When Covid-19 hit the United States, more specifically the state of Iowa, where I own a vent cleaning company in Des Moines, people went home and stayed home as they were scared of catching Covid. It affected our business for a couple months but after being locked up inside their homes, people started thinking about the quality of air in their homes.
With every news channel telling people to wash their hands 100 times per day, cleanliness became the central topic for preventing Covid-19. Air quality also became a huge deal. Our business picked back up and we were booking jobs two to three weeks out. Unfortunately, there were some scammers out and about, working their con games.
The cost of a “great” air duct cleaning job is a challenge for some people and so if they can find those $99 special pricing deals, they jump on it. The problem is they don’t understand what they are getting…or NOT getting.
The whole purpose of those “specials” is to get their foot in the door. Once they get there, they start their upsells. You see, the $99 only covers a few vents. To get all the vents you need to pay more money. To clean the blower compartment you need to pay even more money. By the time you get the entire system cleaned you will probably be paying more than you would have with a reputable company.
With that scam, some homeowners will only get part of the system cleaned as they didn’t expect to pay more than the $99 and so they didn’t put aside the money needed to cover the cost of the entire cleaning. It is not a good situation as situation because a proper air duct cleaning should cover all aspects of the ventilation system.
When it comes to vent cleaning in Des Moines, we get calls on a regular basis where a homeowner has had a company come in and clean the air ducts but their allergies are still kicking their rear and they just don’t trust that the HVAC system is clean. There are times when we find the ductwork to be clean but more times than not, there is still debris inside the system that is causing the allergy issue.
The first thing we look for is the places in the ductwork where the air duct cleaner cut to access and clean the inside of the ductwork. When we don’t find any access points, we drill a couple one-inch holes and look for ourselves. We take pictures and show the homeowner. When the ductwork is still dirty, the homeowner gets upset and calls the company. Some refund their money and some do not.
These shady companies figure that the owners won’t go to the work to check to see if the HVAC system has been cleaned. They go to the floor vents and use a shop vac and then go
to the basement and hide out by the furnace for awhile. Then they come back up and collect their money and leave. So how does a homeowner find a quality air duct cleaner?
The first thing to look for are reviews. Does the company have several reviews where people are satisfied with the air duct cleaning? If a company does not have any reviews, ask them to provide some references. Our company has over 300 reviews. That tells people we have done a lot of work.
The second thing to consider is the method used by the duct cleaning company. Some companies use a brush system and others use a whip system. If a homeowner has insulated flex vent lines, you need to verify with the cleaning company that their brush system won’t damage the vent lines. Our company uses whips with compressed air so we can clean any type of system without damaging it.
The third thing to consider is “proof of cleaning.” Can the company show you proof that they actually cleaned the complete air duct system? We use before and after pictures of every vent, vent line, trunk line, blower motor compartment and A coil. We also invite the customer to follow us around and watch us work. That way they can see everything we do.
The final thing is the “Guarantee.” What kind of guarantee does the company have? Our company has the guarantee of, “If you’re not happy, you don’t pay.” That puts all the risk on us. The requires us to do our best work in order to get paid. If a company doesn’t have a guarantee, stay away from them.
At the end of the day, expect to pay between $450-$700 for the typical air duct cleaning. At Supreme Air Duct Cleaning, we look at the square feet of the house, the age of the house, the style of the house, the number of furnaces and/or thermostats (zones). The price you get quoted needs to be what you pay. Don’t expect upsells, unless you leave out information when getting the quote.
I hope this information has helped you. If you’re looking for a trustworthy company for vent cleaning in Des Moines, give us a call!