Doctor Vent provides association-wide HVAC and duct cleaning for HOAs, condominium associations and townhome communities. Board-ready proposals, per-door pricing, and documentation suitable for the minutes and the association’s official records.
Common Element or Owner Property?
With dryer exhaust the answer is usually straightforward: the duct passes through walls and roof, so it is a common element. With HVAC ductwork it depends on the declaration, and boards frequently assume wrongly in both directions.
Typically: shared vertical risers, plenums serving multiple units and rooftop equipment are common elements. The air handler and the ductwork inside a unit’s boundary are often owner property. Send us your declaration and we will tell you what we read, though your association counsel should confirm it.
What Triggers a Community-Wide Clean
Not a calendar. These:
- Post-renovation — a common-area or building-wide renovation puts dust into every return in the building
- Confirmed microbial growth in shared plenums or risers
- Water intrusion — after a roof leak or pipe failure, ductwork and duct board absorb it
- Vermin in shared ductwork
- Systems never cleaned since construction, twenty or thirty years on
What We Will Tell You Honestly
The EPA’s guidance is that routine duct cleaning has not been shown to prevent health problems where there is no contamination. If we inspect your community and find clean ductwork, we will tell you, and we will not quote the work. That answer costs us a job and earns the association a vendor it can trust on the jobs that matter.
Board-Ready Proposals
Fixed per-door pricing, clear scope, insurance certificates and references included, ready to table. After completion the board receives per-door photographs, a deficiency log, coil condition report, and a completion report referencing the NADCA ACR standard — suitable for the minutes, the official records and the resale disclosure package.
HOA dryer vent cleaning | Commercial air duct cleaning
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the ductwork a common element?
Frequently, yes — but less uniformly than dryer exhaust. Read your declaration carefully. In many condominium documents the air handler and the ductwork within the unit boundary are owner property, while shared risers, plenums serving multiple units and rooftop equipment are common elements. In townhome associations the whole system is often owner property. This distinction determines who pays, and boards get it wrong regularly.
Operating budget or reserves?
Duct cleaning on a 3–5 year cycle is generally an operating expense. Coil replacement, air handler replacement and duct replacement are reserve components. Where cleaning reveals duct board saturated with microbial growth, you are into remediation and possibly replacement — that is a reserve conversation, and your reserve analyst should be told.
What does it cost per door?
$95–225 per door for supply and return cleaning. High-rise buildings with shared vertical risers and rooftop air handlers price differently, and require survey before quoting.
Should the association do this at all?
Only if the assessment warrants it. We will inspect and tell you honestly. Cleaning ductwork that is not contaminated wastes owners’ money, and any vendor who quotes a whole-community duct clean without inspecting first should be shown the door.