How Long Asbestos Lab Results Take And What Controls The Timeline

Permitting just hit you with a question that can stall the whole job: “Where’s the asbestos test?” We walk through what the asbestos testing timeline really looks like, from sampling on-site to lab analysis, so you can plan a remodel or repair without guessing. The big reveal is that lab results can be incredibly fast, even same-day, but the schedule often hinges on how long it takes to collect the right number of samples across the areas you’re disturbing.

We talk through real commercial scenarios across Texas including retail tenant finish-outs, multi-building clients, airports, and school districts, where surveys can jump from a handful of samples to hundreds. Shelly explains why timing and cost change with scope, how expedited asbestos testing works, and why rush turnaround costs more when a lab has to stop everything to prioritize your project. We also cover the practical realities of scheduling crews across Dallas, Houston, and Austin, plus how urgent health-risk situations like damaged materials or water losses can take priority.

If you own or manage a commercial building, the compliance details matter. We break down the Texas requirement to test before demolition, remodeling, or repair, why many contractors still miss it, and how liability often lands on the building owner. You’ll also learn the basics of regulated sampling, the “three, five, seven” rule tied to square footage, how homogeneous areas are defined, and what a good asbestos report should clearly show so plumbers, electricians, and remediation teams don’t get blindsided later. If this helped, subscribe, share with someone planning a renovation, and leave a review with your biggest asbestos testing question.

To learn more about DCG Environmental visit:
https://www.DCGEnvironmental.com
DCG Environmental 
Serving Property Owners in Dallas, Houston, and Austin 
972-876-0008 

Transcript

Welcome And Show Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Environmental Testing Show. Because what you can't eat is how to fetch your health. Hosted by Shelly Hobbes, CEO of DCG Environmental, each episode explores the hidden environmental hazards that impact homes and commercial spaces. From molding asbestos to other unfairs. Serving property owners throughout Dallas, Houston, and Austin, DCG Environmental believes finding the problem is the first step to making everyone safe.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

When asbestos is suspected, timing matters. Knowing how long results take can help homeowners and contractors plan safely. Welcome everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer in the studio with Shelly Hines, the CEO of DCG Environmental. Shelly, thank you so much for joining us again. We're looking forward to more of your expertise.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Thanks

How Fast Lab Results Come Back

SPEAKER_02 1:04

for having me. I love talking about asbestos.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah, well, we got another big question for you. How long does it take to get the asbestos test results? And you know, how long does it typically take for a lab to process it?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

You can actually get asbestos test results the same day. It takes 20, 30 minutes to read a slide. It takes a few minutes to prep it. Um, but the timing, the the big time takes collecting the samples. The bigger the project, the more, the longer it takes to collect. Um, you know, some jobs we do are three or four samples, and then some jobs are four and five hundred samples. Um I think the most we've ever collected is eight hundred and thirty two samples. So it depends on the project, the size of the building, um, and whether it's the entire building or just a part of the building. Sometimes they don't do the whole building. They might um be renovating uh just a certain section. So they'll, you know, we'll only test where they're gonna affect it, or sometimes we do the entire building because they have lots of future plans and they want to know right now where things are so that they can plan for it or around it. Just because we find it doesn't mean they have to take it out, but they do need to be aware that it's there so that they don't disturb it.

Big Commercial Clients And Project Scale

SPEAKER_01 2:17

And when we look at sm commercial spaces, what's one of the largest buildings that you've covered? Or series of buildings?

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Oh, well, series of buildings. I mean, we have we have big clients that have multiple buildings. Um we've done airports before, we've done school districts, you know, schools have multiple schools all over the district. Um big aerospace clients that have multiple buildings as clients. So that's you know, this year we're gonna renovate this building, so we go out and do that one. Next year we're gonna renovate that building. So um lots of long-term clients. We've have we've had clients since the beginning, we're about to celebrate our 10th anniversary tomorrow, April 2nd. Um, and then uh we've had clients since we started that have just stayed with us throughout the years. So it's it's it there's long-term clients, and then there's clients that we've only serviced one time and then they're gone. They they bought a building and they moved in and now they're done, and they're not they're not buying another building for you know until they outgrow the space, things like that. So we have a lot of long-term clients and a lot of single clients.

Texas Testing Rules And Owner Liability

SPEAKER_01 3:27

And in the last uh, oh I'm sorry, in the last episode, you touched on um that there, you know, there's a lot of requirements, of course, for commercial spaces. How often do they have to test and and I mean what's the difference? It depends what kind of services they offer or products they make.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Um it doesn't depend on anything they make or do, it depends on the building itself. Um in Texas, state law is that if it is a commercial building, anytime you demo, remodel, or repair, you have to have an asbestos test. So it could be multiple times over the years. We do a lot of uh tenant finish outs like retail spaces. So let's say a subway moves in in the corner of a strip mall and they are successful for five or six years, they're great, and then all of a sudden they decide to move because they've grown so much they need a bigger space. Well, now we have to do an asbestos test before the next guy comes in and renovates that space to make it their own. Maybe now they're gonna be a T-Mobile shop and they don't need hard floors, they want some wood, or they, you know, whatever they change it to. So every time it's going to change, it has to have an asbestos test, no matter when it was built. In Texas. Every state has different rules and laws about asbestos, it's not universal across the United States, and so that makes it a little challenging when we work outside of Texas because we have to know the regs and rules in every state that we're in. It also requires different licensings. Some states will reciprocate, meaning that, like if I have a license in Texas, Oklahoma is one that reciprocates. So I show them my Texas license, they give me an Oklahoma license. Other states require us to go through all the training to get that license for their state. But every building, commercial building before you demo, remodel, or repair, has to have an asbestos test. And a lot of people don't know that. A lot of construction people don't know that. And they can actually get fined for not knowing that. And ultimately, the responsibility is on the building owner, not the construction company. So building owners need to be aware that they are responsible for the materials in their building. And so if a construction guy comes in and starts doing some renovation and doesn't have it tested for asbestos first, the liability actually goes to the building owner. Um, now we're doing a lot of education with construction um owners here in Texas on, hey, this is a requirement by the state, and they too can be fined for not knowing the regs and the rules. So it doesn't only go just to the owner. Everybody has a play in knowing what the regs and the rules are. And so just it's a lot of education, it's a lot of um know about it, don't be afraid of it. You just gotta know where it is and then know how to manage it if it is there, or know it get it removed. So you can leave it in place. It's a great building material, fireproof, weatherproof, um, heat resistant, so or heat proof. It's a great, it's a great building material that binds things together, makes them last longer, stick and um uphold longer, in my opinion. And so it's just dangerous when you can breathe it. So they have to always know where it's at.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And then when do you get the request or you have to put it in for an expedited test? And you know, how often do you see that?

Expedited Testing Costs And Scheduling

SPEAKER_02 6:40

A lot. Everything we do holds everybody up, right? And if they if they don't know about it and then they find out about it, usually when they go to permitting, uh, the permitting office will say, hey, where's your asbestos test? They're like, Well, what's that? I didn't know I had to have that. And so now they're on the clock because they're trying to get this project moving along. And so DCG is really good at being fast, and that's what we're known for. So we're usually on site within 24 to 48 hours. If you call me today, I'm usually there tomorrow or the next day. Um, bigger projects obviously take a little bit longer to plan if it's you know an entire set of buildings that might take a week to do or two weeks to do. Depends on how big and how much, but for the most part, we're we're on site within two days and then uh can get results the same day or within 24 hours. I've done, I've done a 325, 300 and must have been 324 sample survey, and they wanted results the next day. Can be done. Um, more expensive, obviously, the faster you want results, the more the lab charges because they've got to stop what they're doing to read those right away. Um, but it can be done. And so that's it's it can be a quick process, or it can, you know, if you want to save money, if you have time, if you're planning, you can wait a week to get your results. The price and the cost is less because the lab has more time to process. We have more time to process. Everybody's not in a rush. But usually everybody wants everything right now because we're the holdup. We have to have this done before you can get started.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

And you mentioned sometimes it could be like several hundred samples or or even more. So, what how does that work? Like when you come in, how do you assess what you might need to be taking for samples and you know how many people do you need on the ground?

Sample Count Rules And What Gets Tested

SPEAKER_02 8:22

That's a good question. Um, everything in asbestos is regulated, so we have rules and laws we have to follow based on number of samples. And so uh Texas requires um three samples per homogeneous area per um three thousandth. Well, there's let me back that up. Texas has requirements based on um square footage. So we call it the three, five, seven rule. So if it's three thousand square feet or less, we have to take three samples of each homogeneous area. If it's five thousand or less, five thousand to three thousand, it's five samples, and then seven thousand or more, it's seven samples. So we we have regs that we have to follow, and it's random. So if I'm in an entire building, let's say there's four suites, um, if they were all built at the same time, a homogeneous area considers the material is the same, it was built the same time, it's the same color, same type of material. So I like to think of um strip malls, right? If you not all four suites are ever going to be the same because different tenants move in and out, they change things, they might add texture to the wall. Your corporate buildings usually are pretty much the same, even though they have different tenants in and out, the walls usually stay the same, the flooring might change. So we just have to identify what types of materials could possibly have asbestos in them, and that's everything but glass, fiberglass, metal, and wood. So anything other than that we have to test. And then we go by that 357 rule based on how much of that material is there. So we could have four different types of walls based off of the texture on the wall. My office has three different walls in it. I have manufactured walls, I have drywall walls, and then I have a different texture on some of those walls. So it's it's really interesting. You get to see a lot of materials and a lot of um decoration, if you will, or like different um you learn a lot. You learn a lot about texture and drywall and the materials that build a building, and because we have to take them apart.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Is there any priority given to commercial spaces that have more samples rather than homes? Or is it uh like how how do they how do you process everything, or you just take it by what who needs to get done first, whatever they you know, whatever that holdup might be?

Priorities For High Risk Situations

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Um because we're on site within 24 to 48 hours, it's when you call, you get scheduled. Um, I have 16 team members. Uh, we're in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. And so um, you know, as we grow, or if we get more clients, or that that group of people can't handle that area, then we get another person or higher. I've um sometimes we get busier in Houston. Then Dallas, I'll send somebody from Dallas down to Houston, and vice versa. If we're swamped in Dallas, we can pull people from Houston or Austin. Um, we've been pretty good at maintaining that 24 to 48 hours. A lot of my competitors or weeks, you know, I can get there next week, I can get there next week. So we've really been great in the market as far as fast. Um, but there's no importance would go by is it a health risk? You know, is something already damaged? Is it on the floor? Is it in the air? Is it on the ground? Um is somebody, you know, gonna be affected by it because it's already been disturbed or damaged, that would take priority. Um, we've had you know fire fire buildings, usually they'll close those up, do the fire investigation, and then we'll go do asbestos testing before they start cleaning it up. But usually um broken pipes, water losses, those are uh those are a priority because they've got to get in and get it fixed before it all turns moldy. So those take a priority as well.

Reading Reports And Sharing Results Safely

SPEAKER_01 12:02

And a last question for you about what information is included in an asbestos report that people should pay attention to.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

That's a good question. Um of course we document all the regs and rules that we're following. We give the licensed person that did the testing. Uh, we have to have a consultant review and sign off on the report, and then inside the report, you're gonna have lab data, which is confusing. Most people don't know how to read that. So we create a chart in our reports that tell you here's what's positive, here's where it's at, here's how much is there. Um, the reports are also designed for the remediation contractor to be able to read and know where asbestos is. So that document has to be able to be like not just for our knowledge, but for the building owner's knowledge and for anybody that's going to come into his building. So let's say we know there's asbestos there, but we're not gonna remove it. But we have contractors that come in and work on the building. Well, I have to let that contractor know that there's asbestos in this building. So if there's asbestos in the walls and you're a plumber and you need to find a leak in the wall, you have to know that that wall has asbestos in it because when you cut it, you could become affected. So um, where it's at, how much is there, very important for anybody that's going to be doing work on a building. And and then sometimes we also do um, we'll go in and talk to the tenants or the um building occupants. Schools have that's a whole nother podcast. We can talk about schools, they have another whole set of rules. But just uh awareness is a big key to um keeping safe and keeping it uh in good condition so that nobody gets affected.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Okay, well, Shelley, thank you again for breaking everything down so clearly for us. We really appreciate your insight.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Yep, no problem.

Closing And How To Book

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Thanks for listening to the Environmental Testing Show. If you're concerned about mold, asbestos, or other environmental hazards, peace of mind starts with proper testing. Call 972-876-0008 or visit dcenvironmental.com to schedule a convenient appointment. Because when it comes to your environment, yes, it's the safety plan.