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I had a friend suggest I add dryer vent cleaning to the list of services I provide. I looked at several equipment packages which are very resaonably priced. Are there any operators that are currently doing this and what are the pros and cons to this service? What about pricing? How much time is required to perform? Inquiring minds want to know!
Is no one doing this? I would hav thought someone has tried it. Seems like there is one or 2 fires a year that is on the news caused by lint buildup and there are probably more than that.
We looked into dryer/air duct cleaning. Never went forward with it. Already got enough services on our plate that I am not marketing properly enough. There are some good portable units out there if you have room in your van and it appears to be an easy add on sale since we’re already in the home. May want to check around and see if there are any attachments you could attach to the end of your u-mate/ninja to cut costs. Don’t know if we run a large enough hose though, even for just a dryer vent, plus we probably don’t have the proper recovery tank set up. Definitely couldn’t use any of our current machines to do ducts due to size of objects in many vents (dead mice, 2×4’s, McDonalds bags, etc.) We have a local company I recommend to my customers that all they do is air duct/dryer vent cleaning. No carpet cleaning so not my competition.
Dave is right about van space. It takes a lot of space for the equipment that you need to do just dryer vents, and even more for A/C ducts. I have owned a separate business that does dryer vent cleaning and I could not imagine trying to put all of the equipment into 1 van. We have 4 ladders just for the dryer vents alone. A dryer will only take 30 minutes to clean if you know what you are doing. The problem is that most companies have know idea what they are doing and in most cases can cause more damage and raise the risk of fires. This equates to more liability if you mess up. If I make a mistake and it cost me a couch or some carpet that is pretty minimal. If a house burns down do to my negligence it would be a disaster. As far as A/C ducts I talk most of the customers out of having them done. I rarely come across any Ducts that are half as bad as the scary pictures you see in advertisements. Dave also hit the nail on the head when he mentioned he Already got enough services on our plate that I am not marketing properly enough. I have not got into tile cleaning yet and the new market that it will open up. The reason is we are to busy with the others to start a new service. The dryer vents were around way before tile and grout cleaning was offered and we have to much invested in cutting back that business.
We looked into getting in duct cleaning. And add on was dryer vent cleaning. Rotobrush has good system.
I think add-on services would take time and effort away from developing your carpet & upholstery cleaning business. We all have a geographical area that has MILLIONS of sq.ft of carpet that we have not cleaned nor have we tried to make the sale. I prefer to focus on my expertise of carpet cleaning. Just this week, with cleaning absolutly nothing but carpet and with no employees, my sales were over $4800. (62 hrs labor, $2,800 net profit). The numbers are not meant as a brag, only offered as an example for potential without add-ons.
I rented a rotobrush from a local plumber to clean a dryer vent and house air ducts and evaluate the idea. Upside is money was good. Downside it took a lot of time and was a LOT of work. If I did it again, it would be winter only when it is slow to get some cash flow.
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