How to Start a Pest Control Business in Texas: Licenses, Insurance and Costs

Quick answer: Texas licenses the business and the person separately. You need a commercial certified applicator registered to your company as its responsible applicator, a business license from the Texas Department of Agriculture for each location ($300 a year), and liability insurance of at least $500,000 per occurrence with $1,000,000 for the year. Until the business license and an applicator certified in each category you offer are in place, you can't advertise or take a job.

Business license, each location

$300

when you apply and at each yearly renewal

Certified applicator license

$125

renews with the business license

Liability insurance minimum

$500,000

per occurrence, $1,000,000 a year

Passing score on the exams

70%

the general exam and at least one category

Pest control in Texas is regulated by the Structural Pest Control Service, part of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Everything below comes from TDA's own licensing pages and the Texas Administrative Code, read on October 1, 2026. The links are at the end, and they are where to check before you spend money, because fees and forms do change.

1. Someone in the company needs a certified applicator license

Every commercial pest control business in Texas has to name a commercial certified applicator, registered with the business, as its responsible certified applicator. That person can't be the responsible applicator for another business or for another location of yours, so a second office needs a second one.

If you plan to be that person yourself, Texas accepts one of three backgrounds:

• At least six months holding a Texas technician license, plus work in pest control under a licensed certified applicator for 12 of the last 24 months.
• A degree in a biological science, such as entomology, biology, chemistry, agronomy, forestry or environmental science.
• Verifiable pest control work for 12 of the last 24 months, including work licensed in another state.

Then you pass the General Standards exam and at least one category exam, each with 70 percent or better. The categories you pass decide what your company may legally offer, so take the ones that match the work you plan to sell, such as general pest or termite work. TDA's fee schedule lists $64 per exam, and the exams are scheduled through the state's testing vendor. The applicator license is $125 and expires with the business license each year.

2. Buy the insurance before you apply

Texas won't issue the business license without a certificate of insurance on its own form, ALS-1101. The minimum is $500,000 for bodily injury and property damage per occurrence and $1,000,000 for all occurrences in a year. The policy has to cover damage to people and property caused by your pest control work, including property in your care, custody or control. The rule has stood in its current form since January 16, 2023.

Keep the policy current after you open. Texas publishes the dates of each company's insurance certificate in its license file, and PestPin shows that date on Texas listings, so a lapse is visible to anyone who looks your company up.

3. Apply for the business license

Applications go through the Texas Agriculture Portal. A commercial business license costs $300 when you apply and $300 at each yearly renewal, and every location needs its own license, branch offices included. Renewing late costs one and a half times the fee within 90 days and twice the fee from 91 days to a year.

4. Set up the records the state checks

Most of what Texas acts against is licensing and record-keeping, not how pesticides are applied. From the first day:

• Put TDA's jurisdiction statement, with the department's contact details, on your contracts, warranties, service agreements and customer information sheets.
• Show your business license number on your service vehicles.
• Register each employee with TDA on time, and keep apprentice and technician training records.
• Keep a complete record of every pesticide application.
• Don't advertise or quote until the business license is issued.

What Texas fines new companies for

We read the Texas enforcement list for actions made final from September 2025 to September 2026 (the full write-up). Of 211 actions, 30 were for operating without a business license and 20 for operating without a license. After those came missing apprentice and technician training records (16), incomplete or incorrect pesticide use records (15), training and supervision failures (14), late employee registration (9) and missing license numbers on vehicles (6). Every one of those is avoidable: the first two by holding the licenses in steps 1 to 3 before taking any work, the rest with the records in step 4.

5. Keep it current every year

Each license year, a certified applicator needs two continuing education units in general training and one in each category held, and at least one of the two general units has to cover laws, pesticide safety, environmental protection or integrated pest management. Applicators are exempt in their first year. The applicator license expires with the business license, so the two renew together.

After the license is issued

Once the state's list carries your company, it shows up on PestPin's list of new Texas licenses and gets a free PestPin page built from the state record. Claim that page to add your phone number and website, so a homeowner who looks you up can call you, and confirm where you work so requests can start reaching you.

Sources

Texas Department of Agriculture: Structural Pest Control Business, certified applicator licensing and Structural Pest Control Service fees. Insurance: 4 Tex. Admin. Code § 7.123. All read October 1, 2026.