What does hood cleaning cost?
Hood cleaning companies rarely publish prices. Public buyers have to: when a county or school district puts hood cleaning out to bid, every company’s price for the same job becomes public record. Those bids show what the work costs, and how far apart quotes for the identical job can be.
The short answer
- A single hood system in a school kitchen drew bids of $138 to $350 per cleaning in Cobb County, Georgia.
- A single-fan kitchen with one duct and six filters drew bids of $270 to $1,171 for one cleaning in Chatham County, Georgia, in April 2025 — most between about $430 and $850.
- Extra labour and emergency work ran $100 to $176.50 an hour in Cobb County, and after-hours cleaning crews $85 to $275 an hour in Council Rock, Pennsylvania.
The most useful number on this page isn't any single price. It is the spread: for an identical, specified job, the highest bid was more than four times the lowest. That's the case for getting several quotes.
What public bids show
Chatham County, Georgia (bid 25-0034-4, April 2025)
The county's detention centre put four kitchens out to bid, each described down to the number of fans, ducts and filters. For the two identical small kitchens — one up-blast fan, one vertical duct, six filters, one cleaning a year — the bids for each were as follows. Where a bidder priced the two kitchens differently, both figures are shown. The tabulation's layout is hard to read, so we matched each column to its total.
| Bidder | One kitchen: 1 fan, 1 duct, 6 filters |
|---|---|
| Hoods Unlimited | $270 |
| Bidder (name not legible) | $433 |
| Yo's Eco Services | $456 |
| Bidder (name not legible) | $640 |
| Bidder (name not legible) | $700–$800 |
| Hoodz of the Lowcountry and Coastal Georgia | $750–$850 |
| ATL Prime Services | $776–$1,171 |
Across the whole contract the totals ranged from $2,880 to $14,600 — a five-fold difference for exactly the same work.
Cobb County School District, Georgia (IFB B2115)
| Bidder | Single hood system | Double hood system | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Vent Works | $137.90 | $154.85 | $127.50; $176.50 emergency |
| OMUP Enterprises | $200 | $250 | $100 |
| Hoods Unlimited | $350 | $450 | $100 |
Garland ISD, Texas (bid 31423)
Awarded to a Hoodz franchise, priced per location by the number of hood certifications — the cleaning labels each system gets:
| Certifications at the location | Price |
|---|---|
| One | $175 |
| Two | $235 |
| Three | $295 |
| Four | $345 |
Council Rock School District, Pennsylvania (bid 23-26, October 2023)
Semi-annual inspection and cleaning across the district. Annual totals from four bidders ranged from $11,300 to $18,370 in the first year. Hourly rates for after-hours cleaning crews ranged from $85 to $275, and inspection from $50 to $120 per location per hour.
Why a restaurant may pay more than a school
These are public kitchens, many of them low-volume, bid competitively for multi-site contracts. A busy restaurant can expect to pay more per visit:
- More grease. A kitchen with fryers, a charbroiler or a wok line builds up far more grease between cleanings. It takes longer to strip to bare metal.
- More system. Long duct runs, several fans, or a multi-storey building with rooftop fans all add time.
- One-off visits. Single-site, non-contract work is priced higher than a multi-site public contract.
What drives the price
- The size of the system: the number of hoods, fans, filters, and the length of the ductwork. Chatham County's bid specified each of these, and that's why bidders could price it.
- How often you clean. NFPA 96 sets inspection from monthly to annually by cooking type, with cleaning when grease is found. A charbroiling kitchen on a quarterly schedule pays four times a year. See how often should restaurant hoods be cleaned.
- Access. Ducts need access panels to be cleaned. Utah's fire marshal guidance calls for them at least every 20 feet, and every 10 feet at changes of direction. A system without them either can't be fully cleaned, or needs panels fitted first.
- When. Most hood cleaning happens overnight, when the kitchen is closed. In Council Rock's bid, one company's after-hours crew rate was two and a half times its inspection rate.
- How dirty it is. A system left too long takes longer to clean, and grease that has hardened in a duct is a fire risk in its own right.
How to compare quotes
Copy what public buyers do: describe the job precisely so every company prices the same thing.
- List the number of hoods, fans and filters, and roughly how long the duct runs are.
- Say how often you need it, and whether it is after hours.
- Ask what's included: hood, filters, duct, and fan. A cheap quote that leaves out the rooftop fan isn't the same job.
- Ask for the price per visit, the hourly rate for extra work, and the emergency rate.
- Confirm the result: cleaned to bare metal, before-and-after photos, and a label listing areas not cleaned.
- Check the company's certification with your local fire marshal's office. Some states, such as Massachusetts, license hood cleaners.
Hood cleaning and the fire suppression service are separate jobs, often by different companies. Budget for both: see Ansul system inspection.