Lead Paint Inspections in Mercer County

Trenton's row home blocks, Hamilton and Ewing rentals, Princeton student housing. Our lead-safe inspections in Mercer County are $125 to $150 per unit, lab included.

Request My Inspection Call 856-885-2241

Why Mercer County

Trenton row homes are exactly what this law was written for

19,900renter households in Trenton

38%of Trenton's homes built before 1940

1 of 12towns on the dust wipe list

Trenton's rental stock is block after block of row homes built in the early 1900s. If you own or manage rentals there, NJ's lead-safe certification law is not an edge case for you. It covers almost every unit.

Hamilton, Ewing and Lawrence add postwar rentals, and Princeton brings student housing. Every tenant turnover requires a valid certificate for that unit. Certificates are valid for two years, so a student rental that changes tenants every summer needs a new inspection every other turnover.

Visual or dust wipe

Trenton is Mercer County's only dust wipe town

NJ DCA's 2025-26 list puts Trenton on dust wipe sampling and every other Mercer municipality on visual. Trenton also has the most renters in the county by a wide margin, so a large share of Mercer's covered units need lab-tested dust wipes.

Town	Method	Renter households	Built before 1980
Trenton	Dust wipe	19,900	79%
Hamilton	Visual	10,442	75%
East Windsor	Visual	4,645	60%
Ewing	Visual	4,629	72%
Princeton	Visual	4,151	64%
West Windsor	Visual	4,023	23%
Robbinsville	Visual	1,196	19%

Sources: NJ DCA 2025-26 Lead-Based Paint Inspection Methodology list; N.J.A.C. 5:28A (inspection cycle, tenant turnover and exemptions); U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

Hamilton and the east side

Hamilton is covered. West Windsor mostly isn't.

Hamilton is Mercer's second-biggest rental market, 10,442 renter households, and 75% of its housing predates 1980. It's a visual inspection town.

West Windsor (23% pre-1980) and Robbinsville (19%) are the opposite. Most of their housing is newer than the 1978 cutoff, so most rentals there are exempt. On a mixed Mercer portfolio, check each building's year built first.

Coverage

Where we inspect in Mercer County

Trenton, Hamilton, Ewing, Lawrence, Princeton, West Windsor, East Windsor, Hightstown, Hopewell, Pennington and Robbinsville. $125 to $150 per unit with the lab included, and bulk pricing from 5 units. Pricing background: how NJ inspection pricing works.

Common questions

Mercer County questions we get

Student rentals turn over every summer. What does that mean for certification?

Each tenant turnover requires a valid certificate, and certificates are valid for two years. A unit that gets new tenants every summer needs a new inspection before every second move-in, once the prior certificate has expired.

Is Hamilton a dust wipe town like Trenton?

No. Hamilton Township is a visual inspection town on the 2025-26 list. Trenton is the only Mercer County municipality that requires dust wipe sampling.

Do West Windsor or Robbinsville rentals need lead-safe certification?

Only units in buildings constructed before 1978. Most housing in both towns is newer and exempt.

What happens if a Trenton row home fails?

You get a list of what failed. Side by Side also does lead remediation, followed by a re-test.

Prep the units with the certification checklist. Neighboring counties: Middlesex, Burlington and Camden, our home base.