Start here
I need help with my home
Something is wrong and you do not know where to begin. Start with what is free: look at the building yourself, then decide whether you need someone in it.
For practitioners
I have a patient and a suspect building
You need environmental findings written to be read by someone with your training — conditions documented, not conclusions drawn about your patient.
For professionals
I want to work to this standard
Assessors, contractors and remediators who already hold credentials and have seen the gap between ordinary standards and what a sensitized occupant needs.
Free · No signup · Nothing sold
Three things you can do today
Before you hire anyone or spend anything. These are ours, they are free, and there is nothing to sign up for.
Walk your home with a checklist
Twenty minutes, room by room, thirty-one things to look for. In English and Spanish, and it prints. It tells you what to look for — not what it means for your health.
If water has already come in
What to do in the first forty-eight hours, what cannot be saved, and the point at which you should stop and hire someone — from an institute that sells no remediation.
If smoke is coming
How to set up one room, closed and filtered, before wildfire smoke arrives — and what changes when someone in the household is already sensitized.
If you have been told it is all in your head
A lot of people arrive here after a long series of appointments without an answer, and having started to doubt themselves. That experience is common enough that it is worth naming.
What we can tell you honestly: indoor environmental conditions are measurable, and whether they are present in your building is a question with an answer. Whether those conditions explain how you feel is a separate question, and it belongs to your healthcare provider. We will not answer it for you, and you should be careful of anyone who offers to.
What we can do is make sure the building is no longer the part nobody examined.
How this actually works
Four steps, and the last one is the important one.
HBIA characterizes the environment and stops there. Your provider decides what it means for you.
1
Somebody looks at the building
A credentialed professional evaluates moisture, HVAC condition, biological load, exposure pathways — the things that are actually measurable.
2
You get findings, not a sales quote
Conditions documented and written so a healthcare provider can use them. HBIA does not sell remediation, so nothing in the report exists to sell you work.
3
It goes to your care team
With your written permission, we will talk directly with your provider about how the conditions we found may bear on their assessment.
4
Your provider takes it from there
Connecting a building to a person's health is a medical judgment. It belongs to your licensed providers, and that boundary is the reason the information is worth anything.
The standard behind it
How the work is structured
HBIA sets the standard and confirms it was met. The work itself is performed by independent licensed contractors.
Part 01
Evaluate
Exposure pathways, biological contaminant load, moisture, HVAC condition and building science factors — assessed against what the occupant actually needs.
Part 02
Characterize
Sampling that goes past surface mold testing, so findings describe conditions rather than impressions.
Part 03
Specify
What the work must achieve for this occupant: objectives, containment, documentation, and the criteria the finished job is measured against. Including Level 4 requirements where the occupant is sensitized. The work is carried out by independent licensed contractors, not by HBIA.
Part 04
Verify
Objective confirmation that the completed work meets the standard set in the Specify step — measured, documented, and communicated to the occupant's healthcare team.
Our rules
What we will not do
This is a field with a lot of people willing to tell a frightened family whatever gets the job signed. So here is what a properly trained professional will refuse to promise you — and it is a rule we hold our own members to.
We will not say a space is safe
No building, vehicle or room gets described as safe, healthy, or suitable for a person with any named condition. We describe conditions found and work performed.
We will not predict how you will feel
Nobody here will tell you the work will improve, cure, or reduce a symptom. Anyone who does is telling you something they cannot know.
We will not sell you fear
Urgency gets communicated with facts. Our members do not use health threats to sell work, and do not quote a maximum scope to someone in a financial or housing crisis.
If you would like to read the whole framework — conduct rules, complaints process, how a credential can be withdrawn — it is published at Standards & Governance. Including the parts that constrain us.
2005
Institute founded
2012
Under current ownership
L4
Protocol standard
CIRS
Priority focus
Beyond mold
Beyond mold. It is a health issue.
Removing what you can see is rarely the whole job, and for a sensitized occupant it is often not enough. The whole picture matters: biotoxin load, mold fragments, endotoxins, actinobacteria, volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde — alongside the structural conditions that let them persist.
Wondering how testing works? Read Test Your Environment — what can be measured, what it cannot tell you, and what to ask before you hire anyone.
Mold & mycotoxins
Identification and health-relevant characterization of mold species and their byproducts.
Biotoxin illness & CIRS
A priority focus for the institute. We work the environmental side of a condition that remains actively debated, and we do not overstate what the evidence supports.
Complete contaminant assessment
VOCs, endotoxins, actinobacteria and formaldehyde evaluated as part of a whole-environment picture.
Who we are
Who we are, briefly
The Healthy Building Institute of America was incorporated in Ohio in 2005, when the connection between indoor environments and chronic illness was barely a conversation. The current owners came to HBIA as students, completed its programs, and took ownership in 2012 — the standards were not bought, they were learned here first.
HBIA trains professionals and sets standards. It does not perform remediation, does not sell products, and takes no referral fees. It shares ownership with two environmental service companies — both of which are inspection- and consultation-only and perform no remediation themselves — and says so on every page rather than implying a separation that does not yet exist.
Our own field records
HBIA keeps records of the environmental conditions found in the buildings it assesses. It informs protocol development and training. It is field data, not a clinical trial, and we do not describe it as one.
University-led studies
HBIA contributes indoor environmental field data to studies led by university investigators. HBIA is a contributing participant — design, analysis and publication remain with the sponsoring institutions.
Straight answers
Common questions
Does HBIA perform mold remediation?
No. HBIA sets standards and trains professionals. It does not perform remediation or construction, does not sell products, and takes no referral fees.
Can HBIA tell me whether my building is making me sick?
No. HBIA can help you find out what conditions are present in a building. Whether those conditions explain how you feel is a medical judgment that belongs to your healthcare provider.
Is HBIA certification a license?
No. HBIA is not a licensing authority and does not issue or replace any state license. Where a credential requires a professional license, HBIA verifies a license issued by someone else.
Is HBIA connected to AMOLDBUSTER and Apollo Environmental Solutions?
Yes. HBIA shares common ownership with both, and says so openly. HBIA training and certification do not require the use of any affiliated company, product, or brand.
Where should I start?
With what is free. Walk your home with the Healthy Building Checklist, then decide whether you need someone in the building. If you are unsure, call 1-800-781-7986.
Start with a question, not a commitment
Tell us what is happening and we will tell you honestly whether this is something we can help with — including when the answer is no.
Prefer to talk to someone? 1-800-781-7986
Training and certification. HBIA has certified indoor environmental professionals under its earlier program since 2005, and certifications issued under that program remain valid. The current HBIA certification program — a revised standard with an expanded review process — is in development. Until it launches, completing an HBIA training course results in a Letter of Course Completion, which confirms training only and is not a certification under the new program. Under that program as designed, a review board will evaluate the letter alongside verified credentials; completing a course will not guarantee certification.
What HBIA certification is and is not. HBIA certifies individuals and firms against its own published standards. HBIA is not a licensing authority and does not issue or replace any state license. Where a credential requires a professional license, HBIA verifies a license issued by someone else — it does not grant one. HBIA is not a 501(c)(3), and is not accredited by ANSI, ANAB, or NCCA.
Ownership disclosure. The Healthy Building Institute of America was incorporated in Ohio in 2005 and is currently a division of WeSpiritus, LLC. HBIA shares common ownership with AMOLDBUSTER and Apollo Environmental Solutions, which provide independent indoor environmental assessment and consultation services and perform no remediation. HBIA does not receive referral fees, and HBIA training and certification do not require the use of any affiliated company, product, or brand. HBIA is working toward establishing the institute as a separate legal entity.
Scope. HBIA characterizes indoor environments and sets standards for work performed by others. HBIA does not perform remediation or construction. HBIA is not a medical provider and does not diagnose, treat, or interpret health status. All health decisions remain with licensed healthcare professionals.
Educational content only. Information provided by HBIA is educational and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.
Page reviewed and updated October 9, 2026.
|
|
|
|
