Dryer Vent Cleaning?

Handymanservice

Any of you offer this service with any regularity? I did a job yesterday that was extremely profitable. It started as a simple service call to repair the ceiling exhaust fan (any idea why it burned out?), when I got there, I found the dryer in the washroom with a nylon over the exhaust! It has been 2 years like this.
I asked why and they told me that the dryer had burned up several motors and they got tired of replacing them?
After hooking the dryer back to the vent, I went outside and there was nothing coming from the vent. I went under the house and found the ductwork was intact, I proceeded to clean the duct and installed a new exterior vent box with removable screen.
I installed an adjustable dryer box vent from the dryer to the exhaust duct and gained the customer another 4-5 inches of washroom.
I am thinking about offering a nice $25-$35 dryer vent cleaning neighborhood special, maybe a certain area on a certain day, must call to schedule type thng.
I'm wondering if anyone else has done any simple (but valuable) services as an introduction to their company? I know PCPlumber has, but his scale is much different than mine.
Any suggestions?

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Tinstaafl

That could work, but would take an investment in doorknob hanger (or similar) ads and their placement, in order to get those calls "clustered" around the same date. You could even offer a contract for periodic maintenance calls.

I'm guessing that your best chance of success would be in the more affluent neighborhoods, where you'd have a better chance of people being home on any given day for a loosely scheduled appointment. Those are also the folks who are more likely to have a couple of extra bucks to spend on something that really isn't that hard for the average HO to take care of themselves.

dubz

It's a valuable service that most people don't know the importance of. Emphasize the fire hazard with info like this in your promotional material.

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JLTrim

Sounds good as long as you specify how much you'll do for the money... Mine hasn't been working well and I went to clean the vent Friday, it ended up taking me about 5 hours. The vent flap had rusted shut and it backed up the tube all the way into the dryer, had to take the damn thing almost completely apart to get all the lint and moisture out of there. I'd have gladly paid you $25-35 to do all that.

Mike(VA)

Sounds like a great idea. Just watch out for hack installed flex vent pipe. The box store foil paper stuff. Rip that crap open and you'll be venting the dryer into living spaces.

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Handymanservice

For sure.
The info I have been collecting has some facts and figures. Of course, it will show some "what if" type Photos, but I also want to post the positives. Faster drying time, lower cost of operation, longer lasting garments, less risk of fire, etc.
Definitely want to cluster for appointments, possibly door hanger or high school debate team fundraiser group with a clipboard in the neighborhoods scheduling specific days = canvassing, if you will.
There will be some type of restrictions obviously, but I am talking about the basic maintenance type cleaning . I have the "lint-eater" type system with adapters, it works real good.
It seems there will be a good market for add on services just for the dryers. Getting rid of the flexible (foil/plastic)vent hose behind the dryer seems to be the number one benefit we could offer, since most are kinked or torn anyway.
I agree, most homeowners could easily do this, but they don't. Luckily, HO's don't seem to take their best interest to heart and end up neglecting a lot of things they could easily do, that's the reason I am in business
For those that haven't looked into it yet, I am thinking there could be a pretty good market for this service. Laundromat's, Property Managers, Condo & Home Owner Associations, along with the general public? I know there are some major players that specialize in this stuff, but I am talking about add-on services we could all offer.
I'll keep you posted to see how this progresses over the next few months. I am going to my Fire Departments to see if they have any local stats instead of using national figures only.

If anyone else is already doing this and has any marketing/advertising, to share, it would be appreciated. When I get my program together, I will post for review!

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"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

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fez-head

Here you go Chuck - Dryer Vent Cleaning

I looked into dryer vent cleaning as well several years ago and studied this company pretty hard. I don't know what happened but their web site used to be much more professional. Also do an image search for dryer fires and you will get some scary pics along with warnings and articles from insurance companies.

It never panned our for us - but then again I didn't push it real hard either.

Good luck

stp57

Hey, I like that dryer box idea. How did you get the ad posted here, or do the advertisers work that fast on this forum? Thanks for the info, but what if a stud falls directly behind the dryers vent?
Steve

Handymanservice

Thanks Jesse.
Are you residential and commercial? For some reason I was thinking you were commercial based.
I'm going to give you a call again later this week.

__________________
"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

http://www.yourhandymansite.com

greg24k

HD I hope you took the screen off the exhaust vent on the outside.

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elarsen

My girlfriend lived in a townhouse and they hired out a guy to clean out the dryer vents for risk of fire. He had a special vacuum he used inside and then went on the roof (because it was a middle unit) and got alot of lint out of it. If you can have an association get you in. Then you could do all of them. Good money in that I bet

SLSTech

Its called Google Ad's - they look for keywords & put an ad in that slot.

The box generally goes in new construction & is planned for - for remodels, you find an open stud bay were it fits & redo the vent line as required

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stp57

Thanks Sean,
Steve

Pearce Services

I have been wondering why that is such an ignored maintenance item for most people.

Some pitfalls.....if the exterior louvre is missing, you may find a birdsnest inside the vent. So timing on this one is essential, early spring before the birds lay their eggs, would be best.

You will likely find torn or inadequate vent... Upgrade opportunities.

You will likely find a major mess behind the dryer, cleaning and painting the areas they missed, last time they painted...Upgrade opportunity

You will likely find that the inside of the dryer vent, from the lint trap to the exhaust port is full of lint, sand, and other debris, cleaning this out should be relatively easy to do.

Other Add-ons....Washer machine- replace hoses with braided hose with integral shut-offs

Adding or upgrading shelving/storage. Installing a hide-away ironing board.

A chance to inspect for water or mold damage might pay off as well.

I really think that you could make a market for yourself.

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Kevin

www.BadcoDoors.com

fez-head

I would say that we are about 50/50 - the commercial side is the most dificult to break into and makes us unique - so that is what I tell people we specialize in.......... Sort of our Elevator Pitch

fez-head

Very good points and easy upgrades.

Exterior vinyl vents may last 10 years around here if you are lucky and then we are replacing them with new.

Handymanservice

This is what I was thinking too. An underserved market, uneducated (to these hazards) consumers = a great opportunity for added on service.
A lot of the remodeling/GC companies on here that are slow could easily pick up by offering this type of fill in service.
Thanks for all the info everyone.

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"You can shear a sheep every year, but you can only skin him once!" Remember that when dealing with your customers and pricing.

http://www.yourhandymansite.com