Of the cc's doing duct cleaning here, which system/manufacturer are you using, how do you like it, costs to start, ease of use, what do you charge, what do you upsell, etc? I think alot of people can possibly benefit from doing this type of service.
remember - anyone interested, you can ask me drain cleaning questions till I'm blue in the face, and I'll try to answer.
steven, you can get a great deal of info on the duct cleaners board over at delco. sorry but i cant recall the web addy right now. maybe derek will know as he hooks me up with the many links i inquire about.
some yrs ago, i did some posting over at the ics board regarding duct cleaning. go there and do a search under my name or under duct cleaning.
hopefully the info is still there. i dont go to that board anymore and have not done so for probably 2yrs now.......
there really is not a system for duct cleaning thats very "easy" to use however, some are more friendly than others.
first off i can say, the rotobrush is an extremely overpriced machine. the concept is ok but severely lacks vacuum power. i mention rotobrush cause most folks considering doing ducts, looks to them due to the advertising of it, and its "ease" of use. i've owned and used one and found it best served to do dryer vents and small duct work such as is found in mobile homes.
i've done duct cleaning in everything from small mobile homes up to industrial power plant ducting which falls under environmental for which i was certified in all 50 states, using everything from small hepa shop vacs up to and including the big monster trucks that we called guzzlers.
in an effort to not post such a long response, i will say what i predominately used and found to be best for me for all around residential duct cleaning.
goodway.com has a brush drive unit that i used along with either a negative air unit or collector, and/or a custom made hepa vacuum unit which i had a friend build for me to my specs. the custom made unit i still have and is the one i still use when i do the ocassional duct job.
costs to start vary greatly but a good start will run around 3k. i like the spinvax system that cleancraft.com offers as it is very similar to the system which i had. matter of fact, i believe goodway makes the system for cleancraft.
some start up systems run well into 5 figures but IMO, its not necessary to spend like that to get started.
upsells would be electrostatic air filters, duct repair and new vent installs, system deoderizing and sanitizing, furnace cleaning, dryer vent cleaning, and filtration soil removal which always led me to add on doing the carpet cleaning when i was there.
being i was selling "clean", i also sold home water filters.
when i was hot and heavy doing air ducts here in jersey, my average ticket was around $450.00 for a single system home.
smallest would be the mobile homes i did with which i ran a special for $149.00 and included sanitizing.
largest residential duct job was just under 3k and was for a home that had 3 systems.
to sum up, duct cleaning is a great "sister" business to cc'ing. think about it, yer already in yer custy's home.
when i did combo's, (carpet/ducts) it was only one job daily with great $$$$.
when i had what i called triple combo's (carpet/ducts/upholstery) i earned more in a day than most common folk earn in 2wks.
i can go on and on but thats it for now. contact me direct if i can possibly be of more help.