, have been two really good wet, wet seasons and wet winters in Queensland and New South Wales as well. Uh, a lot of flooding going on. Pigs have loved it, their numbers have really, really multiplied. And for shooters to go out and make a huge difference, it's gonna be hard because um, unless you're shooting more than 75% of the population, you're not gonna drop the numbers. They can breed that quick that and if you see a mob of 30 pigs, you've got to shoot a lot of them to make 75%. And my gun only holds five rounds, so if I'm really lucky I can shoot five out of thirty, or you know, you're not winning. So, yeah, there is a lot of uh coordinated control where there's baiting, trapping, uh helly shooting, and you know, occasionally someone like me will come along and yeah, we can can be quite effective at certain times. Um deer probably the same. But yeah, deer, the wild dog problem has been uh an eye-opener. That's where we did a lot of night shooting with thermal scopes and stuff, um not far from home, Brisbane Valley. And um, yeah, that's where we were doing the big nights, big hours, and just sit and wait. And we were calling, and different times of the year they'd answer. And yeah, when they start to come in, and you've got six or seven dogs all howling and they're all excited, and they want to meet this new guy on the block, and two of us will be down here going, Holy hell, we've got a pack of dogs coming for us. What what do we do? You know, what how how to go about getting the best outcome that you possibly can. It's uh it's certainly been it's rewarding, you know. I I I enjoy it. I enjoy it when I don't see anything. I'm out on my own, I see satellites go by and think, yeah. This is great.

SPEAKER_00: 42:22

The dogs get pretty out of control, don't they? Like they they turn into pretty ferocious, floody things.

SPEAKER_02: 42:27

They can do. There's a couple of places I shoot on that don't have a problem with dogs. They are a benefit, they keep the kangaroo numbers down. If it wasn't for the dogs, they'd have you know an excess amount of wallabies. So if you see something that's aggressive, shoot it by all means. If you don't, you know, it's they're not a problem. So don't target them specifically. Yeah. So yeah, it's I also enjoy the interaction with um farmers and landowners, you know, being a bit of a country kid at heart, I suppose. It's um yeah, it's I enjoy their lifestyle and yeah, I can sort of live vicariously through their stories. It's great.

SPEAKER_00: 43:08

There must be a lot to be said for it, mate, because you I I feel you're living an incredible life. Like you um when you consider like the how early you get up to do the hours you do with the pest control, and then you'll quite often go home and gun up and go out go out hunting. Like I don't think there's a lot of sleep going on.

SPEAKER_02: 43:24

I have done. I have done, yeah, quite a few big, big nights, but uh that's sort of eased off a bit now. I think I've I don't know, like a fine red wine. Matured with age, I suppose, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 43:39

But is that that's your that's your chill out, like just getting out in nature and a bit of hunting?

SPEAKER_02: 43:45

Bit of hunting, bit of fishing, bit of yeah, just being out there, you know, being out in the mountains somewhere. I'd I love it. Yeah, yeah, a bit of fresh air and birds and the not interaction with nature, but just being aware of your surroundings, you know. You'll hear something birds go off for some reason, you look over what's going on over there. There must be something to make them all go crazy, or you know, this tree's got a lot of flowers on it at this time of year. Well, yeah, I think we've spoken about it, you know. The the old guys say that a heap of flowers on the mango tree is going to be wet summer, and yeah, well, hummus have lots of babies, it's gonna rain.

SPEAKER_00: 44:24

Yeah, but um we're just talking about Shane and I were talking about this earlier. The um like I feel as humans we've lost a lot of our natural instincts. Yeah. Because we don't have to hunt.

SPEAKER_02: 44:35

Don't have to. No.

SPEAKER_00: 44:36

You just you're just tooling the shops away from work, you whatever, you buy your food. You well, most a lot of people these days don't even cook their food, but but there's no awareness there around not only where the food comes from, but what happens in mother nature. Yeah. Like people wouldn't most people these days couldn't even tell you what time of the year a mango tree has mangoes, or or what time should you grow carrots. Like, no one knows because it all just comes out of packets.

SPEAKER_02: 45:02

In the middle of winter, mangoes are hard to get and they're bloody expensive. So, yeah, that's exactly right. But, you know, we've got the little veggie garden at home for seven months of the year while it's cool enough to grow, because here in Sunny Queensland they burn off a bit through summer. But um, it's wonderful having your own produce. If I can shoot something, bring it home, and um, you know, turn it into a fine presentable meat instead of something that's dead. And uh, we've also got some veggies on the go with it, yeah, or you know, a bit of salad or something that's growing at home. It's wonderful. It's it's really rewarding, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 45:44

Well, I think there's something to be said for it because like you and Helen are both looking pretty sharp for your age, like you with uh living well and eating well, like fresh meat. Could lose a few kilos, Dwayne. Has been pointed out to me. But um, it's good. No, so back to the termites. Um like how can people in well anyone listening, I guess, find out more, but I guess in Southeast Queensland, like um how they find you, how they reach out to you, like Yeah, well, I work for a company and um I generally try and promote myself, but yeah, I work for Alua Pass Solutions, and um yeah, then we've got a website, it's it's pretty well marketed.

SPEAKER_02: 46:26

Um that's probably the best way to get a hold of me. Um I've got business cards and phone numbers and all sorts of things, but no, although if someone reaches out to me, I'll I'll let you know.

SPEAKER_00: 46:36

I can pass it on. No worries. That'd be great. So yeah, if you if you what Alice has been talking about today has sparked an interest or curiosity or whatever, then yeah, don't be don't hesitate to um send us a message, an email, or um reach out to me on social media and that I'll I'll definitely pass it on to Alistair and he'll get back to you. But um yeah, I just I wanted to get you on, mate, because I I just feel like termites are this thing that's it's like out of sight, out of mind. Um people don't really take it seriously enough. And very true.

SPEAKER_02: 47:07

Um new builds, luckily, or an extension or a renovation, there has to be some sort of termite control. Um but funnily enough, with a a little bathroom renovation, if you're on a concrete slab and you've cut through that concrete to run some new pipes through, I've got to come along and treat the slab edge and treat the new penetrations. That's great. Here's your Form 43 that we hand out, cool. But I've probably protected one percent of your entire house. So you've got to have a look at the whole picture. Um, is the rest of the place up to speed? Because you have to do this bit for your you know, your council approval at the end. Yeah, but what about the rest of the place? Why did you renovate one room when potentially you've got live termites over there? So, yeah, you you've got to be sensible about it.

SPEAKER_00: 47:57

Oh mate, I I have to bite my tongue a lot on social media. I I um I'm definitely glad I don't get on there and look at a lot of shit now. But there used to be this one guy that popped up all the time that just did, and he's not far from here, just did bathroom renays.

SPEAKER_02: 48:11

No.

SPEAKER_00: 48:12

And he would be posting shit all the time about cutting holes in bathrooms, redigging the plumbing, and he'd he'd be talking about his what he's done, and that there was nothing. Oh really? Like there was no nothing. Well, in the videos anyway, you couldn't see any.

SPEAKER_02: 48:26

Well, that's that's fine if you're not going through council and potentially you've got a perimeter treatment or a baiting program or something going on which would cover it.

SPEAKER_00: 48:34

But as soon as it's uh But if you're cutting else for a salve and not putting anything back around that coal joint, like you're mad. Yeah, it just crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 48:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 48:44

Especially if it's under a bath. Oh yeah, yeah. Or under or under whether they're putting in a new shower or something, like somewhere that's going to have moisture.

SPEAKER_02: 48:51

Yeah, yeah. Oh, look, do do everything you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 48:55

Because is that is that like from what I picked up today and the the little bit of knowledge I had, like that's they're looking for food and moisture.

SPEAKER_02: 49:03

Yep, food, shelter, water. That's yeah, pretty basic, pretty simple. Um, and like I said, if they're inside your house, they've got a ton of food, but they've got no shelter. They may have water, but they've got no shelter, they will die. And that's we get calls at this time of year from here through till yeah, February. Colonising flight. Oh, I think I've got termites in my kitchen, they're on the kitchen window. Oh yeah, are they moving? No, they're dead. Have they got wings? Some have. Well, it's a colonising flight, don't stress.

SPEAKER_01: 49:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 49:32

And we can come out and you know, the company will come out and do a um yeah, termite inspection and go, yeah, we can't see anything live and active. Yeah. Yes, you do have dead ones, and that's that's the deal. They didn't have shelter, they can't survive. Yeah. So yeah, they it but at least get an annual termite inspection. That's that's the rule. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 49:56

So and then just I guess start wrapping it up. So basically all over Australia you need to be thinking about this.

SPEAKER_02: 50:02

Tasmania will let you off the hook, but the rest of the country, yes. Yeah. So Tasmania doesn't need to, they haven't got any down there that will eat yes. They've got damp wood termites, I think that's about the best that they can can survive down there. Yeah. The rest of anywhere. Oh, there's termites everywhere, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I was gonna say they need moisture, but there's plenty in Perth that yeah, they they seem to survive everywhere.

SPEAKER_00: 50:28

So yeah, yeah. So guys, look, if it's not something you're thinking about or taking seriously, I personally I wouldn't be relying on your visual barriers everywhere. Like you need to be doing something.

SPEAKER_02: 50:39

Get as much protection as you can. The percentage of you know, cost for full termite protection at a new home stage is minimal in the cost of the build. Yeah, it really is. So, yeah, yep, consider it absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 50:55

Mate, well, uh look, I really appreciate your time coming on. I I think you're um you're a very humble character, mate. It's uh there's a lot more we could have uh talked about with your horses and things. But yeah, look, like I said, guys, if you've got any questions, you want to know more, um happy to pass on your details to Alistair um or reach out. We'll put some links on the podcast um to where Alistair works. But um, as always, make sure you go to the DuanePears.com website, get your merch so we can help create a new building industry. Um like, subscribe, share, all those types of things, and uh look forward to seeing you on the next one.