Who is Craig Herrmann and why does S520 matter?
Craig Herrmann is the founder of Mold Eliminators and one of the people who literally wrote the rulebook for mold remediation: he co-authored the ANSI/IICRC S520 standard, the national document that defines how mold is supposed to be assessed, contained, and removed. S520 matters because it is the difference between work done to a published, defensible standard and work done to a technician’s opinion, which protects your health, your home, and your insurance claim.
In plain terms: when the person directing your remediation helped author the standard the whole industry is measured against, you are not hoping the job was done right. You can point to the rulebook and check.
Who Craig Herrmann is
Craig Herrmann has been working in mold and water restoration in Las Vegas since 1996, and in that time his crews have restored more than 255 properties across the valley. He is IICRC Master Certified, one of a small handful of master-level flood and restoration experts in Southern Nevada, and he has served on the IICRC standards body that maintains the certifications the rest of the industry trains to.
The credential that sets him apart is authorship. Most certified technicians are trained to a standard. Craig is one of the people who wrote one. He co-authored the ANSI/IICRC S520 Standard for Professional Mold Remediation, the document that consultants, insurers, and courts treat as the authoritative reference for how mold work should be performed. That is the same standard the technicians at every reputable company are supposed to be following, including ours. You can read more about Craig’s background and certifications.
Need help now?
Talk to a Las Vegas expert
In-house certified crews. One-hour emergency response across the valley, 24/7.
Why the S520 standard matters to you
S520 exists so that mold remediation is not improvised. Before a national standard, “the mold is gone” meant whatever the contractor wanted it to mean. S520 replaced opinion with a defined process: assess the problem first, contain the work area so spores do not spread to clean parts of the home, remove the contaminated materials, and then verify the result independently rather than declaring victory by eye.
For a homeowner, that translates into three concrete protections. First, your health: proper containment and removal mean the spores get taken out of your home instead of pushed into your air during the work. We never diagnose illness, and you should be cautious of anyone who does, but the standard’s entire purpose is to reduce exposure during and after the job. Second, your home: removing only what is contaminated, and verifying the rest is clean, prevents both the under-cleaning that lets mold return and the over-demolition that pads a bill. Our mold remediation follows that S520 sequence on every job, and our step-by-step process shows exactly how it runs.
Third, your paperwork. A remediation performed and documented to S520, with independent third-party lab verification, is the kind of record an insurance adjuster accepts and a future buyer’s inspector respects. When water damage is involved, that same documentation is what keeps a covered claim defensible, which matters a great deal in water damage insurance claims. Work done to a published standard can be checked. Work done to a guess cannot.
One honest clarification: the inspection is free, lab testing is not
People often assume that because we offer something free, the lab work is included too. It is worth being precise, because this is exactly the kind of place a less honest company blurs the line. The on-site visit is a genuine free inspection: a certified technician comes to your property, looks at the situation, and tells you straight whether you have a problem worth acting on. That visit costs you nothing and carries no pressure.
Independent laboratory testing, where physical samples are sent to a third-party lab for analysis, is a separate paid add-on. We use an independent lab precisely so the results are not something we grade ourselves, which keeps the verification honest. Many homeowners do not need lab testing at all, and consistent with our anti-upsell approach, we will tell you when you do not. That is the practical meaning of being led by someone who helped write the standard: the recommendation is tied to what the situation actually calls for, not to what fills an invoice.
What to do next
If you are seeing visible mold, smelling a persistent musty odor, or recovering from a water event, the right first step is the free on-site inspection. A certified technician will look at what you actually have and tell you plainly whether it needs remediation, whether lab testing would add anything useful, or whether you can simply monitor it. There is no obligation and no scare tactics.
Because we keep our own certified W-2 crews and use no subcontractors, the same standard runs from the first inspection to the final verified result, with one-hour emergency response available 24/7 across the Las Vegas valley. To get started, call (702) 442-1126 or request your free inspection, and you will be talking to the company whose founder helped write the standard everyone else is trying to meet.
Related questions
- Does following S520 cost more than ordinary mold removal?
- Not necessarily, and often the opposite. Working to the standard process means we remove only what is contaminated and verify the rest is clean, which prevents the over-demolition that inflates a bill. What you are paying for is a defined, documented result rather than a guess, and that documentation is what protects you later.
- Is the lab testing included in the free inspection?
- No. The on-site free inspection is genuinely free and carries no pressure. Independent third-party lab analysis is a separate paid add-on, and many homeowners do not need it. We will tell you honestly whether your situation actually calls for it.
- How does S520 protect an insurance claim?
- A remediation performed and documented to the standard, with independent verification, produces exactly the kind of record an adjuster expects to see. When water damage is the cause, that documentation is central to water damage insurance claims and helps keep a covered claim from being disputed later.
Talk to the company whose founder helped write the standard.
Get a free, no-pressure on-site inspection from a certified technician. One-hour emergency response, 24/7, across the Las Vegas valley, with every job run to the S520 standard and verified by an independent lab.