Whole-system duct and dryer vent check with before-and-after photos - you see exactly what came out of your vents
That "$99 whole-house special" is a bait ad - the real number appears once they are in your hallway, or the "clean" is a shop-vac at the register. We photograph the inside of your ducts before and after instead.
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AfterFast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across San Francisco
Air duct cleaning in San Francisco typically runs $400 – $900 for a full residential system, with most jobs completed in a single visit. Our crews dispatch from the San Francisco Bay Area office and carry Rotobrush rotary systems and Nikro negative-air machines built for the tight access and older construction we see throughout the city. Call (361) 326-5060 for a written estimate before any work starts.
We’ve been in this trade since 2004, and San Francisco’s housing stock keeps us honest. The Victorian row houses in the Richmond, the 1920s stucco in the Mission, the post-war towers near the Embarcadero, each needs a different approach because the ductwork was never standardized. Our Air Duct Cleaning team treats every job by The Garrison Standard: arrive inside the window, price in writing, work by the book, leave the site clean. No exceptions.
Why Hollis Air Duct Cleaning Is San Francisco’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
San Francisco homeowners call us back because we show them what we found. Our technicians carry video inspection gear on every truck, and we walk customers through the footage before we quote a price. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every job in writing. If the work fails within a year, we return and make it right at no charge, including a free second visit.
Our phones are answered by a live person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No voicemail loops, no callback queues. Scheduling is coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office, and our background-checked, uniformed technicians arrive with the equipment roster already loaded: Rotobrush rotary brush systems, Nikro negative-air machines, and filtration products from Honeywell, Aprilaire, and Guardsman. The same tools commercial crews use on hospitals and schools, brought to your kitchen table.
We don’t compete on the lowest teaser price. We compete on discipline. Written price before any work starts. Price does not move at the door. That’s The Garrison Standard, and it’s how we’ve operated since 2004.
Ductwork Cleaning in San Francisco
Ductwork Cleaning in San Francisco is rarely a simple brush-and-vac operation. Most of the city’s housing predates modern flex duct. In the Sunset and Richmond districts, many 1930s gravity-furnace systems use the open floor-joist cavities as return-air paths, so duct cleaning there often means cleaning structural framing, not metal ducts. Our crews carry HEPA-filtered negative-air equipment specifically to handle this: the Nikro machine pulls a controlled vacuum through the entire cavity system while rotary brushes agitate debris from accessible registers.
A typical residential Ductwork Cleaning in San Francisco runs $400 – $750 for a single-family or attached row house with up to 15 registers. Larger multi-unit buildings or commercial systems start around $800 and scale with access complexity. We worked a 1936 row house in the Outer Sunset where the original gravity furnace was still feeding a return plenum built from open floor joists. A camera inspection showed decades of rodent debris and corroded galvanized steel, and our negative-pressure setup with HEPA filtration pulled material straight out of the framing cavities. We sealed the worst leaks and rebuilt the return path with a proper ducted run tied to a MERV 13 filter.
When San Francisco Homes Need Ductwork Cleaning
The marine layer here keeps temperatures mild, but that same cool, damp air promotes corrosion and biological growth inside ducts more than typical inland heat does. Winter rains and summer fog drive humidity into crawlspaces and wall cavities, feeding mold and rodent activity that end up in the duct runs. If you smell mustiness when the furnace kicks on, or if registers show rust staining, it’s time for an inspection.
What Our Ductwork Cleaning Includes
We clean supply ducts, return ducts, and the air handler cabinet. For gravity-furnace homes with joist-cavity returns, we extend the cleaning to accessible framing and install temporary containment to prevent cross-contamination between units. Every job ends with a written report and before-and-after photos of your own system, not stock images.
Air Duct Inspection in San Francisco
Air Duct Inspection in San Francisco should happen before any cleaning quote is written. Because most of the city’s housing is attached or tightly stacked, a single job often requires coordinating with multiple units’ shared duct chases and landlord-tenant access. Our inspection maps the full system, identifies disconnected or crushed runs, and documents corrosion levels on galvanized steel that has been exposed to Pacific fog for decades. A standard residential Air Duct Inspection in San Francisco costs $150 – $250, credited toward the cleaning if you proceed.
We use video borescope cameras with LED lighting to record the interior condition of every accessible duct segment. In Bernal Heights and the Mission, we regularly find 1940s stucco homes where original sheet-metal ducts have separated at the seams, pulling unfiltered crawlspace air directly into the living space. The inspection finds these failures so the quote covers the actual work, not just a surface cleaning of functional ducts.
What the Inspection Documents
Our technician records duct material, corrosion grade, debris type, mechanical damage, and seal integrity. For multi-unit buildings, we note shared chase configurations and flag access requirements with neighboring units. You receive the video file and a written findings summary.
Inspection Before Purchase or Renovation
San Francisco’s competitive real estate market moves fast, but a $200 inspection can reveal $3,000 in concealed duct replacement before you close. We inspect pre-1950 properties for buyers and contractors in the Richmond, Sunset, and Pacific Heights markets regularly.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
Our trucks stock filtration and sealing products from Aprilaire, Abatement Technologies, and Guardsman, plus rotary cleaning heads from Rotobrush. We don’t order parts from a warehouse three states away. For San Francisco customers, that means a failed MERV filter or a cracked duct seal gets replaced during the same visit, not rescheduled for a parts run. Our technicians carry common sizes for the Honeywell and Aprilaire media cabinets we see in post-war apartment towers, and we keep Abatement Technologies HEPA pre-filters in stock for the negative-air machines that protect your home during agitation cleaning.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Corroded galvanized steel from Pacific fog exposure. Crews use standard suburban rotary brushes on 1930s gravity-furnace ducts and damage already-thin galvanized steel that has corroded from decades of salt-heavy marine air. We inspect steel thickness before selecting brush stiffness.
- Shared wall chases in tightly stacked row houses. A single-unit clean ignores shared wall chases, so debris pulled from one unit’s supply and return ducts migrates into adjoining units. We coordinate multi-unit access and install temporary isolation barriers.
- Disconnected or crushed runs in uninsulated crawlspaces. Source removal stops at the visible registers while disconnected or crushed runs in uninsulated crawlspaces keep pulling salty, damp air into the air handler and blower motor. Our inspection finds these before the quote.
- Open floor-joist returns in pre-war construction. In the Sunset and Richmond districts, original 1930s gravity-furnace ducts have never been retrofitted and their return-air paths are literally the open floor joist cavities. Cleaning means treating the building’s structural framing, not just metal pipes, and often requires sealing and rebuilding the return path to modern standards.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco, CA
Most San Francisco homeowners pay between $400 and $900 for complete residential air duct cleaning, depending on system size, access difficulty, and whether we find disconnected runs or corrosion damage requiring repair. A straightforward single-family home with 10 – 12 registers and modern flex duct falls at the lower end. A Richmond District row house with open joist returns, shared chases, and corroded galvanized steel can reach the upper range once sealing and partial rebuild work is included.
We quote one flat price per system, agreed in writing before any work starts. No per-vent pricing. No add-ons at the door. Commercial buildings, multi-unit properties, and homes with video inspection-confirmed damage receive custom quotes based on actual findings, not square-footage guessing.
Call (361) 326-5060 for a free estimate. We’ll schedule an inspection, show you what we find, and give you a written price you can hold us to.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our crews work throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco proper plus Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office, with local routing that keeps drive time minimal and arrival windows reliable.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco
Yes, cleaning is worth it, but only if the inspection first determines whether the steel is intact enough to clean without damage. We measure wall thickness with a borescope probe and select soft-bristle rotary heads or pure negative-air extraction for corroded sections. If the return path is open floor joists, we clean the cavity and then quote proper ducted replacement where the framing has degraded. Call (361) 326-5060 to schedule an inspection and get a written repair-or-clean recommendation.
We coordinate access with adjoining units and install temporary HEPA-filtered isolation barriers at chase junctions before starting agitation cleaning. Our Nikro negative-air machine maintains vacuum pressure throughout the shared run to prevent debris migration. We document the chase configuration during inspection so the quote includes this containment work upfront, not as a surprise add-on.
Yes. Furnace ducts move the same air year-round, and without summer AC cycling, many San Francisco systems have never been cleaned or sealed since installation. The marine layer pushes damp, salty air through crawlspaces and wall cavities, promoting mold and corrosion that a heating-only system recirculates continuously. Cleaning frequency depends on inspection findings, not AC presence.
We check duct material and age, corrosion grade on galvanized steel, seal integrity at joints and registers, presence of biological growth or rodent debris, and whether return paths are ducted metal or open structural cavities. For gravity-furnace homes, we also document the furnace-to-duct connection and filter location, since many lack modern filtration entirely. You receive video evidence of every finding.
We follow NADCA ACR guidelines for source removal and mechanical agitation, adapted for the thin-gauge steel and open-cavity returns common in San Francisco’s pre-war housing. That means lower brush RPMs, softer bristle compounds, and HEPA containment on negative-air machines to protect both the ductwork and the shared airspace in multi-unit buildings. The standard is the starting point; the condition of your specific system determines our technique.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Francisco since 2004.