[lfreeman]

I recently had Lake Sumter Dryer Vent Cleaning service clean out my dryer vent. I highly recommend them for excellent, prompt, polite, professional service! They were fair and most importantly, honest! You can't go wrong with them! Give them a call! 352-787-5202

[bsloan1960]

Gonna jump in here and agree. This is a great business. It's a small outfit run buy a nice guy. And he's honest- after he did our dryer vent he told me it wouldn't need to be done for 3 years. When I said, "I thought they needed to be done every year", he told me very few need service that often- and that myth is told by some of the shady services in the area. 100% recommend.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

For homes not built BY the Villages (so any home that was stick-built on the Historic side, replacing any of the manufactured homes - OR any of those manufactured homes) - it's $225-275. There's a $150 non-refundable charge for an ESTIMATE that they'll apply to the job if you choose to use them. Their website has a bunch of typos and misspellings.

Also - useful info for those of us with manufactured homes and laundry appliances outside the house in laundry sheds: our dryer hoses lead right out to a hole on the outside of the shed. Just borrow someone's shop-vac if you don't have your own, and put the hose up against the hole outside and vacuum all the excess lint out of the dryer hose that way. Of if you're up to moving your dryer, pull it out, detach the hose, put your shop-vac in reverse, and blow it all out to the outside.

[retiredguy123]

Sorry, but any company that posts 441 5-star Google reviews on their website, with no reviews less than 5 stars, is not being honest. Also, if Post No. 4 is accurate that they charge for an estimate, they would never come to my house. I don't pay for estimates. Most companies that do dryer vent cleaning, charge less than $100 for the job. I doubt that I would ever hire this company.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Sorry, but any company that posts 441 5-star Google reviews on their website, with no reviews less than 5 stars, is not being honest. Also, if Post No. 4 is accurate that they charge for an estimate, they would never come to my house. I don't pay for estimates. Most companies that do dryer vent cleaning, charge less than $100 for the job. I doubt that I would ever hire this company.

I checked their website. They have "discounts" for all properties "built by" The Villages. There's a link you have to click to get to "other properties" and THOSE homes have to pay between $225-275. Of course you wouldn't know for sure without getting an estimate, which would cost you $150. By that point you're already $150 into the sale, so you might as well shell out the other $75-125 to have the job done.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I checked their website. They have "discounts" for all properties "built by" The Villages. There's a link you have to click to get to "other properties" and THOSE homes have to pay between $225-275. Of course you wouldn't know for sure without getting an estimate, which would cost you $150. By that point you're already $150 into the sale, so you might as well shell out the other $75-125 to have the job done.

I wouldn't pay anything for an estimate to any company. Estimates or quotes should be free.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I checked their website. They have "discounts" for all properties "built by" The Villages. There's a link you have to click to get to "other properties" and THOSE homes have to pay between $225-275. Of course you wouldn't know for sure without getting an estimate, which would cost you $150. By that point you're already $150 into the sale, so you might as well shell out the other $75-125 to have the job done.

The discount is for homes built by the Villages or within the Villages.
The estimate charge is for homes outside the Villages or inside the Villages for duct work other than cleaning when a site visit is needed for the estimate.
The pricing is a bit hard to understand.

As for the reviews, do businesses have the ability to remove bad reviews from Google? It’s possible they have a 5 star rating simply because they do good work and their customers leave good reviews.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I wouldn't pay anything for an estimate to any company. Estimates or quotes should be free.

A company could go broke spending time providing free estimates for work that will never be done. As long as a company is up front about it, I wouldn’t feel too bad about paying a reasonable amount for the time they spent at my home. Of course, I’m going to be biased towards a company willing to provide a free estimate.

[retiredguy123]

///

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

A company could go broke spending time providing free estimates for work that will never be done. As long as a company is up front about it, I wouldn’t feel too bad about paying a reasonable amount for the time they spent at my home. Of course, I’m going to be biased towards a company willing to provide a free estimate.

A company could also make a profit by just driving around and charging $150 for an unreasonably high estimate and never do any actual work. You don't even need to be a technician to prepare an estimate. Most companies who clean dryer vents will give you a free quote over the phone without even coming to your house. The entire fee to clean a dryer vent is usually less than $100. Why would anyone pay $150 for a non-refundable estimate?

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

A company could also make a profit by just driving around and charging $150 for an unreasonably high estimate and never do any actual work. You don't even need to be a technician to prepare an estimate. Most companies who clean dryer vents will give you a free quote over the phone without even coming to your house. The entire fee to clean a dryer vent is usually less than $100. Why would anyone pay $150 for a non-refundable estimate?

- No estimate for cleaning a vent in the Villages
- Estimate for some work other than cleaning if a site visit is required
- Unclear whether on-site estimate @ $150 would be required for non-Villages cleaning
- They have determined that non-Villages venting could require additional cleaning work/techniques/equipment and they may need to have a look first before committing to a price - their business, their choice how to do the job right
- Not exactly non-refundable since the cost will be applied towards the cost of the job if they are hired
- How would a refundable estimate work? Give them $150 to tell you what their price would be, choose to go with someone else, ask for the $150 back?

$150 seems high for an estimate but at least it is applied towards the final cost if they do the job. I've paid $75 to other companies just for showing up, they billed additional for the time and materials. Between the two, the $150 seems more reasonable to me.

I am inclined to sympathize with companies in this area when it comes to estimates. So many people seem inclined to get three estimates that 2/3 of the visits result in no work at all. A company spends time at a home gathering information and more time writing the estimate with good odds that they won't get hired. Perhaps charging for an estimate is a way to cover those costs without increasing the prices of their services.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

- No estimate for cleaning a vent in the Villages
- Estimate for some work other than cleaning if a site visit is required
- Unclear whether on-site estimate @ $150 would be required for non-Villages cleaning
- They have determined that non-Villages venting could require additional cleaning work/techniques/equipment and they may need to have a look first before committing to a price - their business, their choice how to do the job right
- Not exactly non-refundable since the cost will be applied towards the cost of the job if they are hired
- How would a refundable estimate work? Give them $150 to tell you what their price would be, choose to go with someone else, ask for the $150 back?

$150 seems high for an estimate but at least it is applied towards the final cost if they do the job. I've paid $75 to other companies just for showing up, they billed additional for the time and materials. Between the two, the $150 seems more reasonable to me.

I am inclined to sympathize with companies in this area when it comes to estimates. So many people seem inclined to get three estimates that 2/3 of the visits result in no work at all. A company spends time at a home gathering information and more time writing the estimate with good odds that they won't get hired. Perhaps charging for an estimate is a way to cover those costs without increasing the prices of their services.

I am happy to pay for a plumber or other technician to visit my house, diagnose the issue, and possibly repair it on the spot. But, I have never paid anyone to visit my house for the sole purpose of providing a competitive quote, and unless the industry changes, I never will. I expect a quote to be free. The only contractor that I know of in The Villages, who charges for a quote, is Frank Gay. Providing quotes is a cost of doing business.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by lfreeman

I recently had Lake Sumter Dryer Vent Cleaning service clean out my dryer vent. I highly recommend them for excellent, prompt, polite, professional service! They were fair and most importantly, honest! You can't go wrong with them! Give them a call! 352-787-5202

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

Gonna jump in here and agree. This is a great business. It's a small outfit run buy a nice guy. And he's honest- after he did our dryer vent he told me it wouldn't need to be done for 3 years. When I said, "I thought they needed to be done every year", he told me very few need service that often- and that myth is told by some of the shady services in the area. 100% recommend.

I had the same experience about a year ago. Very professional, had the tools perform the work efficiently.

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

- No estimate for cleaning a vent in the Villages
- Estimate for some work other than cleaning if a site visit is required
- Unclear whether on-site estimate @ $150 would be required for non-Villages cleaning
- They have determined that non-Villages venting could require additional cleaning work/techniques/equipment and they may need to have a look first before committing to a price - their business, their choice how to do the job right
- Not exactly non-refundable since the cost will be applied towards the cost of the job if they are hired
- How would a refundable estimate work? Give them $150 to tell you what their price would be, choose to go with someone else, ask for the $150 back?

$150 seems high for an estimate but at least it is applied towards the final cost if they do the job. I've paid $75 to other companies just for showing up, they billed additional for the time and materials. Between the two, the $150 seems more reasonable to me.

I am inclined to sympathize with companies in this area when it comes to estimates. So many people seem inclined to get three estimates that 2/3 of the visits result in no work at all. A company spends time at a home gathering information and more time writing the estimate with good odds that they won't get hired. Perhaps charging for an estimate is a way to cover those costs without increasing the prices of their services.

Imagine things can get complicated/expensive if a home has an unsafe connection or other issue with the dryer vent system. (restricted, collapsed/plastic vent hose, ...)

Most home (recently) built homes by the Villages may not have this risk.

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

The only contractor that I know of in The Villages, who charges for a quote, is Frank Gay.

There is at least one other. We went through Villages Warranty for an issue with a window that had a faulty seal. We were told the windows were supplied by Romac, and they would come out to inspect the issue. Romac charged a $50 "inspection fee" to come to our home and determine warranty validity.