How We Operate · Florida Statute 468.8419
Why We Will Not Test Your Home For Mold
It is not a limitation and it is not us passing the work along. It is Florida law, it exists to protect you from a specific kind of conflict, and it is one of the few consumer protections in this trade that actually has teeth.
TLG Restoration · Updated August 2026 · 6 Min Read
Three Things That Happen When One Company Does Both
The statute exists because of an obvious problem: the party that decides how big a mold job is should not be the party paid by how big it is.
Inflate The Scope
If the company that decides how big the problem is also gets paid by how big the problem is, every borderline call has a financial thumb on it. Four hundred square feet instead of two hundred. The ductwork included instead of inspected. Nobody has to be dishonest for this to happen; incentives do it quietly.
Understate It To Win The Bid
The same conflict runs the other direction. A company competing on price can write a small protocol to produce a cheap number, win the job, and discover more once the wall is open. You get a change order instead of a bid you can trust.
Grade Its Own Homework
At the end of a job someone verifies the work passed. If that someone is the company that did the work, the verification means very little. Clearance testing exists precisely so an outside party confirms the result.
Four Steps, Two Companies
You Hire An Assessor
An independent licensed mold assessor inspects the property, takes samples if warranted, and determines what is actually there and how far it has traveled. Typically $300 to $800 in South Florida, up to $1,000 depending on how many samples are pulled.
They Write A Protocol
The remediation protocol is a written document: what has to be removed, the containment required, the engineering controls, and how the result will be verified. It is the specification your bids get priced against.
We Execute That Protocol
We price to the protocol the assessor wrote and do exactly the work it specifies. Because every bidder is pricing the same document, you can actually compare bids instead of guessing why one is thousands lower.
They Verify Our Work
Post-remediation clearance testing, done by the assessor or another independent party. Typically $250 to $500. If it does not pass, we go back in. The party confirming the result has no financial stake in it passing.
Step three is ours. The other three belong to somebody with no stake in how large our invoice is.
If A Company Offers To Test And Remediate, Ask Them About 468.8419
You do not need to be combative about it. Just ask. A company operating properly will explain the separation the same way we just did. A company that gets uncomfortable is telling you something useful.
This matters most when somebody else is checking your paperwork: an insurance carrier, a condo board spending association funds, a landlord and tenant disagreeing about who pays, or a buyer's agent during a sale. An independent chain of custody on the assessment is what makes the file hold up.
Our mold remediation work is performed under Abimael Laureano, Florida Mold Remediator · MRSR #5688. We remove mold. We do not test it, and we do not clear our own work.
Related reading: what remediation actually costs, and how this works for a condo board.
Assessment And Remediation, Answered
- Why will TLG not test my home for mold?
- Florida licenses mold assessment and mold remediation separately, and a licensed remediator cannot assess a property they will remediate. We hold a remediation license, so we remove mold. An independent licensed assessor determines what is there and verifies the result afterward.
- What does Florida Statute 468.8419 say?
- Among other things, it prohibits a licensed mold assessor from performing remediation on a structure they assessed within the previous 12 months, and prohibits a remediator from assessing a structure they remediated in that window. The purpose is to remove the financial conflict from deciding how large a mold problem is.
- Does this mean I have to pay two companies?
- Yes, and that is the point. Budget roughly $300 to $800 for the assessment and $250 to $500 for clearance testing if it is required, separate from the remediation itself. What you get for it is a scope nobody had an incentive to inflate and a result nobody graded themselves on.
- Can I skip the assessment and just hire a remediation company?
- For small, clearly visible growth some homeowners do. The tradeoff is that you are taking the remediation company's word on how big the job is, with no independent record. For anything involving insurance, a condo association, a landlord and tenant, or a real estate transaction, the independent assessment is what makes the file defensible.
- What should I ask a company that offers to test and remediate?
- Ask them about 468.8419. A company doing both on the same property inside a 12 month window is operating against the statute. If they have an explanation, it is worth hearing, but you should know the rule exists before you sign anything.
- Who chooses the assessor, me or TLG?
- You do, and you should hire them directly so the relationship and the record are clean. We are happy to tell you what a good protocol looks like and what to expect, but the assessor works for you, not for us.
Already Have A Protocol? We Will Price To It.
Send the details or call. A real person reads every request, and if this is an active emergency the phone is faster than any form.
(561) 331-8624