What drives the price up or down?

Two houses on the same street can get different quotes, and it’s not because one company is greedier. Five things move the number:

• Property size and perimeter. Soil treatment prices off the length of wall and slab to be treated, so a double-storey bungalow costs more than a single-storey terrace. More perimeter, more chemical, more hours.
• How far it’s spread. A colony caught early at one mud tube is a smaller job than one that’s reached the staircase and three door frames. In Malaysia the culprit is almost always Coptotermes gestroi or the more aggressive Coptotermes curvignathus, and both spread quietly for years before you notice.
• The method. Baiting and soil treatment are priced differently — more on that below.
• Warranty length. A 5-year soil barrier uses a heavier application than a 3-year one, so it costs more upfront and saves you re-treating sooner.
• Access. A fully tiled ground floor, a finished car porch, or awkward foundations all add labour.

This is also why an honest quote asks about your property first. A firm number thrown out before anyone knows your house size is a guess — and usually a lowball to get in the door.

Baiting or soil treatment — which costs what?

The two methods solve different problems, which is why they’re priced and recommended differently.

Termite baiting (from RM2,800) is what Nomobug recommends when you already have termites. The technician places bait stations directly on the active trails — usually inside the house where the termites are feeding — so they eat the bait instead of your cabinets. They carry it back and the whole colony collapses, queen included. It needs a top-up every 2 weeks and clears in about 6 to 8 weeks. No drilling, minimal mess, and a 1-year warranty. It runs until the colony is destroyed, then it’s done — not a rolling subscription.

Soil treatment (from RM3,600) is the preventive barrier — best for homes without termites yet, or new builds. A termiticide is injected into the soil around and under the structure so termites can’t get in. It protects straight away and carries a 3 to 5 year warranty, but on a finished house it means trenching and drilling small holes through floors, which are patched after. We compare the two in full in termite baiting vs soil treatment.

“Habis rosak perabot dekat rumah. Servis pest control anai anai (termites) delivered by Nomobug. Terima kasih.”

— Jihan Muse, actress. The furniture was already destroyed before the treatment. Set the RM2,800 against the cost of replacing built-in cabinetry and the “expensive” quote suddenly looks like the cheap option.

What about a new build?

If you’re building or doing a major renovation on former agricultural or kampung land — common across Selangor townships like Setia Alam, Kajang and Puchong — the cheapest termite protection you’ll ever buy is a pre-construction soil treatment, from around RM1,200. The termiticide goes into the soil before the slab and flooring go down, while the ground is still open, so there’s no drilling and no active colony to fight. It’s a fraction of the cost of a corrective job later, and far less disruptive than tearing up finished parquet to chase termites that found your new fittings. If your build is on old plantation land, treat the soil before you close it up.

Why are quotes under RM1,500 a red flag?

Here’s the maths that exposes the scam. Real termite work for an active infestation needs litres of registered termiticide or a monitored baiting programme, plus hours of skilled labour, which is why it lands in the low thousands. So when someone quotes RM199, RM300, or even RM800 the second you say “anai-anai,” the numbers don’t add up — and what you’re actually buying is a can of spray waved over the visible mud tubes.

That surface spray kills the workers you can see. It does nothing to the colony behind the wall, which keeps feeding. A few months later the tubes are back, the damage is worse, and you pay again — this time for the real job you should have done first. The cheap quote wasn’t a saving; it bought the termites a few quiet months. We unpack the wider pattern in why the cheapest pest control quote is the most expensive mistake.

The one honest exception: a pre-construction quote around RM1,200 is legitimately lower, because it’s a simpler, preventive job with no drilling and no colony to kill. Low price on a new build, fine. Low price on an active infestation, walk away.

A homeowner in Shah Alam took an RM800 “termite package” from a flyer — one visit, a spray along the skirting, done. Four months later the mud tubes were back thicker and a door frame had gone hollow. We installed baiting on the active trails and cleared the colony in seven weeks, but the RM800 had bought nothing except lost time and a damaged frame.

— Job notes, Nomobug field team

What’s included, and what the warranty covers

A fair termite price should come with more than a spray and a wave goodbye. For an active infestation treated by baiting, expect the station installation, the fortnightly bait top-ups until the colony is gone, and a written 1-year warranty. For a soil treatment, expect the full trench-and-inject around the structure, the drill holes patched, and a written 3 or 5 year warranty.

One thing to be clear on: a termite warranty is free re-service, not a cash refund. If termites come back within the covered period, the company returns and re-treats at no charge — that’s the promise, and it’s only worth anything in writing. Get the warranty length, what triggers a callback, and what would void it (usually renovation that breaks a treated barrier) on paper before you pay. We cover the detail in the pest control warranty guide. And check the products are registered on the Department of Agriculture (Jabatan Pertanian Malaysia) termiticide list.

Honest last word: don’t panic-buy the most expensive package the moment you see one winged termite after rain. A single swarm flying in through a window doesn’t always mean an active colony in your walls. Get the stage assessed first — send a photo of what you’re seeing — and pay for the treatment your house actually needs, not the biggest one on the menu.

Related reading

References

• Jabatan Pertanian Malaysia (Department of Agriculture) — registered termiticide database — doa.gov.my
• Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) — consumer rights on written service quotes — kpdn.gov.my