How to Vet a Pest Control Company in Texas

It's worth doing right. Pesticides are going around your kids, your pets, and your food. A good company protects all three; a careless or unlicensed one can damage your home, your health, or your wallet — and leave you with no recourse.

Why does pest control licensing matter in Texas?

Texas regulates structural pest control under the Structural Pest Control Act (Chapter 1951 of the Texas Occupations Code), enforced by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) through its Structural Pest Control Service (SPCS). "Structural" pest control means treating pests in and around buildings — which covers essentially every residential and commercial pest job.

The law is not optional. Any business or individual that applies pesticides around structures for hire must hold a current TDA license, and a business needs a separate commercial license for each location, including branches. That requirement is your leverage: it means there is an official, public way to confirm a company is legitimate before you let them onto your property.

Licensing also signals training. To even reach the Technician level in Texas, a worker completes 20 hours of classroom training in general pest-control standards plus 8 hours of classroom and 40 hours of on-the-job training in each category they want to treat, per the TDA. The person ultimately responsible for the work — the Certified Commercial Applicator — has to pass a state exam at 70% or better and prove additional months of supervised field experience. When you hire licensed Texans, you're hiring people the state has actually tested.

How do I check if a pest control company is licensed in Texas?

You can verify any Texas pest control license yourself, for free, in a couple of minutes:

1. Go to the TDA's license search. The Texas Department of Agriculture publishes "Structural Pest Control Reports: Current Licenses" at texasagriculture.gov. This is the official, current list of licensed businesses and applicators.
2. Match the business name the company operates under — not just a logo on a truck.
3. Confirm the license is active (not expired or lapsed).
4. Check the category. A Texas structural license is granted by category, and a company should be licensed in the category that matches your job.

Texas license tiers, in plain English

When a technician shows up, the person doing the work falls into one of these TDA tiers:

Tier	What it means
Apprentice	Registered with a licensed business and in training — has not yet passed the Technician exam. Works under supervision.
Technician	Licensed in at least one category; performs treatments under the direct supervision of a certified applicator.
Certified Commercial Applicator	The person legally responsible for the company's pest control services, including inspection and pest identification. Passed the state exam.
Responsible Certified Applicator	The certified applicator each licensed business is required to employ to oversee its work.

An apprentice on your property is fine — that's how Texas trains its workforce — as long as a licensed company stands behind the job.

The seven Texas license categories

Texas issues structural licenses in distinct categories (4 Texas Administrative Code §7.124). The ones most homeowners care about:

• Pest Control — roaches, ants, fire ants, fleas, ticks, mosquitoes, rodents, and the general nuisance pests that don't attack the building itself.
• Termite and Wood Destroying Insect Control — termites, wood-boring beetles, and other wood-destroying insects.
• Lawn and Ornamental — pests and diseases of turf, trees, and shrubs.
• Weed Control — weeds around homes and other structures.

(The remaining categories cover wood preservation and fumigation.) The practical takeaway: if you need termite work, confirm the company is licensed for Termite and Wood Destroying Insect Control, not just general Pest Control. If you want lawn treatments, that's Lawn and Ornamental plus Weed Control. A company that does both pest and lawn work — like Root Home Services — carries licensing across the categories it serves.

What insurance should a Texas pest control company carry?

Texas sets a floor. To hold a structural pest control business license, the TDA requires applicants to carry insurance of at least $500,000 for bodily injury and property damage, with a minimum total aggregate of $1,000,000 for all occurrences. That coverage protects you if a treatment damages your property or someone is injured on your job.

Before you hire, ask the company to confirm it carries:

• General liability insurance — covers property damage or injury caused during treatment.
• Workers' compensation — covers a technician injured on your property, so the liability doesn't land on you.

A legitimate Texas operator will not hesitate to confirm coverage. Hesitation is a red flag.

The 7-point Texas vetting checklist

Run any company through these seven checks before you sign:

1. Active TDA license in the correct category — verified yourself at texasagriculture.gov, not just claimed.
2. Insurance confirmed — general liability ($500K/$1M minimum in Texas) and workers' comp.
3. On-site inspection first — a real company looks at your home before quoting. In Texas, pricing depends on square footage and what's actually present, so a firm dollar figure before anyone has seen your property is a warning sign, not a convenience.
4. Written treatment plan — what they'll treat, which products, where, and any re-entry windows for kids and pets.
5. Recent, local reviews — look for reviews from your metro within the last few months, not a wall of five-year-old stars.
6. Clean complaint history — the TDA logs and investigates complaints (more below).
7. A clear guarantee, in writing — what's covered, for how long, and whether re-service between visits is included.

Green flags vs. red flags

✅ Green flags	🚩 Red flags
Verifiable, active TDA license in your category	"We're licensed" but can't give a license name to look up
Insists on an on-site inspection before quoting	Quotes a firm price over the phone, sight unseen
Written plan + written guarantee	Verbal promises only; "guaranteed permanent elimination"
Local technicians who know your area's pests	National call center; no idea what a scorpion vs. fire-ant problem looks like in your city
Transparent about products and re-entry windows	Vague or evasive about what they're spraying
High-pressure-free; lets you decide	Aggressive door-to-door close; "sign today or the price goes up"

What questions should I ask before hiring?

A few direct questions surface most problems fast:

• "What's your TDA license name and number so I can look you up?" A legitimate company answers without flinching.
• "Are your technicians licensed, and will a certified applicator oversee the work?"
• "Do you carry general liability and workers' comp?"
• "Will you inspect before quoting?" (In Texas, the honest answer is yes.)
• "Do you use Integrated Pest Management?" Companies that practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM) lead with inspection, exclusion, and targeted treatment — using the least-toxic effective approach rather than blanket spraying.
• "What's the guarantee, and is re-service between visits included?"
• "Are your treatments safe for people, pets, and plants, and what's the re-entry window?"

The answers tell you whether you're talking to a professional or a salesperson.

What about termite and "WDI" inspections in Texas?

Termite work has an extra layer. In Texas, only a person licensed by the TDA as a Wood Destroying Insect (WDI) inspector can legally perform a WDI inspection and issue the official report. There are two forms you may encounter:

• The Texas Official WDI Report (form T-5) — the TDA's state form, required by many Texas lenders.
• The NPMA-33 — the national HUD form required for FHA loans and many conventional real-estate transactions.

If you're buying or selling a home and someone hands you a "termite letter," confirm it's one of these official forms, completed by a TDA-licensed inspector. And when a company gives you a termite treatment proposal, Texas rules require written disclosure of the treatment specifications and warranties — so you can compare proposals apples-to-apples. For background on what these inspections look for, see our guide to termites and wood-destroying insects.

How do I check or file a complaint against a Texas pest control company?

The TDA's Structural Pest Control Service investigates consumer complaints about pesticide misuse and pest control practices. If something goes wrong — or you want to check a company's record before hiring — you can reach the SPCS at (866) 918-4481 or spcs@TexasAgriculture.gov, and the agency's SPCS Complaint Process page explains how complaints are handled. Knowing the state has an enforcement channel is part of why Texas licensing is worth insisting on in the first place.

Why "local" is its own kind of vetting

Two pest control companies can both be licensed and insured and still deliver very different results — because Texas pests are intensely local. In Central Texas, much of Austin, Round Rock, and the Hill Country sits on limestone, where scorpions slip through tiny foundation gaps. Across the DFW suburbs — Plano, Frisco, McKinney — homes sit on Blackland clay that cracks open in drought and lets subterranean termites and fire ants in. A technician who lives in your area already knows which pressure your house faces and when it peaks. That's why we tell people the smartest vetting question of all is simply: does the person treating my home actually know my neighborhood? You can see how that plays out on our Austin and Plano area pages, and across the full range of common Texas pests and Texas lawn care we handle.

How Root Home Services measures up

We built Root to pass the checklist above:

• Licensed and insured in Texas for the pest and lawn categories we serve.
• Family-owned and veteran-owned, six years in business with zero safety incidents — and we've earned the trust of hundreds of commercial and residential accounts across Texas.
• Local technicians who live in the same neighborhoods they serve — no national call center between you and the person at your door.
• On-site inspection before we quote — because honest pricing depends on your square footage and what's actually there.
• Treatments designed to be safe for People, Pets & Plants, with the re-entry window explained before we start.

We serve Austin to Dallas — the greater Austin metro, DFW, Waco, and the Killeen-Temple area.