Coptotermes acinaciformis is the species doing damage in Victoria, and it works from the inside of the timber outward, so the first sign is usually a skirting or door frame that gives under a thumb. The inspection covers subfloor, roof void, stumps and bearers, decking, fence lines, retaining walls and garden beds against the wall.
On the peninsula two things lift the risk. Older beach houses and shacks sit on timber stumps with open subfloors, and a lot of them have decks, pergolas and retaining sleepers in ground contact. Add irrigation and built-up garden beds and you have what termites move toward. An annual check is the sensible baseline on anything with stumps or timber in the ground.
