7 Tips To Find The Best Dryer Vent & Air Duct Cleaning Service
Finding an air duct and dryer vent cleaning service that you know will do a professional job is frustrating.
Since there is so much information online, the more you research the more confusing it becomes.
We can do a professional job for you if you are looking for dryer venting cleaning in Phoenix or Scottsdale, AZ. But, unfortunately, we can’t help the people who visit our site from outside the Valley area.
So, if you live in the Valley, call us.
But, if not, follow these tips on how to find a professional dryer vent cleaning service in your area.
So, let’s dive right in.
Tip #1: Avoid companies who sell air duct & dryer vent cleaning services as a loss leader.
Large HVAC and cleaning companies use dryer vent cleaning as a loss leader. A loss leader means that they lose money on the work to get their foot in the door to sell other services.
Naturally, hiring a dryer vent cleaning service that’s been sold as a loss leader will be less costly.
And, if you’re the type of person who’s comfortable resisting sales pressure, then you could save money by going this route.
However, you’ll never get a quality cleaning done this way.
This means you’ll be cleaning your dryer vent again in the near future. Furthermore, shoddy work can increase the fire risk down the road and make it even more expensive to fix later on.
Tip #2: Offers that sound too good to be true are always too good to be true.
Suppose you see an offer online that sounds like a fantastic deal. In that case, you’ll pay less money in the long run by not taking the offer.
So, even if a company does not seem to be using dryer vent cleaning as a loss leader, an extremely low introductory quote always translates into a high-pressure sales attempt or low-quality work.
More often than not, it’s both.
Companies that do business this way have poorly trained technicians and the cheapest cleaning machines possible.
Furthermore, they always focus on doing the work as fast as they can, not the best that they can. If you successfully resist their efforts to upsell you, they need to get to the next call quickly to try upsell the next person.
Tip #3: Hire a company that only does dryer vent cleaning and air duct cleaning.
The phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” is true when it comes to vent and duct cleaning.
Technicians who clean vents and ducts all day, every day, do a great job. To add to that, they are proud of what they do.
Conversely, workers who occasionally do dryer vent cleaning amongst many other services usually do a poor job.
However, it’s not because they’re bad workers. In fact, usually, they’re great workers.
But, since they do not do dryer vent and duct cleaning day-in and day-out, they simply do not have the professional skills and pride in their work that you find in a well-trained technician.
Air Duct Cleaning Scams
Unfortunately, there is a risk of hiring a company that only cleans air ducts and dryer vents.
If you follow these tips from the EPA and avoid to-low-to-be-true introductory offers, you’ll avoid the companies that run scams.
Tip #4: Ask about their quality control.
The following three steps are indicators that a company cares about consistent, professional work:
- They perform random quality control inspections on a regular basis.
- They keep track of how much time a technician spends at each location.
- They require technicians to upload pictures or videos of their completed work to the customer’s file and they provide those videos to you.
If a company diligently adheres to these three quality control measures, it’s a strong indicator of professionalism.
Tip #5: Ask your cleaning service to email or text proof of insurance before they come to your house.
You might be thinking, duh, of course, they are insured. But, often that isn’t the case.
It’s easy to start a vent cleaning company. As a result, many of the lower-quality companies are not insured because they were never insured to begin with, or their insurance has expired.
To add to the complexity, often the parent company has insurance, but the technicians are independent contractors who do not have insurance.
General Liability Insurance
All companies should have a current general liability policy readily available.
If their technicians are independent contractors, then they should have their own general liability policy.
But, if the technicians are employees, then the company should provide you with a general liability policy and a workman’s compensation policy.
Independent Contractor General Liability Insurance
If the techs are independent contractors, make sure their name and/or company name is on the insurance papers.
If the parent company tells you that their techs are independent contractors, but they are covered under the parent company’s insurance – do not hire that company!
When insurance companies provide insurance to the parent company, they always exclude independent contractors from the policy. Furthermore, state regulators require that independent contractors have their own insurance.
Independent contractor arrangements are common in the dryer vent and air duct cleaning industry.
Usually, the best technicians are independent contractors. However, you should always verify that they are insured before inviting them into your home.
Workman’s Compensation Insurance
If the workers are not independent contractors then the company should provide you with proof of workman’s compensation insurance.
All employees who are salaried or earn an hourly wage are required by law to be covered by a workman’s compensation policy.
So, ask the company you hire if they pay their technicians by the hour. If they do, request that they send you a copy of their work comp policy before you allow them onto your property.
Tip #6: Ask what type of equipment they use to clean dryer vents and air ducts.
Unfortunately, in most homes in Phoenix and Scottsdale the dryer vent pipe in the wall cavity is made from coiled wire foil. Coiled wire foil is basically a wire slinky wrapped in aluminum foil.
Consequently, just slightly aggressive brushing can create a leak or make an existing leak much worse.
In fact, coiled wire foil is so low-quality/high risk that FEMA includes replacing any coiled wire foil vent pipe it in their dryer maintenance list for prevention of dryer fires.
So, if you want your dryer vent to be as clean as possible, ask what type of equipment they use.
Tip #7: Ask for the owner or independent contractor’s cell phone number.
This tip is not going to make me very popular with some company owners. But, the fact of the matter is, that someone needs to be accountable for the work. And, it should always be the owner.
Any owner who willingly gives out their cell phone number knows that their techs do high-quality work. Furthermore, if there are problems, a conscientious owner wants to know about them as soon as possible.
It doesn’t matter if they have one tech working for them, or twenty. A good owner always wants to know what’s going on in the field.
Final Words
Although trying to find a dryer duct cleaning service that you can trust to do good work can be daunting, it’s not impossible.
A little online research and a quick phone interview, keeping the seven tips discussed here in mind, will guarantee that you find a good company that will give you peace of mind.
