Homeowner insurance universally excludes termite damage despite $5B annual cost

Termites damage roughly 600,000 U.S. homes every year, costing homeowners an estimated $5 billion annually in treatment and repairs. The average homeowner who discovers termite damage spends $3,000 on repairs, with structural cases reaching $15,000 or more. Yet every standard homeowners insurance policy in the United States excludes termite damage, classifying it as 'preventable maintenance.' This creates a catch-22: the damage is excluded because insurers say homeowners should have caught it early, but subterranean termites can feed inside walls for 3-5 years before any visible signs appear. A homeowner who buys annual termite inspections ($75-$150/year) and gets a clean report can still discover $10,000+ in hidden damage the following year, with zero insurance coverage and limited legal recourse against the inspector (whose liability is typically capped at the inspection fee in the contract). The exclusion persists because the insurance industry treats termite damage as a slow, predictable risk rather than a sudden loss -- the same logic that excludes flood damage -- but unlike floods, there is no federal termite insurance program to fill the gap.