Was it discovered inside of a home or office that forms part of a condominium corporation?
Are you a property manager with questions? Are you a tenant or landlord looking for answers? Are you a consultant needing assistance?
The recommendations below are not requirements. There is no legal requirement for a mold investigation or remediation contractor to have the experiences, certifications, coverage or experience outlined below; however, we recommend to all of our Client’s that have discovered mold in a condominium to at a minimum ensure that remediation and investigation contractors they retain have and or maintain the following:
- IICRC Certified Firm Certification
- IICRC Certified Technicians
- At least one supervisor certified in Applied Microbial Remediation
- ACAC: Council-certified Microbial Investigation Technicians
- 10+ years of construction field and management experience.
- Liability Insurance specific to the services they provide.
- Pollution Insurance specific to the services they provide.
- WSIB coverage specific to the services they provide.
You should also ensure that if a remediation contractor will be performing work within your unit or within your condominium corporation that their contract include:
- Who will be assessing the exposed and adjacent areas of construction deficiencies.
- Who will be responsible for rectifying the deficiencies found during the abovementioned assessment.
- Diagram or survey that details area size, rooms, or sections of the area in which remediation will be done.
- Specific amount of time it will take to complete the remediation work.
- Itemized list of materials (e.g., lumber, wallboard, carpet and padding, paint) required to complete the remediation.
- Who (homeowner or contractor) will provide the renovation materials.
- How the contaminated materials will be handled and whether the homeowner or contractor will remove debris from the site.
- Detailed warranties of work and guarantees on remediation.
- Cleanup procedures and products to be used as well as a cost breakdown and total price cap.
What are the top 5 causes of mold?
Please also keep in mind that when deciding on an appropriate course of action that the top 5 causes of premature failure causing mold within condominium corporations are:
- Building Code Breaches
- Poor Building Practices
- Improper Design
- Poor Code Enforcement
- Poor Maintenance / Improper Repairs
And that identification and or rectification of one and or all of the items described above are required for a successful remediation and investigation project.
Other important items that our team recommends be immediately reviewed in detail if mold is found within a condominium would be the condominium declaration, the most recent technical audit prepared for the condominium corporation, as well as a review of the condominium corporations files and records.
GeoFocus employs a full time staff of IICRC Certified Microbial Remediators, ACAC: Council-certified Microbial Investigators, Intern Architects, Architectural Technologists, Project Managers, Construction Managers, Site Supervisors, Contract Administrators and Trade Contractors. We are able to provide and or assist you with variety of solutions such as:
- Performing the remediation on your behalf.
- Performing a Council-certified Microbial Investigation on your behalf.
- Performing a comprehensive microbial and forensic investigation including review by a remediation technician, investigation technician, intern architect, architectural technologist, construction manager and retained consultants.
- Providing project management and or site supervision services on your behalf wherein we would review all documentation provided by the remediation contractor referred to your project as well as monitor their work through to completion.
- Provide assistance in corresponding with your Condominium Corporation, Property Management firm and or your legal team.
- Finally and if acceptable to the Condominium Corporation and the Property Management firm we would be pleased to sit down with either of you to determine the most efficient and cost effective solution to amicably resolve all water intrusion and suspect mould growth issues to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Should you require immediate assistance please fill out the form below or contact our office immediately at 888.295.6653.
