I’ve been using PriorityLab for 5 years but their recent problems are not acceptable for me. I’m looking for options in the testing world, so tell me who you use and any pros or cons you have with them. Also, what is their turn around time on a sample.
Thanks!
Where are you located?
There is a time-frame, temperature and other protocols that need to be followed for proper sample handling and testing.
“Local drop-off” is always a first priority. Shipping off to another state is not preferential, IMO.
I use EMSL - see link below to their FHA/VA water test kits. I purchase the basic three business day turnaround kits with pre-paid FedEx return labels. What is not advertised is that you can upgrade to a two-day turnaround on the form when sending samples, just have a credit card on file to pay them an additional $15.00. The only con I have is they do not accept deliveries on Saturday (meaning no well inspections on Fridays). The only other consideration is that the water samples go to Indianapolis, IN that has some bad weather in winter that sometimes will interfere with FedEx delivery. If you need to cancel the test, they will return the lab fee to you. If you let the test proceed they will put a footnote on the report that the testing was not performed within their recommended 24-hour window. My understanding from talking to them is that the risk is only associated with the coliform test in that the little bugs died and you get a false negative (i.e. no bugs present). In cold weather, the chance that the bugs die is less than warm weather, hence the use of ice packs.
I’m sure this was an answer to some question, just not mine. Haha Thanks for your input though.
Thanks Brian, very helpful. Checking them out now.
Whatever.
Get used to needing to answer questions to get correct answers if you wish to succeed in this industry.
Brian absolutely answered your question “generically”, and also touched on the concerns I referenced, but without full information from you, you are still in a potential jam with failed test results.
Good luck with that!
I use local labs and prefer the state lab, although lately the state lab has not been reliable in Colorado. I agree with Jeffrey that a local drop-off lab is the best option.
Thanks!
What is the turn around time on your local lab?
I took a sample in late last Friday and got the result at 8:15pm on Monday. BUT…they have been slower lately for some reason and sometimes it is Day 3 before I get results, so that is what I mean about less reliable lately.
I use a local lab. Well water samples take 24 hours to run once started. they don’t start tests on Fridays because they are not open on weekends. Samples have to stay cold from collection time to delivery to the lab. If you are shipping samples, you have to account for this.
My local lab is ~3 miles from my home. It is a state certified lab and can do all but the most odd water testing. For the occasional odd testing need I sent it to Michigan Sate University’s lab.
Try to find a qualified lab near you.
My local lab is also just a few miles away from me. It’s a 7 minute drive. That saves a lot of money and time compared shipping samples.
The closest certified labs to me are 35 miles away (45-minute drive one-way) making it financially challenging to use the local labs. Plus, although they will test coliform with 24 hours, they only guarantee 10 business days for nitrate, metals results, which is an impossibly long time for someone in escrow (I figured that the local labs can do the coliform testing onsite, but anything more involved they ship to an out-of-state lab using regular snail mail, hence the 10 business days). Alternatively, I am never more than a few miles away from a FedEx shipper… I am sure there are others in my situation.
Google water test laboratory in northeast Florida and there are several to choose from. A licensed laboratory can do a Coliform/E-Coli test in 24 hours. Most will give you free sample bottles if you use their services.
Update: I dropped a sample off first thing Monday morning at the state lab. At 8:30 this Thursday morning, I received the results. And that is my frustration with them lately.
Ditto for me. I charge accordingly. Time is the bigger factor for me. One hour there and one hour back…a serious time consideration. For the sample Monday morning, I drove 10 miles to get it Sunday afternoon and then dropped it at the lab on my way to my first inspection Monday. So, that worked out, though I didn’t care much for interrupting my football watching on Sunday. But the sample on Friday was a two-hour trip.
There are a lot of guys charging less for potability testing around here, but I seem to get a lot of requests.
My Fee $200 Lab fee $20 Gas cost $9-12 My net: about $178 or about $75/hour including time collecting the sample.
Most of the time, I can combine one leg of the trip with something else, so arguably my $ per hour can be higher.
I cover about 5 counties and simply not going to try to keep up with samples and labs at multiple locations. Shipping them and passing the fees along makes much more business sense.
I don’t very often run into wells in our area, at least culinary wells. So when we do we refer it out to a well serving company.
I am in your same situation. Closest labs are @ an hour away, and I could easily be taking the sample an hour the other direction from me, so that would be a two hour drive to drop off the sample, then an hour back to my home.
The local labs charge more as well, and they don’t give me the turnaround time that other options do. Shipping out of state to the bigger labs works, but it is pain too. Therefore, while I offer water testing, I sure don’t upsell it.