To get your firm EPA Lead-Safe (RRP) certified, submit a firm certification application and the $300 government fee to the EPA through its Central Data Exchange (CDX) at cdx.epa.gov. The application asks only for your firm's legal name, address, contact details, and Employer Identification Number (EIN). There is no class or exam for the firm application, and no Social Security number is required if you have an EIN. The EPA emails your certificate in about one to two weeks, and it stays valid for five years in EPA-administered states.
One distinction trips up most contractors: the firm certification (your company credential) is separate from the individual Certified Renovator credential. The EPA firm application does not ask you to name a renovator, but to legally perform regulated work your firm must assign a Certified Renovator to direct each job. You can file the firm application now and have someone complete the 8-hour renovator course at the same time.
If you would rather skip the CDX account setup and the paperwork, LeadSafeFiling.com prepares and files the whole application for you as your authorized agent. You provide your firm details once, we file it, and we deliver your certificate. Pricing is a $129 service fee plus the $300 government fee, which is $429 all in for EPA-administered states, with the government portion never marked up.
Before you file anything, confirm the rule applies to your work. The RRP Rule, part of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, covers any firm paid to perform renovation, repair, or painting that disturbs paint in housing or child-occupied facilities built before 1978. If you work in older homes and disturb painted surfaces for pay, you almost certainly need to be certified.
The trigger is how much painted surface you disturb. The thresholds are more than 6 square feet of interior paint per room, more than 20 square feet of exterior paint, or any window replacement or demolition of painted surfaces. Six square feet is about the size of a single interior door, so most real jobs cross it. The rule also covers advertising for the work, not just doing it, so your firm must be certified before it bids or markets itself for regulated renovation work.
The firm certification application is short, but a complete and accurate first submission is what keeps your processing time to a week or two instead of dragging out. Pull the details below together before you start so you are not hunting for them mid-application.
Note what is not on the list. There is no Social Security number field, no individual license number, and no certified renovator line on the firm application itself. The firm application certifies the company. The renovator requirement, covered in Step 4, is a jobsite rule you satisfy on site, not a box on this form.
EPA firm applications are filed online through the Central Data Exchange (CDX) at cdx.epa.gov. If you have never used CDX, you first register an account, verify your identity, and add the lead program to your profile before you can start the firm application. This setup is the part most contractors find tedious, because CDX is a general government portal that handles dozens of unrelated EPA programs.
Once your account is ready, complete the firm certification application, enter the details from Step 2, and pay the $300 fee online. You can check your application status inside your CDX account at any time. When the EPA approves it, the certificate and a personalized Lead-Safe Certified Firm logo are emailed to you (typically from lead.paint@epa.gov) and also delivered to your CDX inbox, so check there if you do not see the email.
Firm certification makes it legal for your company to take regulated work. It does not, by itself, let you perform that work. To do the job, your firm must assign a Certified Renovator to direct it, and that person makes sure other workers on site follow lead-safe work practices such as containment, cleaning, and cleaning verification.
A Certified Renovator is an individual who completes an accredited 8-hour (one-day) RRP course from an EPA-accredited training provider. This credential is separate from your firm certification, and it is the single most common point of confusion. Because the firm application does not require you to name a renovator, you can file the firm certification today and have an employee take the course at the same time. Just make sure a Certified Renovator is in place before your firm performs regulated work.
The EPA is required by law to process firm certification applications within 90 days, but in practice it is much faster. A complete, accurate application is typically issued in about one to two weeks. The single biggest cause of delay is an incomplete or inaccurate submission that the EPA has to send back to you.
To keep your timeline short, confirm that your firm's legal name and EIN match your registration exactly, that your contact email is correct (that is where the certificate goes), and that your payment clears on the first attempt. The 90-day window is a legal maximum, not a typical wait, so a clean application rarely comes close to it.
If you would rather not set up a CDX account, learn a government portal, and shepherd the paperwork, LeadSafeFiling.com files the entire firm certification for you as your authorized agent. You give us your firm's details once, sign a short authorization, and we prepare and submit the application, pay the government fee on your behalf, and track it to issuance. When the certificate is issued, we email it to you with your Lead-Safe Certified Firm logo, ready for bids, permits, and customers.
We never ask for a Social Security number. Pricing is itemized: a $129 service fee plus the $300 government fee, which is $429 all in for EPA-administered states, with the government portion never marked up. We also file four state-run programs directly (North Carolina, Wisconsin, Delaware, and Washington), each with its own fee and validity period. Select your state to see your exact certificate, fee, and any renovator requirement, then start your filing at LeadSafeFiling.com.
Submit a firm certification application and the $300 fee to the EPA through its CDX system at cdx.epa.gov. The application asks for your firm's legal name, address, contact details, and EIN. Once you submit a complete application, the EPA emails your certificate in about one to two weeks. You can also have LeadSafeFiling.com file it for you for a $129 service fee plus the $300 government fee.
Your firm's legal name (and any DBA), business address, a primary contact name with phone and email, your EIN, and a payment method for the $300 fee. No Social Security number is required if you have an EIN, and the firm application does not ask for an individual certified renovator's license.
The EPA must process applications within 90 days by law, but a complete, accurate application is typically issued in about one to two weeks. Incomplete or inaccurate submissions are the main cause of delay, so matching your firm's legal name and EIN exactly and confirming your contact email keeps the timeline short.
No, not to file the firm certification itself. The EPA firm application does not ask you to name a Certified Renovator. Your firm must assign a Certified Renovator to direct each regulated job before it performs the work, so most firms file the firm certification and complete the 8-hour renovator course at the same time.
No. Firm certification is a credential issued to your company that you file with the EPA, with no class or exam. The Certified Renovator credential is earned by an individual who completes an accredited 8-hour course. You generally need both: the firm certification to take the work, and a certified renovator to direct it on site.
The EPA government fee for firm certification is $300, paid directly through CDX. If you use LeadSafeFiling.com to prepare and file it for you, the total is $429 for EPA-administered states ($129 service fee plus the $300 government fee), with the government portion never marked up.
Firm certification is valid for five years in EPA-administered states, after which you recertify to keep it active. State-run programs run on their own schedule, such as North Carolina (annual) and Wisconsin (four years), so confirm the validity period for your state.
Yes. LeadSafeFiling.com prepares and submits your firm certification as your authorized agent, so you never set up a CDX account or learn the government portal. You provide your firm details once and sign a short authorization, and we file it, pay the government fee, track it to issuance, and email you the certificate and Lead-Safe Certified Firm logo.
To file the EPA firm application yourself, yes. All EPA-administered firm certifications go through CDX at cdx.epa.gov. If you would rather not register for a CDX account, a filing service can submit the application on your behalf as your authorized agent, so no government login is needed on your end.
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