Drywood Termite Treatment Cost: Local Treatment vs Whole-House Fumigation

Drywood termite treatment splits into two very different price classes. Localized treatment — injecting product into the galleries of a known, findable colony — runs $300–$800 per site. Whole-structure fumigation runs $2,000–$4,000 or more, priced by cubic footage of the structure, and requires the occupants to leave for two to three nights. Prices vary by region and company, and the gap between the two numbers is the central decision in drywood work: local treatment costs a fraction of fumigation and comes with real uncertainty about the colony you cannot see.

Cost by treatment type

How drywood infestations get identified

Drywood termites live inside the wood they eat — framing, beams, furniture, trim, and plank subfloor — rather than in soil. They do not need ground contact and do not build mud tubes. What homeowners usually find first is frass: small, hard, seed-shaped pellets pushed out of pinholes in the wood, appearing as little piles on floors, windowsills, or furniture below the hole. The pellets are uniform and roughly the size of a grain of sand, and they are usually the color of the wood being eaten.

Drywood swarms are another signal — winged reproductives emerging from a hole in late spring or summer, often in the evening and often indoors, leaving discarded wings behind. A single swarm indoors suggests an infestation already inside the structure or in a piece of furniture.

The limit of local treatment

Local treatment works when the infestation is discoverable and limited. The technician finds the artwork — the pellets, the gallery, the kick-out hole — and injects a termiticide into the wood or foams the void. If every colony is treated, the infestation stops.

The limit is exactly that: the colony you cannot see. Drywood termites can have multiple colonies in a structure, and a low-level infestation in a wall void or behind a beam may produce no visible pellets for years. A local treatment that hits three sites out of eight is not a cure; it is a repair. That is why an honest quote will include an inspection scope and a statement about what was found and what was not inspected. Ask which accessible areas were checked and which were not.

Why fumigation’s premium buys certainty

Fumigation fills the entire treated volume — every gallery in every stick of wood inside the tent, including the ones with no visible evidence. It kills the whole population in the structure in one process. That is what the extra $1,500–$3,500 buys.

The practical costs of the process are part of the total: two to three nights out of the house, food and medication handling requirements, hotel and meal expenses if staying locally, and preparation per the company’s written instructions. A budgetary estimate should include those costs, not just the treatment line. Structures with an attached garage, additions, or unusual rooflines can require additional consideration and raise the price.

Where drywood termites are common

Drywood termites are concentrated in the coastal and southern United States, with the heaviest pressure in southern California, the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Hawaii. In Hawaii, both drywood and ground-dwelling species are serious structural pests, and local prices reflect both market conditions and the scope of the local industry. In the northern states, drywood termites are uncommon; a finding there is worth a second look before treatment decisions.

Furniture-only infestations

When the activity is confined to a piece of furniture — a dresser, an antique chair, a bed frame inherited from a humid climate — a chamber treatment costs $200–$500 and avoids treating the house. Heat or cold chambers bring the entire piece to a lethal temperature or duration for all life stages, which is more reliable than surface spraying a piece of furniture. Structural fumigation is not justified for a single infested item.

Safety and licensing

Termite treatments are regulated work. Fumigation requires a licensed fumigator and specific state and federal requirements, including occupant notification, placarding, and re-entry clearance procedures. Structural applications must follow the product label exactly. If a protected species issue arises during work — a bat in the attic, a nesting bird under an eave — that is a legal matter with its own handling rules and must be resolved before sealing or treating.