SEASIDE Renae Nelson has an infectious laugh, an emphasis on customer service and an attention to detail that appears to be serving her well in her new endeavor.

Nelson started Lucky Duct LLC in June 2012. Lucky Duct is a residential and commercial duct and dryer vent cleaning business. Most of Nelsons business so far has come from referrals by happy customers. She attributes her early success to being a woman who follows through.

Being a woman, being in a cleaning type of business is great. Most of my customers are women, she said.

Nelson currently meets with potential clients to give bids and occasionally accompanies her technician, Nick, when he goes out on the job.

I think whats different about me in Clatsop County is my follow-through, Nelson said. Well go anywhere for the right client. And the right client is the one who calls and wants a bid.

She said that both men and women seem to be more comfortable with having a strange woman come into their home than they are with a strange man. From my point of view, Id feel more comfortable with a woman coming into my house.

The general perception that women tend to be more thorough than men when it comes to cleaning has also worked in her favor when bidding on a job, but its the results that lead to good referrals.

I want the customer to be serviced and I want them to refer me, she said. Additionally, living in a smaller community means you cant treat your neighbor poorly, because youre going to be shopping at the same place.

She said that customers also appreciate how thorough she and her technician are. We leave the home cleaner than when we came, she said. Its the detail we do, in addition to the truck-mounted system.

Lucky Duct uses a truck-mounted vacuum system to suck out whatever has made its way into the air ducts. Beyond the expected dust and pet hair, the ducts in some houses have yielded treasures like stray earrings, kids toys, rodent nests and mold.

In some vacation rentals, she said its clear that people have just swept debris from the floors into the registers.

This is a needed service. Everyone who forces air through their system should have their ducts cleaned every five years, Nelson said. Anecdotally, people with allergies notice a difference with dust.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is clear that there is no documented evidence that the dust built up in the average homes ducts is hazardous to your health. But it does recommend cleaning ducts when there is mold growth, rodent or insect infestation or dust visibly blowing out of registers.

While the EPA is ambivalent about the health benefits of cleaning ducts, it agrees with Nelson that cleaning cooling coils, fans and heat exchangers can improve the efficiency of HVAC systems. And lint-clogged clothes dryers have caused several recent house fires in the area.

Nelson stumbled on the idea of Lucky Duct in part because it was a service her husband and his business partner, who own Diamond Heating Inc. in Seaside, had decided to stop offering.

She liked the idea, so she bought Diamond Heatings broken-down truck. My investment was my repair of the truck.

Nelson moved to Seaside in 2007. Before moving to the coast, she had done a variety of different jobs to make ends meet, from working in a Harley Davidson store to being a massage therapist to running a housecleaning business.

So Ive been trying to figure out what Im going to do in this community, she said. But she had the luxury of taking her time to find the right thing.

The advantage of duct work is I can run it from my cell phone, she said. I work to have fun. I dont live to work.

Nelson said shes found a good balance between work and pleasure, and the work gives her a chance to get out into the community.

Its fun because Im meeting all the contractors, she said. Hopefully well bring a breath of fresh air into the communitypun intended.

For more information, call 503-738-4282 or email renae@luckyductllc.c