How Much Does a Lead Paint Inspection Cost in 2025?

Lead Paint Inspection Cost Factors

There are quite a few cost factors to consider when setting a budget for lead paint inspection, such as the size of the home, your location, the overall condition of the home, labor, additional testing costs, and more.

Home Size

Larger homes take more time to fully inspect for lead paint, leading to increased costs. If you live in a particularly large home, you could pay upwards of $1,600 for the inspection alone.

Location

Lead paint inspection costs tend to vary by region, with areas with higher living costs having higher inspection prices.

Home Condition

The age and overall condition of your home are other major cost factors. Older homes usually have many layers of paint, each of which may or may not contain lead. It takes more time for your local lead paint inspector to thoroughly check each paint layer, leading to increased costs. They may even have to use specialized equipment, which will drive costs up as well.

Interior vs. Exterior

While the hourly lead paint inspection rates are the same for interiors and exteriors, it usually takes more time to inspect interiors due to the various types of surfaces present, such as doors, walls, windows, trim, wainscotting, crown molding, and so on. If needed, the cost to paint the home interior after lead paint removal ranges from $950 to $3,050.

Exterior lead inspection includes an extra step: Soil inspection. This is to check if flaking lead paint from the home’s exterior walls has contaminated the surrounding soil. This extra test will add $25 to $200 to your final costs. If needed, the cost to paint the home exterior after lead paint testing ranges from $1,800 to $4,550.

Labor

Since lead paint inspections require minimal materials, you’ll mainly be paying for labor or how long the inspector needs to completely check your home. Lead paint inspectors don’t typically charge by the hour and will instead provide a quote for the entire job. You can expect to pay more for larger homes or in areas with a higher cost of living.

Pros usually test for lead using a special X-ray machine, which measures how much lead is in old paint. They do so by aiming high-energy beams at different painted surfaces and then letting the machine analyze the presence of lead, which measures the amount of lead per square centimeter. Some pros also use paint chip sampling to test for lead. They test paint samples removed from the home with a special machine in the lab. This sort of test reports the percentage by sample weight.

Additional Testing Costs

It’s common to bundle testing services together to check for the presence of hazardous materials besides lead. These often include testing for mold and asbestos, among other contaminants. Mold testing costs $670 on average, while asbestos testing costs between $250 and $750.

Repairs and Removal

If lead is discovered, you’ll need to take action to make the home safe to live in. Usually, you’ll have the choice of either removal or abatement. Lead paint removal costs vary widely depending on the type and size of the surface but will usually range between $8 and $17 per square foot. You’ll also need to pay additional drywall repair costs after the hazardous materials have been removed.

The other option is abatement, which safely encapsulates the lead paint rather than removing it altogether. This is a less expensive option—though you’ll still need to consider the cost to hire a painter who can safely encapsulate lead paint. On average, lead paint abatement costs $4 to $8 per square foot.

Home Lead Risk Assessment Cost

Risk assessments range between $500 and $1,500. A risk assessment is different from a simple inspection. Lead paint assessors investigate the source and severity of the problem. Then, they create a strategy of appropriate solutions for your safety and budget. Typically, a lead risk assessment only occurs after someone has been harmed by lead.

Assessments and inspections differ in several ways:

• Assessments usually occur after you’ve found lead poisoning in children. It’s a lengthy and specialized process, as assessors research the source and recommend the best abatement strategies for each home.

• Inspections occur mostly before real estate transactions. These differ because inspectors only tell you if the problem exists and where.

Lead Paint Abatement

Lead paint abatement removes the danger of lead from your home and makes it safe to live there, while mitigation simply minimizes your exposure while still leaving the lead paint in the home. Lead paint abatement costs around $10,000 and ranges between $3,000 and $17,000.

Mitigation 

• Reduces exposure by sealing old paint in affected areas with new paint, siding, or drywall

• Homeowners mostly mitigate

• Costs from $6 to $13 per square foot.

Elimination

• Pros strip and dispose of paint and remove and replace affected walls, windows, doors, and soil

• Sometimes, subsidized housing property managers by the government 

• Costs between $10 to $17 per square foot.

Removal and abatement pros must comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved procedures, adding about $36 to $380 per project. This is the only way companies may legally remove the substance from your home.

Budgeting for a Lead Paint Inspection

Lead paint inspections are essential to keep you and your family safe, but they can still present a significant expense. Here are a few ways to budget for a lead paint inspection:

• Check what year your house was built—if it was constructed after 1978 (when the US government outlawed lead paint), it almost certainly doesn’t have lead paint, meaning a test isn’t necessary.

• Bundle your lead paint inspection with other assessments, such as general home inspections, HVAC inspections, plumbing inspections, or roof inspections to save money.

• If your inspection discovers lead paint, consider encapsulating or enclosing it rather than removing it—this is usually just as safe and comes at a much lower cost.

• Clear the home of as much debris and clutter as possible to ensure it’s accessible for your lead paint inspector, reducing labor hours.

How HomeAdvisor Gets Its Cost Data

No place is more important than your home, which is why HomeAdvisor connects homeowners with local pros to transform their houses into homes they love. To help homeowners prepare for their next project, HomeAdvisor provides readers with accurate cost data and follows strict editorial guidelines. After a project is complete, we survey real customers about the costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We pair this data with research from reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects.