BERKELEY CHIMNEYS

Took a over a month to get an appointment because Nick was so busy, and it was winter. Was given very reasonable quote to inspect condition and possible usability of chimney in a new house. Nick came on time, gave a full assessment of my chimney which was essentially separating from the house. He even crawled into the crawl space to see if the base was sagging. At the end of it all his advice was gas insert if I really wanted fire, but forget about the expense of trying to restore the chimney. At the end of it when I tried to pay him, he said, "I don't charge for bad news." I persisted but he hurried off. Very thorough, kind and honest man. Highly recommended.

Reasonable and professional! Worth the wait!

All good, no problems.

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Nick is a professional. He responds to telephone and email enquiries promptly, arrived as scheduled for the estimate, gave us a fair quote on the spot, booked all work in a realistic manner to ensure that he had sufficient time to perform. He stopped by on his own time a day in advance to ensure that he would have all the equipment and material he needed on the work day. On the day, he arrived got to work, carefully and tastefuly reduced the height of our precariously balanced 109 year old chimney to a level in harmony with safety and the character of the whole house. He tuck pointed the exterior brick work as he had professionally advised that restoration of the entire chimney breast to top working condition, while possible, would have been excessively expensive. On the interior he serviced the ash box [which was defunct and allowing outside air drafts to leach warm air from the building] and cleared the ash box of years of accumulated and encaked ash. In a nut shell, top rate, top quality work, professionally implemented, by craftsman. Just exactly what was required.

We were very happy with him. He knows what he is doing.

I am very satisfied with the work that Nick Duggan of Berkeley Chimneys did for me. He is very knowledgeable and professional and also very good at explaining the intricacies of fireplaces and chimneys! He was very prompt in returning my initial phone call and he showed up on time to perform the cleaning and inspection. He was a whirlwind of focused activity, checking the fireplace and chimney from crawl space to roof and everywhere in between, and he did a meticulous cleaning job! He found problems with our flue liner as well as a separation of the face of the fireplace resulting in a poor seal. He confirmed that we should not be using the fireplace to burn wood, but that it could be used safely with the installation of a gas inset, which is what we were planning to do. He completed a written "condition report" documenting the inspection and offered many insights about fireplace structure and also gas inserts. It was a real pleasure working with Nick and I highly recommend him!

The owner, Nick Duggan, saved us a lot of money. He explained that our red brick fireplace is in very good condition and, design wise, it fit in and complimented the rest of the room. The fireplace is trimmed out with a hardwood mantle and a matching built-in bookcase. Nick was willing to do the job of refacing, but felt a good cleaning and some small repair was all that was needed. We thought about it and concurred with his opinion. He cleaned the brick and repaired the mortar, and the fireplace looks just great.