Service illustration · not a completed customer projectTHE WORK, EXPLAINED
Start with the condition.
Understand the scope.
Ask which accessible system components will be assessed and how observed conditions and access limits will be recorded. EPA recommends considering cleaning in response to specific conditions rather than as a routine service. Keep any cleaning or replacement proposal separate from the assessment findings.
What may be involved
- supply ducts
- return ducts
- registers
- air handler
Ask the provider to distinguish existing parts to inspect, proposed replacements, and tools, materials or reports included in the service. Confirm the work and exclusions after assessment; this list does not mean that every item will be supplied or replaced.
LOCAL RESEARCH / Miami Beach
Local context
The City of Miami Beach publishes its own list of work that does not require a building permit, citing Florida Building Code section 105.2.2 for minor repairs. It includes repair of air conditioning duct, ventilation fans and heating and cooling unit parts, with separate entries for single-family, duplex and triplex properties and for commercial and multi-family properties, and it states that the work is to be performed in compliance with applicable codes. Several entries call for a licensed contractor. A permit exemption is not a statement that work is unnecessary or that a scope is appropriate; confirm the current list and how your scope is classified with the city.
Source ↗Planning your work
Miami-Dade County's permit exemption list states that repair of air conditioning duct is exempt from permit requirements regardless of the value of materials and labour when performed by a licensed mechanical contractor, and separately that changing out air conditioning equipment of the same electrical, cooling or heating capacity does not need an electrical permit but that a mechanical permit is required for the change out. That list carries an update date and says it applies to unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Cleaning is not the same thing as duct repair or equipment replacement, so ask a provider which category the proposed work falls into. Confirm the address, the proposed scope and the applicable review with the City of Miami Beach.
Source ↗Area-wide context does not establish the condition of your property or equipment.
Before the visit
Building age and weather cannot establish duct contamination. The system itself needs to be inspected.
