Just getting off the ground with mold inspections. Wondering if any of you experienced mold inspectors would be willing to help with price setting. How would I want to go about setting up a price structure?
For example, a complete inspection would be a minimum of 3 air samples. Would you charge a set price for that an then additional fees for any additional surface samples?
If you do a limited mold inspection, would you set a price for X number of surface samples/air samples?
What’s the norm?
For limited mold sampling in client defined areas I charge $125.00 per sample with a minimum of 3 air samples needed. Mold assessments are a little more involved and look for contributing factors. Basically a home inspection minus the electrical portion. For those I charge $300 for the inspection and $75.00 per sample with a minimum of 3 air samples.
Bulk or surface samples are $125.00 if done during the course of inspection. Special trips for one sample are $250.00 because I don’t want to be bothered driving to take one sample and then drive to the lab and review the results.
You may want to look into using a quality lab to do the analysis. I use EMSL which has locations all over the country. In my opinion they are much better than Pro-Lab for mold analysis and I have a local branch that I can drive to easily to drop off multiple samples. I am soooo done with shipping samples down to Florida and it costing me a fortune. Besides, if you set up a relationship with a lab, you are likely to not have to pay for samples until you submit them unlike Pro-Lab who charges ahead of time for each cassette or swab that you buy from them. That just turns into money sitting on the shelf not doing anything in my opinion if you don’t do a lot of testing.
Just my experience, and I do a lot of sampling during the course of the year.
Minimum charge $375. which includes 3 samples. So basically $125 per sample.
Like Scott said, a complete mold inspection is essentially a full home inspection minus the electrical. Many of my home inspection prices are > $375.
You would do a complete mold inspection on, say, a 3,000 SF house with a crawl space and 3 attics and include 3 samples for $375? Sounds like 4 hours of work onsite. Doesn’t sound like much profit.
How much does EMSL charge for analysis and reports per sample? Is air different from surface samples?
I went over to the lab and spoke with a sales rep and worked out a price schedule better than what Pro-Lab was offering. They charge me $2.00 less than Pro-Lab and I don’t have to overnight mail the samples to them because they are so close to me. I really rather not post lab fees on the public BB. If you want, PM me or call me and we can talk.
Joe,
Contact Jason McDonald @ EMSL for pricing. I pay less than I paid ProLab for air and surface samples. They do offer free shipping on orders over $200 I believe. They also provide some free sampling supplies. You have to buy blank air sampling cassettes but you don’t have to pre-pay lab fees. They invoice you for services. Good service and always on time, many times earlier than requested. I just got a lab report this afternoon and can forward it to you if you want to see one of their expanded reports. Here’s Jason’s contact info:
Jason McDonald
Regional Account Manager
975 Morrison Dr. Building C, Suite B
Charleston,SC 29403
888-958-8175
407-375-9573 Cell
jmcdonald@emsl.com
over 900 inspections / 2600 to 3,000 samples each year
$275 for visual of living / conditioned space with 1 AC (we charge by number of AC’s - not sq ft)
$50 each addtional AC
non viable Samples are $125 each (surface or air)
Attic inspection same as conditioned space $275 (add $50 each addtional AC)
Jason at EMSL great to deal with… several years now and no complaints
In this area the norm is billed a little differently (mainly because we’re asked to inspect and write scopes of work within an analytical report - not just provide laboratory results). When I did my research it ran between 80 - 100 per hour for labor and materials; 58 - 130 per sample (depending on the type of sample you’re taking); and a starting price of 150 per analytical report with protocol. I was graced enough to be able to start my business with little over head, so my prices are matching some of the lower ones in my service areas.
There is actually remediation companies north on me performing remediations just off scopes of work. Scary when you think about it. I imagine if enough people get sued when something goes wrong this practice might stop. Sad but true.
I’m not sure I’m following what you’re saying, Mr. Braun. Sorry.
A scope of work is what is normally written to figure out what needs to be done to remove the mold but has no/very little science behind it to back it up. The mold problem is not discussed, no methods of testing are explained, the equipment used during the assessment is not noted, the environment is not documented, no facts are provided about what was discovered, and no references to back up the facts. Without this it will not hold up in court.
I see. In our area mold inspectors are writing analytical reports with the scope of work; they aren’t just handing over laboratory results. It has been a demanded practice here for some time to prevent consumers from conflict of interest claims which were high here at one time. The analytical report’s purpose is to outline background information (be that of the structure, expectations, and/or other relative information necessary for a thorough environmental inspection) from as many of the “materially interested parties” as possible, a general and specific description of investigation practices and standards referenced in regard to the investigation processes, general and specific information in relation to all measured and investigated areas and points of concern, a general and speicific description of standards and guildlines referenced in the recommendations section of the report (protocol section), the protocol itself (which is generally also sub-divided into many categories general and specific), disclaimers, and often information about the investigators, authors and resources (industry experts of all kinds referenced and of interest to the client as case basis). Most of the inspectors in this area have a great background knowlege of remediation guildlines, standards and practices than just an investigation alone, so to compete here one provides those services.
There are still what has been termed here “high risk companies” - remediation companies that do as you said (work with no real understanding of the characteristics of the environment) and/or provide their own inspection services pre- and post- remediation. But they aren’t as common as before the inspection practices took this turn in relation toward addressing the IICRC’s S500 and S520’s idea of an “independent Indoor Environmental Professional” that is “an individual who is qualified by knowledge, skill, education, training, certification and experience to perform an assessment of the fungal ecology of structures, systems and contents at a job site, create a sampling strategy, sample the indoor environment and submit to an appropriate laboratory, interpret laboratory data and determine Condition 1, 2, or 3 for purpose of establishing a scope of work and verifying the return of the job site to Condition 1.”
Anyway, that is why there is such a structure here in the way things are billed and performed.
There are some, what I called Prolab wonders, that just hand over lab results in my area. At initial testing there is not enough information for me to write what you are calling a scope of work. It appears scope of work has a different meaning in your area. I just explain what the results mean and what steps need to be followed next. I guess there are several ways to skin a cat.
Please PETA no more emails.
Whole house mold inspection goes 899 on my pricelist for a typical 1500-2000 SF house. That includes usually 4 samples plus the physical inspection and thermal imaging for moisture hunting.
Just did a 3 unit building about 2500 sf. Total samples 11 up front. 8 for clearance when the work is done. )(Not by me). When I go over about 6 or 7 samples I use 100 per sample plus usually a 500 kicker for the physical inspection/thermal work.
Have to say if you want to set yourself apart in mold work then invest in thermal imaging. Let’e you keep your price up and set yourself apart from somebody just doing tape lifts and air samples.
Sampling fees $120/sample and depending on the specifics of the property my mold inspection fees will range from $750-$5000+ (includes IR) and if the family is burdened in any way I do not charge them for the inspection or the lab fees.
BTW As a rule, I only sample at the clients request or if visible evidence of fungal contamination is absent but other evidence exists, such as musty odours. If fungal contamination exists why would I want to waste the client’s money and sample? My main concern is to help my clients identify areas that promote fungal growth and to offer corrective actions/recommendations.
The higher inspection fees are mostly reserved for insurance jobs. Sampling with these jobs is not an option, it is a must and the report is very thorough. My biggest insurance job involved over 400 samples x2 (pre and post) and 100K+ in total inspection fees. BTW For those inspectors that believes that an inspector can’t do both the pre and post are missing out on additional income. The insurance industry does not have a problem with this, why would you?
My advice to you Joe, get as much training as possible, you will figure out the inspection fees on your own eventually.
I also use Pro-Lab for ALL my analysis. They are located 20 minutes from where I live and they have a standard 24 hour turnaround time. They also discount multiple samples from $25 to $22.50/sample. Pro-Lab rocks!!
Agreed 100%
When I used EMSL about 2 years ago, their reports would always need to be explained verbally to the client and sometimes myself. Pro-Lab’s reports are easy to understand for anyone therefore less follow-up and theoretically more time for profit.
Can someone answer this question for me- Why does one training coarse require a minimum 1 exterior air sample and 2 interior air samples and anothe requires 2 exterior air sample and 1 interior?
Which one requires 2 exterior?
tom
Joe -
We typically charge about $400 for 3 samples & lab analysis.
The home inspectors are typically the initial cursory screening process. If unusual mold conditions surface, we turn them over to a remediation contractor for remediation. These folks write the scope of work AND most quality ones would not rely on a home inspector to develop their scope of work for them. The ones that do that are usually the franchise cleaning guys trying to duck liability or shift it to you.