How Much Does Commercial Mold Remediation Typically Cost?

It might have started with an employee complaining about constant headaches. Or perhaps someone in your office brought up indoor air quality concerns. 

Regardless of how it began, you’re now at the point where you know you have a commercial mold problem—and you’re wondering what it’s going to cost to fix it.

The short answer is that it can vary from $2,000 to $50,000 (or more), and the long answer is that it depends on a wide range of things. Read on to learn more about the factors affecting commercial mold remediation costs.

Commercial Mold Remediation Basic Steps

If you know you have mold (after a confirmation test) or you can visibly see it, we’ll need to remove material from the affected area. This includes drywall, ceiling tiles, bathroom tiles, or other building material. If it has mold on or inside it, it has to go. 

A critical step is eliminating the actual source of the mold, which can happen before, during, or after remediation. Whether it is a dripping pipe, leaky roof, or a room with air that is overly humid, the culprit needs to be eradicated. Otherwise, the mold can—and will—come back with a vengeance. 

Next comes demolition, which must take into account the protection of your employees’ health as well as the prevention of further contamination. Mold is a spore and a fungus, spreading rapidly and easily when disturbed. Therefore it doesn’t take much for the lighter-than-air spores to quickly make their way into vents or the HVAC system. 

Mold Removal Steps

The first step is to contain the area with heavy-duty industrial plastic and seal off the critical barriers. We do this to prevent the mold from making its way into places it’s not supposed to be, like the HVAC system, vents, or return line. Once we’ve completely sealed off the area and performed the prep work—we are ready to abate.

The second step is to demo the affected area and bag the contaminated material. We dispose of the material in the same manner as regular construction debris. Unlike asbestos, there’s no legal requirement to separate the mold-contaminated material from other trash. Once exposed to fresh air and light, the mold will soon wither away and die. 

One-Off Situations

Remember how we mentioned that mold abatement costs depend on several factors? Well, many one-off situations can cause the cost of the mold removal process to rise even higher. For example, let’s pretend that you can see some black mold on your office bathroom wall.

There’s a good chance that you may only be seeing 10% of the problem. You won’t know the full extent of the mold until you knock a hole in the wall and look inside. The warm, moist, and dark area behind a wall or ceiling tile is like an all-expenses-paid Hawaiian vacation for mold spores. It’s their happy place.

Another one-off situation that could cause the price to increase is when we remove some drywall and find out that there are structural problems. The material would need to be removed, temporary supports put in, and a construction company called in to fix the problem.

Or perhaps the mold made its way onto asbestos-containing material. You’ll now have an asbestos abatement situation right alongside a mold one. For these reasons and many more, it’s impossible to provide an accurate quote in a blog post without first knowing the particulars and extent of the mold contamination.

Read More: When is Commercial Mold Remediation Required?

When Removal is Not an Option

What if you don’t have the time to wait and let the space dry out? Or what if we can’t remove the affected area (e.g., a steel beam or something of historical value)? Instead, we can apply an encapsulation material covering the existing mold to prevent new spores from forming.  

Mold Remediation Costs

A general guide for mold remediation cost is as follows:

• Small jobs—Anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000
• Larger jobs—Can range from $30,000 to $50,000
• Massive jobs—Can go as high as several million dollars

The key to keeping costs down is to catch and remove mold early on. The longer this fungus is given free rein to multiply and conquer your space, the higher the abatement price tag will climb.  

The most significant factor that affects the cost of mold remediation is the scope of the overall project. Logically, for example, it can cost less to eradicate mold located in a single room than in multiple rooms. 

Mold Abatement Company in VA, MD, and D.C.

The rule of thumb for mold is that if you can see it, you have it. Therefore testing can sometimes be overkill as well as a waste of money. With that being said, you can still get a mold test performed if you want to know the extent of the contamination. 

Testing can help you plan and budget for the eventual abatement process. While it’s a bit of an upfront investment, it lets you know exactly what you’re getting into. For example, if the tests show that the mold is on top of asbestos, you would already be aware of that additional problem and wouldn’t get hit with a major surprise halfway through the abatement project.  

At Total Environmental Concepts, we can help put together a mold abatement plan and give you an estimate based on the above factors. Click below to learn about our mold remediation services.