About Santa Fe Mold Remediation

Santa Fe Mold Remediation is a free referral service. You call one number, describe what you are dealing with, and we connect you with an independent mold remediation contractor working in Santa Fe County. There is no charge for the call, no charge for the referral, and no charge for the on-site estimate.

We want to be plain about what that means, because a lot of websites in this industry are not. We do not perform remediation work ourselves. We are not a national franchise. When you hire, you hire the contractor directly, you see their credentials, and you sign their contract. Our job is to get the right person to your door quickly and to make sure you know what questions to ask them.

Why a referral service instead of a crew

Because in New Mexico the credentialing is unusual, and a homeowner needs a way to sort through it.

New Mexico does not issue a mold remediation license. There is no state mold credential, no mold statute and no clearance requirement. That surprises most people, and it means the reassuring phrase a homeowner is looking for does not exist here in the way it does in Texas, Florida or New York.

What New Mexico does regulate, closely, is construction. Real mold remediation involves demolition, drywall work, framing repair and frequently roofing or plumbing. All of that falls under the Construction Industries Licensing Act, and a contractor performing it needs a license from the Construction Industries Division that actually covers the work.

So the useful question is not "are you a mold specialist." Anybody can print that. The useful questions are about the CID license, the written scope, the standard being followed and who verifies the result. We put those in front of you rather than hoping you already know them.

New Mexico contractor rules, in plain English

The law

The Construction Industries Licensing Act, NMSA 1978, Chapter 60, Article 13, is administered by the Construction Industries Division of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. Section 60-13-12 is direct about it: no person shall act as a contractor without a license issued by the division classified to cover the type of work to be undertaken.

Classifications

Licenses are classified by trade. General building work carries its own classification, commonly GB-98 for general building contractors. Electrical, mechanical, plumbing and LP gas are separate classifications with separate requirements. A contractor with a general building classification is not thereby authorized to do your plumbing repair. If the scope includes a plumbing or mechanical repair, ask who holds that classification.

The minor work exemption, and why it will not help you

Section 60-13-3 carves out very small jobs, but the exemption specifically does not apply to anyone who advertises or holds themselves out to the public as being in the business of contracting. Anyone who found you through advertising is not exempt.

Discipline

Section 60-13-23 lists the grounds on which the commission may suspend or revoke a license, including misrepresentation, and including letting a person without a license work under someone else's license. That last one matters, because "working under so-and-so's license" is a real practice and it is a violation.

What to actually do

1. Ask for the CID license classification and number, in writing, before you sign anything.
2. Verify it with the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, not with a screenshot the contractor sends you.
3. Confirm the classification covers the work in your scope, including any roofing, plumbing or mechanical repair.
4. Ask for proof of general liability coverage, and whether it includes pollution or mold coverage, since many general policies exclude it.
5. Ask whether the scope follows the IICRC S520 standard for professional mold remediation.
6. Ask who performs the post-remediation verification, and push for somebody other than the crew doing the removal.
7. Get the water source repair named in the written scope, not implied.

What we know about this town

The reason this site exists in this form is that almost every mold page written about Santa Fe is a national template with the city name swapped in, and those templates tell you that humid air causes mold. Santa Fe is high desert at about 7,000 feet. That explanation is simply wrong here.

Mold in Santa Fe County comes from flat roofs, parapet caps and canales; from monsoon storms and winter snowmelt with freeze-thaw in between; from evaporative coolers that add water to indoor air by design; from hard cement stucco trapping water inside adobe walls that were built to breathe; from winter humidifier use condensing on cold walls; and from plumbing, grading and irrigation. Those are building problems, and they are fixable. We would rather explain them than frighten you.

How to reach us

Call any hour, or use the form on this page. If you would rather write, the email address is on the contact page. Tell us the town, what you are seeing, and whether there is water running right now. That is enough to get started.

Common questions