An EPA Lead-Safe certified contractor is one the federal government has trained and certified to disturb painted surfaces in homes built before 1978 without spreading lead dust through the house. VixFix is a lead safe certified firm, and owner Justin Vickery is a direct EPA Lead-Safe certified renovator, which is why interior painting, drywall, and repair work in older New Hampshire homes can be done here legally and cleanly. If your home predates 1978, this is the single credential worth checking before you hire anyone. Here is what it actually covers.
What the Certification Actually Is
The certification comes from the EPA's Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule, usually shortened to RRP. It is not a general contractor license and it is not a paint industry badge. It is a federal requirement with two parts: the company doing the work has to be an EPA-certified firm, and at least one person on the job has to be a trained certified renovator responsible for the lead-safe work practices. VixFix holds both. Justin took the training, holds the renovator credential, and is the one on site running the job, which matters because a certification held by an office that never visits your house does nothing for the room being sanded.
Certification is also not permanent. It has to be renewed on a set cycle rather than earned once and kept forever, so a contractor waving a certificate from a decade ago is not necessarily current. That is a fair thing to ask about, and any certified contractor will expect the question.
Why 1978 Is the Dividing Line
Lead-based paint was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978. Anything built before that year may have lead paint somewhere in it, usually buried under decades of newer coats where nobody thinks about it. Intact paint on a wall is generally not the hazard. The hazard is dust. Scraping, sanding, cutting, and demolition turn old paint into fine particles that settle into carpet, heating vents, and window wells, and lead dust is a serious health concern for young children and pregnant women in particular. That is the whole reason the rule exists: not to slow work down, but to keep the dust contained and then remove it.
Why This Comes Up Constantly in New Hampshire
New Hampshire has a lot of old housing. Mill-era multifamilies and Victorians in the cities, farmhouses out in the towns, postwar capes and ranches filling in everywhere between. Drive through the older neighborhoods of Manchester, Nashua, Concord, or Derry and a large share of what you see went up well before 1978. That means the rule is not an edge case here. It applies to a huge number of ordinary jobs: repainting a hallway, patching a plaster ceiling, replacing trim, fixing a water-stained wall.
It also means plenty of contractors work around it. An uncertified painter can still put a roller on a wall, but the moment prep work disturbs old paint on a pre-1978 home, that job is outside what they can legally do. The penalties and liability land on the contractor and can reach the homeowner too. Our Manchester interior painting guide covers how this plays out in one of the state's oldest housing markets.
What Work the Rule Covers
The RRP rule applies to paid renovation, repair, and painting work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. Inside the home, the trigger is disturbing more than six square feet of painted surface in a room. In practice, that captures most of what a home improvement contractor does in an older house:
- Painting prep, which is where it bites most often. Scraping flaking paint off trim, sanding around windows, and feathering out patched areas all generate dust from old coats.
- Drywall and plaster work, including cutting out damaged sections, patching, and sanding joint compound against painted walls. Our drywall repair page covers the process, and the patch or replace guide gets into when a section has to come out entirely.
- Window, door, and trim work, where old painted wood gets pulled, cut, or reworked. Windows are a classic lead dust source because the sashes grind against each other every time they open.
- Water damage repair and demolition, where painted material is removed rather than repaired.
Small jobs under the threshold, work on homes built in 1978 or later, and homeowners doing their own work in their own home fall outside the requirement. That last one surprises people: the rule governs paid contractors, not you and your own sander. It does not make the dust any safer, but it is not a violation.
What Lead-Safe Work Looks Like on Site
The practical difference shows up before any tool comes out. The work area gets contained with plastic sheeting so dust stays in one room instead of traveling through the house. Furniture is moved or covered, and vents in the work area get sealed off. Dust-generating methods that are known to be worst are avoided, and cleanup is done with a HEPA vacuum rather than a shop vac that blows fine particles right back into the air. Debris is bagged and disposed of properly instead of swept into a pile and hauled through the living room.
It adds setup and cleanup time to a job. That is honestly the entire cost of doing it right, and it is the reason some contractors skip it. The alternative is leaving lead dust in a house where kids crawl on the floor, which is not a trade worth making to save an hour of masking.
What It Means for You as the Homeowner
Before work begins on a pre-1978 home, the rule requires that you receive the EPA's Renovate Right pamphlet, which explains lead hazards and what safe work looks like. You should get it, and you should get documentation of the certification if you ask. A certified contractor keeps records of the work practices used on the job, which is worth having if you ever sell the house or a question comes up later.
Practically, hiring certified means one less thing that can go sideways. The work is legal, the containment is real, and the house you get back is the house you had, minus the problem you called about. For the fuller picture of how VixFix is set up, insurance, licensed specialists for plumbing and electrical, and how projects run, see the about page and the FAQ.
How to Verify a Contractor's Certification
Ask three questions. Is the firm EPA certified, is the person running the job a certified renovator, and can I see the Renovate Right pamphlet. A contractor who holds the credential will answer all three without getting defensive, because it is a selling point, not a burden. A contractor who deflects on a pre-1978 home is telling you something. It costs nothing to ask, and on an older New Hampshire house it is the highest-value question you can put to a bidder.
Lead-Safe Certification Questions, Answered
Is VixFix an EPA Lead-Safe certified contractor?
Yes. VixFix is a lead safe certified firm and Justin Vickery is a direct EPA Lead-Safe certified renovator, trained to work safely on pre-1978 homes across New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. VixFix is also fully insured, with certificates available on request before work begins.
What work requires a certified contractor?
Paid work that disturbs more than six square feet of painted surface inside a pre-1978 home, which covers most painting prep, drywall and plaster repair, trim and window work, and demolition around painted surfaces.
Why does the 1978 date matter?
Lead-based paint was banned for residential use in 1978, so anything built before then may still have it under later coats. Much of New Hampshire's housing predates that line.
How do I check a contractor is certified?
Ask for the firm's EPA certification, the certified renovator's credential, and the Renovate Right pamphlet the rule requires you to receive before work starts.
Working on a pre-1978 New Hampshire home? Call 603-202-5309 or use the estimate form for a free, written quote from a certified contractor.