New South Florida Inspector Needs Advice

General Inspection Topics Legislation, Licensing, Ethics & Legal Issues
#1

Hi all,

My name is Chris. I’m new here on the forums so be “gentle”. Just have a few questions, I’ve done some searching on them but a little confused.

Let me start I on my background. I’m in West Palm Beach, I acquired my license in Sept but haven’t gotten to work yet but am working on the business building part of this new career path and plan to register my LLC January 1st. Just need that and insurance to really get started I guess, I have a lot of the equipment I’ll be using and I keep taking more and more nachi courses.

I come from a building maintenance background but really needed the change and I’ve been unemployed for this year since the world fell apart. Been doing some soul searching and hope this is the next step in my journey.

But anyway some info I need is on mold and radon inspections as I’ve read many things but sometimes not always clear. I’ve taken nachi mold courses and about to do radon.

My questions are as follow:

For mold sampling in Florida as I’ve learned all we can do is under 10sq feet of visual mold. Do I need any license from Florida to do that? Do I need to be apart of the IAC2? Not offering mold testing on your services hurt your business? Do a lot of people ask for it here? I know I didn’t when I bought my house.

Radon services is a bit confusing. I have read that you need a license from Florida Health. So another test and another butt load of money for the that. After I get the license do I need anything else, what do I do? I’ve heard I need to pair up with a lab that has the business license in order to actually offer the service. As my license would be for technician again I just take the samples. But it seems more involved then mold sampling. Also does not offering radon services hurt your business if you just wanna do residential inspections. I didn’t even know about this when I bought my house no one mentioned it nor offered. Doesn’t make me so concerned now, but is it asked a lot down here during the home inspection process? Never really here anyone talk about it.

Thanks again

#2

Welcome to the forum, Christopher, Enjoy!! :+1: Marc Goldenberg will be with you soon after he finishes his coffee. @mgoldenberg

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#3

Lic mold assessors (like me :cowboy_hat_face:) may perform air & surface testing at will. A lic home inspector has an exemption allowing it, IF it is during the course of a home inspection. I won’t get into why surface sampling (sterile swab or tape lift) is really not needed for now.
If the total mold is less than 10 sq ft, that is called a “level one” job, per EPA & FL statutes. This rule is for mold remediators that are doing the removal/cleaning. There are different cleaning protocols for level 1-2-3.
I don’t think it applies for sampling.
Bottom line, you cannot hold yourself out & advertise mold sampling without a proper license. Then there’s that exemption for you.

I have never been interested in radon testing. IMO the state lic is a pain & don’t forget the insurance.
Yeah, I know the surgeon general recommends all homes be tested.
I just told a client last month:
Congratulations! You’re the second person this year that’s asked about it. Never been a negative for me in all these years…
Questions? 954-326-2679
Good luck!

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#4

Nice to have you aboard, Christopher! :smile:

#5

I wouldn’t worry about adding mold and radon since you are starting out. You can add those later. If you feel you need to have radon available, contact a mitigation company and work out a deal to have them do the radon test. For mold, you can report on the presence of suspected mold and recommend it be tested. Good luck getting your business together. My advise is start simple and just inspect and grow your business from there.

#6

Welcome Christopher

#7

Thanks Marc that clears some things up. So if on an inspection and asked to test for it I can. But I cannot advertise for it alone without license. Gotcha.

And yes I think radon testing looks to be a pain and I did for a moment forgot about the insurance needed. It also seem like more paper work and more headache for it just wasn’t sure about the market out here as I never heard from people about it as a home owner concern.

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#8

Thank you Scott, that helps to know. I will just focus on getting my feet wet before hitting the diving board :smiley: