Pest Inspection Calculator

This calculator builds a pest-prevention schedule and budget from four risk factors: US region, home age, presence of a crawl space, and wood siding. It starts from a region-specific baseline inspection frequency — the Southeast and Southwest get two inspections per year by default because of heavier termite and scorpion pressure, while the Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest start at one — then adds fractional inspections for risk-increasing features: a full extra inspection for homes over 30 years old (a half-inspection bump for 15-30 years), plus a half-inspection each for having a crawl space or wood siding, both of which give pests easier entry and more to eat. That fractional total is then rounded up to the next full visit, since a professional can't schedule half an inspection, and multiplied by a region-specific per-visit cost that reflects regional labor-market differences ($125-$160).

Termite risk is scored 1-5 starting from a regional baseline (highest in the Southeast) and increased for homes over 25 years old, crawl spaces, and wood siding, each adding a point up to the cap of 5. That risk score feeds a four-tier pest-pressure code (low/moderate/high/very high), which in turn selects a treatment/prevention budget line ($100-$600) that gets added to the inspection cost to produce a total annual prevention budget. These are planning estimates built from typical industry pricing and CSIA-style risk factors, not a substitute for an actual professional inspection — real termite activity, moisture conditions, and local pest pressure (which this model can't observe) should always override the estimate.