HVAC cleaning is one of the common services that your customers will demand from you. Besides the usual repair, installation, and maintenance services, cleaning is a periodic service request that your business often gets from new or repeat clients.
Air conditioner coils, HVAC ducts, and other such parts of the entire system need timely cleaning. If your customers are unaware of it, then you should convey the necessity to them and let them know when they should contact you for the same.
If you are a new HVAC business and are unaware of what to charge for simple or intense HVAC cleaning services, this article explains the average costs and the affecting factors.
With this pricing insight, you will be able to determine the HVAC cleaning cost you must charge.
Contents
What is HVAC Cleaning? What Are the Different Cost Variations?
Duct cleaning is cleaning various HVAC components of the forced air system. Such HVAC cleaning projects involve cleaning supply ducts, return ducts, grilles, diffusers, registers, cooling coils, heating coils, heat exchangers, and others.
Installing an HVAC system in a house involves air ducts around the property. These ducts help pull air through the vents, and then, depending on the system’s settings, they heat or cool the air. After that, there are ducts that emit this cooled or heated air throughout the property.
These ducts pull in dust and debris along with the air through these vents. As time passes, the vents get clogged, and it bothers the seamless passage of air. Hence, it hampers the functionality of the complete HVAC system.
The dirt and debris sucked into the vents often stick to their walls and desn’t get emitted into the living space. But still, it is an unclean practice that shouldn’t be avoided.
Dust and debris might not be the usual reason to seek HVAC duct cleaning. It is because the dust and debris stick to the walls of the vents and don’t get emitted to the house through supply vents. It takes a long time for dust and debris to clog the vent and make it incapable of pulling or throwing air.
So, in the case of just dust and debris, the HVAC cleaning needs might arise once in two to three years. But, if a house has a mouse or other vermin infestation, the homeowners will have to clean air ducts sooner than usual. Mouse or other vermin can get stuck and die in the vents to spread the filthy smell around your house, along with the cold or hot breeze.
You can sign-up with your clients for a long-term cleaning project to build a sense of trust for your business. Let your clients know the facts about HVAC cleaning and when they need it.
Average Cleaning Cost for HVAC components
Here are some of the average HVAC cleaning costs for you to get a general idea of what your competitors are charging for the services:
- The air duct cleaning costs range between $300 and $700 as an overall expense or $25 and $45 per vent. As per experts, you should recommend an air duct cleaning service once every 3 to 7 years.
- The AC evaporator and condenser coil cleaning costs range between $100 and $400 for the evaporator coil and $75 and $230 for the condenser coil. Cleaning the evaporator coil while fixed to the HVAC system will cost the same as mentioned above, but removing it from the setting for cleaning purposes will increase the cost to range between $400 and $700. Experts recommend AC coils be cleaned at least once every year.
- The cost for mold and mildew remediation in the air ducts is between $700 and $2000. The cost is high because such a service needs the use of special chemicals and equipment.
- The cost for rat and pest removal from the air ducts is between $150 and $500, depending on the complexity and severity of the infestation.
- The cost of dryer vent cleaning is between $100 and $170, with the average price at $132. If the job is pretty much complex, then the cost might go up to $300. Experts say that a dryer vent should be cleaned once every year.
Factors that Affect HVAC Cleaning Costs
Even with the average air duct cleaning prices, you cannot predict the accurate chargeable amount for your services, which will be worth the effort you implement. It is because there are certain factors that contribute toward increasing or decreasing the overall HVAC air duct cleaning cost, which includes:
1. Condition of the ducts
If the customers haven’t cleaned the ducts for a long time, the dust and debris stuck in the vent walls will need robust cleaning with more equipment and chemicals. In the process, more time and effort will be implemented, which should add to the overall pricing of your duct cleaning services.
Apart from dust and debris, if the residents have mold, mildew, or pest infestation in their ducts, then the cleaning cost will further increase. It is because more time and effort will be needed to complete the job. And more work time is equivalent to an additional cost.
Therefore, as a professional air duct cleaner, you should inform the customers to maintain a regular routine of cleaning the ducts. It will help them prevent excessive build-up of dust and debris on the vents and they won’t have to pay a hefty price in the long run.
2. Size of your home
The more ducts or vents, the higher the price of duct cleaning services will be. If the customers have a bigger house, there is a high possibility of more vents across the property. In most cases, you can either price the HVAC duct cleaning services based on the time it will take to complete the job or with a per-vent flat rate, depending on the size of the house and the number of vents.
As an air duct cleaning company, you can run your calculations on which pricing model for a particular project will bring in more profit for you. Based on that, you can explain to the customers how the cost of cleaning air ducts is higher when they have a bigger house with more vents.
3. Accessibility of the vents
If the air ducts around the customer’s property are visible and accessible easily, then the pricing can be standard. For instance, if the air ducts are located in the basements, attics, or crawl spaces, then it will be easy for your professionals to clean them with standard pricing.
But, if the accessibility of the vents is restricted due to being concealed behind the ceiling or walls, then the time taken to clean those air ducts will increase. Hence, you will be liable for charging an additional amount for compensating more effort and time of your employees.
4. Experience with air duct cleaning professionals
Suppose you have licensed and trained air duct cleaning professionals who are highly proficient. In that case, you can charge higher from the customers on behalf of the experience and quality of work that you guarantee to provide. If you keep your air duct cleaning prices very low, then the customers will suspect you for offering low-quality services, and you won’t be able to recover your expenses and make profits.
So, if you are charging the customers based on the experience of your professionals in the job, then make sure you market your business and services accordingly through your price estimate, online reviews, business website, and social media channels.
5. Required manpower
If the customer insists on getting the cleaning job done within a specified time, you might have to increase your manpower for the project. You can let the customer know that increased manpower will add to the cleaning cost. More professionals at the job will be paid hourly rates that cannot be compensated with the standard cost to clean air ducts.
Therefore, with the customers’ consent, you can recalculate the pricing based on the new changes in the service delivery aspects to quote the increased price.
6. Age of the HVAC system
If the HVAC system is old and has worn-out air vents and associated parts, the cleaning cost might increase, as your professionals need to be more careful in dealing with worn-out parts. There might be a need to replace certain parts that your experts can suggest to the customers for seamless functionality of the entire system.
Mandatory replacements can be recommended at an added service and installation cost. Such costs will be an addition to the overall cost of cleaning air ducts. The lifetime of an entire HVAC unit is 15 to 25 years. Therefore, if the system is older than that, you should suggest your customers seek a complete replacement of the HVAC unit and the air ducts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does HVAC cleaning cost?
The HVAC cleaning cost ranges between $300 and $700 as an overall cost. But if the square foot area of the house is greater, then there is a high chance of a lot of vents installed within the property. Therefore, in such cases, you can charge the customers based on a per vent fee, which ranges between $25 and $45 per vent.
Apart from that, the cleaning cost also varies depending on whether you are requesting service for a dryer vent, mild and mildew, or rat infestation. There are many more factors that affect the overall hike and fall of these rates. You can check the ones listed above to help your business decide on a profitable service cost.
What are the tips for HVAC cleaning?
The overall HVAC cleaning project doesn’t get limited to the air ducts, but the majority of cleaning is done over that part. Therefore, the costing is done primarily based on air ducts. Here are some tips for you to pass on to your professionals to ensure a quality cleaning job:
- Clean the HVAC air ducts first to ensure they perform optimally without hampering air quality.
- In the next step, clean the furnace filters as they trap dust particles to prevent them from being blown into the property. Changing the filters will help improve the functionality of the system.
- Prefer using a vacuum cleaner for the blower compartment, as dust and debris in that area might clog the unit and put a load on the system to work seamlessly.
- Finally, go ahead with cleaning the electrical terminals to ensure they are not wet or corroded.
Is air duct cleaning a complete waste of money?
It is not a wastage of money, but frequent cleaning of air ducts is not a mandatory necessity. It is because dust and debris that flow into the air vents stick to their walls and don’t immediately get blown out through the supply vents. It needs around 2 to 3 years of dust accumulation in the vents to clog the inlets and outlets and hamper the air quality.
So, as professionals, you should recommend the customers to seek air duct cleaning once in a minimum of three years.
Frequent cleaning might be a possibility if the customers have pest infestation problems in the HVAC unit. For that, your experts can take remedies to the customers’ premises to prevent the return of pest infestation after the cleaning services.
Summing Up
Like timely maintenance, HVAC units also need periodic cleaning to ensure a seamless flow of cool or hot air throughout the property. Being negligent on this factor for a long time will eventually clog the vents, invoking stress on the system’s functionality by making it work harder. As a result, the system will lose it’s potential long before its life span ends.
Therefore, if you are an HVAC business owner and are primarily focusing only on repair, installation, replacement, and maintenance services, then it is time you should add cleaning services to the trade as well.
You can make profits with a considerable sum of money from all of your existing clients by marketing your affordable and quality HVAC duct cleaning services. When you are attending to a repair or maintenance request, ask your employees to pitch your cleaning services to the clients in a strategic manner.
Let them know that you are available to take on any pest or mild problems in their ducts. Guide them with the symptoms with which they can realize when the air ducts need proper cleaning to retain their functioning potential. This way, you will open up to more repeat business opportunities and better profits.