This is the one job on the site that is worth doing before anything breaks: the same lint that steals drying time is the material a third of dryer fires start with. Lint accumulated past the screen in the duct run is the free end of this fault — no part needed, about 90 minutes [S1] — and 2 of the 5 causes on this page cost nothing to rule out. The complaint is the dryer vent has not been cleaned and the run is loading up with lint, described as the vent has not been cleaned in years, the laundry room smells of hot lint, the outside flap no longer opens fully, the dryer takes two or three cycles now or a brush kit or a professional?. What is left after those checks runs $99 [S1], with 3 causes that need a part.
What a technician actually does
lint accumulated past the screen in the duct run [S1]
high likelihood moderate no part needed about 90 min
the vent has not been cleaned in years the dryer takes two or three cycles now
The reason this service exists at all, and the source is explicit that the lint screen does not do this job: the screen catches what is heavy enough to be caught, and the fine lint that gets past it settles on the walls of the duct where nothing in the machine can reach it. In the source's own 126 completed vent jobs, 32 ended with the run cleared and nothing replaced, at $99 - a quarter of its visits. That is the cheap outcome, and it is the one that stops being available once the lint has been burning long enough to damage what surrounds it.
a long run, or one that exits through the roof [S1]
high likelihood moderate not priced about 120 min
the vent has not been cleaned in years
The cost driver the published cleaning prices hide, and the reason two quotes for the same house can differ by a factor of two: a short run behind the machine is an hour's work, while a run that crosses a crawlspace and exits through the roof has to be reached at both ends, cleaned from both directions and checked for the low point where lint collects. The source's own market figures show the same effect nationally - standalone cleaning at $80-185, rising to $150-250 where the vent exits through a roof. S3 puts the geometry behind the spread in plain terms: a dryer in a ground-floor laundry room venting through a wall is one job, and a second-floor laundry venting up through the roof is another, because the run is long and vertical, gravity works against the airflow and the termination is on the roof rather than at ground level. On its own completed work the same publisher reports a $359 median across 94 vent jobs with the middle half at $299-451, and states that the spread is almost entirely about geometry. That is the number to expect when the machine is not on an outside wall.
not a part: the source prices the visit rather than the length, and its own figures show Georgia jobs at a $331 median across 27 visits against Florida at $369 across 64, with roof-vented runs costing more everywhere for the same reason - reaching both ends is most of the labour
a run with no margin left, where a section or termination has to be replaced [S1]
medium likelihood advanced $199–$405 installed about 150 min
the outside flap no longer opens fully the vent has not been cleaned in years
Three quarters of the source's 126 completed vent jobs were this, which is the single most useful number on the page: on most visits the duct does not simply need clearing, because a section has been crushed, a termination has failed or a length of the wrong material has to come out. That is the difference between the $99 tier and the $359 tier, and it is why a quote given over the phone for vent cleaning is not comparable with the invoice at the end of one. S3 breaks the same tier down by job: of 94 vent jobs, the majority were a run cleared end to end, 11 replaced a hose or a duct section and 8 cleared a blockage, which is what the difference between a $99 visit and a $359 median looks like item by item. Its sharpest point is about the hose: a crushed hose restricts airflow permanently, and no amount of cleaning fixes it, because the replacement is rigid or semi-rigid metal that cannot be crushed the same way.
S1 prices this as a completed job rather than a part: 94 of its 126 vent jobs ended with a hose, duct section or termination replaced, at a $359 median, and the source is explicit that this tier is not the same product as a cleaning because it includes the part
Repair or replace?
Check the hood and the duct behind the machine yourself first, because the cheapest finding on this page is visible from outside. Then price the visit against what it turns out to be: $99 where the run simply needs clearing, and a $359 median where a section or the termination has to be replaced. The number to hold on to is that three quarters of the source's 126 jobs were the second kind - so a quote that lands at $99 over the phone is either a short clean run or a quote that has not seen the duct. [S1]
- Typical completed repair: $199–$405 [S1]
- Comparable new unit: $550–$1,400 [S1]
- Planning life used for the decision: 13 years
- The comparison is against not doing it, not against a new dryer: a $99 clearing on a run that is packed with lint buys back the drying time the household has quietly adapted to, and removes the condition a third of dryer fires start from. A brush kit is cheaper than the visit on a short straight run and useless on a roof-vented one, which is where the labour is.
this is a maintenance service rather than a repair, so the machine's own 10-13 year line only enters the decision when the restricted run has already damaged the dryer; new machine prices of $550-1,400 are the figure that applies if the blower or the element has been cooked by a clogged duct
Run your own quote through the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule with your numbers.
Do this first (free)
crushed or wrong-material flex duct behind the machine [S1]
medium likelihood easy no part needed about 30 min
the outside flap no longer opens fully the dryer takes two or three cycles now
The foil accordion duct that gets flattened when the dryer is pushed back against the wall, and the plastic or vinyl hose that should never have been used: both throttle the airflow and both trap lint at the point where they bend. The source covers duct materials for a reason, because the material decides whether the run can be cleaned properly at all. Straightening the run, shortening it and keeping the machine an inch off the wall is free; replacing a crushed section with rigid or semi-rigid duct is a part, not a service.
blocked or stuck termination hood [S1]
medium likelihood easy no part needed about 15 min
the outside flap no longer opens fully the laundry room smells of hot lint
The cheapest finding on the page and the one to check before booking anything, because it is visible from outside: run the dryer and look at the hood. A flap that is stuck shut with lint, or a screen or cage fitted over the opening and matted solid, closes the end of the run no matter how clean the rest of it is. Clearing it is a two-minute job with a hand brush, and it is also the check that tells you whether the run behind it is moving air at all.