We do not perform mold remediation. That is deliberate, and it is the reason our findings are worth something.
A company that inspects and also removes has an obvious incentive: the bigger the problem it finds, the bigger the job it sells itself. We removed that incentive by removing the revenue. When our report says you have a contained twelve square feet behind a vanity, that is what you have.
What We Do Instead
Define the scope
Before anyone quotes you, you get a documented scope: what is affected, how far it extends, what the moisture source is, and what standard applies. Contractors bidding from the same written scope produce comparable bids. Contractors each writing their own scope produce three numbers you cannot meaningfully compare.
Refer to contractors we have worked alongside
These are firms whose work we have verified with clearance testing over the years — not a paid directory. We do not accept referral fees, because a referral fee is just a commission with better manners, and it would compromise the independence that makes this useful.
Verify the work afterward
This is the part most homeowners skip and later regret. See clearance testing below.
What Proper Remediation Involves
So you can judge whether a bid is describing real work. The governing standard is IICRC S520.
- Fix the water first. Any remediation that begins before the moisture source is corrected is temporary by definition. If a bid does not address the water, it is incomplete.
- Containment. Sealed plastic barriers isolating the work area, so spores disturbed during removal do not distribute through the house.
- Negative air pressure. HEPA-filtered air scrubbers keeping the work area at lower pressure than the rest of the building, so airflow moves inward.
- Removal, not painting. Porous materials with growth — drywall, insulation, carpet pad, ceiling tile — get removed and discarded, cut back to a defined margin beyond the visible growth. Semi-porous material like framing is cleaned and treated.
- HEPA vacuuming and damp wiping of the contained area and adjacent surfaces.
- Controlled drying to verified moisture content before anything is closed back up.
Bids Worth Questioning
Patterns we see often enough to name:
- “Encapsulation” instead of removal on porous material with active growth. Sealing paint over colonized drywall hides it; it does not remediate it.
- Fogging or ozone as the primary treatment. These may kill surface organisms, but dead mold is still allergenic, and neither addresses the material or the moisture. As a standalone remedy, this is theatre.
- No mention of the water source anywhere in the scope.
- No containment described for a job large enough to require it.
- Same-day diagnosis and contract from a company that both tested and quoted, with pressure to sign before you have read anything.
- Species-based fear pricing — a quote that inflates because the phrase “black mold” appeared in a lab report, without regard to extent.
When You Can Handle It Yourself
Not every finding needs a contractor, and we will tell you when yours does not.
Generally manageable: under about ten square feet, on a hard non-porous surface, with a moisture source you have already corrected — the classic case being bathroom tile grout or a window frame where condensation was the cause. Detergent, water, mechanical scrubbing, thorough drying, and improved ventilation. Skip the bleach; on porous material it mostly adds water, and the label claims are for hard surfaces.
Get professional help when: the area exceeds roughly ten square feet; the growth is inside wall or ceiling cavities; the HVAC system is involved; the water was Category 3 (see flood damage); anyone in the household is immunocompromised, elderly, an infant, or has significant respiratory illness; or the growth has returned after a previous cleanup.
Clearance Testing — the Part That Protects You
When remediation finishes, the contractor tells you it is done. Clearance testing is how you find out whether that is true, from someone who does not get paid based on the answer.
We return after the work — ideally while containment is still standing — and perform post-remediation verification: visual inspection of the work area, moisture readings to confirm materials are genuinely dry, and air sampling compared against an outdoor control and against unaffected areas of the building.
A passing clearance report gives you something worth having: documentation that the work met standard, useful for your records, for a future buyer, and for an insurance file. A failing one — which does happen — identifies what remains before you have paid the final invoice and closed the wall.
If you are choosing a remediation contractor now, the sequence that protects you is straightforward: independent scope first, competitive bids against that scope, then independent verification at the end.
