Before you hire a mold inspector in Texas: the license check and the questions to ask

The quick answer: check the license, then check the independence

In Texas, mold assessment is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, so the first step is to ask the inspector for their individual license number and their company license number and look both up on TDLR's license search. Then confirm the inspector will not also be doing the remediation on your project, because Texas rules do not allow one licensee to do both on the same job. A licensed assessor must also give you the state's Consumer Mold Information Sheet before any work begins.

Those three checks take a few minutes and screen out most of the problems I see. The rest of this guide explains what the license titles mean, how lead and asbestos credentials differ, the questions worth asking on the phone, and what a report should contain when the inspection is done.

Who licenses what in Texas

Mold is regulated at the state level. According to TDLR, the mold program transferred from the Department of State Health Services to TDLR on November 1, 2017, and older DSHS mold license numbers became TDLR license numbers on that date. If an inspector shows you an old DSHS card, the number should still appear in the TDLR search.

Lead-based paint work is still with DSHS. Its Environmental Lead Program certifies lead inspectors and lead risk assessors, and in housing built before 1978 an inspection must be done by a certified lead inspector or risk assessor. DSHS suggests asking any lead professional for a copy of their certification credentials and for references from completed jobs.

Asbestos has its own training and credentials, separate from both. When one company tests for all three, ask for the credential that covers each test you are buying, rather than assuming a mold license covers lead or asbestos work. A professional who holds the right credentials will not mind being asked.

Technician, consultant, remediator: what the titles mean

TDLR issues several kinds of mold licenses, and the names are easy to mix up. Under the Texas mold rules, a mold assessment technician conducts mold assessments and prepares assessment reports. A mold assessment consultant can do that and also prepare the mold remediation protocol, which is the document that specifies the estimated quantities and locations of materials to be remediated, the proposed methods and the clearance criteria. A mold remediation contractor prepares the work plan and carries out the remediation, and remediation workers are registered separately.

Why it matters to you: if your situation will lead to remediation, someone has to write the protocol, and that has to be a licensed consultant. If the person you hire can only do the assessment, ask who will write the protocol and who will do the post-remediation assessment at the end. I explain how those pieces fit together in my guide to mold assessment versus mold remediation.

• Mold assessment technician: inspects and reports
• Mold assessment consultant: inspects, reports and writes the remediation protocol
• Mold remediation contractor: writes the work plan and performs the remediation
• Mold remediation worker: registered to do remediation work under a contractor
• Mold assessment company and mold remediation company: separate company licenses

The one rule that protects you most

TDLR states plainly that a licensee is not allowed to conduct both mold assessment and mold remediation activities on the same project, with a narrow exception for school district employees. The point is simple. The person who decides how much needs to be removed should not be the person who gets paid to remove it.

In practice, that means the free inspection offered by a remediation company deserves a second look. If the company that inspects is also the one that tears out the drywall, ask how that fits the rule. My role is the inspection and testing. When work is needed, you hire a separate restoration or remediation company, such as Alison Zelaya at Servpro of Park Cities, and I can come back afterward to test the result.

Where home inspectors fit

If you are buying a house in Dallas or anywhere else in Texas, your real estate inspector may note mold in the report. TDLR says a real estate inspector does not need a mold license to visually observe and note the presence of mold. To collect air or visible spore samples, however, the inspector must be licensed as a mold assessment technician or consultant, and the samples must go to a licensed laboratory.

So a line in a home inspection report that says possible microbial growth observed is a flag, not an assessment. It tells you to look further. A licensed mold assessor is the person who finds the moisture source, measures how far it extends and, if remediation is needed, makes sure a protocol exists.

When a license is not required, and why that still matters

Not every mold job in Texas needs a licensed company. The state's rules do not require a license to remediate an area where mold affects less than 25 contiguous square feet, and TDLR notes that a homeowner or building owner can, in some circumstances, do their own remediation. A licensed remediation contractor working on a small project is still bound by the rules, though; the small-area exemption is for unlicensed people, not a loophole for licensed ones.

For a homeowner, the practical takeaway is that a small, visible patch with an obvious cause is often a cleaning job, not an inspection. The license question becomes important when the area is larger, when the growth is inside walls or ceilings, when the source is unknown, or when you need documentation for a sale, a landlord or an insurer. Those are the situations where you want a licensed assessor and a written record, because an unlicensed opinion carries no weight with anyone else.

Questions to ask on the first phone call

You can learn a lot in five minutes. A good inspector answers these without hesitation, and the answers tell you whether you are talking to an investigator or to someone selling the next step.

• What are your individual and company license numbers, and may I check them on the TDLR site?
• Do you or any affiliated company do remediation, and could you end up doing both on my project?
• How do you look for the moisture source, and do you take moisture readings or only samples?
• When do you recommend sampling, and when do you think it adds nothing?
• Which laboratory analyzes the samples, and how long do results take?
• Will I get a written report with photos, readings and a scope I can give a contractor?
• Can you write the remediation protocol and come back for the post-remediation assessment?

Red flags worth walking away from

Be wary of anyone who diagnoses the house before seeing it, who quotes a remediation price during the inspection, or who leads with alarming language about black mold before taking a single reading. The CDC says there are no set standards for an acceptable quantity of mold in a home, so an inspector who tells you a lab number proves the house is dangerous is claiming more than the science supports.

Another flag is an inspection that consists of a few air samples and nothing else. Air samples can be useful, but without moisture readings they do not tell a contractor what to remove or where the water is coming from. Finally, if no one offers you the Consumer Mold Information Sheet before work begins, ask for it; TDLR requires licensees to provide it to each client before any mold-related activity starts.

What a useful report should contain

The report is the product you are paying for, so ask to see a sample before you hire. It should name the moisture source where it can be determined, show the readings and where they were taken, include photographs, attach any lab results with an explanation in plain language, and, when remediation is needed, set out the scope or protocol in terms a contractor can price.

It should also say what happens next. If remediation follows, the job is not finished until a post-remediation assessment shows it achieved clearance. I cover that last step in my guide to clearance testing after remediation.

Ask, too, how long the report takes after the visit and in what form it arrives. A report that comes back weeks later, after your contractor has already started, is far less useful than one in hand before anyone opens a wall. In my case I explain what I found while I am still on site, and the written report follows once the lab results are back.

Talking to me about your property

I own P12 Enviro Inspections, and the person who answers your call is the person who comes out and explains the findings. Ask me the same questions on this list; any inspector you are considering, including me, should be able to give you license numbers on request, and you can check them yourself on the state sites. I inspect across Dallas–Fort Worth, Northeast and East Texas and Louisiana, with emergency, weekend and holiday appointments available, which may carry an additional fee.

Tell me what you have noticed, where, when it started and whether a contractor or adjuster is already involved. If you want to see how I approach the inspection itself, start with my guide to a musty smell and a stain on the ceiling. Then I can tell you what testing makes sense and what it will cost before I schedule the visit.

Questions people ask me