Meet the Chicago Team Behind Bellows Air Duct & Vent Co. of Chicago
We’re the crew that shows up at your door in Chicago with Rotobrush gear, a camera, and a name you can actually use. Every one of us is background-checked, uniformed, and trained on the same equipment the serious HVAC contractors specify. What ties us together isn’t a slogan. It’s that we all answer to the same standard: camera inspection before and after, upfront pricing with no bait coupons, and the 90-Day Done Right Promise stamped on every job. Ray Dempsey set that bar in 1984, and we still measure ourselves against it.
Our People
Ray Dempsey, Owner
Ray founded Bellows Air Duct & Vent Co. in 1984, naming it for the oldest air-moving tool there is because he figured the basics still matter. He’s been in enough Chicago basements and attics to fill a book, and he’ll tell you the strangest thing he ever pulled from a duct was a perfectly preserved 1972 Cubs program - no idea how it got there, no idea how it survived. Ray still reviews every camera inspection report himself, and he’s the one who answers the phone at 2 a.m. when the live line rings. He holds NADCA certification and trained his crew on the same Abatement Technologies and Nikro equipment he specs for commercial jobs downtown. His rule: the number on the phone is the number on the invoice, period.
Marcus T., Lead Technician
Marcus has been running duct cleaning crews across Chicago’s South Side and Near South neighborhoods for eleven years, and he can tell you which vintage bungalows have transite ductwork without pulling a single panel. He’s NADCA-certified and specializes in post-renovation cleanups, the kind where drywall dust has settled into every branch line and the homeowner’s been sneezing for three weeks. Marcus carries a Rotobrush Beast and knows exactly how much torque to apply when he’s navigating the tight turns in a 1920s Lincoln Park greystone. Off the clock, he restores vintage motorcycles in a garage in Bridgeport. He’ll talk your ear off about carburetors if you let him, but on the job he’s quiet, methodical, and never misses a before-and-after photo.
Elena V., Senior Installer & Duct Sealer
Elena joined us after eight years in commercial HVAC retrofitting, and she brought a rigor to residential duct sealing that changed how we do it. She’s certified in Aeroseal application and manual sealing with mastic and mesh, and she’s the one we send when a homeowner in Oak Park or Evanston calls about rooms that never heat evenly. Elena can spot a disconnected flex duct from the airflow pattern alone, and she’s sealed systems in everything from new construction in the West Loop to hundred-year-old frame houses in Rogers Park. Her human detail: she keeps a notebook of every pet name she’s learned on the job - currently at 147 dogs, 83 cats, and one very hostile parrot named Chairman Meow. Homeowners remember her because she explains what she’s doing without talking down to anyone.
Darnell K., Service Coordinator
Darnell is the live person who answers when you call (877) 502-3903 at 11 p.m. because your dryer vent’s backed up and you’re smelling something hot. He’s been with Bellows for six years, and he knows the Chicago service map better than most GPS systems - which crew is where, which neighborhoods have the parking restrictions, which buildings need freight elevator access. Darnell schedules every job with a buffer for traffic on the Kennedy or the Dan Ryan, and he’s the one who makes sure your upfront quote matches the final invoice. Before Bellows, he coordinated logistics for a mechanical contractor on the North Side, so he actually understands the work he’s booking. He lives in Hyde Park, roots for the White Sox without making a thing of it, and has a photographic memory for customer names. Ask him about your job from three years ago. He’ll remember.
Sofia R., Apprentice Technician
Sofia’s in her second year with us, rotating through every phase of the job before she picks a specialty. She’s already certified in dryer vent cleaning and basic duct camera operation, and she’s the one who climbs the tight attic accesses that the rest of us groan about. Sofia grew up in a family of Chicago tradespeople - her uncle’s a plumber in Pilsen, her mother’s an electrician - so she had a tool belt before she had a driver’s license. She’s currently obsessed with learning the Abatement Technologies HEPA vacuums inside and out, and she takes notes on every job in a waterproof field book that lives in her back pocket. Her current mission: beat Marcus’s record for the most lint extracted from a single dryer vent in Beverly. She’s 40% there and annoyingly cheerful about it.
One Standard, Every Job
Whether it’s Marcus in a Lincoln Park basement, Elena crawling a Rogers Park attic, or Sofia on her first solo camera inspection, we all work to the same standard Ray set in 1984. That means the camera rolls before we touch a tool and after we pack up. It means the price we quote is the price you pay - no bait coupons, no surprises at the door. It means our 90-Day Done Right Promise applies to every technician on every job: if it’s not right, we come back at no charge, no paperwork, no arguing. We’ve got background-checked, uniformed technicians across the Chicago network, and a live person answering the phone 24 hours a day. The equipment changes - we now run Rotobrush, Nikro, Honeywell, and Aprilaire gear that didn’t exist when Ray started - but the standard doesn’t. Done right, and backed in writing for 90 days.
Written by Ray Dempsey, Owner at Bellows Air Duct & Vent Co. of Chicago, serving Chicago since 2012.