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
AfterFull System Cleaning in Austin, TX
Full system cleaning is a complete cleaning of every air-moving component in your HVAC system: supply ducts, return ducts, the air handler cabinet, evaporator coil housing, blower compartment, and all registers and grilles. In Austin, a full system cleaning typically runs between $350 and $750 for a single-family home, completed in one visit, with a written price delivered before any panel comes off. If your system has never been cleaned, or if it’s been more than five years since a documented cleaning, this is the service that actually addresses the whole problem – not just part of it.
At CleanRun, our Air Duct Cleaning services include full system cleaning that is backed by our 365-Day Done Right Promise, includes a photo record of every duct run before and after work begins, and is quoted at a written price before we touch anything. Tomas Reyes built CleanRun on that model in 2013, and it hasn’t changed. If you want to talk through what your system likely needs before scheduling, call us at (737) 243-9544 – a live person picks up every call.
For an overview of how full system cleaning fits into our broader service, visit our Air Duct Cleaning in Austin page.
When You Need Full System Cleaning
A partial cleaning – vacuuming a few registers without addressing the plenum, coil housing, or blower – is a common industry shortcut. If any of the following describe your situation, a full system cleaning is the appropriate scope.
- You’ve never had a documented cleaning done. Most Austin homes built before 2010 have never had a verified, photo-documented duct cleaning. That’s 15-plus years of construction dust, cedar pollen, and Central Texas caliche accumulation moving through every supply run every time the system kicks on.
- Visible debris at the registers, even after changing the filter. If you’re wiping grey-brown dust off register faces within days of a filter change, the buildup is upstream of the filter – inside the plenum or duct runs themselves.
- You’re getting unexplained allergy flare-ups indoors. Austin’s cedar and oak seasons are brutal enough outdoors. When a contaminated blower is redistributing stored allergens through the supply side, indoor air quality can actually be worse than outside during peak season.
- The system was recently renovated or remodeled. Drywall dust from even a single-room renovation travels through open return registers and coats duct surfaces. In homes in Mueller, South Congress, or Allandale where older structures get frequent updates, we see this on nearly every post-renovation job.
- You’re buying a home and the inspection noted duct buildup. A home inspection notation about duct condition is worth acting on before move-in, when the system is easiest to access and you have leverage to negotiate the cost.
- Your energy bills have climbed without a change in usage habits. A coil or blower coated in debris forces longer run cycles to meet setpoint temperatures. If your Oncor bill spiked this past summer without a clear explanation, restricted airflow is a plausible contributor.
Our Full System Cleaning Process
The word “full” in full system cleaning means something specific. Here is exactly what happens on a CleanRun job from the moment the truck parks to the moment we hand you the photo record.
- Pre-job inspection and written price. Before any equipment comes off the truck, a technician walks the accessible duct runs, photographs the interior of a representative sample of ducts using a camera wand, and documents the condition of the air handler cabinet and blower compartment. You receive a written price based on what was actually found – not a price based on square footage alone. This is Haven Standard Clause 1: the written price exists before work starts, without exception.
- Negative-pressure establishment at the air handler. We connect a high-volume negative-pressure extraction unit – using Abatement Technologies equipment rated for professional duct cleaning – to the air handler cabinet. Negative-pressure extraction means the entire duct system is placed under suction before we begin agitating debris. Any dislodged material travels toward the machine, not into your living space. This is the technical difference between professional duct cleaning and running a shop vac at a register opening.
- Rotary brush agitation through every supply and return run. Using Rotobrush equipment, a technician works through each individual duct run, from the register back toward the plenum (the central distribution box connected to the air handler). The rotary brush dislodges debris from duct walls while the negative-pressure machine pulls it out. Every run is brushed – not sampled, not skipped.
- Plenum, blower, and evaporator coil housing cleaning. The plenum is where most of the heaviest debris accumulates because it’s the first surface downstream of the air handler. The blower wheel – the fan that moves air through the system – is wiped and inspected. The evaporator coil housing is cleaned of surface debris. We do not spray coil cleaners or apply chemicals unless that is explicitly part of a separately quoted scope.
- Register and grille cleaning. Every supply and return register is removed, cleaned of dust and debris buildup, and reinstalled. In Austin homes with older painted or powder-coated registers, we document any pre-existing finish damage before removal so the photo record is clear.
- Post-job camera inspection and photo record delivery. After cleaning, every duct run is re-photographed using the same camera wand used in the pre-job inspection. The before-and-after photo set is part of your standard job record – you receive it because it’s how we prove the work was done, not as an optional add-on. Tomas Reyes established this practice on CleanRun’s first job in 2013, and it applies to every job we do.
BeforeAfterFull System Cleaning Pricing in Austin
Full system cleaning in Austin costs between $350 and $750 for most single-family homes. The written price is fixed before work starts and doesn’t change based on what’s found inside – what we quote is what you pay.
Here’s what drives the range:
| Factor | Lower End | Higher End |
|---|---|---|
| Home size | Under 1,800 sq ft, 1 system | 3,000+ sq ft, 2+ systems |
| Number of duct runs | 8-12 runs | 20+ runs |
| System access | Ground-level air handler, open attic | Tight attic, confined space, multiple access points |
| Debris level | Light to moderate buildup | Heavy accumulation, post-renovation debris, rodent material |
| Duct material | Standard flex duct, good condition | Older rigid duct, partially deteriorated, mixed materials |
Residential Duct Cleaning for two-story homes in Tarrytown or West Lake Hills with systems in tight attic spaces and 20-plus runs typically land near the top of that range. A single-story home in Pflugerville or Round Rock with a ground-level air handler and 10 runs usually comes in at the lower end.
A few things that are always included in the price with no add-on fees: the pre-job camera inspection, the rotary brush cleaning of every run, the blower and plenum cleaning, register removal and reinstallation, and the before-and-after photo record. Sanitizing treatments, UV light installation, or coil chemical cleaning are separate services quoted separately – you’ll never see them added to an invoice you didn’t approve in writing first.
If you’ve received a written estimate from another company, bring it. We’ll put our number next to it in writing – that’s our free second opinion, available at no cost, no pressure.
Call (737) 243-9544 for a written quote. We don’t do “call for pricing” – the price is written before any work starts.
What Makes a Full System Cleaning Different from a Standard Cleaning
The air duct cleaning industry has a well-documented problem with scope misrepresentation. A “$79 whole-house special” almost always means a technician attaches a small vacuum to two or three registers and calls it done. The blower isn’t touched. The plenum isn’t cleaned. The coil housing gets a wipe at best. The customer gets noise and a receipt.
Full system cleaning, done properly under NADCA methodology (the National Air Duct Cleaners Association standard), covers every component that air contacts from the return side to the supply registers. That includes the air handler cabinet interior, the blower wheel and housing, the plenum on both the supply and return sides, every individual duct run, and every register face.
The difference is detectable. On a recent job in a 2004-built home in Steiner Ranch, the pre-job camera showed a 3-inch debris shelf at the first elbow off the supply plenum – the kind of accumulation that builds when only register-level cleaning has been done over multiple years. That kind of material doesn’t dislodge with suction alone. It requires rotary brush agitation under negative pressure, which is why professional-grade equipment from Rotobrush matters for this specific task.
CleanRun photographs that shelf before touching it, and photographs the same elbow after cleaning. The before-and-after comparison is part of your job record. That’s the documentation that separates real work from vacuum noise.
Austin-Specific Conditions That Affect Your Ducts
Austin’s climate creates a specific set of conditions that accelerate duct contamination compared to drier or cooler markets.
The combination of high summer humidity and aggressive air conditioning means evaporator coils and the air handler cabinet interior accumulate moisture condensation regularly. Debris that lands on a damp surface bonds to it differently than debris in a dry duct – it compacts and can support microbial growth in ways that loose dust doesn’t. This is particularly common in older slab-on-grade homes in South Austin and East Austin neighborhoods where original duct installation ran ducts close to unconditioned crawl spaces or in poorly insulated attic sections.
Cedar season – roughly December through February in Central Texas – deposits a specific fine pollen that passes through standard 1-inch filters and coats duct surfaces in a way that oak and grass pollen don’t. Homes with older 1-inch filter slots and Honeywell or Aprilaire media-type filter systems fare significantly better, but even well-filtered systems in Cedar Park, Georgetown, and the Hill Country corridor see cedar accumulation in the plenum after several seasons without a cleaning.
New construction homes in fast-growing areas like Hutto, Kyle, and Buda frequently have construction debris – drywall compound, insulation fibers, framing sawdust – left in duct runs from the build process. Builders close out before cleaning ducts, and that debris moves through the system the first time the HVAC runs. A full system cleaning in the first year of occupancy is the right time to clear it.
The 365-Day Done Right Promise on Full System Cleaning
Every full system cleaning CleanRun performs is backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If any part of the cleaning is not right – if a duct run shows the same pre-job debris condition at a follow-up inspection, if a register was reinstalled incorrectly, if the blower housing wasn’t cleaned to the documented standard – we make it right at no additional cost. That’s written on the job record, not subject to manager approval, and not a policy with exclusions buried in fine print.
The photo record is what makes this promise enforceable. Because every run is photographed before and after, there’s no ambiguity about what condition we found it in and what condition we left it in. If something doesn’t meet the documented standard, the photos show it. That’s the point.
No other company serving Austin that we’re aware of backs their duct cleaning with a 365-day written guarantee and the photo record to support it. That’s not a claim we make casually – it’s the reason we photograph every run on every job, every time, since 2013.
FAQs – Full System Cleaning in Austin
How long does a full system cleaning take in an Austin home?
Most single-family homes in Austin take between 3 and 5 hours for a complete full system cleaning. A smaller home – under 1,800 square feet, one system, 10 or fewer runs – typically finishes closer to 3 hours. A larger two-story home with two systems, 20-plus runs, and a tight attic access point can run closer to 5 or 6 hours. We give you a time estimate as part of the written quote so you can plan your day. Call (737) 243-9544 to get a specific estimate for your home’s layout.
Is full system cleaning worth it if my filters are clean and the system seems to be working fine?
Filter condition and system performance are not reliable indicators of duct cleanliness. A clean filter at the return grille means particles large enough to be caught are being caught – it says nothing about the debris that passed through before the filter was installed, the buildup inside the blower housing, or the material that accumulated during original construction. The camera doesn’t lie: on jobs where homeowners reported a “running fine” system, the pre-job photos regularly show 2-plus inches of debris at elbows and in the plenum. If you want to know what’s actually in your system, the inspection photo tells you before you commit to anything.
What’s the difference between full system cleaning and a standard duct cleaning?
Full system cleaning covers every air-contact component: supply ducts, return ducts, air handler cabinet, blower compartment, plenum, evaporator coil housing, and all registers. A “standard” or “basic” duct cleaning, as sold by many Austin companies, typically covers only accessible register openings – the blower, plenum, and air handler cabinet are either skipped or treated as paid add-ons. CleanRun’s full system cleaning is exactly what the name says: the entire system, documented before and after, with a written price that covers the full scope.
How often should a full system cleaning be done in Austin?
For most Austin homes under normal occupancy conditions, a full system cleaning every 4 to 6 years is a reasonable baseline. That interval shortens with pets (especially heavy shedders), smokers in the home, recent renovation work, or post-flood remediation. Homes in high-cedar-pollen corridors – Westlake Hills, Bee Cave, Lago Vista – often benefit from a cleaning every 3 to 4 years given what accumulates through cedar season. A documented photo inspection at each cleaning tells you whether the interval was too long or appropriate – that’s one reason the photo record matters beyond just proving the work was done.
Key Takeaways
- Full system cleaning covers every component air contacts – not just registers – and costs between $350 and $750 for most Austin homes.
- Every CleanRun job starts with a written price and ends with a before-and-after photo record of every duct run.
- Negative-pressure extraction and rotary brush agitation are what separate a full system cleaning from a shop-vac visit at your registers.
- Austin’s cedar pollen, summer humidity, and high rate of older and recently renovated homes make full system cleaning a more urgent service here than in drier, less allergenic markets.
- The 365-Day Done Right Promise is written on every job record – if it’s not right, CleanRun makes it right.
- Tomas Reyes and the CleanRun team have been doing this since 2013, across more than 52,000 documented jobs, every one with a written price and a photo record.
Schedule Your Full System Cleaning in Austin
If you want to know what’s actually inside your duct system before committing to anything, that’s exactly where we start. The pre-job camera inspection is part of the job, the written price comes before any work begins, and the before-and-after photo record comes with every cleaning at no extra charge.
Call (737) 243-9544 to get a written quote for your Austin home. A live person answers every call. If you’d like to understand the full scope of what CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Austin offers beyond full system cleaning, start there.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Austin, serving Austin since 2013.