James Ball Chimney Cleaning

the company showed up on time as promised, did a thorough inspection and presented me with my options...I choose what I thought was best and he performed flawlessly...not a speck of dirt was left behind and the chimney is now working perfectly...I would highly recommend these guys based upon my experience

It was great. The technician went above and beyond. He pointed some things out that weren't noticeable, that need to be taken care of.

I called James Ball Chimney for a chimney cap (they came right out the next morning), but having had issues with my chimney in the recent past I had them do the free inspection. Right away Rich noticed cracks and problems that I figured were present considering issues I've had with the chimney draft. He went over the process for installing a new chimney liner, approximate cost, time it would take, and answered a bunch of questions I had about such a job. He took photos of the chimney, wrote up a draft of the job and told me I would receive an email proposal for the job including the photos, pricing, install details, etc. The next morning I had the email proposal and reviewed it. I contacted James Ball with some questions and we set up the job. The next day or so James sent me paperwork for the permit, then he pulled the permit and emailed it over to me. All the paperwork was done quickly and efficiently. We scheduled the job and Rich and Dan showed up 10 minutes to 7am to start the job. They did the job neatly, explained what they were doing as the job was being done, and tested the heating and hot water units for proper draft before they cleaned up and left. Rich also told me to give them a call if there are any issues or other questions I have. What I liked most about the whole process is that Rich did the inspection free, answered a ton of questions and was very professional. He explained the situation and let me decide what I wanted to do without any scare tactics to push the sale. That made the whole process easy to deal with.

After getting our chimney re-pointed, we suddenly had a lot of smoke when lighting a fire in our fireplace. We called James and he sent someone who swept the chimney (both the fireplace one and the chimney for the oil burner). We still had smoke in the house. We called James again and he personally came (complaining about the inexperience of the guy he had sent) and re-swept, but we still had smoke. We then called the company that did the re-pointing (Fulvio Calvi of Alfredo Calvi and Son, highly recommended). Fulvio got on the roof and immediately found a squirrel's nest near the top of our chimney. We had removed the cap for the pointing and painting, and apparently there was a squirrel's nest in there when the cap was put back on. Since we had called for the chimney sweep AFTER the cap was on and we still had the squirrel's nest in there, James's company had "swept" the chimney TWICE without noticing / removing the cap (and the squirrels nest). How is that possible? Only if he didn't do his job TWICE. We finally called another chimney sweep (Richard Pugliese), who actually cleaned the chimney. Our house has been smoke-free since.

This is my 2nd time using this company and they get better and better each time. I called for this appointment a few months back because I was going to be off on a particular day. When I needed to change the day it was not a problem - in fact James spent over 30 minutes with me on the phone educating me about chimney ideas that I was considering on my own. James did not personally come out on this smaller job and his step-son Richie (who came out a few years ago on my first job with them) and another employee whose name I'm forgetting currently (it's a little embarrassing that I forget considering he was here this morning but at a certain age (mid 30's for me) these things start to happen). Richie and his partner were on time, extremely polite and very knowledgeable/comfortable with what they came to do. They explained everything about the job, touched base with me along the way to keep me informed and cleaned up any mess that was made. The job was professionally done and I would HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you contact James to provide you with his services. The reason you joined Angies List was to find out information like this. You found your guy right here. Thanks again James - I will be contacting you in the future!

It took us a long time to actually get together scheduling problems. Hi man Rich was excellent professional and when he had a question he did not hesitate to contact James. We will try out our fire place next cold day but what Rich did is really nice, now we hope it works.

Mr. Ball is very good at what he does. He analyze the situation and comes up with a solution. Unfortunately, the solution for me was a bit too expensive.

They were punctual and neat and did the job quickly and proffessionaly.

Cleaned oil furnace chimney. Replaced duct work from dryer to outside vent. Efficient service, cleaned up the area and removed the replaced ducts.

They have been very professional, punctual and efficient. Furthermore, they make recommendations for fully maintaining the chimneys, but at no time did I feel pressured or that I "had to make the repairs". Overall, it was an excellent experience.

I used James Ball Chimney Cleaning

James orchestrated the inspections of 15 units with great efficiency and effectiveness. We found him to be very ethical. He inspected each unit but only cleaned those units that needed cleaning. His price was very fair. We found James to be prompt, courteous and informative. The day after his service, James sent us a comprehensive analysis of each unit. We highly recommend his company. FYI: My sister just told me about her horrific experience with another chimney company in NJ. It only underscores my appreciation of James Ball Chimney Cleaning. Glad I found him on Angies List.

I met James before the job to get his assessment of what was needed in my chimney since the terracotta was collapsing in the chimney and I thought I needed a liner. James came and showed me the parts he would be using. I've met many contractors in my day and can read people when I meet them. That being said I knew James was not "blowing smoke" up my rear. He is a very honest and knowledgeable man and I will be using his services in the future whenever I need chimney related work. If you are looking fr someone to take care of your chimney you have found your man.

Five Star all around. They set up an appointment and were very punctual. They evaluated 2 chimneys and informed one was completely cleaned while the other was in need of a cleaning. I could tell they were honest because I had only used the clean chimney 5 times in the last 3 years. They performed the work immediately exactly to my satisfaction. I will definitely use them in the future.

I can't say enough good things about this company. My realtor discovered James Ball Chimney on Angie's List and suggested I read about the company, and to note the high number of positive reviews. Well, we are adding another excellent review to the list. James and his son knew how to work with our older chimney and make it safe and efficient. After the installation, I asked James' son Richie to "walk me through" the installation and to explain to me just what was done. He was great! He referenced the earlier information we received and pointed out the different parts of the project. Given the messiness of working on a chimney flue, I was surprised and pleased at how clean they left the work site. This is one of those projects that is not fun to spend money on, but sure gives peace of mind when it is done. This company has earned an A+ with us.

Jim's crew worked through a sudden downpour and finished the job completely and expertly. They were professional in every way.

He inspected everything, my chimney, my roof, my gutters, the dryer vent and he didn't charge me. He is very honest and he also checked my gutters. He is professional, nice, on time and pleasant.

James is extremely knowledgeable and what I really appreciated was that he took the time to explain the whole process to me so I could understand. Also, I really appreciated his honesty. After inspecting the wood stove, he said it did not need to be cleaned. I was shocked. Someone else could have just told us it needed to be cleaned and take our money, but he was honest with us. He also recommended we have additional work done to replace the oil flue but it is really expensive so we are waiting to complete that work. But when we are ready to do it, I will definitely call James to come back.

He showed up promptly and was very respectful and professional in his manner. He protected my home and made sure when he left that every thing was in order. The most important part was that not only did he do an excellent job cleaning the chimney but that he was able to document through the use of the video the exact condition of the chimney inch by inch. He made me aware of some safety concerns and was able to show me exactly why he thought additional work needed to be done. He was patient and wanted to make sure I could see exactly why he thought additional work needed to be done. I He was able to recommend contractors to do the work and provided them with the scan so they had a detailed inspection of the chimney. I was also able to show it to my husband as it was all saved on my computer. It was an excellent experience and I can highly recommend his work with the highest degree of confidence.

The preliminary call was exactly as promised: On time, professional, and thorough. Then, the appointment for the actual work was done professionally, promptly, courteously, and exactly as promised and contracted for. A+++. Thoroughly pleased and would highly recommend.

The entire experience was excellent. We had an old stove insert in our fireplace which we ripped out and wanted to get the fireplace up and running again (it was missing a damper and hadn't been cleaned in seemingly forever) James came by to take a look and explained in detail what work he would recommend to get the fireplace up to snuff. I had a few questions when calling to set a date and James patiently explained in detail what work would be done. On the day of the work, the team showed up exactly when they said they would. They explained each part of the process and showed me the progress several times along the way. They also took a ton of pictures of before and after and we went through each one together. They made sure I was comfortable with the work done and what I had to do to operate the fireplace moving forward. It was a great experience all around and I highly recommend using them.

Great experience. James and his crew came out a few weeks before to take a look around and give estimates. He explained everything in great detail, took several photos, and showed what the recommendations would be. An estimate followed quickly after and we decided on a time for the job. The work was done perfectly, they were a very friendly and efficient crew, and left the property spotless. Great communication from initial visit through estimate through finishing the job, with excellent work and a fair price. Highly recommended.

Had a pretty good experience with James Ball. First of all, they came when they said they would come, which is a big plus. Second, the final price was not a surprise from the initial estimate. The chimney sweep went fine and the dryer vent cleaning did as well and the dryer was shown to be much more efficient as a result of the cleaning. There were no "hard sells", which was very much appreciated. The one slight surprise was that during the actual chimney cleaning, it was noted that there was some chimney repair work that might be necessary, which could be done at an additional cost. It wasn't clear why that didn't come up in the initial estimate. But there was no "hard sell" to complete this extra work and overall, I thought it was a good experience and I would and will likely hire them again in the future.

This is my second time using James Ball Chimney Cleaning in the past few months. Richie arrived on time and got right to work cleaning my fireplace. He had his work cut out for him because it appeared it hadn't been cleaned in a long time (it's a new house for me). Once it was cleaned he filled the gaps and coated the inside of the chimney with Smoke Tite. James dropped by to see how things were going and to drop off another one of his employees, James, to help. The work took about five hours. Richie and James covered all the floors and cleaned up after.

James arrived with his assistant, James 2, and got right to work. It was a difficult job because my chimney was pretty messed up. They also replaced my dryer vent. Everything took the better part of the day to complete. The day he worked at my house he was training a new assistant, James 2, who is a terrific young man. I heard him patiently describing what to do to James 2 at each step while he watched him work and very kindly directing him back on track when he made a mistake. In addition, James is extremely knowledgeable and explained to me in detail what he would be doing. He does everything the right way and doesn't cut corners. It was clear to me as soon as I met James that he has a passion for work that makes him excellent at what he does. He loves a challenge. Further, James not only did a fantastic job with the work, he helped me get the proper permits, provided the contact information for the inspector, and even called before he got to my house on the morning of the job (6:45 am) to ask if I wanted a cup of coffee (and I suspect to make sure I was out of bed :) because they were stopping at Dunkin' Donuts. Overall, working with James Ball Chimney Cleaning has been a great experience. I highly recommend him as well as his step-son, Richie, and James 2.