Comparing radon mitigation contractors
Two mitigation bids for the same house can differ by more than a thousand dollars and both be honest. That happens because they are almost never quoting the same work, and the difference is visible in the documents if you read them as specifications instead of as prices.
The method below takes about fifteen minutes with two or three quotes on a table.
Normalize the scope first
Before comparing any numbers, write down what each bid actually includes. Count the suction points. Note the sealing scope. Check whether a verification test appears. Check whether electrical is included or excluded. Check the fan model.
In practice, most large gaps resolve immediately at this step. A bid with two suction points, full perimeter sealing, a gasketed sump lid, and a verification test is a different product from a bid with one point and no sealing line — and the second one is not a discount on the first.
Compare the design logic, not the design
You are not qualified to judge whether two suction points are correct, and you do not need to be. What you can judge is whether each contractor can explain why their number is what it is. "The pressure-field test showed influence dropping off past the center beam, so the far zone needs its own point" is a reason. "Houses this size usually take two" is a habit.
Where two bidders disagree about point count, ask the lower one what they would do if the verification test came back high. A contractor confident in a single-point design will describe the remedy without flinching. One who has not tested will change the subject.
Weigh the things that do not show up in the price
Routing decisions are permanent. A pipe run across the ceiling of a basement you intend to finish, or an exterior riser on a front elevation, is cheap to place correctly on installation day and expensive to move later. Ask each bidder to walk the route with you.
Servicing matters too. A fan in an accessible attic or on an exterior wall can be replaced in an hour years from now; a fan buried behind finish work cannot. Neither shows up as a line item, and both are part of what you are buying.
A simple scoring approach
If the bids remain close after normalizing, score them on the things that predict a good outcome rather than a low invoice.
- Ran a documented diagnostic before quoting — heavily weighted
- Written scope names points, routing, fan model, sealing, and verification
- Verification test included rather than optional
- Warranty distinguishes fan coverage from workmanship coverage, with stated durations
- Credential current and covers mitigation, verified by you rather than asserted
- Willing to walk the routing and discharge location before starting
Comparing radon contractors: common questions
One bid is half the price of the others. Should I be suspicious?
Compare its scope before you compare its price. A bid at half the cost of two others is almost always quoting materially less work — commonly one suction point instead of two, no sealing, no verification test, or electrical excluded. Occasionally it is a lean, well-run operation with lower overhead, and the written scope tells you which one you are looking at.
Does a bigger company do better work?
Company size predicts scheduling and administrative polish more than it predicts design quality. What predicts design quality is whether the person who evaluated your house ran a diagnostic and can explain the result. Small firms and large firms both do excellent and poor work; the written scope is a better proxy than the letterhead.
Should I tell contractors what the other bids were?
You can, but a price-matching conversation usually produces a cheaper version of the same design rather than a better design. A more productive use of the information is to ask the higher bidder to explain the difference in scope — that conversation frequently reveals something the lower bid missed.
Keep reading
- How to choose a radon contractor — The four-step screen: credential, diagnostic, written design, verified result.
- Cheapest vs best contractor — When the low bid is fine, and when it quietly costs more.
- Cost drivers — Seven variables that explain nearly every price difference.
- Questions to ask before hiring — Fourteen questions that surface the difference between bids in one phone call.
- Compare two quotes — Review both bids on the eight lines that explain almost every price gap.
- Do I need a second opinion? — Five situations where a second opinion pays for itself, and one where it does not.
- Radon Mitigation Cost Driver Index — The variables that move a quote, their direction, and their relative magnitude — no invented dollar figures.
- Radon Quote Line-Item Comparison Dataset — Instrument published, N = 0. What we will collect, and why we will not estimate first.
- All homeowner guides — every decision page in one place.
- Editorial policy — the standards this page was reviewed against.
Line the scopes up first and the price comparison mostly answers itself. When two bids finally describe the same system, picking between them is a small decision — and by then you already know what you are buying.
Confidence and limits of this page
Every decision resource on this platform states its own boundaries. This is not a disclaimer — it is the part of this guide you should read before relying on it.
- What we knowClaims on this page we stand behind, each traceable to an approved source or to observable structure.
- Published mitigation guidance describes the diagnostic step, the system families, and the post-installation verification that a competent job includes.
- Proposals for the same house commonly differ in scope, verification, and warranty rather than only in price, which is why aligning them line by line changes conclusions.
- A credential can be confirmed with the authority that issued it, and that confirmation is free and takes minutes.
- What we do not knowQuestions you may reasonably have that this page does not answer.
- Whether any specific contractor is competent. Credential verification establishes a floor, not a standard of work, and we hold no performance observations on individual firms.
- What a job in your market will be quoted at, because this platform has collected no pricing observations of any kind.
- What research would settle itWhat it would actually take to answer the above — naming it is the difference between honesty and hedging.
- Recorded proposal-to-outcome pairs across many jobs, which would show which proposal features actually predict a working system.
- Post-installation results matched to the diagnostics performed, which is the evidence that would let anyone rank design decisions rather than describe them.
- What we do not claimClaims you might expect to find here and will not, with the reason.
- We do not rank, score, rate, or recommend individual contractors anywhere on this platform, and no page here names a best company.
- We do not publish a price, an average, or a range, because we have measured none and every such figure would be invented.
- We do not claim a credential guarantees quality of work; it establishes a verified minimum and nothing further.
- What we cannot independently verifyFacts this page relies on that we could not confirm ourselves.
- Whether a named individual holds a credential at the moment you ask, which changes over time and only the issuing authority can confirm.
- Any contractor own claims about crew size, years in business, or job counts, none of which appear on this platform as facts.
Get comparable bids in one request
Up to three independent licensed contractors quote the same house from the same information, which makes a scope-by-scope comparison possible instead of guesswork.
Sources
- U.S. EPA — Radon
- U.S. EPA — Consumer’s Guide to Radon Reduction
- U.S. EPA — A Citizen’s Guide to Radon