What a good radon professional should explain — and how to ask
The hardest part of hiring in a trade you do not know is not spotting a bad answer. It is knowing what a complete answer sounds like. Every question below comes with that: what a thorough response actually covers, so you can tell “he answered” from “he answered the question I asked”.
Nothing here scores anybody, and nothing here is transmitted. Tick what applies, take the list into the conversation, and make the judgement yourself — you will have heard the tone and seen the house, and we will not have.
What a good professional explains without being asked
The 7 questions below apply to every job. A professional who covers them unprompted is doing the thing that separates an explanation from a sales visit — and if they do not, asking is entirely normal and nobody competent minds.
- What diagnostics will you run before deciding on a design, and what will they tell you? The choice between approaches follows from how the soil under the slab communicates, and that is measured rather than guessed. A design proposed before any diagnostic is a design based on what the house looks like from outside.
- Why this approach for my house rather than one of the others? A professional who can explain the choice has made one. The reasoning is also the thing you need if a second company proposes something different and you have to work out whether the difference is real.
- What verification test happens after the work, who pays for it, and what does it prove? A system that runs is not the same as a system that worked. The manometer confirms the fan is moving air; only a measurement in the room reports the concentration you actually live with.
- What exactly does the guarantee cover, for how long, and what voids it? Guarantees in this trade vary enormously — some promise a concentration, some promise the equipment, some promise labour. The word on its own tells you nothing until you know which.
- What certification or licence do you hold, and under what name is it issued? Requirements vary by state, and the name on a certificate is not always the name on the van. Asking for it is normal and nobody competent minds being asked.
- Where will the pipe run and where will it discharge? This is the part of the job you will look at every day, and it is also the part where guidance is specific about distance from openings. Discovering the route after installation is how disputes start.
- What will I need to do to keep this working, and what should I watch for? The system becomes yours the moment they leave. The maintenance is genuinely light, but only if you know what the manometer is telling you and how long a fan lasts.
Below that, ticking a situation adds the questions specific to it — a transaction deadline, a crawl space, an inherited system, two people telling you different things.
Build your list
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you tick is sent to us or to anyone else — this page has no server to send it to, and no field here asks who you are.
Your list — 7 questions
The baseline list, which applies to every job. Tick a situation above to add the questions specific to it.
What diagnostics will you run before deciding on a design, and what will they tell you?
Why ask it. The choice between approaches follows from how the soil under the slab communicates, and that is measured rather than guessed. A design proposed before any diagnostic is a design based on what the house looks like from outside.
A complete answer covers:
- A named procedure — a communication or pressure-field test — rather than "we will have a look".
- What the result would change: where the suction point goes, how many are needed, what fan is specified.
- What happens if the diagnostic comes back badly, and whether the proposal would change.
Worth noticing. A design and a fixed price offered before anybody has been under the house or drilled a test hole. Worth asking what the number rests on.
Why this approach for my house rather than one of the others?
Why ask it. A professional who can explain the choice has made one. The reasoning is also the thing you need if a second company proposes something different and you have to work out whether the difference is real.
A complete answer covers:
- Something specific to your building — the foundation type, the drain tile, the slab condition — rather than a general statement about the method.
- What the alternative would have been and why it was set aside.
- The conditions under which they would change their mind.
Worth noticing. A description of the method with nothing in it about your particular house. It may still be the right method; you have just not been told why.
What verification test happens after the work, who pays for it, and what does it prove?
Why ask it. A system that runs is not the same as a system that worked. The manometer confirms the fan is moving air; only a measurement in the room reports the concentration you actually live with.
A complete answer covers:
- A measurement after the work, with a stated waiting period before it starts.
- Who conducts it and who pays — included in the price, or an extra.
- What happens if the result is still above where you wanted it.
Worth noticing. Verification described as optional, or as something you can arrange yourself later. That is a real commercial choice, but it leaves the outcome unmeasured.
What exactly does the guarantee cover, for how long, and what voids it?
Why ask it. Guarantees in this trade vary enormously — some promise a concentration, some promise the equipment, some promise labour. The word on its own tells you nothing until you know which.
A complete answer covers:
- What is guaranteed: a level, the parts, the labour, or some combination.
- The duration for each, and whether it transfers if you sell.
- What voids it — usually alterations to the system or to the building.
Worth noticing. A guarantee stated as a period with no object. "Ten-year guarantee" answers the wrong half of the question.
What certification or licence do you hold, and under what name is it issued?
Why ask it. Requirements vary by state, and the name on a certificate is not always the name on the van. Asking for it is normal and nobody competent minds being asked.
A complete answer covers:
- The certifying or licensing body named, plus the number.
- The legal entity the credential is issued to.
- A willingness to have you check it with the issuing authority yourself.
Worth noticing. A general assurance of being certified without a body or a number. Often just shorthand from somebody who is asked this daily — the number is what lets you check.
Where will the pipe run and where will it discharge?
Why ask it. This is the part of the job you will look at every day, and it is also the part where guidance is specific about distance from openings. Discovering the route after installation is how disputes start.
A complete answer covers:
- The internal route, including which rooms or cupboards it passes through.
- The discharge point and how it relates to windows, doors, and the roof line.
- What the exterior will look like, and whether that is negotiable.
Worth noticing. A route described only as "up through the garage" or "out the side" with nothing about the discharge point.
What will I need to do to keep this working, and what should I watch for?
Why ask it. The system becomes yours the moment they leave. The maintenance is genuinely light, but only if you know what the manometer is telling you and how long a fan lasts.
A complete answer covers:
- How to read the manometer and what a change in it means.
- The expected service life of the fan and what failure looks like.
- When to measure again, and after what kinds of building work.
Worth noticing. Maintenance described as "nothing to do" with no mention of the manometer.
There is no score on this page, and there will not be one. We hold no performance observations on any business, so a rating would be a preference presented as a finding — and the person who heard the answers and saw the house is better placed to judge them than any rubric we could write.
What to do with an answer you did not like
Not much, immediately. A thin answer is a reason to ask a follow-up, not a verdict — a competent professional having a rushed day gives thin answers, and a confident talker gives thorough-sounding ones. What a weak answer does tell you is that you have not yet got the information you were after, which is a fact about your knowledge rather than about their competence.
If two professionals have told you different things, the reasons that legitimately happens are worth reading before you conclude that one of them is wrong. And if you want the underlying material rather than the questions, the approaches are described here, without any of them being recommended over another.
When you are ready to talk to somebody
Describe your situation and we will tell you honestly whether we can route it to a provider in your area today, or whether we cannot.