Borax works.
It damages the exoskeleton of insects.

The deal with maintenance after pretreatment is that the exterminator would like to lock you in to a nice, continuing income stream for him, whether you need further treatment or not. Pesticide applicators often use a mix of chemicals to control pests, so I'm not sure what all this company is proposing to apply. I'm a strong believer in not paying people to spray unknown and possibly toxic chemicals -- in whatever quantities they choose -- in and around my home. If you stick strictly with borax, it's a relatively low risk product (not harmless, but pretty safe). This could be a do-it-yourself project. Just do a little online research and, if you're still comfortable with it, save yourself $6K. Whenever I do stuff like this, I tend to go on the safe side: rubber gloves, long sleeves, and a respirator. Your local, State or Federal environmental agency may also have a pesticide expert and/or toxicologist who can give you good advice and safety tips.

Boracare is a liquid preparation of borates. Mixed with water for application. EXPENSIVE! About $100.00 per gallon. For some applications it is mixed 50-50 with water, so the mixture costs about $50 per gallon. And apparently not very stable after mixing with water, instructions say to use within 24 hours after mixing. I have a gallon, not yet used. Non-poisonous to people, the primary advantage. The manufacturer does not answer questions submitted by email.

thanks everyone. i would prefer not to spray any toxic chemicals anywhere considering there are enough coming over from other sources. the boracare seems like a very good solution, as well as sound financial investment.

kudzu9: i figured as much about the "maintenance". i'm assuming you used the pretreatment in your build (and think i remember seeing your name in another post about the boracare): if so, how long have you been in the home, and have you required any additional applications for pest control? i'm having a difficult time imagining we will NEVER have the need for some type of maintenance.

aren't there different products available for carpenter ants and silver fish and could those be mixed together with the boracare for termites as well as the mold inhibiter?

thank you again for any info! much appreciated.

kate-
I actually do not have direct experience with boracare, but I know a little bit after working in environmental regulation for many years. I try to use as few pesticides as possible, but I have needed them a few times, and I've decided that my family would be better protected from unnecessary exposures if I did it myself. You just need to be informed and used the right protective gear. As far as your comments regarding mixing different products together, I would generally try to avoid that. Most of the time it would be ok, but, on rare occasion, you could also get an unanticipated reaction between chemicals in the mixing bottle which might be hazardous (toxic gas emission, etc.), or the mixing could diminish the effectiveness of one of the products. It would be better to do separate applications of different products unless you knew from the manufacturers that it was ok. And you might not need to be spraying in all the same locations for different pests, so you would be wasting product and possibly creating unnecessary exposures. That gets back to my point about making your own informed choices rather than having the exterminator come in and spray away.

Boracare is not for soil treatment. It is for treating wood for insect infestation. Perhaps has other uses.