In Texas, a mold job does not end when the last air mover is switched off and the zipper door comes down. It ends when a licensed assessor writes that the work passed and two separate licensed companies sign a single sheet of paper. That sheet — the Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation — is the difference between a house that is provably clean and dry and one where a future buyer, lender, or insurer has nothing to go on but your word. Plano homeowners tend to focus on the messy middle: containment, bagged drywall, the whir of HEPA scrubbers. The closing paperwork deserves at least as much attention, because it is what the state, the resale market, and your insurer actually look at.
The Clearance Assessment: What “Passed” Has to Mean
On hired work covering 25 contiguous square feet or more, Texas requires that the assessor and the remediation company be two different businesses. That separation exists for exactly this moment. The company that cut out the drywall is not the company that decides whether the drywall removal was done right. Clearance is written by the TDLR-licensed mold assessment consultant who wrote the original protocol — the same person who metered the walls, traced the water source, and marked how far the damage ran.
Timing matters more than most people expect. The clearance inspection happens while containment is still up and the air scrubber is still running, not after the plastic is in the dumpster. The assessor checks the work visually and runs whatever sampling the protocol calls for, whether that is air samples, surface samples, or both. The protocol you received at least a day before work started is the standard being measured against, which is why the wording of that document matters so much. If it demanded HEPA vacuuming and a specific dry target for framing and slab, those items get checked and documented.
A passed clearance report is not a verbal thumbs-up at the door. It is written documentation, and it is the trigger for the certificate that follows. On a full mold removal plano project, this is the step where you should ask for the report itself rather than a summary of it, and confirm that lab results, if any, are attached. If samples were analyzed, note which laboratory ran them.
If the work does not pass, the answer is not a shrug. The protocol sets the criteria, so the remediation company keeps cleaning and drying until those criteria are met, and the assessor returns to re-check. Ask before you sign anything how a re-inspection is billed, since assessment and remediation are separate invoices from separate companies. That question is cheap to ask at the start and awkward to raise at the end. It is also worth confirming that clearance covers every area named in the protocol — including cavities behind walls and any HVAC components inside the scope. Partial clearance happens, and the final certificate should match the job you paid for.
The Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation, Line by Line
Within 10 days of finishing, you should receive the Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation, filed on TDI form MDR-1. Two signatures matter: the remediation company and the assessment consultant both sign it. Neither party can issue it alone, which mirrors the two-company structure of the entire job. Ask for it by name — “MDR-1” is the phrase to use with your contractor and, later, with anyone who asks about the history of the house.
The certificate carries two protections that Plano owners and sellers should understand clearly.
Insurance. Under Insurance Code 544.303, an insurer may not underwrite against a home because of remediated mold damage that appears on a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation. That does not mean any future claim will be covered, and nothing here promises coverage. It does mean a properly documented remediation is not supposed to follow the property as an underwriting black mark.
Disclosure at sale. Sellers must give buyers every certificate issued for the property in the prior five years. Remediate in 2024, sell in 2027, and that certificate is part of the file. Lose it and you are reconstructing history from memory while a closing deadline runs.
Keep the whole packet, not just the last page: the assessment report and moisture mapping, the written protocol, the remediation company’s work plan, the TDLR notification confirmation for the 25-plus-square-foot job, the passed clearance report, and the certificate itself. A folder with those six items answers nearly every question a buyer, adjuster, or future contractor will raise. Photograph or scan the set and store it somewhere that does not depend on one phone.
Reading the Paperwork Before You Pay the Final Invoice
Confirm the dates line up. The protocol should be dated at least a day before work began. TDLR notification belongs five days ahead of the start, or by the next business day when a water-damage emergency made that impossible, with the $25 notification fee attached to that step. The certificate should be dated within 10 days of completion. Dates on paper are the fastest way to spot a job that quietly skipped something.
Confirm the companies. Licenses can be verified at tdlr.texas.gov, and it is worth checking that the consultant named on the assessment report is not the same business as the remediation company on the work plan. Texas does not allow one company to do both on a single project. If the paperwork shows one name throughout, ask why.
Confirm the scope. The rooms, quantities, and materials listed on the clearance report and certificate should match what was actually cut open, bagged, and cleaned, and should match what the protocol called for. A certificate that describes less work than you watched happen is a document worth questioning before the final check goes out.
If the certificate never arrives, or arrives unsigned, raise it in writing with both companies while the job is still fresh rather than a year later. Unlicensed work carries real TDLR penalties, and the certificate is one of the tangible proofs that a project ran under license. If a company will not produce the form, TDLR is the place to take it.
Finally, keep the money conversation separate from the paperwork conversation. Published national planning ranges — such as those reported by This Old House in March 2026 and Fixr in August 2025 — describe remediation, inspection, and whole-house work in general terms. They are not quotes, and actual Plano quotes come from the licensed companies after they see the house; assessment, protocol, and clearance are billed separately by the assessor. When you compare bids from independent TDLR-licensed companies, compare the clearance terms, the sampling plan, and whether the certificate is part of the deal, not just the bottom line.
