Lead-safe firm certification

Definition

The EPA or state 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. A renewal filed at least ninety days before the certificate expires keeps the old one running until EPA decides. 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 in a state running its own authorized program the certification comes from the state, not EPA.

In numbers: A first EPA certificate runs at most 5 years from approval under 40 CFR 745.89(a)(2), and a renewal is timely only if filed 90 days or more before it expires. A firm filing in month 58 has missed that, and if EPA has not approved by month 61, a crew on a pre-1978 house is working uncertified.