Pest control insurance that covers the chemicals.

What the Structural Pest Control Board requires on file

California's Structural Pest Control Board registers companies in three branches. Branch 1 is control of household and wood-destroying pests by fumigation with poisonous or lethal gases. Branch 2 is household pests, excluding fumigation. Branch 3 is wood-destroying pests or organisms by insecticides or structural repairs and corrections, excluding fumigation. Every registered company needs a qualifying manager holding an Operator license in each branch it registers in.

Under Business and Professions Code 8690, the Board will not issue a company registration until evidence of an approved liability policy is filed on the Board's form, including a provision that the insurer gives the Board 10 days' notice if the policy is canceled or changed in a way that affects that evidence. A certificate of deposit does not satisfy the requirement. The packet needs:

• Liability insurance under Section 8692 of at least $500,000 for any one loss from bodily injury, sickness or disease, including death, and $500,000 for any one loss from property damage, including loss of use, from an admitted insurer or a nonadmitted carrier whose California activities are controlled by the Surplus Line Association.
• The Board's Certificate of Insurance, completed and typed by the insurance company, in a name style exactly matching the one the Board approved.
• A $12,500 bond from an admitted surety under Section 8697, in original, signed by every qualifying manager and carrying the surety's seal.
• A workers' compensation certificate or a signed exemption statement under Section 8693.

Section 8692 does not require errors and omissions insurance for inspections, reports, recommendations, estimates or bids. Other states set their own rules. Florida, for example, requires a certificate of insurance with each pest control business license application or renewal showing $250,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence for bodily injury and $250,000 per occurrence and $500,000 aggregate for property damage, or a $500,000 combined single limit in the aggregate (Florida Statutes 482.071).

Fumigation notices, signatures and locks

Section 8538 requires a registered company to give the owner or owner's agent, and the tenant, clear written notice naming the pest, the pesticide and its active ingredients, the caution statement the law spells out, and contact numbers including the county health department and the Board. For Branch 1 work the notice goes out at least 48 hours before application, unless fumigation follows the inspection by less than 48 hours; for Branch 2 and 3 work, before application. Delivery is by first-class mail or email (if an email address was provided), posting in a conspicuous place on the property, or personal delivery.

Title 16, California Code of Regulations section 1970.4 adds the Occupant Fumigation Notice and Pesticide Disclosure, Form 43M-48 (Rev. 10/2022). The prime fumigation contractor must have it signed by the occupant, if any, or the owner or owner's agent, and must give a signed copy to any fumigation subcontractor. Both keep it at least three years. The licensed fumigator must have it at the site when the fumigant is released, and it becomes a permanent part of the fumigation log. Section 1970.3 requires a secondary lock on every outside door before fumigation. If you sub out fumigation, get the subcontractor's certificate of insurance before the job, since both companies hold the same signed disclosure for that structure.

Official sources

• Structural Pest Control Board: How do I become a licensee?
• Structural Pest Control Board: How do I start a structural pest control company?
• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 8690
• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 8692
• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 8516
• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code 8538
• 16 CCR 1970.4 (Cornell LII)
• 16 CCR 1970.3 (Cornell LII)
• Florida Statutes 482.071 (2025)
• IRMI: The CGL Pollution Exclusion