If you have heard about the people that charge only $10 a vent and somehow at the end of the job, the invoice is well over $2,000 – Ouch! What happened?
Do I have a 100 more vents than I thought, do these guys have a calculator that multiplies by a factor of 10…quick grab the smelling salts before I faint!
We just provide a one time price with no hidden extras and no one to hassle with you at the end of the job. Our price…well, its our price and that is it!
Unfortunately, customers that hear our price of $600 to $850 for a project depending on the size of the home and the number of furnaces – are reluctant to use us when they can get their job completed for $10 a vent. Let’s see, I have so many vents times $10….should be only about $400 dollars. As Billy Mays would say, “but wait, there is more”, these $10 a vent guys add on for the “return vent”, the furnace itself and on and on it goes until the invoice reaches over $2,000. Billy Mays would be embarrassed by these contractors.
We performed a job for a couple that had hired one of these companies. The couple called and wanted to know why there would be dust all over their basement from a duct cleaning company. they called us since we perform Indoor Air Quality Assessement studies for corporations and hosptials. We told the homeowners, the duct cleaning process should be dust-free and we would be glad to look at thier basement without charge. We inspected a few of the ducts by taking off the registers – there was a clump of dirt in the first one. I told the homeowner, “they problably just missed this vent” thinking it was true. I opened the second vent in the floor in the same room and there was even more dirt and debris (a handful). “Maybe they missed this room” and now decided to check a few more. All had the same problem – I don’t know what this company did for an entire day when they were in the house but they did not clean the ducts and wanted an enormous amount of money for doing a horrible job.
Check references and definately get comparaitve prices -ask for all the items the contractor intends to charge for when the job is complete since this is the amount you intend to pay and not a dollar more.
Don’t forget to change the evaparator pad in the humidifier and the filter in the furnace (use a pollen type of filter, not a fiberglass filter).
Thom Wellington
