Radon and specialty testing technician job description
A radon and specialty testing technician runs the add-on tests a home inspection company sells: placing and picking up radon monitors, running a camera down the sewer line and taking mold air samples. Their careful records are what let the lab, the inspector and the buyer trust each result.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, engineering and inspection firms · BLS, May 2025
Residential - Home Inspection - Specialty Testing Technician
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Operations Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll handle our add-on tests: radon, sewer scope and mold sampling. You set up and retrieve radon monitors, run a camera through sewer lines, and collect air and surface samples with careful chain of custody. Your accurate records give inspectors and clients valid results on time.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Place and retrieve continuous radon monitors under the protocol your state or certifying body requires, including closed-house conditions and placement rules.
Note any sign of tampering, open windows or moved monitors at pickup, and record it on the test record.
Run a camera through the main sewer line from an accessible cleanout, record the video, and note roots, cracks, offsets, sags and pipe material.
Collect mold air samples with a calibrated pump, including an outdoor control sample, and take surface samples when the scope calls for them.
Complete chain-of-custody forms, label samples, and ship them to an accredited lab within the lab's time limits.
Clean and track all testing equipment, and send radon monitors for calibration on the schedule your certification requires.
Upload results, videos and photos to [your inspection software] for the report.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Follow the route of radon drop-offs, pickups, sewer scopes and sampling visits set by the Inspection Scheduler.
Confirm access, and that utilities are on, before each visit.
Run sewer scopes alongside the home inspector or on separate visits.
Pack lab shipments and log tracking numbers.
Charge, clean and restock equipment at the end of the day.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Radon tests with valid results: [your target].
Samples received by the lab without chain-of-custody problems: [your target].
Test results uploaded on time: [your target].
Return visits caused by technician error: [your target].
Equipment calibration up to date: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Radon measurement certification, such as NRPP or NRSB, or the [State] radon license where your state requires one [or the ability to earn it by your deadline].
A [State] mold assessor license where your state requires one for mold sampling.
Valid driver's license [and a driving record that meets your insurance carrier's rules].
Careful record keeping and the discipline to follow written protocols exactly.
Comfort working in crawlspaces, basements and attics.
6. Preferred Experience
Training on your sewer camera system or a sewer scope inspection course.
Experience as a home inspector or plumber, or in environmental sampling.
Experience uploading photos and video from the field to report software.
7. Physical Requirements
Carry radon monitors, sampling pumps and a sewer camera reel up to [50] pounds.
Crawl, kneel and work in tight spaces such as crawlspaces and attics.
Climb ladders and work outdoors in heat, cold and rain.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Field-based, driving between homes in [your service area] in a [company or personal] vehicle.
Hours: [Monday through Saturday schedule], with routes set the day before.
Exposure to dust, insulation, sewage, mold and pests; gloves, [respirators] and other protective gear provided.
Busier in spring and summer with the home-selling season.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new specialty testing technician gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
Environmental technicians sample air, water and soil in many places. Here each test rides on a home sale, so the deadline, the state of the house and the paperwork matter as much as the reading.
Radon credentials depend on the state
Pennsylvania requires DEP certification to place or retrieve any radon test device, and a firm's other employees may do that work only after DEP approves them in writing. Elsewhere, start with your state radon program. EPA requires states that take its radon grants to list only providers with a state credential or NRPP or NRSB certification. Source: Pennsylvania DEP: Radon certification.
The house has to stay closed
EPA's guide says to keep windows and outside doors closed as much as possible during a short-term test, and for a two or three day test, closed for at least 12 hours before it starts. Fans that pull in outside air stay off. The technician explains this to the seller at drop-off and notes anything that broke it at pickup. Source: U.S. EPA: A Citizen's Guide to Radon (EPA 402/K-12/002).
Mold samples can need a license
In Texas, collecting air or spore samples to check for mold counts as mold assessment. That takes a TDLR mold assessment technician or consultant license, and the samples go to a licensed lab. Simply noting visible mold doesn't. Florida licenses mold assessors too, and bars one from remediating a building their company assessed in the past 12 months unless they're a certified Division I contractor. Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation: Mold assessors and remediators FAQ.
Sewer scopes look, they don't dig
Keep the job to looking. The technician feeds a camera from an accessible cleanout toward the street or septic tank, records the video and notes roots, cracks, offsets, sags and pipe material. Don't have them dig, cut pipe or clear clogs. With no cleanout, or a line that's backed up, they stop, record why, and the client calls a plumber.
Chain of custody on a closing date
Lab samples need signed custody forms, matching labels and shipping inside the lab's time limit. A monitor left past its window or a cassette shipped late can mean a retest, and the buyer may not have the days to spare. Log each sample and tracking number before the van leaves the last stop.
How much radon and specialty testing technicians make
The closest BLS group for radon and specialty testing technicians is environmental science and protection technicians, including health. Environmental science and protection technicians, including health who work for architecture, engineering, and inspection firms earned a median of $23.84 an hour ($49,590 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $55,090 median for environmental science and protection technicians, including health in all industries. About 7,680 of the 34,670 environmental science and protection technicians, including health in that survey work for engineering and inspection firms.
Usually hourly. BLS has no code for home testing technicians, so these figures are for environmental science and protection technicians, a group that also covers lab and public health jobs.
Engineering and inspection firms
$49,590$49,590 median Middle half $44,920–$61,620 10th–90th $38,820–$78,690
All industries
$55,090$55,090 median Middle half $45,820–$69,910 10th–90th $38,170–$94,160
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k$100k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Engineering and inspection firms
$38,820
$44,920
$49,590
$61,620
$78,690
All industries
$38,170
$45,820
$55,090
$69,910
$94,160
BLS doesn’t publish pay for home inspectors on their own. These figures cover architectural, engineering and related services, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Follows a written test protocol step by step, every time
Fills in custody forms and labels with no gaps
Holds the radon credential your state requires, or will earn it by your deadline
Works in crawl spaces, basements and attics without damaging the house
Explains test conditions to sellers and tenants politely
Teach these on the job
Your sewer camera, locator and recording app
Air pump setup, flow calibration and outdoor control samples
Your radon monitor model and its download software
Lab shipping rules and your custody forms
Uploading video and results to your report software
The kit is continuous radon monitors, a push-reel sewer camera with a locator, air sampling pumps with a calibrator and spore trap cassettes, plus tape lifts and swabs for surface samples. Listing your monitor and camera brands in the ad helps a tech who has used them stand out.
Radon and specialty testing technician interview questions
Two of the 7 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Radon test validity
At pickup, the radon monitor has been moved to a windowsill and a window is cracked open. What do you do?
A strong answer: Records what they found and photographs it, treats the test as possibly invalid under the protocol, tells the office and inspector, and arranges a retest under closed-house conditions.
Behavioral · Following protocol
Tell me about a time you followed a written procedure exactly when cutting a corner would have been faster.
A strong answer: A specific case, why the step mattered, and what it protected.
Which protocol do professional radon tests follow?
EPA lists ANSI/AARST MAH-2023, the Protocol for Conducting Measurements of Radon and Radon Decay Products in Homes, among its current radon standards of practice. It covers placement, test length and conditions for anyone testing a home, plus extra rules for testing as a paid service. Your state program and certifying body may add their own. Keep the current edition in the van.
How much does a radon and specialty testing technician make?
Environmental science and protection technicians, including health who work for architecture, engineering, and inspection firms earned a median of $23.84 an hour ($49,590 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $44,920 and $61,620 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
What happens when a radon result comes back high?
EPA recommends fixing a home at 4 pCi/L or more, and says to consider it between 2 and 4. The technician reports the number with the test record and leaves the advice to others. The client and agent decide on a retest or a mitigation system, and a mitigation contractor does the work.
Should the home inspector run the sewer scope instead?
Either works. The template has the technician run scopes beside the inspector or on separate visits. A separate technician lets the inspector finish the house on time and lets you book scopes when the inspector's day is full. Make sure whoever runs it has trained on your camera.
Is this a good first job in home inspection?
It can be. The technician sees many crawl spaces, basements and sewer lines each week, works beside inspectors and learns how reports come together. If you want them to move up, pair the job with your inspector training plan and help them toward your state's license.
