What should I check before buying a mould inspection business?

A mould inspection business is an advisory firm. It sends a person into a building, looks, measures, samples and writes a report. There are no crews to retain and no clean-up to stand behind, which makes it simpler than remediation, but also more dependent on trust. What a buyer acquires is a reputation, a set of referral habits and a body of past reports.

Where the work comes from

Ask for a list of where inspection requests originate: home inspectors, realtors, property managers, insurers, landlords, direct homeowners. Look for concentration. If most calls come from one inspector or one property group, a change of owner could end them. Ask the owner to introduce you to the main referrers before closing, and listen to what they say about the firm.

Independence from remediators

Clients tend to trust an inspector who does not profit from the clean-up. Ask whether the firm has ever shared fees, referrals or ownership with a remediation company, and whether that is disclosed on its reports. If you also own or plan to own a remediator, think about how that looks to the referral sources who currently send you work.

Reports, files and equipment

Read a sample of recent reports. Are they clear, consistent and dated, with photos and sampling locations? Ask how files are stored, for how long, and who can access them if a client comes back with a question. Confirm which laboratory the firm uses, whether that relationship is easily replaced, and whether meters and sampling gear are owned, leased and calibrated.

How much rests on the owner

• Does the owner do every inspection personally?
• Do clients ask for the owner by name?
• Are any qualifications held by the owner alone?
• Will the owner stay on for a handover period?