Chimney Safety Experts

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Job went well. Two men spent about 5-6 hours, so they're getting about $150-180 per man-hour. The inspector-estimator had pointed out a crack at top of smoke chamber, result of living in earthquake country, which needed re-mortaring all around, but workmen didn't appear to know anything about it and wouldn't have done any re-mortaring on it had I not pointed it out. I called Larry (the estimator) about this problem & left a message for him to call me. He called the workman, but not me. This lack of communication - to the workmen about the crack and failure to call me back are my only notes of dissatisfaction.

I recently purchased a house built in the 40's and knew that the chimney needed some work. I therefore called several companies to get bids for the repairs. Larry Morrison came out and inspected my chimney. I found him to be professional and very knowledgable -- you can tell he's been doing this a long time. After the inspection, I received a follow up email from Monica. While I appreciate the professionalism and follow up, the price was much higher than other quotes received, so I went with another company.

I called for an inspection of my chimney, as it had not been used for the 3 years I owned my house. Greg came out about 2 weeks later to inspect the chimney and provided an estimate for the work needed. His explanation for why the work was needed helped me make the decision to move forward with the necessary repairs. The crew of 2 workers came out 2 weeks later, calling ahead about their arrival time. They worked straight through for 5 hours, keeping the areas in and out of the home clean. The heat reflector was too large for the fireplace, but Mike came back the next day with one that fit. I am very pleased with this company, and will be using them for yearly chimney cleaning.

We loved meeting with Larry, the owner of Chimney Safety Experts. He gave us realistic expectations of what repairs were possible without spending 10s of thousands of dollars (unlike the first company who provided an estimate and no alternatives). His crew was prompt and personable and made every attempt to keep the living room and outside work areas clean. We ran into a couple of minor problems, which could have evolved into major problems had the foreman, Kevin, and his crew not been so willing to work with us. Once the minor problems were resolved, Kevin made sure the inspection went well and saw the project to completion in less time than we had originally estimated. We really like the finished work and are so glad it's done! We can't wait to use our new -- and safe -- fireplace for the first time in many years.

The two guys that showed up to inspect the chimney - Greg and Mike. They were super efficient, knowledgeable and personable. I was very confident that they knew what they were doing, however, I think they really wanted to do way more than was necessary to correct the issue we had. We called them because there were a couple of bricks in the fireplace that had lost some of their grout. They told us that we needed $2200 worth of repairs! Two other contractors looked at it and did not think it should cost anywhere near that much money to repair. We are going to get another opinion from a chimney specialist. I received a call from Greg due to the report that I posted here on Angies list. He went through all the numbers with me for the repairs of the chimney and fully explained why it was so much money. I never did see any pictures of what they thought was wrong with the firebox and hope to get them from another company. Greg explained that they would put someone inside the chimney for 5 hours or more to "re-stucco" the inside. That would cost $1000.00, then to fix the bricks inside the fireplace it would cost $650.00 the rest of the costs were for small things like replacing the spark arrestor screens and a couple of other things. I had to negotiate the price down from the original price they gave me of $2200. I was told when I called Monica that the price would be $69.00 as that was the special they were running at the time. This was verified by me looking at their website. I still do not understand $200 an hour for someone to "re-stucco" the inside of the fireplace. I am not an expert but this seems like a lot for this service.

Edgar Rios was awesome and professional and his attention to details were superb, not to mention patience. I changed my mind mid way from a pre-fab to a semi pre-fab firebox with actual bricks and mortar. Well worth the extra cost. The only slow thing was waiting on the inspector. But it's done, it's fabulous and it's permitted. Well worth the money.

Excellent work. Professional and on time for appointments for inspection work and follow up. Clean up and containment of soot was excellent. When bees were still swarming they came back to check and told me do not hesitate to call. Problem solved. As far as cost I had nothing to compare with as we have never had this type of work done before. All in all extremely happy with results.

They were very conscious and did a great job.

Monica ROCKS - period! She was kind enough to help find a technician to come out to the house we were in escrow for even though they were completely booked during the time I had asked. I had explained to her how we needed to get back to the seller by a certain time and it was critical that we had the chimneys inspected. She managed to have one of her guys juggle his schedule around to accommodate us and gave us a written report immediately after checking out the chimneys. While we didn't wind up buying the house, we will certainly keep them in mind for our next house and will tell our friends about their wonderful service.

I was very happy with what they did and their pricing was the best that I got.

Mr. Larry Morrison did a very good (professional) job of explaining what needed to be done, and what he (or his crew) proposed to do. I expected a very professional execution, after I had signed the contract. Although the crew made a show of being concerned about us by trying not to make a mess in our livingroom, it wasn't long before we experienced more soot (in the form of dust) than we expected. (A better dust collection system than the shop vac they used would seem to be warranted.) Still, we wouldn't begrudge them a little mess if the rest of the work was top notch. The crew captain was a little difficult when it came to dealing with our concerns, and we needed to talk with Larry a couple of times to make ourselves understood. One of those concerns involved the appearance of the finished product (the chimney tile, and spark arrester) from the street. Larry did help us come to a satisfactory result (the chimney tile extension was removed), but I remain very sceptical about the quality of the damper that was installed, and about the quality of the spark arrester, of which it is a part. The spring mechanism on which the operation of the damper depends seems to me to be a weak link in its long-term operation, and even now its operation is difficult for anyone who hasn't maintained very good muscle tone in his/her arms. (One needs to firmly pull down on the chain and cable to engage the chain in the bracket on the inner side wall of the fireplace opening.) We still haven't used the fireplace to build a fire, we just like the idea that we could, if we wanted to. We also fell better knowing that the top of the chimney won't easily fall off (or through) the roof the next time we experience a major earthquake in our area.

This job went very smoothly and Larry and his group were fantastic. Sergio was very prompt and knowledgeable and explained the entire process.

I called Chimney Safety Experts on Wednesday and was able to make an appointment for Friday. Hugo and Javier arrived on time (actually a few minutes early) and introduced themselves. After asking a few preliminary questions about my use of the fireplace, they looked it over and determined it needed less cleaning than I had scheduled. Although I had been quoted a price of $129, Hugo stated that because of the lesser extent of the job, he would charge only $89. His inspection revealed an area around the gas pipe that he recommended sealing, but advised me of a product I could buy myself for $10 rather than paying for his time and materials.

Work was performed on time, no overages.

Other than the fact that I felt like I had to "track them down" after the initial consult, things were fine.

Great. They explained the project well, were sensitive to our questions and requests, and did the job quickly and neatly.

Great. Larry and his guys were prompt, efficient, and very friendly. More details on our 'chimney repair' report.

Larry came out the week before Christmas on six hours notice to a rental property that I own - I wanted to have the brick chimney inspected before my new tenants lit any fires in the fireplace over the holidays. Larry diagnosed damage that had gone unfixed since one of the earthquakes in the 90s. Though my tenants didn't have holiday fires Larry and his crew did return in early January and repaired and reinforced the chimney. I would give the Chimney Safety Experts my highest recommendation based on my experience with them. THANKS AGAIN LARRY :)We are thoroughly satisfied with the work and plan to engage Chimney Safety Experts inspection services on two other homes we own in the area!

When I finally spoke to him, he explained that he was at his next appointment across town, he was trying to wrap up his Friday early. Said I should reschedule since he would not be coming back to my area that day. I called office to reschedule and never heard back from anyone.

Larry was very professional. He and his foreman, Pedro kept us informed of the progress on delivery of the supplies and quickly performed the work. At the end of the job Larry came by to review everything with us. The work was very well done and neat. The price was very reasonable based on comparisons (it was also before the busy season, which had an impact on the price.) The only issue (minor) we had was that one of the workmen kept burning out the bulb on his work light and "liberated" bulbs from some of our lamps to replace it. We raised this with Larry and he apologized and said he would follow up with the workman.

I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE SERVICE THEY PROVIDED AND THEY WERE REASONABLE AND FAIR WITH THE FEE THEY CHARGED AND IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR THEM TO COMPLETE THE JOB.

THE JOB WAS WELL DONE. TOMMY WAS VERY POLITE, ON TIME AND EXPLAINED EVERYTHING VERY WELL.