Every pest finding is manageable — until your buyer’s inspector finds it first.
One call reaches a licensed, local exterminator who covers your address — and a real person answers, 24/7.
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Free to call. Free to get matched. The licensed operator sets any inspection fee and quote.
24/7 line · A real person answers · Availability of same-day and emergency service depends on the provider.
Three inspections sellers mix up — and which one this is
The pre-listing look-over sits between two better-known products, and knowing the difference is most of the strategy.
The pre-listing look-over
Ordered by the seller, on the seller’s calendar, before the sign goes in the yard. A licensed inspector walks the structure for termite evidence, rodent activity and the conducive conditions a buyer’s inspector will flag — and reports to you alone. No lender, no deadline, no other party at the table.
The buyer’s WDO report
The regulated wood-destroying-organism inspection on Florida’s DACS-13645 form, ordered during the buyer’s diligence and read closely by FHA and VA lenders. Findings become conditions of closing — on a clock you don’t control.
The general pest inspection
The broad household product: any pest pressure, any structure, no real-estate paperwork attached. Useful context, but it isn’t what your buyer’s lender will be reading.
Why pre-1980 Lakeland homes should look first
Polk County’s older housing stock is where WDO findings concentrate — and where pre-listing inspection pays for itself most reliably. The Dixieland and Lake Morton bungalows that anchor Lakeland’s historic core were framed decades before modern soil pre-treatments: pier-and-beam construction with crawl spaces, wood siding running close to grade, layers of paint over old drywood frass holes, and additions built onto additions. None of that means a home has termites — it means a buyer’s inspector will look hard, and probably find something worth writing down.
A seller who orders the look-over first learns what that something is: old, treated, inactive evidence that just needs documentation — or active pressure that needs real work. Either answer is worth more to you in month one than at the closing table. If you want to know what the inspector is scanning for before they arrive, the termite signs guide shows the evidence — mud tubes, frass, wings and soft wood.
Selling a Dixieland or Lake Morton bungalow this year?
One call reaches a licensed, local exterminator who covers your address — and a real person answers, 24/7.
Free to call. Free to get matched. The licensed operator sets any inspection fee and quote.
The seller’s timeline advantage, step by step
Order the look-over 60–90 days out
Before photos, before the sign, before the listing agreement if you like. That window leaves room to fix, treat and document without a contract deadline breathing on any of it.
Fix the cheap stuff immediately
Most flagged items are conducive conditions, not infestations: mulch piled against siding, sprinklers soaking the foundation, wood-to-soil contact at a fence or step, a damp crawl-space vent. A weekend of correction removes them from the buyer’s report before it’s ever written.
Treat on your schedule, if needed
Active findings get treated by the operator you choose, at quotes you compare without a closing clock. Keep the paperwork — the treatment documentation is now a selling asset.
List with the answers already in hand
When the buyer’s WDO inspector walks the house, there are no surprises left to find. You negotiate from documentation, not from a 72-hour scramble.
The form your buyer’s lender reads — and the timeline it can wreck
Buyers and agents relocating from out of state often ask for the “termite letter” or the NPMA-33 — the National Pest Management Association’s wood-destroying-insect report used across most of the country. Florida runs on its own paper: the state-mandated WDO report on FDACS Form 13645, completed by an inspector whose company holds the FDACS WDO license category. FHA and VA transactions in Polk County are underwritten against that Florida form, and it reports far more than live termites — old damage, evidence of previous treatment and conducive conditions each get their own boxes.
How an active finding blows up an FHA or VA closing
Government-backed loans are where WDO findings bite hardest. When the report shows active infestation, the lender typically requires treatment by a licensed operator — with documentation — before the file clears underwriting. On a 30-to-45-day FHA or VA contract, that means sourcing quotes, scheduling treatment and collecting paperwork inside a week or two, while the buyer’s agent forwards every delay to an increasingly nervous buyer. Sellers in that scramble don’t compare operators; they take whoever can come Thursday. The same treatment ordered three months earlier would have been a calendar entry, not a crisis.
Repair vs. treat — decisions you make once, calmly
Findings sort into three buckets, and pre-listing timing lets you match the response to the bucket instead of paying rush rates for all three. Evidence-only — old galleries or frass from a treated, inactive colony — is usually a documentation job, not a treatment job. Active infestation is a treatment decision; for termite work, the cost drivers guide explains what moves the operator’s number. Structural damage is a licensed contractor’s repair, separate from the pest work, that a lender may want re-inspected after completion. A rushed closing collapses all three into one expensive blur; a pre-listing calendar keeps them three separate, priced decisions.
Selling a tenant-occupied property? The turnover between the final tenancy and the listing is the natural window for both the look-over and any work — the rental property pest control guide covers coordinating pest decisions around tenants and leases.
How getting matched works
You call the dispatch line
Tell the line where the property is — Dixieland, Lake Morton, South Lakeland or anywhere in Polk County.
A coordinator confirms the need
A real person takes the details: age of the home, your listing timeline, and whether you want a general look-over or the regulated WDO product.
An independent operator contacts you
You’re matched with an FDACS-licensed company serving your ZIP. They schedule the visit, perform the inspection and set every fee. The dispatch line never inspects or prices anything.
You decide
No obligation. Compare, ask about WDO licensing if you need the DACS-13645 form, and book when it suits your listing plan.
What moves the inspection fee (we never set prices)
Every independent operator sets their own fee structure. On pre-sale work, these are the levers:
- Inspection scope — an informal pre-listing look-over and a regulated WDO report on the DACS-13645 form are different products with different fee logic; the WDO cost guide covers the regulated side in depth.
- Structure age and construction — pier-and-beam foundations, crawl spaces and stacked additions in pre-1980 homes add inspection time versus a slab-on-grade ranch.
- Size and outbuildings — square footage, detached garages, sheds and carports each extend the walk.
- Timeline — a planned inspection weeks before listing prices differently than a rush report against a contract date.
- Fee-credit policies — some operators apply the inspection fee toward treatment if findings need work; ask before booking and get the policy in writing.
Verify before you hire — any Florida pest control company’s license status, categories and discipline history is public at the FDACS license search. If your sale will need the regulated WDO report, confirm the company holds the WDO license category specifically.
Pre-listing inspection questions, answered straight
What does a pre-listing pest inspection cover in Lakeland?
A licensed inspector walks the structure for termite and wood-destroying-organism evidence, rodent activity, and the conducive conditions — moisture, wood-to-soil contact, harborage — that a buyer’s inspector would flag. You get the findings in writing, reported to you alone, with no lender or contract deadline attached.
How is it different from the buyer’s WDO report?
The buyer’s WDO inspection is the regulated product on Florida’s DACS-13645 form — Florida’s counterpart to the NPMA-33 used in most other states — ordered during the buyer’s diligence and reviewed by their lender. The pre-listing look-over covers the same ground earlier, privately, and on your schedule — so anything the WDO report would surface gets handled before it can become a closing condition.
Do I have to disclose what the inspection finds?
Florida law requires sellers to disclose known material defects. Finding a problem and fixing it changes what you disclose from an active issue to a documented, resolved one — which is exactly why sellers inspect first. This is a factual summary, not legal advice; ask a Florida real estate attorney about your specific disclosure duties.
How far before listing should I schedule it?
Sixty to ninety days out is the comfortable window. It leaves time to correct conducive conditions, get treatment quotes if anything active turns up, complete the work and collect the documentation — all before photos and showings begin.
Which Lakeland homes benefit most from inspecting first?
Pre-1980 construction — the Dixieland and Lake Morton bungalows especially — where pier-and-beam foundations, wood siding near grade and decades of history give a buyer’s inspector the most to write about. Newer slab homes benefit too, but the older core is where surprises concentrate.
What happens if active termites turn up?
You treat on your own timeline with an operator you choose, comparing quotes without a contract deadline. Keep the treatment records — when the buyer’s WDO inspection comes, it documents a treated, managed home rather than discovering an untreated problem at the worst moment.
The report your buyer orders should be the second one written.
One call reaches a licensed, local exterminator who covers your address — and a real person answers, 24/7.
Free to call. Free to get matched. The licensed operator sets any inspection fee and quote.
Disclosure
Lakeland Exterminators is a dispatch and matching service. We connect Polk County callers with FDACS-licensed structural pest control operators. We are not a licensed pest control operator and we do not perform inspections or treatments. We do not set prices, issue warranties, hold retreatment bonds, or carry pest control trade insurance. All pricing — including any inspection fee — scheduling, treatment plans, warranties, bonds and service terms are determined by the FDACS-licensed operator dispatched to your address under Chapter 482, Florida Statutes.
Same-day and 24/7 emergency services are subject to provider participation, location, technician availability, and demand. Availability is not guaranteed and may vary by market and appointment capacity.
License status of any operator you connect with is publicly verifiable at the FDACS license search.