SCAMS AND CONFLICTS
DON'T GET SCAMMED!
Every business has its
share of con artists and
scammers. The mold
inspection industry is
no exception.
Corrupt contractors
seeking to profit from
fear and naiveté cost
property owners
thousands of dollars by
creating non-existent
problems or failing to
properly correct a
genuinely hazardous
situation. This
information is provided
to help you avoid
becoming a victim.
Our goal is to educate
you on:
The credentials of mold
inspectors and
remediation contractors.
Protecting your own
personal interest when
dealing with mold
inspectors and
remediation contractors.
The most common mold
scams.
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1. LICENSING AND
CERTIFICATIONS:
LICENSING:
Presently, there are no
official state or
federal licensing
requirements for anyone
engaged in the business
of mold inspections,
mold testing or mold
remediation. New York
City Department of
Health (NYDOH) and the
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) have
established general
guidelines that many
organizations follow,
including AMI, however
these are merely
guidelines, not mandated
regulations or
standards, which apply
mostly to the
remediation of fungi in
indoor environments.
CERTIFICATIONS:
Presently, there are no
official state or
federal certifications
issued to anyone engaged
in the business of mold
inspections, mold
testing or mold
remediation. There are
several unofficial
private companies that
provide classroom
training and/or home
study courses and will
issue a "certificate of
completion". It should
be noted, however, that
none of these privately
owned companies offering
certifications in mold
inspection or
remediation are
government agencies and
are not legally bound to
any official government
approved curriculum or
certification standards.
NOTE: Most states do
require building and
remodeling contractors
to be licensed. Though
being a licensed
building contractor does
not automatically
qualify a contractor to
do mold remediation, it
should be a minimum
requirement when
considering any person
or company for repair
work.
2.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
NEVER use the same
company to perform both
mold inspections and
mold remediation. Think
about it!
At GPI, we believe it is
a serious conflict of
interest for a mold
inspector to profit in
any way from the mold
removal and repair work.
The potential for
corruption and abuse is
extremely high. A mold
inspector who doubles as
a mold remediator can
potentially find a great
deal of expensive repair
work for himself. With
the cost of professional
mold remediation work,
you must have absolute
confidence that your
inspector has no
motivation to find
problems that don't
exist.
NEVER let your repair
contractor provide his
own clearance testing.
Any time a contractor
bids a job for a flat
fee, his goal is to get
the work done right the
first time, and rightly
so, since any additional
time spent on the job
adversely affects his
profit margin. Many
contractors offer "FREE
CLEARANCE TESTING" to
make sure their works
passes and they get
paid. This is never in
your best interest. If
your job calls for
post-remediation
clearance testing, (and
every remediation job
should), it is always in
your best interest to
have the original
inspection company
provide the clearance
test. If the original
inspector is not
available, hire only a
third party inspector
with no relationship to
your contractor.
3.
COMMON MOLD SCAMS:
1.
Sample Loading:
As the phrase implies,
"sample loading" is what
dishonest mold
inspectors do to bump up
the price of their bill
by selling you more
samples than you really
need. They offer a lower
price per sample than
the national average
then make up the
difference by
frightening you into
believing that your
situation is worse than
it actually is. The scam
is perpetuated by
convincing you that the
only way to know for
sure whether or not your
personal belongings are
contaminated, (i.e.
furniture, carpets,
clothing, heirlooms,
etc.) is to collect
samples from each one.
How to protect yourself
from Sample Loading:
First of all, understand
that mold is everywhere,
on everything, indoors
and outdoors, and it is
not always problematic.
Just because there is
mold on your couch (and
rest assure there is)
that doesn't mean "sky
is falling". The
important thing to
determine first is; what
is in the air and how
much of it. Unless there
is a reason to know what
kind of mold is on a
surface, rarely is it
actually necessary to
collect surface samples.
For more information
collecting samples,
click here.
2.
Sample Swapping:
This is a common scam to
make your test results
look much worse than
they actually are.
Instead of submitting
your actual sample(s) to
the lab for analysis,
the person collecting
the sample submits one
that was collected from
another location where
mold levels are
purposely kept extremely
high. Again, the purpose
of this scam is to
mislead you into
believing that your that
your mold problem is
much worse than it
really is so they can
grossly inflate the cost
of repairs.
How to protect yourself
from Sample Swapping:
First of all, you can
avoid this scam by
hiring a mold inspector
who has no personal
interest in your test
results. Other than
profiting from your
misfortune, there is
simply no reason why
someone would want you
to believe your results
are worse than they
really are. This is why
we cannot stress enough,
never use the same
company to perform both
mold inspections and
mold remediation AND
never let your repair
contractor provide his
own clearance testing.
3.
House Cooking
"House cooking" is an
old scam designed to get
the worst possible test
results by turning on
the furnace and ceiling
fans in order to elevate
the number of mold
spores in the air before
taking samples. Some
unscrupulous scammers
will even beat pillows
and pat down furniture
to get the air as dirty
as possible.
How to protect yourself
from House Cooking:
If you see this being
done, ask the person to
leave your property
immediately. The only
purpose in doing such a
thing is to cause high
levels of detectable
mold to justify
expensive mold
remediation work. You
can avoid this scam by
hiring a certified mold
inspector who has no
personal interest in
your test results.
4.
Ozone Generator:
Ozone schemes claim that
tenting a home or
building and then
injecting massive
amounts of ozone gas
into it will kill all of
the mold in the
structure. Ozone can
only kill what it comes
into contact with. Ozone
cannot kill what it
cannot reach, such as
mold growing inside
walls, carpeting,
upholstered furniture,
wall cavities, ceiling
cavities and floor
cavities. Besides being
ineffective at killing
hidden mold (the worst
type), ozone readily
damages all rubber and
plastic parts it comes
into contact with such
as rubber and plastic
components of
appliances, electronics
of all types, exposed
electrical lines,
extension cords and HVAC
controls. Ozone is also
unhealthy to humans
according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency.
