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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Before
AfterAir Duct Cleaning Company in Berkeley, CA
Air duct cleaning in Berkeley typically costs $450 – $800 for a standard single-family home, and most jobs are completed in 3 – 5 hours. Berkeley’s housing stock, much of it built between 1920 and 1970, means older ductwork, tighter crawl spaces, and years of accumulated dust that newer systems simply don’t carry. We’re Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning, part of the Relay Home Co. family (founded 2005), and we work across every Berkeley neighborhood with professional-grade equipment and a written price before any work starts. Call us at (737) 727-2314 for a quote.
Why Berkeley Homes Are Different
Berkeley’s ductwork tells a story about the city itself. The hills above campus, the flats near San Pablo, the craftsman homes climbing into the Berkeley Hills off Grizzly Peak Boulevard: many of these houses have been standing since before duct sealing was a standard practice. What we see constantly in Berkeley is ductwork original to 1940s and 1950s construction, with joints that have loosened over decades of Bay Area humidity cycles and accumulated decades of dust in return plenums that were never designed for modern furnace airflow.
The marine layer matters too. Berkeley sits right in the path of fog that rolls through the Golden Gate, which means interior humidity swings that cause dust to cling to duct walls rather than blow through. Combined with older single-pane windows and less airtight building envelopes than new construction, Berkeley systems pull in more outdoor particulate. That fine gray silt you see around vent registers in a 1930s North Berkeley bungalow is not just dust, it is fog-carried particulate, and it settles in the ducts the same way it settles on your windowsills. Homes in the flats near Ashby and Sacramento deal with a different issue: a century of accumulated debris in floor registers that have been walked over and swept into since the Hoover administration.
Our Main Berkeley Services
Berkeley homeowners call us most often for two things: dryer vents that are clogged with lint in older laundry rooms, and full air duct cleaning in homes where allergies or persistent dust have become a daily frustration. Each service has its own Berkeley page with pricing detail and local specifics.
Dryer Vent Cleaning in Berkeley
Berkeley laundry rooms are often tucked into basements or converted back porches, which means dryer vent runs that are longer and twistier than in newer construction. A 25-foot run with three elbows is common in a 1920s Elmwood home, and every bend is a place where lint collects and airflow drops. We run a rotary brush the full length of the vent, then pull the loosened lint out with a HEPA vacuum so it does not end up blown onto your back steps. Full detail is on our Dryer Vent Cleaning in Berkeley page.
Air Duct Cleaning in Berkeley
Most Berkeley homes we clean have never had their ducts cleaned, which means the first job is the deepest: years of dust, pet hair, and construction debris from long-ago remodels sitting in supply and return runs. We use a Rotobrush rotary brush system paired with negative-pressure extraction, meaning the loosened debris goes straight into the HEPA vacuum instead of back into your living room. Older homes in the Berkeley Hills with steep roof pitches and awkward crawl space access add labor time. See Air Duct Cleaning in Berkeley for full pricing and what a typical job includes.
HVAC Cleaning in Berkeley
HVAC cleaning in Berkeley goes beyond the ducts to the blower, coils, and drip pan inside the air handler. In older Berkeley systems, particularly gravity furnaces in 1920s homes near the Gourmet Ghetto, we regularly find coil surfaces caked with a layer fine enough to cut cooling efficiency by a noticeable margin. We clean the coil, blower wheel, and housing, then check the drain line so condensate does not back up into the pan the first warm week of fall. The full scope is on our HVAC Cleaning in Berkeley page.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Brands We Service in Berkeley
We clean and service ductwork tied to every major system brand found in Berkeley homes: Honeywell, Aprilaire, and Abatement Technologies filtration units included. Our trucks carry the replacement filters and parts for the systems we see most. See our brands for the full list.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning Company in Berkeley, CA
| Service | Typical range in Berkeley |
|---|---|
| Standard air duct cleaning (single system) | $450 – $800 |
| Air duct cleaning (larger homes, 2+ systems) | $800 – $1,400 |
| Dryer vent cleaning | $99 – $189 |
| Dryer vent cleaning (long or complex runs) | $189 – $299 |
| HVAC cleaning (basic system) | $350 – $650 |
| HVAC cleaning (with coil and blower) | $650 – $1,100 |
| Coil cleaning (add-on) | $150 – $300 |
| Replacement filter installation | $40 – $90 |
| Dryer vent repair or replacement | $150 – $400 |
What pushes a Berkeley job toward the top of the range: floor registers that require removal and resealing in hundred-year-old hardwood, crawl space access so tight the technician has to belly through, and duct runs that were never designed for modern cleaning tools. No matter the number, you get a written price before a single duct is touched, and it does not change at the door.
Neighborhoods We Serve in Berkeley
We run crews across every Berkeley neighborhood, from the flatlands to the ridge line. Our scheduling approach means we group Berkeley jobs by day so we can reach most homes within a few days of your call, not a few weeks.
- North Berkeley and the Gourmet Ghetto
- Elmwood and Claremont
- Berkeley Hills and Grizzly Peak
- West Berkeley and the flats near San Pablo Avenue
- South Berkeley near Ashby and Sacramento
Service Area – Cities Near Berkeley
We serve the entire East Bay corridor around Berkeley. If you are in Emeryville, CA, Albany, CA, El Cerrito, CA, or Piedmont, CA, our crews cover those neighborhoods on the same Berkeley-area schedule. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from our San Francisco Bay Area office, with local crews serving Berkeley every day.
Serving Berkeley, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Berkeley 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 Company in Berkeley
Most Berkeley jobs are scheduled within three to five business days. Since we group Berkeley-area appointments by day, your arrival window is tight, you get a live trackable arrival time through the Relay Standard, and our background-checked technicians arrive in uniform. Call (737) 727-2314 for the next available slot.
No. Duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning, and HVAC cleaning are considered maintenance, not construction, so no City of Berkeley permit is required. The one exception is if a full system replacement or structural change is needed, in which case a licensed HVAC contractor handles the permit. We will tell you upfront if that applies.
Before-and-after photo documentation is built into every job under The Relay Standard. You see the inside of your ducts before we start and after we finish, on your phone, along with a digital invoice you can pay by link. If anything was missed, the 365-Day Done Right Promise means we return and correct it at no charge. Call (737) 727-2314 to book.
What happens when you call
- 1A real person answersNo phone trees - talk to a local air duct cleaning pro.
- 2You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched. No surprises.
- 3We come out and measureLicensed & insured, at a time that suits you - the visit and the quote are both free.
- 4You get the price in writingLine-itemed, yours to keep, and nothing starts until you say go.
What Berkeley Customers Say
"Booked a slot in the app, got a reminder text, and watched the crew's van on the map as it came. Cleaned all the vents and the main trunk. Easy from start to finish."
- Rob J."Cleaning plus HVAC coil clean. Tech texted when he was ten minutes away. No surprises on the price."
- Evan S."Dryer vent fix fixed the burning smell. The clog was behind the elbow and the whole laundry room smells normal now."
- Dennis K.