Contaminated properties are underpriced relative to what remediation actually costs. That gap is your margin — as long as you know the real number before you bid, not after.
The market prices meth contamination off headline numbers: $15,000–$20,000 average, horror stories past $100,000. Sellers, wholesalers and competing buyers all discount from that anchor.
Meanwhile the actual cost on a typical 1,400 sq ft use-contaminated Colorado house — through us, with HVAC and third-party clearance included — is around $5,950 all in. Step that up to moderate contamination and it is closer to $10,200. Either way the spread between market fear and real cost is where flippers make money on these deals.
The catch: that only works if you have a reliable number before you commit. Which is why our screens start at $225 and our estimates are free and same-day.
Renovating first. We have watched investors put $40,000 of finishes into a house, list it, get a buyer who tests, and then have to demo brand-new drywall and carpet. Decontaminate, clear, certify, then renovate. It is not close.
If you're running multiple properties a year, we price accordingly. Repeat-volume investors get standing discounted rates below our published card, priority scheduling, batched testing on multiple properties in a single trip, and net terms. Talk to us about your deal flow and we'll structure it.
Auction and foreclosure inventory carries the highest undisclosed-contamination rate we see, for obvious reasons — no seller disclosure, no inspection access, unknown tenancy history. If you buy that channel, build composite screens into your standard process on every rental-history acquisition. The one time it comes back positive pays for years of screens.
Most residential meth decontamination we take runs $2,450 to $16,200 depending on square footage, contamination level and how much porous material has to come out. A typical 1,500 sq ft home with moderate use contamination lands around $8,550 for base decon; the same house as a former manufacturing site is closer to $16,200, and a large heavy property runs to roughly $28,800.
The Colorado market average for the same work is roughly $15,000–$20,000, and severe cases elsewhere have been quoted past $100,000. We are meaningfully under that — but we are not going to pretend a former lab cleans up for pocket change.
We publish real numbers on our pricing page and run an instant estimator, because the single most common complaint we hear about this industry is that nobody will tell you a price until they are standing in your living room.
Usually not. Most Colorado homeowners policies exclude contamination from illegal drug activity, and many specifically name methamphetamine. Landlord and dwelling-fire policies sometimes include limited vandalism or malicious-mischief coverage that can apply to tenant-caused damage — it is worth filing and finding out.
We provide itemized, insurer-formatted documentation with every job at no extra charge, so if there is a claim to be made you have what you need to make it.
We beat competitor bids daily. Send us any quote you have already received and we will read it line by line, tell you honestly whether the scope is fair, and show you where we come out. A lot of the bids we review are padded — and a few are genuinely underscoped, skipping HVAC or clearance testing so the headline number looks lower than the job actually is. We will point that out either way.
What we will not do is quote you a number over the phone and then change it later. See the next question.
Colorado regulation 6 CCR 1014-3 sets the residential methamphetamine cleanup standard at 0.5 µg per 100 cm² of surface area. Limited-exposure areas such as attics and crawlspaces are allowed up to 4 µg/100 cm², and painted-over surfaces up to 1.5 µg/100 cm². Properties where the P2P manufacturing method was used also carry lead, mercury and iodine thresholds.
A property is not legally "clean" because it looks clean. It is clean when a certified consultant's post-decon samples come back under standard and the certification paperwork is issued.
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Learn moreFree estimate, a written itemized number, and a firm price confirmed once we have reviewed your lab report and walked the property in person. We beat competitor bids daily.