Benefits of a Laboratory Network

SimpleLab taps into 200+ certified testing facilities to give you faster, more affordable, and cooler testing options, no matter where you are.

Tap Score is powered by SimpleLab–a certified laboratory testing network of more than 200 accredited environmental testing facilities around North America. While you may have a local lab nearby your home that can test for some contaminants, choosing to test with Tap Score allows you to unlock the analytical capabilities of EVERY laboratory in the SimpleLab network.

This means you have access to thousands of methods, certifications, and analytes at your fingertips–all while never having to leave home and without having to make 100 phone calls. Along with giving you access to a massive library of testing capabilities, testing itself becomes more affordable, and you get results faster. The network effect also allows Tap Score to offer streamlined support to consumers, along with advanced quality control, and improved accessibility for all who need or want to test their water professionally.

Read on as we explain how each of these benefits is achieved through SimpleLab network. 

Test Thousands of Contaminants 

No single lab can test “everything”. Not only are there nearly limitless analytes that can be tested for, but different types of contaminants often require different analytical instruments, methods, and configurations in the laboratory. Because of this immense complexity (as well as high overhead cost), most labs specialize and focus on only some of the possible analytical methods. This means your testing options would be limited to only the capabilities offered by your local lab (if you even have a local lab in your area…). For example, let’s say you want to test for bacteria AND radiological AND metals AND pesticides–but your local lab can only test bacteria. Without SimpleLab, you would  1) not be able to test for some of the concerns you have or 2) be responsible for painstakingly searching for other labs that can test for these additional concerns (not to mention coordinate all of the logistics yourself), and 3) wait a lot longer for results and deal with multiple lab materials and reps. 

Enter: the SimpleLab laboratory network.

Because Tap Score is able to access over 200 certified facilities in the SimpleLab network, all their instruments, methods, and analytical capabilities are at your fingertips. You are not restricted to test just what your local lab can offer. Instead, you can order any test package that matches your needs and you can know it's going to be tested at an accredited laboratory. You’ll get EPA-certified and Standard Methods and your sample analysis will be held to rigorous quality control standards. SimpleLab software coordinates all of the logistics on the backend, so that you don’t have to coordinate complicated materials and shipping (free through Tap Score).  

Faster Turnaround Time

Along with coordinating smart lab assignment and providing logistics benefits, the SimpleLab network can also help ensure that your test is sent to the laboratory with the fastest turnaround times (i.e. the time it takes a sample to be tested once at the laboratory). Because the SimpleLab network has so many laboratories, if a certain facility is experiencing delays or instrumentation issues (very common in our industry given the sensitivity of instrumentation)–we can switch your designated lab to meet your needs ASAP. We know that fast turnaround time is incredibly important to Tap Score customers. Whether you need results for the sale of a home or you are seeking answers to pressing questions, we want to give you accurate results as quickly as possible. 

Streamlined Customer Support

In short, traditional laboratories were never designed to coordinate modern customer support needs, and so they prefer to provide their expertise via SimpleLab. This is how Tap Score customers get the support they want and the testing expertise they need.

While Tap Score is designed to serve residential and small-scale commercial clients, most water quality laboratories are set up (financially, managerially, operationally) to work only on large projects managed by trained engineers and consulting firms. These large scale projects include multi thousand dollar (or million dollar) testing contracts with on-site professional sampling and legal oversight. The technical, managerial and financial requirements of such projects make it really difficult for traditional environmental laboratories to provide the options, speed, customer support (and economics) which people at home (who normally spend less than $1000) need and want. 

It is not uncommon for commercial laboratories to simply decline small, single sample residential tests. Or else, they may have expensive minimums and long lead times. There are also often legal risk restrictions prohibiting such labs from providing direct support and advice on test selection and result interpretation.

As you might guess, people who are new to environmental testing may face a lot of questions: from choosing the right package, to sampling methods, to shipping, to explaining results. The team of Tap Score customer support specialists are always standing by to help answer those questions any time.

More Affordable Testing Costs

We want laboratories to focus on what they do best– test. By streamlining customer support and reporting, labs can remain extremely efficient. With this efficiency, comes reduced costs–which Tap Score passes on to you, the customer.

Additionally, because laboratory instruments are loaded up with batches of samples (ie. trays with slots for, say, 36 samples)–a complete tray of samples becomes far more cost effective than only one sample on the tray. SimpleLab is able to help laboratories fill batch trays each time, further reducing the cost per batch. 

Organized and Accessible to All

Because the SimpleLab network enables Tap Score testing to be coordinated in an organized and efficient way, we are simplifying the way people test and learn about their environment.

This increased accessibility to laboratory testing leads to better transparency, data, and knowledge about how your surroundings are impacting you and your family. SimpleLab and Tap Score were created with the goal of making lab testing–a historically complex, inaccessible, expensive process–increasingly available to more people, so that you can make the right decisions for you and your family.