Cost & value / Comparing quotes
Two prices for the same kitchen, hundreds apart, usually are not a bargain and a rip-off - they are two different jobs wearing the same name.
Same name, different job
Get two quotes for the same kitchen and they can land hundreds of pounds apart. The instinct is to assume one is a bargain and the other a rip-off. Far more often, they are pricing two different jobs that happen to share the words deep clean.
Knowing where quotes diverge lets you compare fairly - and spot the cheap number that will cost you later when it turns out half the system was never touched.
Where the money actually goes
The single largest difference is scope. TR19 requires the whole extract route - canopy, filters, fan and the full length of ductwork to the discharge point - to be cleaned, because grease travels through and past the filters into the duct. A quote that cleans the canopy and filters and stops there looks cheaper because it is doing a fraction of the work.
The second is certification. A compliant clean ends with a post-clean verification report: before and after photos from set positions, grease readings, and a TR19 certificate for your records. Producing that takes a qualified technician and time, so a quote that quietly omits it will always undercut one that includes it - while leaving you without the evidence an insurer asks for.
The quieter reasons
Access explains a lot of the rest. If your ductwork already has panels at sensible intervals, cleaning is quick; if it is sealed above a ceiling or runs up an external wall, the compliant answer is to cut in access panels or use specialist remote equipment - real cost that a rock-bottom quote simply ignores, leaving hidden grease behind.
Then there is timing and labour: cleaning overnight or around service to keep you trading costs more than a daytime shutdown. And some low quotes come from firms that subcontract or send one operative to a two-person job. Cheaper on paper rarely means the same work.
Making quotes comparable
The fix is simple: get every quote to state the same four things - what is cleaned end to end, how the duct is accessed, whether out-of-hours is included, and whether a TR19 certificate is issued. Once those line up, the prices are finally describing the same job and you can judge them honestly.
So a like-for-like price is necessary but not sufficient on its own - you have to compare scope and certification underneath it, or you are choosing between jobs that only look alike.
Questions
Usually because it covers less. A low quote may clean filters and the canopy but skip the duct run, the fan or the verification report - the parts that take time and qualify the clean as compliant.
Not necessarily. If it cleans the whole system end to end, provides access where none exists and issues a TR19 certificate, it is pricing a bigger job. Compare scope, not just the total.
The full ductwork and the TR19 post-clean verification report. Both are easy to omit to shave the price, and both are exactly what your insurer and fire risk assessment need.
Yes. A system with existing access panels is quick; one that needs panels cut in, roof access or scaffolding is not. Two firms may quote very differently depending on how they plan to reach the duct.
Ask each quote to state what is cleaned, how the duct is accessed, whether out-of-hours is included, and whether a TR19 certificate is issued. Once the scope matches, the prices become comparable.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
We spell out the full scope - system cleaned end to end, access, certification - so you can hold it against any other quote line for line. Ask us for a surveyed breakdown.