Building a New House or Plaza? Do Termite Treatment Before the Slab

If you are building a house in Lahore, a plaza in Islamabad or a warehouse outside Karachi, there is one line in the construction budget that will save you more than any other: anti-termite treatment of the soil before the floor slab is poured. It costs a fraction of a post-construction treatment, it is done in a day or two while the site is still open, and it protects the building from below, which is exactly where termites come from.

Most contractors know this. Not all of them do it properly. Here is what you should expect.

When it happens

Pre-construction treatment is done in stages that follow the build:

1. Foundation trenches, after excavation and before the concrete goes in. The bottom and sides of the trench are treated.
2. Backfill soil, as the trenches are refilled around the foundation, in layers.
3. Under the floor slab, after the earth filling is compacted and levelled and before the polythene sheet and concrete are laid. This is the most important stage and the one most often skipped when the site is in a hurry.
4. Around the outside plinth, once the external walls are up, so the barrier is continuous from inside to outside.

If your contractor says “we will do it at the end”, what he means is post-construction drilling, which is a different, more expensive job.

What a proper job looks like

• The right chemical. A non-repellent termiticide such as fipronil, applied by trained applicators. Termites that touch a non-repellent barrier carry it back and the colony collapses. Cheap repellent chemicals just push the colony to look for a gap.
• The right quantity. The soil must be wet through to a working depth, not misted on top. On a 10-marla house that is a lot of solution, and it takes time. A crew that finishes the under-slab stage in twenty minutes has not treated it.
• Even coverage. Applied in overlapping passes with a proper sprayer, with extra attention around pipes, drains and where walls meet the slab.
• A certificate. Written confirmation of the product, the date, the areas treated and the follow-up date.

What it costs and why it is worth it

Pre-construction treatment is priced per square foot of covered area, and the total for a house is a small fraction of what the same house would cost to treat once it is finished, furnished and full of wooden doors. Post-construction treatment for a typical home runs between Rs 18,000 and Rs 45,000. Doing it before the slab is cheaper, cleaner, and does not involve drilling through your marble floor later.

Send us the covered area and we will quote per square foot the same day.

Questions for your contractor

1. Which product and which company will do the anti-termite treatment?
2. Will it be done under the slab, or only in the trenches?
3. Will the treatment record be in my name, not the contractor’s?
4. Can I be on site when it is done?

The last one matters. Treatment happens on one or two specific days. Be there, or send someone you trust.

Already built? Not too late

If the slab is already poured, post-construction termite treatment with a drilled and injected barrier is the answer, and it comes with the same written scope and follow-up. For plumbing that is already in, termite pipe treatment protects the entry points around pipes.

Read the full description of our pre-construction termite treatment, or WhatsApp us the plot size and stage of construction. We work with owners, contractors and builders across Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Karachi.