Choosing a Hood Cleaning Company in TX, OK, LA, NM, and AR: 7 Questions

VETTING & COMPLIANCE

Seven specific questions every restaurant operator across the Southwest should ask before signing a hood cleaning contract. Each one is tied to a specific NFPA 96 section, so you can verify the answer against the standard itself — not just take the salesperson’s word for it.

July 07, 2026 · By Facilitec Southwest

Hiring the wrong commercial kitchen hood cleaning company is one of the most expensive mistakes a restaurant operator makes — and the costs almost always come due later, at a fire marshal inspection, an insurance renewal, or an incident review after a grease fire. The visible work on the hood looks similar across vendors. The work above the filters, inside the ductwork, on the rooftop fan, and in the documentation file is where good cleaning companies separate themselves from cheap ones.

This guide is the operator-facing vetting framework for restaurant owners, hotel and hospital food service managers, school cafeteria operators, casino food and beverage directors, and property managers hiring kitchen exhaust cleaning across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arkansas. Each of the seven questions below is tied to a specific section of NFPA 96, the national fire-safety standard for commercial cooking ventilation, so an operator can verify any vendor’s answer against the standard itself. The full text of the cited sections is available on our NFPA 96 Codes reference page.

QUICK DEFINITIONS, BEFORE WE GO FURTHER

NFPA 96 is the National Fire Protection Association’s rulebook for commercial cooking ventilation. The current edition is the 2024 edition, in force throughout 2026. AHJ stands for Authority Having Jurisdiction — the local fire marshal or fire-code office with enforcement authority in a given city or state. Phil Ackland Certified is one of the two credentials most fire marshals across the Southwest recognize for kitchen exhaust cleaning technicians. IKECA is the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association; it issues the Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist (CECS) credential. Service label is the adhesive sticker NFPA 96 requires on the hood after every service.

QUESTION 1

Are your technicians named, credentialed, and acceptable to my local fire marshal?

NFPA 96, Section 12.6.1, requires the cleaning to be performed by a “properly trained, qualified, and certified person(s) acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.” Four words, four separate requirements. Trained means structured instruction. Qualified means documented evidence of completed training. Certified means the credential was issued by a recognized body. Acceptable to the AHJ means the local fire marshal has the final say on which credentials count.

Across the United States, two credentials dominate the kitchen exhaust cleaning trade and are widely recognized by fire marshals across the Southwest:

• IKECA — the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association. Issues the Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist (CECS) credential for technicians and the Certified Exhaust Cleaning Inspector (CECI) credential for inspectors.
• Phil Ackland Training — a long-running, internationally recognized training program for kitchen exhaust system inspection and cleaning. Facilitec Southwest’s Certified Technicians are Phil Ackland Certified.

“Bonded and insured” is not a credential. “Our crews are trained” is not a credential. Section 12.6.13.1 requires the named technician to appear on the service label, and Sections 12.6.14.1 and 12.6.15.1 require the same name on the written reports. A fire marshal who cannot match the name on the label to a recognized credential will treat the cleaning as undocumented. Our companion guide on DIY vs Professional Hood Cleaning walks through the qualified-person rule in detail.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“Which technicians will be assigned to my account, and what credentials do they hold? Can I see proof of their current certification before the first service visit?”

QUESTION 2

Are you authorized to operate in my city or state?

NFPA 96 is enforced by the Authority Having Jurisdiction — typically a city fire department’s fire marshal’s office or a state-level fire marshal. The structure varies across the five Southwest states a commercial cooking operation might span:

STATE	WHO ENFORCES NFPA 96	MAJOR METROS
Texas	City fire department fire marshal’s offices, with the State Fire Marshal’s Office handling jurisdictions outside city authority.	Dallas Fire-Rescue · Fort Worth Fire Department · Houston Fire Department · Austin Fire Department · San Antonio Fire Department
Oklahoma	Major-city fire departments handle their own jurisdictions; the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal handles smaller cities and special occupancies.	Oklahoma City Fire Department · Tulsa Fire Department
Louisiana	The Louisiana State Fire Marshal centralizes most commercial cooking enforcement, with municipal-level inspection authority in major metros.	Louisiana State Fire Marshal · New Orleans Fire Department · Shreveport Fire Department
New Mexico	Combined state and local enforcement; the New Mexico State Fire Marshal shares oversight with city fire departments.	Albuquerque Fire Rescue · Santa Fe Fire Department · New Mexico State Fire Marshal
Arkansas	Combined state and local enforcement; the Arkansas State Fire Marshal handles statewide compliance with city fire departments adding inspection authority.	Arkansas State Fire Marshal · Little Rock Fire Department · Fort Smith Fire Department

A vendor familiar with your specific AHJ has handled inspections in your city before, knows the local fire marshal’s preferences for documentation format, and understands which sections of NFPA 96 your jurisdiction enforces most aggressively. A vendor based out of state, or one new to your jurisdiction, can still legally do the work — but you’ll be the one explaining the local context at every inspection. Facilitec Southwest has served commercial cooking establishments across all five of these states since 1986.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“How many kitchens have you serviced in my city in the last twelve months? Do you have an established working relationship with the local fire marshal’s office?”

QUESTION 3

Does the cleaning cover the entire exhaust path — from cooktop to rooftop?

NFPA 96, Section 12.6.1.1, sets three grease-depth limits — one for each kind of surface in the exhaust system. When the inspection measures any of them being crossed, the standard requires the system to be cleaned to bare metal:

• 0.002 inches (about the thickness of a sheet of copy paper) — on hoods, grease removal devices, fans, and ducts (Section 12.6.1.1.1)
• 0.078 inches (about 2 millimeters) — on other surfaces inside the system (Section 12.6.1.1.3)
• 0.125 inches (one-eighth of an inch) — on fan housings (Section 12.6.1.1.4)

A compliant cleaning addresses every surface where these thresholds apply — not just the visible hood interior. The full scope includes:

COMPONENT	NFPA 96 EXPECTATION
Hood interior and plenum	Cleaned to bare metal. The plenum (the space above the filters) accumulates grease first and is often skipped by hood-only cleaners.
Grease filters	Removed and cleaned or exchanged. Daily and weekly filter care between visits is the kitchen operator’s responsibility under Section 12.1.2.
Horizontal and vertical ductwork	Reached through access panels per Section 12.6.10, cleaned to the 0.002-inch threshold inside.
Exhaust fan housing	Cleaned to bare metal; the 0.125-inch fan-housing threshold (Section 12.6.1.1.4) applies here.
Rooftop discharge and containment	Cleaned and inspected. Rooftop grease containment hardware is regulated by Section 7.8.2.1.

A “hood-only” or “surface” cleaning that addresses only the visible hood and the filters is not a compliant cleaning. The grease load above the filters, inside the duct, and in the fan housing is exactly what causes hood fires — and is exactly what cheap cleanings skip. The companion guide on how long a commercial hood cleaning takes covers the time math: a 1- to 2-hour visit on a high-volume kitchen is mathematically impossible to be a full NFPA 96 cleaning.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“Show me the scope of work in writing. Will the cleaning explicitly cover the hood plenum, every section of ductwork through access panels, the exhaust fan housing, and the rooftop discharge?”

QUESTION 4

Can you identify access issues and system deficiencies — not just clean visible surfaces?

A qualified hood cleaning company is doing inspection work, not just cleaning work. NFPA 96 requires the contractor to identify and document specific conditions that affect compliance and safety:

• Missing or undersized access panels — Section 12.6.10 requires service tags at every opened panel. Panels that don’t exist or have been sealed over during a previous remodel need to be restored before the duct behind them can be cleaned.
• Broken or distorted grease removal devices — Section 12.6.18 requires that filters that are broken, distorted, or missing components be replaced. A vendor that simply puts a damaged filter back without flagging it is leaving a known hazard in place.
• Inaccessible duct sections — Sections 12.6.14.1 and 12.6.15.2 require the written reports to disclose which areas could not be reached. A report with no inaccessible-area list is usually a report that did not look very hard.
• Rooftop containment failures — Section 7.8.2.1 covers rooftop terminations including grease collection containers. Grease tracking onto the roof membrane is a fire risk and a roof-warranty issue separately.
• Suppression-system issues — the suppression service tag, the fusible link replacement window, and any signs of accidental discharge or improper reset. Section 12.2.1 requires semiannual suppression service by a licensed contractor (separate from the hood cleaning company).

A qualified vendor documents these conditions in the written report and gives you specific items to address before the next inspection. A vendor that finds nothing wrong on every visit is almost certainly missing things — and you’ll find out about them at the next fire marshal inspection.

FIELD NOTE

Across hundreds of customer onboardings Facilitec Southwest has done after a previous provider’s contract ended, the most common surprise at the first visit is the inaccessible-areas list. The previous provider’s reports never mentioned that two access panels had been drywalled over during a 2018 remodel, or that the rooftop containment hardware was missing entirely. The kitchen had been “passing” inspections only because the marshal’s depth gauge couldn’t measure what nobody could reach. A vendor that surfaces those issues honestly — and quotes them as separate scope to address — is doing the work the standard expects.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“How do you handle access issues or deficiencies you find during a cleaning? Do you flag them separately in the report and propose a corrective plan, or do you complete the cleaning around them?”

QUESTION 5

Can you justify the cleaning cadence based on NFPA 96 Table 12.4?

NFPA 96 does not set a cleaning schedule. It sets an inspection schedule in Table 12.4, based on cooking volume and fuel type. Cleaning is required under Section 12.6 only when the inspection finds grease deposits exceeding the thresholds in Section 12.6.1.1. The companion guide on how often a commercial kitchen exhaust system should be cleaned walks through the distinction in full.

A qualified vendor sets the inspection cadence to match Table 12.4:

• Monthly — Solid-fuel cooking (BBQ smokehouses, wood-fire pizza ovens, charcoal grills)
• Quarterly — High-volume cooking (twenty-four-hour kitchens, charbroiling, wok cooking)
• Semiannually — Moderate-volume cooking (most standard sit-down restaurants)
• Annually — Low-volume cooking (churches, day camps, seasonal businesses, senior centers)

A vendor that defaults every customer to “every six months” or “every twelve months” without assessing cooking volume is using a generic calendar instead of the standard. A vendor that pushes you to clean more often than Table 12.4 requires — without measuring grease deposits against Section 12.6.1.1 thresholds — is over-servicing. The correct cadence comes from a walkthrough that classifies the kitchen against Table 12.4 and adjusts based on actual grease accumulation between visits.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“Which Table 12.4 tier does my kitchen fall into, and how did you determine that? When grease loads up between visits, how do you adjust the cadence?”

QUESTION 6

What documentation do you provide after every visit?

NFPA 96 requires a specific documentation chain at the end of every inspection and cleaning. A qualified vendor produces all of it; a less-qualified one produces only the service label and calls it done.

1. Service label affixed to the hood (Section 12.6.13, with details in 12.6.13.1 and 12.6.13.2) — date of service, named technician, and the service provider’s contact information. Stays on the hood until the next service.
2. Service tags at any opened access panels (Section 12.6.10) — preprinted with the company name, dated at the time of the visit.
3. Written inspection report (Section 12.6.14) — delivered to the equipment owner within two weeks of the inspection, with required content per Section 12.6.14.1.
4. Written cleaning report (Section 12.6.15) — delivered within two weeks of the cleaning, with required content per Section 12.6.15.2 (areas not reached, areas skipped, access panel locations, duct or panel leakage).
5. Submission to the AHJ where local rules require it (Section 12.6.16) — some jurisdictions require the inspection and cleaning reports be submitted directly to the local fire marshal.

The documentation is what fire marshals read first at the next inspection and what insurance carriers expect in your file at renewal and during any claim. The companion guides on what belongs in a real NFPA 96 cleaning report and what an insurance carrier wants to see in a hood cleaning file walk through each item in detail.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“Can I see a sample written cleaning report from a recent customer (with the customer’s identifying details redacted)? Specifically, I want to see the inaccessible-areas list, the access panel locations, and the before-and-after photos.”

QUESTION 7

What insurance, safety protocols, and consistency do you bring across visits?

Commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning is high-risk work. Technicians work at height on rooftops, handle aggressive degreasers, lock out electrical systems, take fire-suppression systems offline temporarily, and operate in confined spaces with sharp edges. A qualified vendor manages those risks with structural controls:

• Insurance coverage — general liability, workers’ compensation, and additional coverage appropriate for at-height and chemical work. Request a Certificate of Insurance before service starts.
• Electrical lockout discipline — NFPA 96, Section 12.6.3, requires electrical switches that could be activated accidentally to be locked out at the start of cleaning. This protects both the equipment and the technician.
• Suppression-system handling — Section 12.6.5 allows the fire-extinguishing system to be rendered inoperable during cleaning, but it must be restored before the visit ends. Confirm the vendor restores it correctly, with the suppression service tag updated.
• After-hours scheduling — most commercial hood cleaning happens overnight or during closure hours because the cookline must be off during the work. A vendor with established After Hours Service mobilizes outside business hours to fit your closure window.
• Multi-site consistency — for restaurant chains, hotel portfolios, hospital systems, casino properties, and school districts, the documentation format and the cadence cycle should be identical across every location. One report format, one repository, one point of accountability.

A vendor without these controls — or one that varies wildly in service quality from visit to visit — creates the kind of compliance gap that shows up at the worst possible moment, usually during a fire investigation or an insurance renewal. The companion guide on what happens after a failed fire marshal inspection covers the consequences of inconsistent service.

WHAT TO ASK THE VENDOR

“Send me your Certificate of Insurance. For multi-site portfolios, do you assign a single account manager and consolidate documentation across all locations into one file? Who covers the kitchen if my regular technician is unavailable?”

The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Company

Hiring a non-compliant or undercredentialed hood cleaning company looks like a savings on the first invoice. The actual costs come due later, usually at the worst possible time. From Facilitec Southwest’s field experience across the Southwest, the recurring patterns are:

• Failed fire marshal inspections with reinspection fees. Dallas Fire-Rescue’s published schedule, for example, is $171 for the first reinspection, $200 for the second, $255 for the third, plus penalties upon conviction up to $2,000. Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and the other Southwest metros set their own rates.
• Forced-closure scenarios when severe deficiencies are found — non-functioning fire suppression on an active cooking appliance, severe duct grease, repeated reinspection failures.
• Extended insurance claim investigations after a kitchen fire, when the documentation file has gaps. Coverage outcomes are governed by the specific policy, but a complete file moves the investigation quickly and a gapped file does not.
• Insurance premium increases at renewal — sometimes permanently — when a fire has occurred and the documentation didn’t support reasonable care.
• The cost of a grease fire itself — property damage in the seven figures, six to twelve months of business interruption, replacement of cooking equipment, hood, ductwork, and rooftop fan. The compliance cost of hiring the right vendor is a small fraction of any one of these outcomes.

The companion guide on how much commercial kitchen hood cleaning costs in 2026 covers the pricing math in detail, including the five factors that determine cost and what should be included in an NFPA 96-compliant quote.

A PRACTICAL POINT

The vendor that quotes the lowest price almost always does the least work. A $400 quote and a $1,100 quote for the same kitchen aren’t pricing the same service — one is a hood-only surface cleaning, the other is a full NFPA 96 system cleaning. Read the scope of work before comparing prices. The seven questions in this guide help you tell the difference before you sign.

How Facilitec Southwest Answers Each of the Seven Questions

For transparency, here is how Facilitec Southwest answers the seven questions above. Use the same framework on any vendor you’re considering.

1. Technicians named and credentialed: Phil Ackland Certified Technicians, named on every service label and written report per Sections 12.6.13.1, 12.6.14.1, and 12.6.15.1. Current credentialing maintained continuously.
2. Authorized in your jurisdiction: Serving commercial cooking establishments across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arkansas since 1986. Established working relationships with city fire marshal offices and state fire marshal authorities across all five states.
3. Full exhaust path coverage: Cleaning from cooktop to rooftop — hood interior and plenum, all ductwork through access panels, exhaust fan housing, rooftop discharge — to the depth thresholds in Section 12.6.1.1.
4. Access issues and deficiencies surfaced: Documented in the written report with proposed corrective actions. We don’t clean around problems — we surface them so they can be addressed.
5. Cadence justified by Table 12.4: First walkthrough classifies the kitchen against Table 12.4. Cadence set to the standard’s inspection schedule, adjusted based on actual grease accumulation between visits.
6. Full documentation chain: Service label per Section 12.6.13, access-panel tags per Section 12.6.10, written reports within two weeks per Sections 12.6.14 and 12.6.15, AHJ submission where local rules require it per Section 12.6.16, before-and-after photos on every visit.
7. Insurance, safety, and consistency: Certificate of Insurance available on request. Electrical lockout and suppression handling per Sections 12.6.3 and 12.6.5. After Hours Service mobilizes overnight to fit your closure window. For multi-site portfolios, our NFPA Compliance Services consolidate documentation across every location into one file.

Facilitec Southwest follows NFPA 96 guidelines for cleaning and inspection of grease buildup. From cooktop to rooftop, clean to bare metal. The outcome is a grease-free, fire-safe facility and the peace of mind that comes with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I ask when hiring a commercial hood cleaning company?

The seven questions in this guide cover the work that matters most. The shortest version: are the technicians named and credentialed (Section 12.6.1); are you authorized in my jurisdiction; does the cleaning cover the full exhaust path to the Section 12.6.1.1 thresholds; can you identify deficiencies, not just clean visible surfaces; can you justify the cadence using Table 12.4; what documentation do you provide (Sections 12.6.13, 12.6.10, 12.6.14, 12.6.15); and what insurance, safety, and consistency do you bring across visits?

What credentials should a commercial hood cleaning technician have under NFPA 96?

NFPA 96, Section 12.6.1, requires a “properly trained, qualified, and certified person(s) acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.” The two credentials most fire marshals across the Southwest recognize are IKECA’s Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist (CECS) and Phil Ackland Training. Facilitec Southwest’s Certified Technicians are Phil Ackland Certified. Internal company training does not satisfy the standard.

Who enforces NFPA 96 in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arkansas?

In Texas, city fire department fire marshal’s offices (Dallas Fire-Rescue, Houston Fire Department, Austin Fire Department, San Antonio Fire Department, Fort Worth Fire Department) plus the State Fire Marshal’s Office. In Oklahoma, Oklahoma City and Tulsa Fire Departments plus the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal. In Louisiana, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal centralizes most enforcement with municipal authority in New Orleans and Shreveport. In New Mexico, combined state and local enforcement (Albuquerque Fire Rescue, Santa Fe Fire Department, New Mexico State Fire Marshal). In Arkansas, the Arkansas State Fire Marshal plus city fire departments.

What documentation should a hood cleaning company provide after every visit?

Four items, each tied to a specific NFPA 96 section: the service label on the hood (Section 12.6.13); service tags at any opened access panels (Section 12.6.10); the written inspection report within two weeks (Section 12.6.14); and the written cleaning report within two weeks (Section 12.6.15) with required content per Section 12.6.15.2. Before-and-after photos are typically included with every report.

How do I know if a hood cleaning company is cleaning to bare metal?

Three signals: the visit takes the time a full NFPA 96 cleaning requires (3 to 5 hours for a standard restaurant, 5 to 8 hours for a high-volume kitchen, never 1 to 2 hours on a high-volume kitchen); the written report names what was cleaned by component; and before-and-after photos at each accessible point inside the system show bare metal. A vendor that won’t show photos of the duct interior, the fan housing, or the rooftop has not cleaned those components.

What happens if I hire a non-compliant hood cleaning company?

Three consequences stack: the cleaning doesn’t satisfy NFPA 96 Section 12.6.1 regardless of how clean the hood looks; the documentation chain doesn’t get produced correctly; fire marshals cite the missing documentation and insurance carriers reject it at renewal or claims. Dallas Fire-Rescue, for example, charges $171 for the first reinspection, $200 for the second, $255 for the third, plus penalties upon conviction up to $2,000. The cost of hiring a credentialed company is almost always less than the cost of these consequences.

How do I find a Phil Ackland Certified hood cleaning company in my city?

Phil Ackland Training maintains a provider directory searchable by location. IKECA does the same for its CECS credential holders. The local fire marshal’s office can also confirm which providers it accepts as qualified persons in its jurisdiction. Facilitec Southwest’s Certified Technicians are Phil Ackland Certified and serve commercial cooking establishments across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arkansas.

---

Sources and notes: NFPA 96, 2024 Edition — Section 4.1.5 (equipment owner responsibility); Section 7.8.2.1 (rooftop termination requirements); Section 12.1.2 (no operation without filters); Section 12.2.1 (suppression-maintenance rule); Section 12.4 and Table 12.4 (inspection schedule by cooking volume); Section 12.6 (cleaning of exhaust systems); Section 12.6.1 (qualified-person rule for cleaning); Section 12.6.1.1, 12.6.1.1.1, 12.6.1.1.3, 12.6.1.1.4 (grease-depth thresholds); Section 12.6.3 (electrical lockout); Section 12.6.5 (suppression system inoperable during cleaning); Section 12.6.10 (access-panel service tag); Section 12.6.13, 12.6.13.1, 12.6.13.2 (hood service label); Section 12.6.14, 12.6.14.1 (two-week inspection report); Section 12.6.15, 12.6.15.1, 12.6.15.2 (two-week cleaning report); Section 12.6.16 (submission to AHJ); Section 12.6.18 (broken or distorted filters must be replaced). Vendor-vetting framework reflects Facilitec Southwest field experience with commercial cooking establishments across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arkansas since 1986. Dallas Fire-Rescue fee schedule pulled from publicly published rates; verify with the AHJ at the time of reinspection. Facilitec Southwest is not an insurance advisor; coverage outcomes are governed by the specific policy. Facilitec Southwest follows NFPA 96 guidelines for cleaning and inspection of grease buildup.