Sunshine Coast kitchen exhaust cleaning.
Cleaned to AS 1851. Photographed report supplied after every job.
Canopies, ducts, fans and filters for restaurants, cafes, clubs, aged care and food courts.
Tell us the venue and when it was last done
Venue type, how many canopies, roughly how many metres of duct, and when the system was last cleaned. That is usually enough for a price. If you are not sure when it was last done, that is an answer too.
If a council inspection, an insurer, a landlord or a lease clause has put a date on it, say so. That changes what gets scheduled first.
Request a quote
Most Sunshine Coast kitchens get their exhaust cleaned because someone asked for the certificate.
A council environmental health officer walks the kitchen and asks when the canopy was last cleaned and whether there is a record. An insurer's renewal form has a question about exhaust maintenance. A landlord reads the lease and finds a clause about it. A new head chef looks up at the filters and refuses to cook under them.
Grease in an exhaust system is the most common cause of commercial kitchen fires, and it builds silently in the parts nobody looks at: the duct behind the canopy, the bend before the fan, the fan housing on the roof. A system can look fine from below and be carrying a serious fuel load above the ceiling.
That is why the useful thing is not just a clean. It is a clean with a report that says what was done, when, to what standard, with photographs, so the next person who asks has an answer.
Eight reasons a Sunshine Coast kitchen gets its exhaust cleaned
Any one of these is worth a look. Two together usually means it is already overdue.
- A council inspection asked for the maintenance recordEnvironmental health officers ask when the exhaust was last cleaned and whether it is documented. No record is treated the same as no clean.
- The insurer wants confirmation before renewalIncreasingly common. Kitchen fire claims get examined closely, and exhaust maintenance is one of the first things looked at.
- You cannot remember when it was last doneIf nobody knows, it has been too long. Grease does not wait for a diary entry.
- Grease is dripping from the canopy edge or filtersVisible drips mean the filters are saturated and grease is getting past them into the duct.
- The extraction is not pulling like it used toSmoke lingering, heat building, the kitchen feeling closer than it should. Grease narrowing the duct or coating the fan blades.
- A new lease, fitout or tenantMake-good clauses often specify the exhaust system, and a new operator inherits whatever the last one left.
- The rooftop fan is loud or vibratingGrease on an impeller unbalances it. The fan works harder, wears faster, and eventually fails.
- Staff are complaining about smell or heatAn exhaust that has stopped moving air properly makes a kitchen miserable to work in, and that is usually how the problem gets noticed.
Services
Most jobs cover the whole system from canopy to rooftop fan. Each page explains what is involved, which standard applies, and what tends to drive the price.
Kitchen exhaust cleaning
The full system: canopy, filters, ductwork and fan, cleaned and documented to AS 1851.
Read more →Canopy cleaning
Degreasing the hood, plenum, grease troughs and the underside people can actually see.
Read more →Exhaust duct cleaning
The part above the ceiling where the real fuel load sits. Access panels, bends and horizontal runs.
Read more →Exhaust fan cleaning
Rooftop and inline fans, impellers, housings and cowls. Where airflow is won or lost.
Read more →Filter cleaning & exchange
Baffle and mesh filters cleaned or swapped on a schedule so the rest of the system stays cleaner longer.
Read more →Commercial kitchen deep clean
Behind and under the cooking line, walls, floors and equipment, usually done with the exhaust.
Read more →Restaurants & cafes
Small and mid-sized kitchens, scheduled around service so you never close.
Read more →Pubs, clubs & hotels
High output kitchens with long canopies, multiple fryers and heavy grease loads.
Read more →Aged care & schools
Institutional kitchens with audit trails, duty of care and out-of-hours access requirements.
Read more →Food courts & multi-tenancy
Shared duct runs and shared responsibility. Who cleans what, and who holds the record.
Read more →Inspection & certification
The report itself: what a compliant certificate contains, and why photographs matter.
Read more →What it costs
What moves the price, and what a quote should itemise so you can compare two.
Read more →Why Sunshine Coast kitchens load up faster
Three local things push exhaust cleaning intervals shorter here than the standard schedule assumes.
Volume. The Coast runs on hospitality. Mooloolaba, Noosa, Caloundra and Maroochydore kitchens do tourist-season trade that would count as a busy year elsewhere, compressed into school holidays and summer. Grease load tracks covers, not months.
Humidity. Warm, damp air through the wet season means grease stays soft and tacky rather than drying hard. Soft grease flows further into the duct and coats the fan faster.
Salt. Rooftop fan units within a few kilometres of the ocean corrode faster, and grease holds salt against the metal. A fan housing that has never been opened can be in far worse condition than the canopy below it suggests.
Practical consequence: a high output coastal kitchen that assumes annual cleaning is usually well behind by the time the certificate is asked for.
Areas covered:
What happens on a Sunshine Coast exhaust clean
Worth knowing before you get quotes, because it tells you what to ask. Most single-canopy kitchens are a few hours. Big club kitchens with rooftop access run longer and are usually done overnight after close.
Inspection and access check
Someone looks at the whole system, not just the canopy. Where the duct runs, where the access panels are or are not, how the roof is reached, and how heavy the build-up is. This is what the quote is based on.
Written quote and timing
Which components are included, whether it is canopy-only or full system, whether roof access needs equipment, and when the work happens. After-hours is standard for trading venues.
Protect the kitchen
Cooking equipment covered, floors sheeted, drains protected. Degreasing produces a lot of dirty water and it has to be contained, not sent through the kitchen.
Filters out, canopy degreased
Baffle filters removed and cleaned or exchanged. Hood, plenum, grease troughs and light covers degreased with hot water and alkaline degreaser, then rinsed and polished.
Duct and fan
Access panels opened, duct scraped and degreased along its run, fan housing opened and impeller cleaned. This is the part that separates a proper clean from a wipe-down, and it is where fires start.
Report and certificate
Before and after photographs of every component, the date, the standard worked to, and any defects found, such as missing access panels or a corroded fan. This is the document the council and the insurer want.
The clean is half the job. The certificate is the other half.
A kitchen exhaust clean that leaves no paperwork has solved the fire risk and not the compliance problem. When the council officer, the insurer or the landlord asks, you need something to hand them.
A compliant report records what was cleaned, when, by whom, to which standard, with photographs before and after of each component, and lists anything found that could not be fixed on the day. Missing access panels, a corroded fan housing, ductwork that cannot be reached. Those defects matter, because an inaccessible section of duct is an uncleaned section of duct.
The standard most contractors work to is AS 1851-2012, which sets out routine service schedules for fire protection systems and equipment including kitchen exhaust hoods. Councils and insurers reference it because it gives them a benchmark to check against.
Ask for the report before the job, not after. A contractor who does this properly will describe exactly what it contains.
Check the current requirements before you rely on this
This page describes exhaust cleaning standards and inspection practice as they stood in September 2026. Standards are revised, and what applies to a particular venue depends on its equipment, its council and its insurer.
AS 1851 is published by Standards Australia at standards.org.au. Food premises requirements in Queensland sit under the Food Act 2006 and are administered by your local council, Sunshine Coast Council at sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au or Noosa Council at noosa.qld.gov.au. Fire safety obligations for buildings are administered by Queensland Fire Department. Where anything here differs from those sources, they are right and we are not.
We are not fire engineers, council officers or insurers. For what applies to your venue, speak to your council's environmental health team, your insurer, or a fire safety adviser.
What moves the price
Exhaust cleaning is quoted off the size and condition of the system, and the access. A reasonable price is often possible over the phone if you can describe the kitchen.
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Canopy count and length | The base measure. A single 2 metre cafe canopy and a 10 metre double-sided club island are different jobs. |
| Duct length and access | Every metre of duct has to be reached. No access panels means cutting them in, which is a separate line. |
| Fan location | A rooftop fan reached by a fixed ladder is routine. A fan on a three storey roof with no safe access needs equipment. |
| Time since last clean | Heavy build-up takes longer and more chemical. A system done every six months is quick. One never done is not. |
| Canopy only or full system | Canopy and filters is the cheap job. Duct and fan is where the fire risk and the compliance value both sit. |
| Filters cleaned or replaced | Damaged, warped or missing filters get replaced. Priced per filter. |
| After hours | Standard for trading venues and priced accordingly. A daytime clean in a closed kitchen is cheaper. |
| Reporting | A photographed compliance report should be included. If it is an extra, ask why. |
When you compare quotes, the thing to check is whether the duct and fan are included. A cheap quote is usually a canopy-only quote.
Things people ask
How often should a commercial kitchen exhaust be cleaned?
It depends on what and how much you cook. AS 1851 sets routine service intervals, and a high volume kitchen doing charcoal grilling or heavy frying loads up far faster than a cafe doing toasties. Many busy Sunshine Coast venues are on a three to six monthly cycle for filters and canopy, with the full duct and fan done at least annually. If nobody can remember the last one, it is overdue.
Can you do it without closing the kitchen?
Usually, by working after close or before opening. A single canopy kitchen is a few hours. Larger systems get staged across nights. The kitchen has to be cool and not cooking, so it cannot happen during service, but it rarely needs a closure.
Do you clean the duct and the fan, or just the canopy?
The whole system, where it can be reached. Canopy-only cleaning is common and it is the cheaper job, but the duct and fan are where grease accumulates unseen and where fires start. Where a section cannot be reached because there are no access panels, that gets noted on the report as a defect rather than quietly skipped.
What is AS 1851 and do I have to comply?
AS 1851 is the Australian Standard for routine service of fire protection systems and equipment, and it includes kitchen exhaust hoods. Whether it is legally mandatory for your venue depends on your building's fire safety requirements and your council, but councils and insurers reference it as the benchmark, so cleaning to it and documenting it is the practical answer either way.
Will I get a certificate?
You should, and you should ask for it before the job rather than after. A proper report records the date, the components cleaned, the standard worked to, before and after photographs, and any defects found. That is what the council officer and the insurer want to see.
The council inspector asked for our exhaust records. What now?
Get the system cleaned and documented, quickly, and be straight with the officer about the timing. Most councils give a reasonable window to rectify. What they do not accept is no record and no plan. If the last clean was recent but undocumented, the contractor who did it may be able to issue a retrospective report.
Who is responsible in a leased shop, the tenant or the landlord?
Usually the tenant for routine cleaning, since it is operational maintenance, but leases vary and make-good clauses often specify the exhaust system. Shared duct runs in food courts and multi-tenancy buildings are more complicated. Read the lease, and if it is silent, that is a conversation to have before an inspection rather than after.
How long does it take?
A single canopy with a short duct run and accessible fan is typically a few hours. A large club kitchen with a long duct run and rooftop fan can be most of a night. Heavy build-up adds time, and so does cutting in access panels where none exist.
Tell us the venue and when it was last done
Venue type, number of canopies, roughly how long the duct run is, and when it was last cleaned. That is usually enough for a price without anyone visiting.