The county's largest housing stock, and almost half of it running its own system.

What it means for your ducts

Almost half the city runs its own whole-house system.

Palm Beach Gardens' 31,400 homes are the largest housing stock of the fourteen towns this crew covers, and 59.1% of them were built before 2000 — old enough that a lot of the original flexible duct is at or past the point where it should have been inspected, if it ever has been. With 47.4% of units detached single-family, close to half the city runs its own whole-house system rather than sharing a building riser.

The city's 2.9%/6.6% share of units in buildings of 20 or more is among the lowest of these fourteen areas, so condominium and HOA contracts are a smaller part of the market here than in a town like Juno Beach or North Palm Beach. The Intracoastal Waterway runs along the city's eastern edge, and while Palm Beach Gardens has no direct Atlantic frontage, homes on the water side still face the salt-rich air that accelerates corrosion of exposed metal duct and HVAC components.

And because 73.0% of those homes are owner-occupied, most bookings here come from the homeowner rather than a management company — which usually means a whole-house visit: every supply and every return opened and photographed, then brushed and vacuumed back through the plenum to the air handler, rather than the one problem room.