Mold Remediation License Requirements by State

Which states require a mold remediation license?

Texas, Florida, New York, Louisiana and Washington DC require a license to perform mold work covered by their programs. The other 45 states have no dedicated mold remediation license, so the work falls under general contractor or home-improvement licensing plus whatever your client and their carrier demand.

The table below is a starting point, not legal advice. Where a row says "No state mold program," it means we could not find a statewide mold licensing scheme — it does not mean nothing applies. Cities, counties and school or healthcare clients routinely impose their own requirements, and a state can create a program at any session of its legislature.

5 jurisdictions license mold work; the remaining rows show no statewide program that we could verify on a state agency site.

How do you get a mold remediation license in Texas?

Texas licenses mold work through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation under Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1958 and 16 TAC Chapter 78. You hold a license as an individual, as a company, or both, and the license type has to match what you actually do on a job.

TDLR issues separate licenses across the assessment and remediation sides: mold assessment technician, mold assessment consultant, mold assessment company, mold remediation worker, mold remediation contractor and mold remediation company. The consultant and contractor licenses are the ones that carry training-from-an-accredited-provider and state-exam requirements; worker registrations sit under a licensed contractor.

Two Texas details catch out-of-state firms. First, small projects below a square-footage threshold in the rules are exempt, and the threshold is defined in the statute rather than by feel — read it on TDLR's laws and rules page. Second, after a covered job a licensed assessor issues a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation, and a seller has to hand that certificate to a buyer — so the paperwork follows the property, not just the contractor.

Full detail, including how AMRT fits an application: the Texas mold remediation license guide. Confirm current requirements with TDLR.

How do you get a mold remediation license in Florida?

Florida licenses mold remediators and mold assessors through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation under Chapter 468, Part XVI of the Florida Statutes. The two licenses are distinct, and Florida treats assessing and remediating the same project as a conflict to be managed, not a convenience.

An application runs on four things: passing a department-approved examination, meeting an education-and-experience path, carrying the required insurance, and clearing a background check. DBPR publishes the current combinations, and they have been amended over the life of the program, so the version on the department's site is the one that counts.

Florida also exempts small projects below a threshold written into the statute. If your work sits near that line, size the job in writing before you start rather than after an adjuster asks.

Full detail: the Florida mold remediation license guide. Confirm current requirements with DBPR's Mold-Related Services program.

What does New York require for mold remediation?

New York runs a mold program administered by the Department of Labor under Labor Law Article 32, with licences for mold assessor, mold remediation contractor, mold abatement worker and mold abatement supervisor. Training from a DOL-approved provider is required, and the licence category has to match the role you fill on site.

Article 32 also separates assessment from remediation: the person who writes the remediation plan is not supposed to be the person who profits from performing it on the same project. Crews that move between New York and neighbouring states get caught by this more than by any other rule.

A small-project exemption exists, and the statute defines it — do not assume a residential job is too small to be covered. Confirm the current licence categories, approved training and exemption language on the New York State Department of Labor mold program page. If you hold AMRT, treat it as evidence of training, not as a substitute for the state licence.

Does Louisiana license mold remediation?

Yes. Louisiana issues a mold remediation licence through the State Licensing Board for Contractors rather than through a health or environmental agency. That places mold work inside the contractor licensing system, alongside the classifications the board already administers.

Because it is a contractor board, the practical questions are the contractor-board ones: which classification your scope falls under, what the application asks for, and how the licence interacts with any commercial or residential classification your company already holds. The board is also the authority on project-size limits, so ask them rather than reasoning by analogy from Texas or Florida.

Confirm current requirements with the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors.

What does Washington DC require for mold work?

The District licenses mold assessors and mold remediators through the Department of Energy and Environment, and licensing applies to residential projects above a size threshold. DOEE also requires applicants to pass a department-approved examination, and it publishes the list of examinations it accepts.

That approved-examination requirement is the part contractors miss. Holding a certification the District has not approved does not get you a licence, so check DOEE's list before paying for a class, and check it again if your certification body changes its exam.

Confirm current requirements on DOEE's mold professional licensing page and its approved training and testing list.

What should you get in states without a mold license?

In the other 45 states, certification is the bar — and in restoration that means the IICRC route: Water Damage Restoration Technician first, then Applied Microbial Remediation Technician. WRT is the prerequisite for AMRT, which is why almost every mold crew's paperwork starts with a water certification.

On the assessment side, ACAC's council-certified credentials are the recognised third-party option, and they are experience-based rather than class-based. Home inspectors adding mold inspection usually come through NORMI or InterNACHI/IAC2 instead. None of these is a licence; they are how you prove competence where the state does not test it.

What actually wins work in an unlicensed state: current IICRC certifications on the crew, general liability and pollution coverage your client's risk manager will accept, and documentation that follows the ANSI/IICRC S520. Start with the certification comparison to pick a path, then compare mold remediation training options.

What is the difference between a license and a certification?

A licence is government permission to perform work, issued by a state agency and enforceable against you. A certification is a private credential showing you passed somebody's exam — useful, respected, and legally irrelevant unless the state says otherwise.

The two interact in one direction. States often require approved training or an approved examination as part of a licence application, so a certification can be a step toward a licence. A licence never comes bundled with a certification, and no certification body can grant you the right to work in a licensing state.

There is a third document people confuse with both: a course completion certificate, which proves only that you sat in the class. And in Texas, "Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation" means something else again — a document a licensed assessor issues to a property owner at the end of a job.

How do you keep a mold license current?

Every licensing jurisdiction runs its own renewal cycle, continuing-education expectations and insurance evidence, and each publishes them on the agency page linked in the table above. Put the renewal date in the same calendar as your IICRC certification renewals so the two do not surprise you in the same month.

Track four things per jurisdiction: licence expiry, continuing-education hours completed, current insurance certificates, and any notification duties the agency imposes before a project starts. The notification requirements are the ones that generate violations for otherwise compliant firms, because they apply per project rather than per year.

Frequently asked questions