How to Check a Texas Mold Company Before You Hire

What license should a Texas mold company hold?

Texas has a dedicated state mold licensing program. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) regulates mold assessment and remediation under Occupations Code chapter 1958 and the rules in 16 Texas Administrative Code chapter 78. Assessment means inspecting or testing for mold. Remediation means cleaning it up or removing it. Anyone you hire for either job must hold the matching TDLR license unless an exemption applies.

TDLR issues several license types, and it helps to know which one fits the person in front of you:

To get a license, individuals complete required training, pass a state exam and pass a criminal history check. License holders must keep a Texas office or work for a company that has one, and individuals must carry a current TDLR license card showing their number.

How do you check a mold license in Texas?

Use TDLR's online license search at tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch, or call TDLR at 1-800-803-9202. Check two things: the company and the individual who will sign your paperwork. Ask for the license card and compare the number, name and expiration date against the search result. If the name on the card does not match the company on your contract, ask why before you sign.

The Texas Attorney General's consumer page on mold remediation adds a few practical steps: contact TDLR with questions or complaints about a license, research each company's reputation, and be wary of conflicts of interest at firms that offer several services.

Why do you need two different companies?

Texas law separates the roles. A person or company may hold both an assessment license and a remediation license, but may not do both on the same project. The Attorney General's page adds that the same person cannot hold an ownership interest in both the assessment firm and the remediation firm on that project. The point is simple: the company that decides how much needs to come out, and later declares the job clean, should not profit from the removal.

So a typical Houston job has a mold assessment consultant who inspects and writes the protocol, a remediation contractor who does the work, and the same consultant who returns for clearance testing after remediation. If one company offers to inspect, test, remove and clear your mold as a single package, that offer does not fit Texas law. The difference between mold inspection and mold testing is worth reading before you book the assessment.

What are the warning signs of a bad hire?

• One company for everything. As above, the assessor and the remediator must be different companies on your project.
• No license card, or a number that does not show up. Walk away until it checks out on TDLR's search.
• No Consumer Mold Information Sheet. License holders must give the client and owner TDLR's sheet before any mold work starts.
• Work starts before you have a protocol. The consultant must give you the protocol at least one calendar day before remediation begins.
• Air tests sold as a must when mold is plainly visible. EPA says sampling is usually unnecessary when you can see the mold, and there are no federal limits to compare results against. See when mold testing is worth paying for.
• Painting or sealing over growth. EPA says not to paint or caulk over mold.
• Scare talk about color. Color does not tell you how risky a mold is. Our black mold facts guide covers what matters instead.
• Pressure to use the insurer's pick. The Attorney General notes that some insurers keep lists of recommended mold specialists, but you choose the contractor.

What should be in the protocol and the work plan?

Texas Occupations Code 1958.151 requires the assessment license holder to prepare a work analysis and give it to you before remediation begins. It must name the rooms or areas to be worked on, the quantities of materials to be removed or cleaned, the proposed methods for each area and the proposed clearance criteria. TDLR's protocol requirement adds protective equipment and containment.

The remediation contractor then writes a project-specific work plan that meets the protocol and gives it to you at least one day before preparation work begins. Compare the two documents line by line. If a remediation bid includes rooms or quantities the protocol does not, ask the contractor to explain; if it leaves out rooms the protocol lists, the job may not pass clearance.

Questions to ask before you sign

How should you compare bids?

Get bids against the same protocol so you are comparing like with like. Angi's Houston cost data reports that mold removal averages $2,016, typically $863 to $3,329, and that inspection and testing average $453. HomeGuide's national figures for 2026 put labor at $75 to $120 per hour. Prices in Greater Houston vary with access, extent and water damage. If insurance may pay part of the job, the Attorney General suggests reviewing all bids with your insurer to see which costs are covered. The Houston cost guide has fuller ranges.

What should you receive when the job is done?

A post-remediation assessment by the same consultant who wrote the protocol must confirm that the work area is free of visible mold and wood rot, that the work followed the protocol and that clearance criteria were met. A consultant who did not write the protocol cannot declare clearance. If the area fails, more remediation is needed.

Within 10 days after the project ends, the remediation contractor must give you before-and-after photos and a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation (CMDR), a Texas Department of Insurance form signed by both the consultant and the contractor. Keep it. For residential property it can help prevent an insurer from making an adverse underwriting decision based on past mold damage, and if you sell, you must give the buyer every CMDR issued for the property in the prior five years. Our overview of what happens during mold remediation shows where each document fits.

When can you skip hiring altogether?

Homeowners may clean mold in their own home without a TDLR license, and EPA says most people can handle an area under about 10 square feet if the moisture source is fixed. Larger areas, mold inside walls or ducts, and anything after flooding are better handed to professionals. To get started, you can line up an independent Houston mold inspector first and a separate Houston mold remediation company second. Homeowners outside the city can find the same pairing in Sugar Land, The Woodlands and other towns across Greater Houston.