How to Start an Air Duct Cleaning Business (And Grow it)

1. Get Certified and Licensed

Qualifying for air duct cleaning certifications and licenses gives you the necessary skill set, tool proficiency, and expertise to deliver high-quality services and successfully run your business. 

Licenses and certifications also demonstrate your commitment to professionalism and adherence to industry standards, giving potential customers and homeowners peace of mind.

To become a certified duct cleaner, you must get a state HVAC license and a certification from the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA).

Before getting the state HVAC license, you need to gain some experience as an air duct cleaner and pass your state’s Mechanical Contractor License Exam.

Beyond a professional certification, you also need to get a business license. The license requirements vary from state to state, and some municipalities have additional requirements.

Check SBA’s licenses and permits guide to discover your state’s licensing requirements. 

2. Create an Air Duct Business Plan

Creating a business plan is crucial to running a successful air duct business. It allows you to identify trends, discover challenges, and develop a success roadmap.

The first step in creating a business plan is running an in-depth target market and competitor analysis. This helps you validate your business idea and discover market opportunities and competitor vulnerabilities to exploit.

To perform your analysis, survey competitor websites, social media pages, and potential customers and gather data from industry reports and agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau. 

What are your competitors offering? What are customers complaining about? Is there an opportunity you can use to stand out? Can you compete favorably, judging from the addressable market size compared to the number of competitors?

For example, let's say you discover that customers complain incessantly about the loud noise generated by vacuum pumps. You can decide to hand out earplugs or notify customers about noise levels before the cleaning process.

After research, the next step is creating a business plan with these key sections:

• Executive summary: Briefly state the document’s goal and your company’s mission, values, and target market.

• Company description: Provide an exhaustive description of your company, including its name, business model, workforce, legal structure, services, and location. This section is crucial for proving your idea’s revenue-generation potential. You can mention your certifications and air duct cleaning expertise.

• Market analysis: Summarize your findings from competitors and market research. Use visual aids such as graphs and pie charts to communicate your findings effectively.

• Target market: Provide a detailed breakdown of your target market, including its demographics, current pain points, and income bracket.

• Sales and marketing strategy: List all the marketing strategies you plan to use to attract new customers, alongside their execution plans and time frames.

• Financial projections: Give a five-year forecast of your cash flow, revenue, overhead, and income to prove the company’s viability to potential investors.

3. Get Financing

Securing startup capital is key to setting up an air duct cleaning company. In addition to getting the necessary licenses and certifications, you’ll need capital to buy tools and equipment, acquire licenses, hire employees, and promote your services.

Before you seek financing, create a budget that factors in all your expenses, with a buffer to accommodate market volatility and unexpected price increases.

With your budget and business plan, secure capital to cover your startup costs. These are the most common funding sources:

• Personal savings and assets: If you prefer to retain total control, consider self-funding your venture with savings or money from asset sales.

• Small Business Administration (SBA) loans: The federal government provides grants and low-interest loans to startups through the SBA. However, the approval process is lengthy, and collateral is required. Consult your local SBA branch to discover your qualifications for such loans and grants.

• Bank loans: Banks and credit unions offer loans to small businesses, typically with strict qualification criteria and collateral requirements. Consult a loan consultant or financial advisor to ensure you pick a loan with favorable terms.

• Angel investors: You can seek funding from investors who give capital in exchange for an ownership stake in your company. To reduce disagreements, it’s advisable to pick an investor whose interests align with yours. 

• Crowdfunding platforms: You can raise funds from Kickstarter, Patreon, and GoFundMe. To succeed with crowdfunding, craft a compelling narrative, such as your passion for increasing indoor air quality.

4. Register Your Air Duct Business 

Air duct businesses must register with the relevant authorities in their jurisdiction to comply with government regulations, avoid hefty fines, and prevent closure.

To register your air duct company, follow these steps:

Pick a business name and trademark it

Choose a name that's catchy and easily remembered by customers. Avoid using your own name to future-proof the business brand—this ensures the company name will work even if you’re no longer involved.

Once you've picked a business name, trademark it so no other business can use it without your permission, and then confirm an internet domain name is also available.

Choose a legal entity (business structure)

Your choice of legal entity (sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation) significantly impacts your business. It influences your liability in case of lawsuits and determines how you file taxes. 

Consider these options when picking a business structure.

1. Sole proprietorship: In most states, forming a sole proprietorship is free and simple. Sole proprietors are taxed twice on their business profit and personal salary. However, they can deduct employee benefits and work-related travel costs when filing taxes. 

Also, the owner and the business are legally recognized as one entity, exposing personal assets to business liabilities.

2. Partnership: Here, all partners share the control, risk, and business profits using a formula stated in the partnership agreement. You can choose to register as a general or limited partnership.

General partnerships have no liability protection, exposing partners to business liabilities. Also, only the partners file taxes on their personal returns.

Limited partnerships have two types of partners: general and limited. General partners make all the business decisions and are responsible for all liabilities. On the other hand, limited or silent partners remain behind the scenes and are shielded from business liabilities.

3. Limited liability company (LLC): This is a legal entity controlled by owners who are insulated from business liabilities such as lawsuits and business-related debts. However, running LLCs can be complex. Also, LLC members are taxed twice—on the income generated and on their dividends.

Apply for an EIN

The last step is to apply for an employer identification number (EIN) from the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website. You’ll need this number to file taxes, register your business, and open a business account.

Recommended read: Consult SBA’s business registration guide for a detailed breakdown of each state’s registration process.

5. Handle Finances & Accounting

You must open a business account and set up a bookkeeping process to handle accounting needs, simplify financial reporting, and easily track revenue growth. 

This also simplifies tax filing and empowers you to allocate resources to different business processes such as marketing accurately.

Here's how to open a business bank account and set up an accounting process:

Open a business bank account

Opening a business bank account streamlines tax filing and invoicing. 

As a new business, open a checking account with little or no minimum balance requirement, fee-free transactions, ATM coverage, and an intuitive online banking platform. 

Also, apply for a business credit card to cover small expenses and build your credit.

Set up accounting

Air duct companies need a streamlined accounting system to maintain accurate financial records, comply with tax laws, and make data-driven decisions.

First, pick between cash or accrual accounting methods. 

The cash accounting method records a transaction if money changes hands. Conversely, accrual accounting records a transaction immediately after the service is delivered, even if cash didn't change hands.

Small businesses that intend to avoid securing funding from investors and venture capitalists can use cash accounting. However, the IRS mandates that companies securing investor capital and generating above $5 million in revenue use accrual accounting. 

After picking an accounting method, select the time interval for paying vendors, reconciling records, and depositing cash in the bank. 

Then, select tools for managing payroll, recording transactions, and collecting customer payments. However, instead of paying for separate tools to handle each accounting process, invest in ServiceTitan’s all-in-one Accounting software.

ServiceTitan’s Accounting software integrates with QuickBooks, Intacct, and Viewpoint Vista, eliminating manual data entry headaches and errors.

Field technicians can use the Field Service App to collect customer payments, which front-office employees can access immediately, ensuring accurate financial reporting.

ServiceTitan’s Accounting platform also has an account payable feature, allowing users to schedule and pay multiple vendor invoices simultaneously and export reports to accounting software like QuickBooks. This keeps your finances organized and ensures timely payments to avoid late fees.

Lastly, the Accounts Receivable report section gives an at-a-glance snapshot of all outstanding invoices. It displays the debtor's name and the exact amount owed in one place, allowing you to follow up on overdue payments and ensure a healthy cash flow.

6. Invest In Air Duct Cleaning Equipment

Most of your startup costs will go into purchasing air duct cleaning equipment.

While the upfront costs of quality equipment might seem high, they save you money in the long run. You'll spend less on repairs and experience fewer breakdowns and less downtime. 

A better way to save costs is to start with quality essential air duct equipment such as the following and buy the rest later:

• Portable or truck-mounted HVAC system vacuum collector

• Air compressor

• Hand-held vacuum

• HEPA-rated filter

• Brushes

• Pneumatic agitation tools such as blowguns, air whips, and air skippers

• Hand-held mirror

Ask other air duct business owners to find suppliers for each of the above-listed equipment and tools. You can also consult air duct industry supplier directories and trade associations.

Then, once you have a shortlist of suppliers, use the following factors to select those most likely to deliver the right equipment:

• Online customer reviews

• Years of experience—the more, the better

• Pick suppliers located close to you to reduce lead time

• Great payment terms and discounts

Now, it's your responsibility to monitor your inventory so all equipment and tools are in optimal condition and technicians have the necessary materials for each job.

Managing multiple equipment, tools, and materials can quickly become a tangled mess as your business grows. Here's where ServiceTitan's Inventory Management platform comes in.  

It streamlines the inventory monitoring process, allowing you to maintain optimum stock levels and focus on what matters most—serving your customers.

ServiceTitan’s Inventory Management platform has an Item Overview report, which shows all the available materials and tools at a glance. The report captures each item's name, description, available quantity, average cost, and total value.

Another ServiceTitan Inventory Management platform feature worth mentioning is the templates. Users can create inventory templates to allocate items in the required quantity to different locations.

ServiceTitan’s Inventory Management platform also automatically updates your replenishment schedule to document any item a field technician adds to a customer’s invoice. 

This also triggers a purchase order notification, so you replace the used item, ensuring technicians have the materials and tools for handling each job.

7. Price Your Air Duct Cleaning Services

Attaching the correct monetary value to your services is vital to balancing profitability with ensuring maximum customer satisfaction. It also ensures you generate sufficient revenue to invest in growth and expand your service offering while still attracting the right customers.

Here are some things to consider when pricing your services:

• Labor and material costs.

• Your company’s overhead—which includes equipment repair expenses, rent, and insurance costs.

• Each service’s complexity. For example, dryer vent cleaning involves intricate processes, which justify its high price.

• Competitor prices.

• Your preferred profit margin.

After setting prices, select a preferred pricing strategy—hourly, flat, or hybrid pricing. Consider each strategy’s pros and cons before making your choice.

Further reading: Read more on how to optimize your prices for profitability using ServiceTitan.

8. Get Air Duct Business Insurance

Accidents and unexpected events, such as client property damage and theft, make purchasing air duct business insurance necessary.

Air duct business insurance protects your business from covered events such as work-related accidents, lawsuits, and theft.

Here are the basic types of insurance policies you’ll need to protect your business from liabilities:

• General liability insurance offers protection from personal injury, property damage, and false advertising claims brought by customers.

• Equipment insurance pays for lost, damaged, or stolen air duct equipment. Some policies also cover leasing costs and compensate for income lost due to equipment breakdown.

• Property insurance protects company or rented assets, such as business records, furniture, and signage, from unforeseen events such as fires and natural disasters.

• Commercial auto insurance provides collision and liability coverage for company vehicles. All states except Virginia and New Hampshire mandate businesses to have insurance coverage for company-owned vehicles.

• Worker’s compensation pays for employee benefits in the event of work-related accidents. Every state except Texas requires businesses to have a workers’ compensation insurance policy.

How Much Does it Cost to Start an Air Duct Cleaning Business?

Starting an air duct cleaning business can cost between $62 and $35,923. The costs depend on different factors such as:

• Location: Startup costs vary depending on your location’s cost of living and business registration fees. Living costs also impact office space leasing costs, taxes, employee wages, and insurance premiums.

• Equipment and tools: You will spend less if you buy used tools and equipment or have some already available.  

• Borrowing costs: Securing funding from banks with high interest rates and inflexible repayment terms costs more.

How Do You Grow an Air Duct Cleaning Business?

Launching an air duct cleaning business is just the beginning of the journey. You need to implement the right strategies to fuel growth and profitability. Remember, stagnant businesses rarely stay afloat.

Here are seven ways to grow your air duct cleaning business:

1. Recruit and train the right people

A company's success lies in recruiting and training the right people to deliver exceptional customer service.

To hire the right people, pay attention to technical skills (equipment proficiency) and soft skills (communication, teamwork, and excellent customer service) during interviews. 

After onboarding employees, provide the right tools, technology, and training to boost their productivity and efficiency.

For example, ServiceTitan's Call Booking software empowers customer service representatives (CSRs) to deliver personalized service. CSRs can see precisely who's calling before picking up the call, so they greet each caller by name.

The software also helps CSRs collect the correct information using prompts and custom scripts and record responses using drop-down menus.

Furthermore, on-site techs can access all the information that CSRs collected during the intake call on their mobile tablets via ServiceTitan’s Field Service App.

The techs can listen to the intake call recording and see the customer's name, address, previous job history, and property data.

This information empowers them to build rapport with customers, identify problems beyond what the customer mentioned, and spot upsell opportunities.

Air duct companies use this feature, and several others, to grow their business. For example, Justin Tarr has massively grown his company, Daffy Ducts, since he started using ServiceTitan.

“We really just started rocking with three trucks, three territories, and (attic) insulation is currently half a week,” Tarr said. “If this continues at the pace it is, we'll probably get close to $1 million (in business this year)—$800,000, $900,000 maybe. And then we go from there.

“Next year is easily over a million for us.”

Pro tip: Consider using ServiceTitan’s invoice template to help on-site technicians generate templates.

2. Create a digital marketing strategy

Nowadays, word-of-mouth advertising and organic referrals can only take you so far. You need to reach customers online via digital marketing.

Digital marketing involves promoting your services to prospects via internet-enabled channels such as social media platforms and websites. It helps to boost your online presence, attract leads, and build awareness.

Here are some of the most effective digital marketing channels for air duct cleaning companies:

PPC

PPC advertising involves bidding for ad spots on search engine result pages, paying whenever someone clicks on them.

Consider using ServiceTitan's Home Service Marketing software to track the effectiveness of your PPC campaign and maximize your ad spend.

The platform integrates with Google Analytics and Google Ads tools to deliver your campaign's exact ROI and the specific zip codes generating the most revenue.

ServiceTitan’s Home Service Marketing software also has a feature called Ads Optimizer. This feature uses ServiceTitan conversion data to train the Google Ads system to optimize your ad’s targeting. This ensures that only high-quality leads see your ads, increasing conversions.

Another feature of this tool is the Local Services Ads platform, which collates job bookings from your Local Services Ads with your ServiceTitan CRM. This makes it easy to track conversions and follow up on missed opportunities.

SEO

This involves optimizing your website to rank highly on search engines, drive traffic, and drive leads.

SEO involves implementing backlinking, local SEO strategies, and creating a Google Business Profile.

A key aspect of SEO is building and maintaining your online reputation. First, you should encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews, and second, you should respond to all reviews, whether negative or positive. ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro Reputation tool automates both processes.

The tool lets you set up customer review requests triggered whenever a technician clicks “complete” on a job from their mobile tablet. This lets you easily collect multiple customer reviews, increasing your local search rankings.

You can also configure the platform’s system to notify you whenever customers leave reviews. You can then respond to them from a central dashboard that links to over 60 review sites and listing directories. 

Email marketing

Air duct cleaning companies can engage with prospects and customers by sending personalized and hyper-relevant content via email to promote their services and build trust.

Servicetitan’s Marketing Pro – Email allows you to create and send emails using professionally designed templates tailored to the air duct cleaning industry.

With just a few clicks, you can create custom audiences using ServiceTitan data such as unfilled estimates, expiring memberships, and previous job history.

Also, ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro – Email performance dashboard highlights the emails generating revenue, allowing you to identify campaigns to continue or discontinue. 

Social media marketing

Social media marketing allows you to connect with many prospects using social media. It’s also an excellent medium for proving your expertise and engaging with prospects.

To use social media marketing, focus on portraying your brand personably. Post behind-the-scenes and before-and-after images and memes.

Also, respond to brand mentions and participate in industry-relevant conversations.

3. Invest in customer experience

What do you do when the clothing store salesperson treats you poorly? You leave, right?

Most customers will do the same thing, with 54 percent saying they abandon a brand after just one bad experience.

Conversely, a recent survey by Bain & Co. shows that loyal customers who return because they’re treated well outspend new customers by 67 percent. So, investing in the customer experience is not just good practice; it's a smart business decision.

One way to invest in customer experience is to use ServiceTitan’s Customer Experience platform, which lets you update customers throughout the job cycle.

With the platform, you can remind customers of their appointments via SMS and empower them to track the technician’s exact arrival time using GPS technology.

This ensures techs arrive on time and assures customers you’re on top of their situation.

4. Leverage offline marketing

Offline marketing strategies are great for reaching non-internet users and evading the intense competition typical of digital marketing channels.

Some offline marketing strategies you can use are:

• Flyers: Create and distribute flyers in your local service area. Place your phone number and physical address in a conspicuous part of the flyer so people can easily reach you.

• Direct mail: You can send marketing materials directly to the mailboxes of your target customers. You also can promote special discounts to encourage them to contact you.

• Radio ads: Craft a radio ad script highlighting your service offerings and directing listeners to visit your website or social media page. To streamline performance tracking, assign a special phone number to each radio ad.

• Outdoor advertising: Place marketing materials such as street banners and signage in areas with high foot traffic. Ensure the text is legible to passersby.

Consider using ServiceTitan’s Direct Mail platform to create, manage, and track direct mail campaigns.

The platform’s drag-and-drop builder allows you to create eye-catching postcards from templates. The tool also allows you to segment audiences using criteria such as expiring memberships, ensuring you send them content hyper-relevant to their current needs.

You can also use the tool’s performance dashboard to track each direct mail’s deliverability and performance.

5. Build partnerships with other local businesses

Partnering with other local businesses helps grow your reach, connect with prospects, and monitor industry trends.

Local business partnerships are also a great way to generate referrals and get advice from successful business owners.

Here are some local businesses you can partner with:

• HVAC service providers

• Real estate agencies

• Commercial cleaning companies

• Construction companies

• Property management companies

• Asthma clinics

• Construction stores

6. List your business in relevant directories

Directories are simply lists of businesses alongside their contact information, such as website links, social media handles, and phone numbers.

Listing in directories (aka building citations) helps increase your search rankings.

It also boosts your odds of appearing in local map packs (a search engine feature containing three high-ranking local businesses, their details, and a map insert with pins showing their physical location).

Here are some free directories you can list in:

• Google Business Profile

• Foursquare

• EZlocal

• Superpages

• Yellow Pages

• Nextdoor

Beyond listing in multiple directories, it’s important to ensure your name, address, and phone number are consistent across the Internet so Google can identify your business as legitimate and reliable.

You can use ServiceTitan’s Listings Management feature to track your appearance across various listings and ensure consistency, to increase customer trust and rankings.

7. Create a referral program

A referral program drives word-of-mouth referrals by incentivizing existing customers to recommend your business to others—friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues.

Referral programs are a great way to generate high-quality leads, as most customers prefer buying based on recommendations from people they know instead of advertisements.

To create a referral program, follow these steps:

• Pick an appealing incentive to encourage customers to sign up for your referral program.

• Have a clear referral program objective.

• Deliver excellent customer service so satisfied customers organically recommend others.

• Promote your referral program via your website, social media posts, and email newsletters.

Over to You

These tips can help you transition from an air duct cleaner to a successful entrepreneur.

However, remember empowering your team is just as crucial. Investing in the right technology can significantly boost employee productivity and efficiency, allowing you to handle more customers and expand your service offerings.

So, consider investing in air duct cleaning software such as ServiceTitan.

ServiceTitan is a software home service companies use to streamline business processes such as scheduling, dispatching, accounting, and invoicing. Over 100,000 contractors nationwide use the software.