Who Can Legally Install a Radon System in Nebraska
September 1, 2026
In Nebraska, radon testing and radon mitigation are licensed activities regulated by the state Radon Program. A business that installs systems in Lincoln holds a mitigation license, reports its work to the state monthly, and can be looked up on a public list.
What the state regulates
The Nebraska Radon Program, inside the Department of Health and Human Services, licenses both radon measurement businesses and radon mitigation businesses. Measurement licenses cover testing; mitigation licenses cover system design and installation. Many companies hold both, some hold one, and a general contractor or handyman holds neither.
Licensed businesses are required to report their tests and installations to the state every month. That reporting is where the county averages come from, including Lancaster County's 3.6 pCi/L across 19,828 tests, and it is why an unlicensed install leaves no record anywhere.
How to check a license in two minutes
DHHS publishes the list of licensed mitigation businesses with each license number and expiration date. The current Lincoln entries include several long-established local firms and a few HVAC and inspection companies that added mitigation. The list is public and the number on a quote should match it.
The check matters because a radon mitigation installation done outside the license carries no state record, no reporting, and no accountability if the post-mitigation number does not drop. It also complicates a later home sale, when the buyer's agent asks for the installer's license number.
- Ask for the mitigation license number and confirm it against the DHHS list.
- Ask who performs the post-mitigation test and whether that business holds a measurement license.
- Ask where the fan will be mounted; the answer should never be a basement or living space.
- Ask for the diagnostic step: how the suction point count was decided for this slab.
What a licensed install includes that an unlicensed one skips
Licensed mitigators work to national standards that specify suction point placement, fan location outside living space, discharge height and distance from openings, system labeling and the manometer. They run a pressure-field diagnostic before drilling, seal the sump pit and major joints, and schedule the retest.
Unlicensed work tends to show up as a fan in the basement, a discharge under an eave next to a bedroom window, no gauge and no label. Those are the systems a licensed technician later corrects during a repair and retest visit.
The standards also require the system to be labeled with the installer's name, license number and install date at the fan and the manometer, so anyone servicing the house years later can see who built it and how it was meant to read.
The retest is part of the license, too
Nebraska requires the post-mitigation test to be performed by a licensed measurement business. The timing follows EPA guidance: at least 24 hours after the fan starts, within 30 days of install, under closed-house conditions. The result is reported to the state and belongs in the house file.
A quote that ends at installation and leaves the retest to the homeowner's kit has left out the step that proves the system works.
Why this matters more in Lincoln than in most places
Lancaster County is EPA Zone 1 and Nebraska is among the highest-radon states in the country. Mitigation here is a mainstream home service, which means the market has both experienced specialists and newcomers who added radon to a trade license they already held.
For anyone choosing among licensed radon contractors serving Lincoln, the license number, the fan location answer and the retest plan are the three questions that separate them, and all three take less time to ask than the drive to the house.
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Quick Answers
Can an electrician or HVAC company install a radon system in Nebraska?
Only if the business also holds a Nebraska radon mitigation license. Some Lincoln HVAC firms do. The trade license alone does not cover radon work, and the DHHS list is the way to confirm.
Is a national radon certification the same as a Nebraska license?
No. National certifications such as NRPP or NRSB are credentials the state may require or recognize for the individual, but the business itself must hold the Nebraska license and report to the state. Ask for both.
What if a system was installed years ago with no paperwork?
A licensed measurement business can test the house as it stands, and a licensed mitigator can inspect the system, correct any safety issues and label it. That produces the documentation the original install never did.