What questions should I ask a mold remediation company?

Print this page, or keep it open on your phone, and ask every company the same questions in the same order. Write the answers down as you go. The point isn’t to catch anyone out. It’s to end up with answers you can line up side by side. If you want the bigger picture on weighing those answers, our guide on how to choose a mold remediator covers credentials, bids and red flags.

About the company and the crew

• Who will actually be in my house, and are they your employees or subcontractors?
• Which certifications does the person running my job hold?
• Is my state one that licenses mold work? If not, what should I check instead?
• Can I see a certificate of insurance before work starts?
• How long have you been doing mold work specifically, not only water damage?
• What products will you use, and why those?

Licensing rules differ from state to state. Indiana, for example, doesn’t license mold remediators, which is covered in does Indiana require a license for mold remediation? Where there’s no license, the certifications and the insurance certificate carry more weight.

About testing and the plan

• What testing will you do before you give me a price?
• Which lab analyzes the samples, and will I get the complete lab report or a summary?
• Do you test for mycotoxins, or only for mold spores?
• Where do you think the moisture is coming from, and who fixes it?
• Will I get a written scope that lists every room, every material to be removed and every surface to be cleaned?
• Is the HVAC system in the scope? If not, why not?
• What happens to my furniture, clothes and other belongings?
• If you open a wall and find more, how will you tell me and how is that priced?

About the work itself

• How will you contain the work area, and how will you keep dust out of the rooms we’re still using?
• Will you run air scrubbers or negative air, and where will they exhaust?
• Do you rely on fogging or spraying, or is material removed and HEPA-cleaned?
• How will waste be bagged and carried out of the house?
• Should anyone in the household stay somewhere else during the work?

About finishing and paying

• What test decides that the job is done, and what result counts as passing?
• Who collects the clearance samples, and when?
• If clearance doesn’t pass, what happens next, and who pays for it?
• What does the price include, and what’s excluded?
• What paperwork will I have at the end: lab reports, photos, a written summary?

A company that answers these clearly and puts the answers in the written scope is giving you something you can hold them to. Vague answers on clearance are the ones to follow up on, because that’s where most disputes start. Our page on what a mold remediation company does explains the terms you’ll hear.

If someone in the household is sick

• Have you worked on homes where a doctor was involved?
• Will you test to the target our doctor gave us, even if it’s different from your usual test?
• With our permission, will you send the lab reports and the plan to our doctor’s office?
• Which room will be cleaned and cleared first, so there’s somewhere clean to sleep?
• How will cleaned belongings be kept from picking up dust again?

These questions are about the building, and a remediation company should answer them without drifting into medical advice. If a company offers opinions on your health or promises how anyone will feel afterward, that’s worth noting on your list.

We remove mold and mycotoxins from buildings. We don’t diagnose or treat medical conditions, and nothing on this page is medical advice. Health questions belong with your doctor. With your permission, we’re glad to share test results and our plan with them.