What a Mold Credential Actually Means Here

Neither Washington nor Idaho licenses mold assessors or mold remediators. There is no state exam, no registry and no disciplinary body for this trade in either state.

Which means every credential in this market is issued by a private organization. Some of those are rigorous. Some are a weekend and a PDF. The homeowner is left to tell the difference, usually while dealing with something stressful.

This page is how to tell, including how to check on us.

The word to be careful about

Licensed.

Because no mold license is issued in Washington or Idaho, nobody providing mold services here can accurately call themselves licensed for that work. When you see it, it generally means one of three things, and none of them is automatically a problem:

• A business license or contractor registration. Real, required, and completely unrelated to mold competence. Every business has one.
• A federal asbestos credential. Most often AHERA building inspector accreditation, which involves real training and a real exam and is issued under EPA rules. It is a genuine qualification. It is about asbestos.
• Imprecise language for a private certification, where the person means certified.

Asking which one it is takes ten seconds and tells you how carefully the rest of the work will be described.

The credentials that actually exist for mold

The common thread on every row is the third column. A credential you cannot independently verify with the issuing body is a claim, not a credential.

What NORMI certification actually involves

NORMI is the National Organization of Remediators and Microbial Inspectors. Its Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor credential is not a single afternoon.

It requires completing the coursework, passing a separate proctored examination, and activating and maintaining NORMI membership. The membership requirement is the part most people do not realize: the certification is not permanent property. It depends on remaining in good standing, and some states additionally require proof of insurance on file. If a certificate holder lets membership lapse, the credential lapses with it.

That is a meaningful design. It means a NORMI certification you verify today is current today, rather than reflecting a class somebody took in 2014.

The other thing worth knowing about NORMI is what it teaches. The separation of assessment from remediation is not a marketing position we invented. It is taught inside the certification itself, as a core principle: the party assessing the problem should not be the party selling the removal. The IICRC S520 standard says the same thing from the remediation side, identifying independent pre-remediation assessment and post-remediation verification as the most legally defensible arrangement.

Neither state requires it. Many good companies here do both and disclose it. We do not, and the reason is on why we do not remediate.

Where we stand, stated precisely

Spokane Mold Inspection is owned and operated by Jesse Futia. Every inspection is performed by him personally. There are no technicians and no subcontractors.

On credentials, here is the exact status rather than a rounded version of it. He holds the NORMI Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor credential, earned through the live course and the proctored examination, under NORMI member #23444. The issuing body is the National Organization of Remediators and Microbial Inspectors, and the number is published here so you can check it at NORMIPro.com rather than take our word for it.

The business is also insured, and a certificate of insurance is available on request before anything is scheduled.

What that credential is not: a state license. Washington does not license mold inspectors and neither does Idaho. NORMI is a trade body, not a government agency. What the credential gives you is a named standard, an organization that can be contacted, and a person who can be held to both.

What matters as much as the certificate

Credentials establish a floor. These establish whether the report is any good:

1. An outdoor control on every visit. Indoor spore counts are meaningless without one, because outdoor air always contains spores and indoor air always reflects it. An inspector skipping the control is either saving twenty dollars or does not understand the measurement.
2. An accredited laboratory. Ask which one. Ask whether it is accredited and by whom.
3. Raw data in the report. Not just conclusions. You should be able to hand the report to another professional and have them reach their own view.
4. A stated criterion. There is no legal limit for mold in indoor air anywhere in the United States, so anyone telling you a house passed or failed is applying a standard they chose. They should say which.
5. A stated financial position. Who benefits if the answer is yes.

How to check any of this

Call the issuing body, not the inspector. NORMI, IICRC, ACAC and ABIH all maintain ways to confirm whether a person is current. A certification that cannot be confirmed that way should be treated as a marketing line.

Do the same to us. If we name a credential on this site and you cannot verify it with the organization that issued it, we should not be naming it.

See also Idaho mold testing rules and about Spokane Mold Inspection.

Frequently asked questions

Are mold inspectors licensed in Washington? No. Washington does not license mold assessment or mold remediation, and neither does Idaho. Every mold credential in this market is issued by a private organization rather than the state, which is why the question worth asking is who issued it and whether you can verify it with them.

What is NORMI certification? NORMI is the National Organization of Remediators and Microbial Inspectors. Its Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor credential requires completing the coursework, passing a separate proctored exam and maintaining active NORMI membership. Because it depends on membership in good standing, it lapses if membership lapses, which means a verified NORMI certification is current rather than historical.

Is NORMI certification the same as a license? No. It is a private certification, not a government license, and it carries no legal authority in Washington or Idaho. Its value is that it is a defined curriculum with an independent exam behind it and a verification path, in a field where the alternative is an unverifiable claim.

How do I verify your certification? Ask for the issuing body and the number, then check it with that body rather than taking the inspector’s word for it. Ours is the National Organization of Remediators and Microbial Inspectors, NORMI, and the member number is 23444. Any inspector who cannot give you both halves of that has told you something useful.

What should I ask an inspector before hiring them? Whether they also sell or subcontract remediation, whether they take referral fees, which body certified them and whether you can verify it directly, whether they take an outdoor control on every visit, which accredited lab they use, whether the raw lab data comes with the report, and what criterion they use to call a result elevated.

Is a home inspector qualified to test for mold? A general home inspection is a visual trade inspection and does not include air sampling or lab analysis. Some home inspectors hold a separate mold credential and offer sampling as an add-on, which can be perfectly good work. Ask the same verification questions you would ask anyone else, and ask whether the sampling includes an outdoor control.