Green River specializes exclusively on asbestos inspections and testing. We don’t offer removal, so we have nothing to gain if your project has asbestos. Fast scheduling, rush results, and a survey done right so you can avoid project delays and have the documentation you need for the permit office or an L&I inspection.
Certified inspectors
What you need depends on your scope of work and the permit you’re applying for. Start with whichever one describes your project.
Remodeling a kitchen, gutting a bathroom, opening up walls? A survey is required before work starts, and we test only the areas your project touches.
Taking a structure down to the foundation? The city won't issue your demolition permit without a survey. This requires an inspection of the entire building, top to bottom.
Permit office or contractor requested a good faith survey? Tell us what you're working on and we'll take it from there.
Did your contractor have to reschedule over a suspect material? We'll get it tested and your project back on schedule.
Buying an older property? Find out if asbestos is present before you close. Abatement is a cost most remodel budgets don't account for.
Not sure which one you need? Tell us what you're working on and we'll point you in the right direction.
No guesswork, no wasted time. Here’s exactly what happens from the day you call to the day you get your report.
Book online or by phone. Paused jobs, time crunches, and repeat partners get priority scheduling.
A certified inspector walks the property, collects samples, maps and documents everything needed for your report.
Samples analyzed by an NVLAP-accredited lab. 3-day standard turnaround, 24-hour rush available if your project can't wait.
A documented report with everything you need to keep the job moving, or to submit to the permitting office for approval.
You want an inspector focused on your best interest, not the next job. Pick wrong, and you risk L&I violation tickets, a halted job site, and liability for both the contractor and homeowner. All it takes is one neighbor who knows a little about asbestos to bring a compliance officer to your site. A proper survey is your first line of defense when that happens.
We’re a dedicated inspection company, not an abatement company. We don’t stand to gain from your materials testing positive. Our priority is protecting you, your crew, & your project.
A stalled job site costs you money every hour it sits idle. Paused projects or those with a time crunch get priority scheduling and rush results in as little as 24 hours. Our priority is keeping your project moving, not adding to the delay.
When an L&I compliance officer shows up, the first thing they ask for is the asbestos survey. Lack of a survey, or an improperly done one, and they can start writing $600/day fines on the spot. It goes up from there if other safety violations are present.
The questions contractors and homeowners ask us most, answered.
An AHERA certified inspector inspects the areas your project will affect, identifies materials likely to contain asbestos, and collects samples for analysis at an accredited lab. Your report documents the scope of work it covers, whether that’s a single room, a remodel, or a full demolition, where each sample was taken, the condition of the materials found, and the lab result for every sample. Washington requires it before work starts. Keep a copy on site for the length of the project, because an L&I or clean air agency inspector will ask for it, and give a copy to any contractor bidding the work before they bid. We send yours as a PDF so you can pull it up on your phone or print.
Please check our pricing for current survey and sample costs, along with standard and rush turnaround times.
What drives the price is the number of samples, and that comes down to your scope of work. These are low-end minimums, not maximums:
Those assume a single layer of materials. Multiple layers change the math. Two layers of flooring, or drywall over plaster, means each layer has to be sampled separately, and each one needs multiple samples to get an accurate reading. A home with several layers can run 40 or more samples.
The exact count is up to the inspector’s judgment once they’re on site. These are general guides, not a quote.
Depends on your scope of work. If the material is in good condition and your project won’t disturb it, it can often stay where it is. Flooring, for example, can sometimes be covered with a new layer on top as long as nothing cuts into what’s underneath.
If your work will disturb it, it has to be removed by a licensed abatement contractor before that part of the job can move forward. For a full demolition, the material has to be abated before the demolition permit gets issued.
A DIY kit lets a homeowner find out whether a material contains asbestos for their own knowledge. It is not a good faith survey, which L&I requires once a contractor is involved. You have to provide the results before work starts, and most contractors won’t accept a kit result.
There are practical limits too. Asbestos was added to hundreds of building materials, many out of plain sight, like caulking, sealants, gaskets, and anything behind walls or above ceilings. Knowing what to sample is most of the job.
Sample count matters. One negative doesn’t clear a material. That material needed samples from several areas, and one positive means the whole thing is treated as asbestos containing.
How the sample gets collected matters just as much. Samples are taken wet, and tools get cleaned between every material. If you cut into something that contains asbestos and then use the same blade on your next sample, you have carried fibers over. Now that second material will likely come back as a false positive, and you are paying to abate something that never needed it.
If your work will disturb a suspect material, yes. Kitchen and bathroom remodels, gutting a section of a home, replacing flooring or siding, and full demolitions all typically require one. Asbestos was used in hundreds of building materials, from popcorn ceilings and vinyl flooring to window putty, pipe insulation, cement siding, and fireproof doors.
Failure to have a survey done can result in a Labor and Industries compliance officer ticketing up to $600 a day, and that fine applies to both the homeowner and the contractor.
One warning on DIY test kits. In our experience most contractors won’t accept one. If a material gets tested wrong and turns out to contain asbestos after the crew has already disturbed it, that’s their exposure and their liability. They’d rather have samples taken by a certified inspector so the results hold up if it ever comes down to a dispute.
Sample analysis comes back in 3 business days on standard turnaround, or the next business day on rush.
The report is a separate step. Once the analysis is in, we communicate the results to you so you can start planning, whether that means lining up an abatement contractor or knowing you’re clear to proceed. The written report follows. On a small scope it’s quick. On a large survey with a lot of samples, expect an extra day or two to put everything together.
The site visit itself usually takes about 2 hours. Larger scopes or hard-to-reach spaces can push that to 4 hours or more.
Analysis turnaround runs on business days, so samples submitted late in the week land after the weekend. If your project is on a clock, tell us when you schedule.
Check the pricing section for current turnaround options and costs.
L&I puts the responsibility on the homeowner, building owner, or property manager acting as the owner’s agent to have a good faith inspection done and give the results to the contractor before work starts.
Work shouldn’t begin until that report has been handed over. If it isn’t, both the contractor and the property owner can be cited. Assuming your contractor is handling it, or that it’s buried somewhere in their scope, is a common way projects end up started without one.
Most reputable contractors know the rule and will ask you for it before they schedule the job
Yes, if your project will disturb a suspect material. According to L&I, there is no cutoff year that exempts a building from the survey requirement. Asbestos has not been banned in the United States and can still be found in new building products, so even recently built homes can contain asbestos containing materials.
Age changes the odds, not the legal requirement. A 1955 house is far more likely to turn up positive than a 2015 house. But the rule doesn’t run on when the house was built. It runs on whether the materials your project touches contain asbestos, and the only way to know that is to sample them and have a lab analyze the results.
If you’re renovating, demolishing, or hiring a contractor for work that could disturb possible asbestos containing materials, you need a survey regardless of the build year. The alternative is to assume the materials contain asbestos and handle them accordingly, which means following the full abatement rules on any disturbed material.
