I’m looking to find out if having a mold certification is worthwhile. I looked into becoming a mold assessor through the DBPR but the requirements are not within reach (AA with a focus on microbiology / 4 years field experience in biological sampling). Do the Nachi mold courses do a good job of allowing us to provide a marketable alternative to a mold assessor license? Or are there limitations on the mold cert that would make hiring a full mold assessor a better alternative?
I’m an FL licensed mold assessor and I don’t recommend it. Licensed home inspectors are legally allowed to do mold testing in FL. Here are the 3 courses to take:
Micheel, you are playing with fire by doing that. Florida has a 10 square foot rule. If the mold is under that amount you can test. But how do you know what is behind the wall. Are you going to to an interior wall sample with a probe, or just test that ‘small’ area that you see?
Mold assesors are suposed to write portocol. Mold testers do not do that. So if you sample comes back positive, now you have to defer to a mold assessor. You client is now paying twice for the same service.
My feeling is testing will only get you in trouble. And it also depends on which lab you decide to use. Read about the different labs. They are not all alike. Some have stricter standards.
What Bill Siegel said is incorrect. I’m a Florida licensed, insured mold assessor.
Wrong. The 10 square foot rule does not include mold behind walls. The spirit of the rule was to permit home inspectors to do mold testing when they found mold during a home inspection. If the 10 square foot rule included mold you couldn’t see, no home inspector could test for mold ever as home inspectors don’t open up walls.
Wrong again. And Bill explains why in his own post. A mold assessor writes a protocol and a home inspector doing a mold test doesn’t. It isn’t the same service. So your client is not paying twice for the same service.
If you listen to all the negative people you will never expand or grow and only limit yourself. Thanks to Nick and others who have vision for the inspectors you can grow. Never understood the desire to keep others down.
Actually he is paying twice for the same service. What mold assessor is going to write a protocol on some else’s samples. He is going to go in and take his own samples. Hense double payment for the same thing. But hey, if that’s OK with you, then by all means go ahead and do it.
Factual information, no matter how “negative” it is to some…
468.84 Mold-related services licensing program; legislative purpose.—
(1) There is created within the department the mold-related services licensing program.
(2) The Legislature finds it necessary in the interest of the public safety and welfare, to prevent damage to real and personal property, to avert economic injury to the residents of this state, and to regulate persons and companies that hold themselves out to the public as qualified to perform mold-related services.
468.841 Exemptions
(d) Persons or business organizations acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under part XV of this chapter, [FONT=Arial,Arial][size=2]chapter 471, part I or part II of chapter 481, chapter 482, or chapter 489[/size][/FONT], are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, **[FONT=Arial,Arial][size=2]except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public **[/size][/FONT]as a “certified mold assessor,” “registered mold assessor,” “licensed mold assessor,” “mold assessor,” “professional mold assessor,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
468.8411 Definitions.—As used in this part, the term:
(3) “Mold assessment” means a process performed by a mold assessor that includes the physical sampling and detailed evaluation of data obtained from a building history and inspection to formulate an initial hypothesis about the origin, identity, location, and extent of amplification of mold growth of greater than 10 square feet.
468.8419 Prohibitions; penalties.—
(1) A person may not:
(a) Effective July 1, 2011, perform or offer to perform any mold assessment unless the mold assessor has documented training in water, mold, and respiratory protection under s. 468.8414(2).
(b) Effective July 1, 2011, perform or offer to perform any mold assessment unless the person has [size=2]complied with the provisions of this part.
[/size]
If you are a licensed home inspector, you can test for mold.
Florida licensed home inspectors are exempt from complying with provisions related to mold assessment.
So back to my earlier post. You test and now what. You have to defer to a mold assesor, who will then come in and take is own samples and write a protcol for the remediation. Why not just work with a mold assessor in the first place and avoid an unhappy client if they have to have samples taken twice.
The one who needs to chime in here is Doug Wall. He does this for a living. Michael, you should talk to him
statute reference please…
468.841 Exemptions.— (1) The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold assessment: (a) A residential property owner who performs mold assessment on his or her own property.
(b) A person who performs mold assessment on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold assessment for the public.
© An employee of a mold assessor while directly supervised by the mold assessor.
(d) Persons or business organizations acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under part XV of this chapter, chapter 471, part I or part II of chapter 481, chapter 482, or chapter 489, are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold assessor,” “registered mold assessor,” “licensed mold assessor,” “mold assessor,” “professional mold assessor,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e) An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold assessment within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold assessment.
(respective 2) The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold remediation: (a) A residential property owner who performs mold remediation on his or her own property.
(b) A person who performs mold remediation on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold remediation for the public.
© An employee of a mold remediator while directly supervised by the mold remediator.
(d) Persons or business organizations that are acting within the scope of the licenses required under chapter 471, part I of chapter 481, chapter 482, chapter 489, or part XV of this chapter, are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold remediator,” “registered mold remediator,” “licensed mold remediator,” “mold remediator,” “professional mold remediator,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e) An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold remediation within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold remediation.
History.—s. 3, ch. 2007-235; s. 25, ch. 2008-240; s. 11, ch. 2011-222; s. 63, ch. 2012-5; s. 6, ch. 2012-13; s. 7, ch. 2012-61.
Copyright © 1995-2015 The Florida Legislature
So why the hell am I paying for $1,00,000 E&O as a licensed assessor?
Thanks Wayne. Licensed home inspectors are also exempt.
468.841 Exemptions.— (1) The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold assessment: (a) A residential property owner who performs mold assessment on his or her own property.
(b) A person who performs mold assessment on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold assessment for the public.
© An employee of a mold assessor while directly supervised by the mold assessor.
(d) Persons or business organizations acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under part XV of this chapter, chapter 471, part I or part II of chapter 481, chapter 482, or chapter 489, are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold assessor,” “registered mold assessor,” “licensed mold assessor,” “mold assessor,” “professional mold assessor,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e) An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold assessment within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold assessment.
(2) The following persons are not required to comply with any provisions of this part relating to mold remediation: (a) A residential property owner who performs mold remediation on his or her own property.
(b) A person who performs mold remediation on property owned or leased by the person, the person’s employer, or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership, or on property operated or managed by the person’s employer or an entity affiliated with the person’s employer through common ownership. This exemption does not apply if the person, employer, or affiliated entity engages in the business of performing mold remediation for the public.
© An employee of a mold remediator while directly supervised by the mold remediator.
(d) Persons or business organizations that are acting within the scope of the respective licenses required under chapter 471, part I of chapter 481, chapter 482, chapter 489, or part XV of this chapter, are acting on behalf of an insurer under part VI of chapter 626, or are persons in the manufactured housing industry who are licensed under chapter 320, except when any such persons or business organizations hold themselves out for hire to the public as a “certified mold remediator,” “registered mold remediator,” “licensed mold remediator,” “mold remediator,” “professional mold remediator,” or any combination thereof stating or implying licensure under this part.
(e) An authorized employee of the United States, this state, or any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, or public or private school and who is conducting mold remediation within the scope of that employment, as long as the employee does not hold out for hire to the general public or otherwise engage in mold remediation.
History.—s. 3, ch. 2007-235; s. 25, ch. 2008-240; s. 11, ch. 2011-222; s. 63, ch. 2012-5; s. 6, ch. 2012-13; s. 7, ch. 2012-61.
…that is a good question, isn’t it? Maybe Nick’s education department can answer that.
Yes, “thanks Wayne”. Was there something specific in that statute showed “home inspectors” as exempt?
Again, do you have a statute reference to back up your claim?
Specifically, through declarative statement, home inspectors can test for mold only in such cases where the visibly affected area is less than 10sf…this does not include air samples as that type of specific test covers a volume area larger than 10sf.
What’s the point? If anything less than 10sf is not required to be remediated, why test for it and not just have it removed? $250.00 for testing to determine that a $75.00 repair needs to take place…that makes sense.
Now, if the affected area turns out to be larger than 10sf, the sampling and testing you just did is worthless and now the customer pays again to have it properly assessed by the licensed individual…seems practical :roll:
If you read the declaratory statement it says you can only test for visible mold that is less than 10 square feet. That would eliminate air samples
No they are not! As a home inspector, you can neither hold yourself out to be a mold assessor or advertise mold assessment…period! You can, as anyone can, test an area not larger than 10sf…pretty much anyone can becuase that’s not considered remediation or assessment…it’s not because you are somehow exempt through your licensure. It’s just through the eyes of the law,** less than 10sf isn’t considered remediation or assessment, just remove it and move on**…
Stating or implying that home inspectors through there licensure are exempt is not factual and misleading…pretty much anyone is exempt from the law based on the perameters of less than 10sf becasue it’s not considered “remediation or assessment”…don’t imply something different and try to interpret it as we are exempt because of our licensure to test for and assess mold because we are not.
Let the customer keep their $250 and just remove the affected area…if it turns out to be larger than 10sf, the customer doesn’t have to pay twice becuase you were greedy or overstated your qualifications. They, as the owner, can do the same test per the statute…
Buyers may just want to know if they need to back out or if it’s something simple. I just did a Wind Mit for a couple who just bought their first home. The inspector did not provide mold testing. After closing they found mold and moisture that he missed on a baseboard location. They explained all this to me. I am not laying fault with the inspector as I was not there. But maybe some moisture readings and air sample would have revealed more. They knew it was there now so they skipped right to a remediation co. It got worse.
In the course of ripping out the carpet of the affected area they discovered tile that may be asbestos. This first purchase resulted in an almost complete remodel they were not planning for. They were considering a lawsuit and still might. I explained that the inspection is visual only. The law says we can test and if a client asks for it and you don’t provide it better send them to somebody who does.