Lead-safe firm certification

Definition

The EPA certification a firm holds before it disturbs paint for pay.

Why It Matters

40 CFR 745.89(a)(1) requires firms performing renovations for compensation in target housing and child-occupied facilities to apply to EPA for certification, and 745.89(b) makes them re-certify every five years, with each certificate expiring no more than five years after the application is approved. The certification belongs to the FIRM. An asset purchase into a new entity therefore buys the crews and the contracts and not the permission to put either on a house the rule covers, which is a closing condition and not a first-year project. Read the certificate and its expiry beside the contractor licenses, because the two run on different clocks and only one of them is a state matter.