Cost & commercial
There is no single sticker price for an LEV thorough examination. A small system with one extraction point can be tested from around two hundred and fifty pounds, while a busy site with many hoods and several separate systems runs into four figures. In 2026 the figure is shaped by what you are testing, not by a fixed national tariff.
The short answer
There is no single sticker price for an LEV thorough examination. A small system with one extraction point can be tested from around two hundred and fifty pounds, while a busy site with many hoods and several separate systems runs into four figures. In 2026 the figure is shaped by what you are testing, not by a fixed national tariff.
The detail
The market splits by system size. A single arm or bench with one capture point sits at the bottom, often only a few hundred pounds. A single system - one fan, its ductwork and a handful of hoods - is usually a few hundred pounds taken as a whole. Add more points, more separate systems or awkward access and the quote climbs steadily, with complex multi-system sites reaching into the thousands. Providers price either as one whole-system fee or as a base rate plus a charge for each extraction point, so the same site can honestly be quoted two very different ways.
Two things moved in 2026 that change the sum you weigh the test against. The Health and Safety Executive raised its Fee for Intervention rate to just under two hundred pounds an hour from April, charged for the whole time an inspector spends dealing with a material breach. And the testing interval is still a legal ceiling of fourteen months, with some higher-risk processes needing examination every six months, or monthly in a few specified cases, which lifts the annual cost for those sites.
A quote should also make plain what is included. A proper examination measures airflow and static pressure at each point, inspects ducts, hoods, filters and fan, benchmarks the readings against the system's design or commissioning data, and produces a full report with a logbook entry. A price that looks unusually low often reflects fewer points measured, a thinner report, or an engineer without the P601 qualification the HSE expects of a competent examiner.
What it means for you
Treat the headline figure as the smallest part of the picture. The examination itself is modest set against a failed retest, unplanned remedial works, or an enforcement visit. If an inspector finds a material breach, the Fee for Intervention clock runs at just under two hundred pounds an hour across the entire visit and the follow-up, and the employer pays even where a contractor was trusted to get it right.
The practical move is to price the whole compliance cycle rather than one invoice. Count your systems and points honestly, ask each provider to quote on the same basis, and confirm the report, logbook and qualification are all included. A test booked on time, to the right standard, is reliably the cheapest line in the ledger.
It also helps to time the booking. Leaving the examination until the fourteen-month deadline is looming narrows your options and can attract a premium for a quick slot, whereas a system booked in good time can be tested on a normal visit alongside others. Spreading your known test dates across the year, rather than clustering them, keeps both the workload and the spend even and predictable instead of arriving as an awkward lump.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
Why quotes differ site to site · What drives the price · The hidden cost of a half-working system
Questions
There is no flat rate. A single-point system starts in the low hundreds of pounds and a large multi-system site can run into four figures, depending on the number of points, systems and access.
Price tracks the number of extraction points and systems, site complexity, travel, report depth and whether commissioning data exists to benchmark against.
At least once every fourteen months, and every six months or even monthly for some higher-risk processes set out in COSHH and HSG258.
Not usually. A low price often means fewer points measured or a thinner report, which can fail an HSE check and cost far more to put right.
Airflow and pressure readings at each point, a full inspection, a benchmarked report and a logbook entry, all by a P601 qualified examiner.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Tell us how many systems and extraction points you run and we will price your thorough examination on a like-for-like basis.