Most people search for mold help in a hurry — a dark patch spreading across a bathroom ceiling, a musty smell with no leak they can find, staining on the attic decking, a wet baseboard over the slab. Before comparing names, it helps to understand the number that quietly shapes every quote you will get in Texas: 25 contiguous square feet. It is the line where the state stops treating mold as a household cleaning chore and starts treating it as regulated work.
Contiguous is the word doing the heavy lifting. The rule is written around one connected area of mold, not the combined total of every spot in the house. Picture a patch roughly five feet by five feet — that is the threshold. A handful of dots around a shower plus a separate stain in a closet do not automatically add up to it, which is exactly why the measurement is often less obvious than it sounds. A licensed assessment consultant maps moisture and settles the scope; a homeowner eyeballing it from a stepladder usually cannot.
Below that line, Texas law leaves the decision to you. You can clean it yourself, hire a handyman, or call a general contractor. At or above 25 contiguous square feet of hired work, the job has to follow a specific licensed sequence. That distinction changes the entire conversation once you start contacting companies: the question is no longer only “how much,” but “who is licensed to do which part of this?”
Two practical warnings travel with the rule. First, TDLR notes that bleach without fixing the underlying water problem is not a lasting fix — killing the surface color does nothing about moisture that is still feeding the growth. Second, the EPA advises that wet materials dried within 24 to 48 hours usually do not grow mold, so the clock matters more than the scrub brush. Do not sand or scrub a large patch either; disturbing it spreads spores through the house. Photograph the original condition before anything moves, because your insurer, your landlord and every company quoting the job will want to see it. Keep kids and pets out, close the door, and if the growth may be in or near the air handler or ducts, the EPA says not to run the system until it has been checked.
Two Different Licenses, Two Different Companies
Above the 25-square-foot line, Texas separates the work in a way that surprises almost every homeowner. Under Occupations Code chapter 1958, mold assessment and mold remediation each require a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — and the same company may not perform both on your project. A business that offers to inspect the mold and then remove it on a job over the threshold is not describing a legal arrangement, no matter how convenient the pitch sounds.
The licensed assessment consultant handles the diagnosis. That company inspects, maps moisture, decides whether samples are actually needed, and writes a project-specific remediation protocol: which rooms, how much material comes out, what methods will be used, how containment will be built, and how clearance will be judged. You receive that protocol at least a day before work begins, which gives you time to read it and ask questions.
A separate licensed remediation contractor then writes a work plan to carry out the protocol — not a plan of its own invention. The contractor notifies TDLR at least five days before starting, or by the next business day in a water-damage emergency, builds containment, removes moldy drywall and insulation, and dries the area. When the work is done, the assessment consultant comes back to check it visually, take any samples the protocol calls for, confirm the water cause was actually fixed, and issue a written passed clearance report before the containment comes down.
Within 10 days of completion, the contractor hands you a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation — TDI form MDR-1 — signed by both licensees. Keep it somewhere you can find it years later. Insurers may not underwrite against the remediated damage it documents, and buyers are entitled to copies for five years.
The takeaway for anyone shopping around: on a job over the line, you are hiring two companies, and they check each other’s work. That structure is a feature, not a hassle. TDLR notes that species testing is usually unnecessary in residential cases, so do not let a “black mold” label drive the decision — the scope of the moisture problem does.
How to Vet the Companies That Answer Your Search
Before any company starts, ask for three things: the Consumer Mold Information Sheet, proof of at least $1 million in liability insurance, and the written protocol. Then look the license up yourself at tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch rather than trusting a logo on a truck. Unlicensed assessment or remediation is a Class C violation carrying a $2,000 to $5,000 penalty per violation, and the companies operating properly have no reason to mind you checking.
Expect most companies to look before they price. Compare written scopes side by side rather than phone estimates, and remember that on a project above the threshold, assessment, protocol and clearance are separate invoices from a separate company — a quote that quietly bundles everything into one number is describing a process Texas does not allow. Actual prices always come from the companies after they have seen the job; published national planning ranges are useful for budgeting, not for negotiating a firm figure.
That is where a free quote service earns its keep. Describe the problem once — where the mold is, roughly how large it looks, what got wet and when, the age of the house, and whether it is a house, apartment or business — and independent, TDLR-licensed assessment and remediation companies serving Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, Richardson, Wylie, Murphy, The Colony and Carrollton reply directly. Nothing has to be exact, and there is no obligation to hire anyone. It simply shortens the hunt you would otherwise run through search results for mold remediation companies near me one tab at a time.
Local conditions are worth mentioning when you talk to them. Plano’s Blackland clay is rough on slab plumbing, so slab leaks and the mold that follows are common. Attic air handlers and condensate lines, hail-bruised roofs, and bath fans venting straight into the attic cause a steady share of the rest. Bathroom ceiling mold under an upstairs AC unit is sometimes a genuine DIY job and sometimes the visible edge of something much larger — the 25-square-foot measurement is how you tell which conversation you are having.
If anyone in the home has breathing trouble or other symptoms, that belongs in a conversation with a doctor rather than a contractor. For everything else, start with the size of the patch, stop the water if you can do it safely, and let licensed companies put the scope and the price in writing.
