The right MERV rating for your system — no guesswork, no overkill.
01Before anything else
EPA does not recommend duct work on a schedule. It reserves the case for visible mold, vermin, or debris heavy enough to be released into the home. So before the price, and before the method: here is what would put your system in that category.
Tick what you recognize
Ticked nothing? Then you may well not need this yet — and we would rather tell you that for $99 than sell you $99 of work you can defer. Book the camera inspection and let the footage decide.
This service
Filtration Upgrade Consultation
Prices shown are starting estimates and may change with the condition, access, and scope we find on site. Only a written quote from an on-site visit is a price we commit to.
Our own job
Filtration Upgrade Consultation
02What the standards say
Every claim on this page is measured against a named standard you can go and read. One of them declines to recommend this work at all — and it is in the list, not buried.
MERV ratings come from ASHRAE's filter-testing standard, which measures how well a filter captures particles of different sizes. A higher MERV catches finer dust and pollen — worthwhile only when the blower can push air through it, which is exactly what we check.
We treat this as hygiene, not medicine. It empties a reservoir of settled dust. It does not cure allergies, and we will never tell you it does.
Read EPA’s position03What is included
Printed here so you can hold anyone else’s quote against it — including ours.
Not included, on purpose: add-ons nobody has shown a reason for. Sanitizing, UV and filtration upgrades are offered only where the footage shows an indication — our technicians are not paid on what they sell.
04What it costs
Published, not quoted over the phone from a script. The number moves only with what we find on camera, and only before you have approved anything.
What moves the number
Number of runs · attic access · duct type · how much the system is carrying. A two-system two-story is not a compact ranch, and we would rather say so than quote you a figure that changes once we are through the door.
05How the visit runs
Filter size, rating, fit, and the condition of the rack or cabinet — including any bypass gaps around the frame.
We assess what resistance your blower can support, because a filter that chokes airflow costs more than it captures.
Allergies, pets, nearby construction, and how the home is used — the honest inputs that decide the right rating.
A written recommendation: MERV rating, format, and a change schedule tuned to your seasons rather than a slogan.
06What you are left holding
Which is precisely why this trade has a trust problem, and why the job is not finished until you are holding proof of it.
The same runs, before and after. Not a stock gallery — your system, shot on the day.
Which runs were cleaned, what was found along the way, and anything we deliberately left alone.
If something we did needs doing again inside twelve months, it gets done again.
If any company — ours included — cannot show you the inside of your ducts after charging to clean them, ask why.
07Book it
Leave three fields, or call. We will tell you on the phone what your system likely needs — including, sometimes, that it needs nothing.
A preference, confirmed by a person — we do not hold a live calendar and will not pretend a slot is reserved until someone has said so.
Maybe not — and we'll be the ones to tell you. EPA guidance says duct cleaning is warranted in three situations: visible mold, vermin in the ducts, or significant dust and debris buildup. Not on a calendar, not automatically every few years. Our $99 camera inspection checks your system against those conditions and gives you a straight verdict with photos. A meaningful share of inspections end with 'not yet, re-check in a couple of years' — and that answer costs you $99, not $600.
Honestly: there is no good evidence that it does, and the EPA states plainly that duct cleaning has never been shown to prevent health problems. It genuinely helps when your system meets one of the EPA's three conditions — visible mold growth, vermin, or debris actually being released into your rooms — and a camera inspection tells you which. For a household with asthma or heavy seasonal allergies, the changes that reliably move indoor air are a filter matched to what your blower can pull, a return path that isn't starved, and sealing ducts that are pulling attic air into the house. We would rather point you at those than sell you a cleaning you don't need.
Only if something has actually loaded them, and the usual culprit is renovation. Drywall dust and jobsite debris land on the return side where a filter never reaches them, so a nursery remodel with the system running is a real case and the before-and-after footage shows it. If nothing has changed about the house, start with the $99 camera inspection — it often ends the conversation. And one hard rule regardless: no ozone-generating air cleaner near an infant. The EPA is clear those aren't effective at concentrations that are safe to breathe.
A full-system source-removal cleaning starts at $349, targeted supply-and-return work at $199, and a camera inspection at $99. Those are honest starting points, not bait: your exact quote is confirmed after we look at the system on camera and before any work begins, and it doesn't change mid-job. Add-ons like sanitizing ($149) or a UV light ($399) are offered only when the footage shows a real indication — our technicians don't earn commissions.
Three to five hours for a typical single-system home. The honest variables are the number of runs, attic access, duct type, and how much debris the system is carrying — a two-system two-story takes longer than a compact ranch. We'd rather quote you a real window than promise a ninety-minute miracle, because whole-home source removal physically cannot be done in ninety minutes. You'll get a specific time estimate with your quote, and the system is back on the moment we finish.
Filtration Upgrade Consultation — where
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