Matching the treatment to the termite
The single decision that determines whether money is well spent is which insect the plan addresses. If the evidence is mud tubes, soil packed galleries, and an evening summer swarm, the colony lives in the ground. Treatment goes into the soil, either as a continuous chemical band or as bait stations that intercept foragers. If the evidence is hard pellets pushed from small holes and clean galleries inside wood, the colony lives in the wood. Treatment goes into the wood, by injection if the infestation is contained or by heat or fumigation if it is not. A proposal that does not distinguish these is not a plan. Ask what the inspector saw and where. In an Albuquerque house, that usually means tubes at the slab edge or beneath a courtyard wall for one group, and pellets under a patio beam or fascia for the other. Both can occur at the same property, in which case you need both kinds of work, sequenced sensibly rather than bundled into one vague line item.
The trench, the drill, and the courtyard wall
On a barrier job, the crew arrives with a tank, hose, and a rotary hammer, and the day divides into two kinds of work. Where soil is open along the foundation, they cut a narrow trench tight against the wall, apply termiticide at the labeled rate per linear foot, and put the treated soil back where it came from. Where concrete meets the house, drilling takes over. Driveways, walkways, garage floors, and patio slabs each get a line of holes so product reaches the soil beneath them, and the holes are plugged and patched afterward. The element people forget is the wall. Block garden walls and courtyard walls that tie into a structure are a direct route from yard soil to the building, and they should appear in the scope explicitly. Stucco carried to grade is the other local wrinkle, since tubes can climb behind it out of sight. An inspector may recommend cutting a viewing gap at the slab edge so future activity shows itself early rather than after it is inside.
Timing the work around monsoon and cold
Albuquerque's calendar gives homeowners more scheduling flexibility than low desert cities do. July through September is the busiest stretch, because desert subterranean swarmers fly in the late afternoon and early evening during those months and every discovery generates a phone call. Getting on a schedule then can take longer. October through December is arguably the best window. Temperatures are workable, nothing is flying, and treatment placed now is settled long before the next flight season. January and February bring the coldest nights, with lows near 26 degrees. Soil work is still possible, though frozen ground and short days can slow a crew, so ask the company how they handle it. Spring is preparation season. This is when to walk the irrigation system, fix emitters, seal slab cracks, and paint exposed wood ends, so the property is in decent shape before summer. Urgent findings should not wait for a preferred season, but planned work usually can, and scheduling deliberately tends to buy better attention.
Running a bait program on a high desert lot
Bait exploits the way subterranean termites feed one another. Workers find a station, feed, and share the material by mouth to mouth transfer, distributing it to nestmates that never leave the colony, including individuals deep underground. Station placement in Albuquerque follows moisture rather than symmetry. Technicians favor irrigated beds, shaded strips along the house, ground near emitters and cooler discharge, and any consistently damp soil, because those are the corridors foragers already use in a landscape receiving about 9 inches of rain a year. The tradeoff is time and continuity. Colonies decline over weeks to months rather than immediately, and University of Florida materials note protection continues four to seven years or longer only while the system stays maintained. Given how spread out this metro is, ask directly how often stations are visited, who performs the visit, and whether you receive a written report each time. Service frequency is a fair question to settle before signing, not after your third missed appointment.
Repairing sun stressed exterior wood
Treatment stops the insects. Wood already lost still has to be dealt with, and in Albuquerque the damage is usually outdoors. Exposed exterior lumber takes a beating here before termites ever arrive. Intense sun at 5,312 feet, very low humidity, and sharp temperature swings between a 92 degree afternoon and a cool night check and split wood, and those openings are where drywood swarmers get in and where moisture collects when the monsoon does arrive. The usual casualties are patio cover beams, pergola members, fascia, rafter tails, gate frames, and fence rails. Ask the inspector to mark and rate each damaged member rather than describing the damage in general terms, then have the carpentry priced separately, even if the pest company can do the work. When the replacement goes in, seal every cut end, keep the new wood off soil contact, and use concrete bases for any post. Fresh untreated lumber in the same location is simply a second invitation.
What the warranty and the annual inspection buy
The document that matters most after treatment day is the one people read least carefully. Check what triggers a return visit. Some agreements respond to any evidence, others require confirmed live activity, and the difference shows up at the worst possible moment. Check what the return visit includes. Retreating an area is common. Repairing damaged wood is frequently excluded, and that exclusion should not be a surprise. Check what you must do to keep the terms alive. An annual inspection is the usual condition, and disturbing treated soil through landscaping can void coverage for the affected stretch. Check what renewal costs, and whether that price can change. Then actually schedule the inspection each year, even when nothing looks wrong. A lapse is the most common reason Albuquerque homeowners discover their protection quietly ended, and it is also the cheapest problem on this entire page to avoid.