Rushcutters Bay holds the largest intact Victorian terrace streetscape in Australia – thousands of homes built shoulder to shoulder in the 1870s and 80s, sharing party walls, continuous subfloors and, in many rows, roof voids separated by little more than a brick upstand. It’s what makes the suburb magnificent. It’s also what makes pest control here a different discipline.

Rodents understand terrace construction better than most builders. A rat that enters the row through one broken subfloor vent or gnawed eave corner can travel the roof voids and wall cavities of six houses without touching the ground. That’s why your neighbour’s renovation, vacancy or bin habit becomes your scratching-in-the-ceiling problem – and why treating one house in isolation so often fails.

Beneath the floorboards, a slower threat works on the same timber that has held these houses up for 150 years. Rushcutters Bay’s sandstone foundations, shaded courtyards and closed-in subfloors hold moisture, and moist, undisturbed heritage timber is exactly what termites are looking for. With renovation activity constantly opening subfloors and removing old skirting, we regularly find activity that has gone unnoticed for years.

The suburb’s apartment blocks complete the picture: park-front buildings share risers, bin rooms and subfloor spaces that let one unit’s problem become the building’s. None of it is a reason to accept pests – it’s simply the map of where they come from. We treat to that map: sources, routes and entry points, not just the insects you’ve seen.