Common Questions

Q1. What does hood cleaning cost? Price is driven by three things: how many hoods you have, the total linear footage of your hood line, and what you cook (wood-fired or charbroil kitchens build grease faster than electric or low-heat ones, so they take more labor). Most single-hood quick-service kitchens fall in the $400–$600 range. Multi-hood or heavy-grease operations cost more. Call us with your hood count, approximate length, and cooking type — we’ll quote a firm number over the phone for most kitchens, no site visit required.

Q2. How often does my hood and exhaust system need to be cleaned? NFPA 96 (the national fire code your inspector uses) sets the frequency by what you cook — not by how dirty things look:

• Monthly — solid-fuel cooking (wood, charcoal, mesquite)
• Quarterly — high-volume cooking (24-hour operations, busy grills, charbroilers, wok lines)
• Semi-annually — moderate-volume cooking (most full-service restaurants)
• Annually — low-volume cooking (churches, day care, seasonal kitchens, small breakfast spots, most coffee shops)

Not sure where you land? Send us a photo of your hood and a description of what you cook — we’ll tell you.

Q3. I have an electric or low-heat kitchen (coffee shop, church, café) — do I still need this? Almost always, yes. NFPA 96 requires cleaning for any kitchen with a Type 1 commercial hood — even if you “barely cook.” If grease, smoke, or vapor passes through the hood, fire code applies, and your insurance carrier and fire marshal will both ask for proof of service. The good news: low-grease kitchens qualify for the annual frequency, which is our lowest-cost interval.

Q4. Do you send compliance reports to the fire department? Yes. After every cleaning we provide:

• A dated NFPA 96 compliance certificate
• Before/after photos of the hood, ductwork, and fan
• A service report you can hand to an inspector, insurance carrier, or franchisor

For locations under active fire-marshal review or franchise compliance programs, we can file the report directly with your AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction). Just tell us where it needs to go.

Q5. What does the service sticker on the hood show? Every cleaning ends with a dated NFPA 96 sticker placed on the hood. It shows:

• Date of service
• Next service due date
• Technician name and certification ID
• Hood Hero contact info
• Any areas not accessible during cleaning (and why)

This sticker is the first thing a fire inspector looks for. If yours is missing, expired, or flags “not accessible” areas you didn’t authorize, you can fail inspection — which is why we explain every line on it before we leave.

Q6. What’s included in a standard cleaning — is the rooftop fan part of it? A standard Hood Hero cleaning covers:

• The hood interior and exterior
• All filters (removed, soaked, replaced)
• The duct from hood to fan
• The exhaust fan housing on the roof
• The fan blade and motor area

What’s not automatically included:

• Rooftop grease containment (capturing grease that drips out of the fan onto your roof — see our Rooftop Grease Containment Systems page)
• Cleanup of accumulated rooftop grease if previous service neglected it
• Conveyor oven cleaning (separate service)
• Specialty access labor (lifts, harnesses, hard-to-reach roofs)

We’ll spell out exactly what your job includes on the quote call — no surprise add-ons.

Q7. Are there add-on fees I should know about upfront? We put everything on the quote whenever possible. The items most commonly billed separately are:

• Grease containment pillow replacement if yours is saturated and needs swapping
• Direct AHJ filing of compliance reports (PDFs to you are free; filing on your behalf is $25)
• Heavy-buildup surcharge for systems that haven’t been cleaned in 12+ months and need extra labor

Ask for an itemized quote and we’ll list every line before booking.

Q8. What are your service hours? Can you clean during the day? Most cleanings run overnight (typically [10 PM – 6 AM]) so we don’t disrupt service — the system needs to be cool and the kitchen empty for us to do the job right. We do offer daytime service for:

• Closed-day cleanings (your normal off-day)
• Pre-opening for new-build restaurants
• Schools, churches, day cares, and other operations that don’t run dinner service
• Emergency / urgent compliance jobs — call (602) 341-3163

Q9. I’m a fire-safety contractor, facility manager, or multi-location operator. Can you sub for me? Yes. We work with fire-life-safety companies, facility management firms, and franchise groups across the Valley as a subcontracted hood-cleaning provider. Partner accounts can include:

• White-labeled reports under your brand
• Scheduling integrated with your system
• Direct billing with NET terms
• Compliance docs rolled up across multiple sites

Email service@hoodhero.com or call (602) 341-3163 to set up a partner account.

Q10. I’m buying a restaurant — can you pull the service history for the location? Yes. If we’ve serviced the address before, we can pull the full file: last cleaning date, next due date, frequency schedule, and any open compliance issues. Send us the address (and the previous operator’s name if you have it) and we’ll get you the record. This is increasingly common for ownership transitions — your lender and insurance carrier will both ask for it.

Q11. What other services do you provide? Beyond hood and exhaust cleaning, we offer rooftop grease containment systems, conveyor oven cleaning, and residential hood cleaning for high-end home kitchens.

Q12. What areas do you serve? The entire Phoenix Metro Valley: Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Peoria, Avondale, Goodyear, Surprise, Queen Creek, and surrounding cities. We also serve Tucson and Casa Grande on a scheduled basis.

Q13. Are you certified and insured? Yes. We carry $5 million in liability insurance plus full workers’ comp coverage. All technicians are NFPA 96 trained, background-checked, and drug-screened. We’re an NFPA member company.

Q14. What happens during the cleaning? We arrive on time, protect floors and equipment, remove and soak the filters, scrape and pressure-wash the hood interior, ductwork, and fan, inspect the system, dry and reassemble everything, document with before/after photos, place the dated NFPA 96 sticker, and leave the kitchen ready for service. The Mom Clean Standard™ means it’s clean enough you’d let your mom cook in it.

Q15. What if I’m not satisfied with the cleaning? Our Mom Clean Guarantee: if anything doesn’t meet our standard, we come back and make it right at no charge. No questions.

Q16. How do I schedule a cleaning or get a free estimate? Call (602) 341-3163, fill out the form on hoodhero.com, or click Book Now to schedule online. We respond same-day and most quotes are firm within one phone call.