Pricing and quoting for air duct cleaning: how to present prices against the $49 ads
How to set and present duct and dryer vent cleaning prices, good-better-best packages, when to take a deposit, and why the way you price decides how well your marketing works.
Every duct cleaner has had the call. "The other company said $49 for the whole house. Why are you $450?" The way you answer that question, on the phone, on your website and in your ads, is most of your marketing. Price in this trade is not a number you pick after the marketing is done. It is the marketing.
This guide covers how to set the range, how to show it, how to package it, and how pricing changes what every ad and review does for you.
What the $49 ad actually is
The Federal Trade Commission and several state attorneys general have gone after duct cleaning companies for the pattern: advertise a whole-house price that cannot cover the drive, then add per-vent charges, a "mold treatment," a blower cleaning and a sanitizing fog in the driveway until the ticket is $600 to $1,200. The crew uses a shop vac and a hand brush and is done in 45 minutes.
Homeowners know this now. Search for duct cleaning and the autocomplete offers "scam." That is bad for the trade and useful for you, because the homeowner's question has shifted from "who is cheapest" to "who is not going to do that to me." You answer that question with a price that is plainly stated and plainly held.
Set the range from your real cost
Start from the job, not the competition. A whole-house cleaning on a single-system 2,000 square foot home with truck-mounted equipment takes two techs two and a half to four hours. Load the truck cost, two techs, fuel, consumables, insurance and office time, and most companies land between $325 and $450 as the minimum that makes money. Two systems or a large home runs $550 to $900. Add-ons that are real work, such as a furnace and blower cleaning or a dryer vent on the same visit, are priced as line items, $75 to $175 each.
Dryer vent cleaning alone is $100 to $200 in most markets depending on the run length and the roof access.
Set your base price at the point where a full crew day is profitable with four jobs, not six. Then stop looking at the coupon companies. You are not in their market.
Present it as a range, then as a number
On the website and the Google profile: a range. "Most single-system homes: $375 to $495." The range filters the coupon shoppers and sets the frame for everyone else.
On the phone: a number, after four questions. Square footage, number of systems, year built, and whether the furnace is included. Then: "For your house it is $425, includes every supply and return, the trunk lines and the blower compartment. That is the number on the invoice." Say the last sentence every time. It is the sentence the homeowner called to hear.
Never give a vague "it depends" without a range. The caller hangs up and dials the next listing to compare, and the next listing is often the $49 company.
Good, better, best
Three packages let a homeowner choose without feeling upsold, and they move the average ticket up without any pressure in the driveway. An example structure:
- Good: all supply and return runs, trunk lines, registers cleaned and reinstalled, before-and-after photos. $395.
- Better: everything in Good, plus the air handler and blower, and a dryer vent cleaning. $545.
- Best: everything in Better, plus register sanitizing with a named product, a filter upgrade, and a one-year dryer vent recheck. $695.
Most homeowners pick the middle. The point is that each package is a complete job with a fixed price, decided before the truck arrives. Nothing is added on site. If the tech finds something real, a crushed flex run or a disconnected return, that is a separate quote with photos, and the homeowner can say no without affecting the cleaning.
Put the three packages on your website with the prices. This is the single page the AI answer engines will quote when someone asks what duct cleaning should cost in your area. See the AI search guide.
Deposits, payment and the paper trail
Deposits are unusual in this trade for residential work and most companies do not need one. For commercial jobs and multi-day work, 25% to 50% up front is normal.
What matters more is the paper. Send a written quote by text or email before the appointment with the package, the price and the line "no additional charges on site." Invoice at the same number. That written trail is what turns into the review that says "quoted $425, paid $425," and that review is worth more than any ad.
Take cards on the spot. A company that only takes cash reads as a coupon company to a nervous homeowner.
How pricing changes your marketing
Honest pricing is not just a policy. It changes the performance of every channel:
- Google Ads: a price in the headline filters clicks. You pay for fewer, better calls. The Google Ads guide covers the copy.
- Meta ads: a stated price on the video gets more comments and shares than any other element in this trade.
- Reviews: a held price produces the specific review text that wins the next homeowner.
- The phone: a dispatcher with a price sheet books on the first call. One without it books a callback that never happens.
- Referrals: HVAC companies and realtors refer duct cleaners whose prices they can predict. They will not refer a company that might embarrass them in a client's driveway.
Across 9,915 listings, 4% of duct cleaners sit under 4.0 stars, and the reviews that put them there are almost all about price. The companies at the 90th percentile of 139 reviews are, almost without exception, the ones that quote a number and hold it.
Raising prices
Raise once a year, in the slow season, by 5% to 8%, and tell past customers in the annual reminder text that the price is going up on a date. A share of them book before the date. That is the only "special" this trade needs.
Frequently asked
Should I match a competitor's price to win a job? No. If the competitor is honest and cheaper, they have a cost advantage you cannot copy with a discount. If they are the coupon company, matching their price means losing money or becoming them.
What about per-vent pricing? It is how the bait-and-switch works and homeowners have learned to fear it. Price by the system and the home, and state that every vent is included.
How do I explain the price on the phone without sounding defensive? State what is included, state the time it takes, state the equipment. "Two techs, three hours, truck-mounted vacuum, every vent and the blower, photos before and after, $425." That is not defensive. That is a company that knows its job.
Pricing pages, phone scripts and quote templates are part of the website and follow-up services in the free 14-day trial. Text or call (385) 486-5536.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, air duct cleaning companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor