Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney Restoration Co.

We went to Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney for a second opinion after receiving a quote of over $7,000 from Lindemann Chimney to replace the flue, with a liner and install a new damper and fan on an already recently (within 3 years) rebuilt open gas fireplace. After the tech listened to our problem, which is soot build-up within the house, he took one look at the fireplace and how the gas burners were turning the ceramic logs black and said the problem was probably due to poor placement of the logs and burner. He spent about an hour cleaning everything and making adjustments. When finished he conducted a carbon monoxide test and readings were only 1ppm, down from 10+ppm when I took readings before the work (I purchased a CM Meter after the Lindemann visit). Since his work, I haven't seen carbon monoxide readings above 3ppm! In short his recommendations of some simple adjustments solved our problem and saved us almost $7,000! I would highly recommend these guys as they seem to know what they are doing and are providing honest, fair work.

Chicagoland Fireplace was not the lowest bidder, however' from the start it was clear to see that they knew what it would take, how to solve the changes we wanted, and from what we checked out in advance from others who had used them they seemed to be a good fit for our project. We needed to remove the old fireplace chamber, requiring a new concrete pour, brickwork, mortar, metal hardware and finishing. After all was said and done, it was a great job. We again have a full functioning fireplace that looks good and burns well. Say no more they got our business and took care of it with kid gloves-Grade A

They left our house and property in better shape than when they came. The work is great, no fuss, no bs. Just did their job and cleaned up.

Not well, Nick came by and gave an estimate and I told him I would get back with him. He called me up and stated that his company ordered all of the supplies and he needed to pick up the doors. I was never given a contract to sign and Nick picked up my doors and we didn't have a written contract for the work. I was told on the phone that the cost for the doors to be painted would be$60. Nick quoted me a price for $1600 for painted doors and fire glass but after I did some more research I realized that the cost for painting the doors were right around $60. I asked to have my doors returned but I need to pay $625 included in that cost is a $200 pickup and delivery fee. I definitely would not recommend this company.

First off I'm a Real Estate Broker at Coldwell Banker that deals with m any issues that arises from home inspection and city inspection issues (presale and sale). I deal with numerous of contractors that help my clients resolve their issues. One company that I am most satisfied with is Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney Restoration Company. ..Before finding them, I dealt with a few chimney companies and found at multiple times on how dishonest and misleading this industry is. Companies telling my clients that they needed chimney repairs, while none was needed. Pricing the job and finding huge gaps with other estimates......I found that dealing with Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney Restoration Company, they gave all my clients a fair price and did ONLY the work that was needed. Upon re-inspection from either the home inspector or city inspector both complimented on how good of work this company does. I highly recommend Chicagoland Fireplace and Chimney Restoration for all your chimney needs and I will definitely be using them for all my future transactions!!!!!!

Things did not go well. The two folks that showed up to my house seemed much more interested in seeing what other work they could sell me rather than doing the work I hired them to do. They weren't two steps into my house and they were telling me I needed a new damper cap and crown cap repairs. When asked how they could be making such assessment with even examining system and particularly without going on the roof, I was given a non-answer. A short time later one of the techs responded that he had binoculars in the truck and he saw it coming up the drive way. After 10 minutes of telling me everything wrong with my fireplace, I made it clear the only thing I was interested in was a proper cleaning of the flue. At this point the lead guy got out his pad and began to write up all his "observations" . The number two guy was then left to sweep the flue. It is not clear that my flue was ever even properly swept. The number one guy had to give a lot instruction to his helper and at one point told me he was in training. In my opinion the only proper way to clean and examine a chimney is from the top and the bottom. Zero time was spent at the top of my chimney. I am skeptical that much of any cleaning actually happen and all I got for my money was a $2000 estimate to fix all the "problems" with my chimney. Steer clear of these guys.

It went very well. They were very nice and professional. I was very pleased.

Last winter, they cleaned my fireplace and chimney on second attempt saying they misplaced the appointment. So I lost half a day at work. They eventually came and did a good job (as far as I can tell), but noted that significant chimney repairs needed to be done. I waited until this summer and recently called them to schedule an estimate. I was given this afternoon between 2-4 pm. When no one showed or called, I phoned the office and was told they called and left a message on my cell phone (which I was carrying at all times) and there was no incoming call or VM from anyone during that time. This is the second "scheduling" SNAFU with this company. I could forgive one. However, a repeated missed appointment and a bold-faced lie about calling and leaving a VM message is beyond reprehensible for ANY company. I would NEVER support this firm. There are plenty others with better reputations!

We recently purchased a foreclosed home and are still trying to learn all of the home's systems, and identify where there are problems. We purchased a coupon through Living Social to have our fireplace cleaned and checked. The contractors arrived in the promised window of time (4-hour block) and were polite and friendly. While the basic cleaning was done, the inspection portion of the service call didn't prove very fruitful. Unfortunately, neither technician was able to answer our questions about our fireplaces to help get them functional. They could not locate the gas line leading to the vented gas fireplace we have, and managed to turn off the supply line to our water heater in the process. Quite a surprise this morning when we went to take our showers! Ultimately their suggestion to us for this fireplace was to cap the gas line at the firebox, add a new grate and just make it woodburning. Not really what we want... I just want the gas-burning one up and running. The other ventless fireplace needs an entire new log & burner set. Rather than provide estimates for this they directed us to their website for options. I typically like this approach so I can shop around a little. Unfortunately there are no prices on any of the products, so it didn't really help us in budgeting and planning the work needed. I have no real way of judging the quality of the fireplace cleaning other than what I see in front of me, which looks fine. I wouldn't recommend these guys for much more than that though, as they seemed in a little over their heads.

We were very, very happy with the service we received, especially as we had such a negative experience when we started this project with another company. We wanted to find a way to make one or both of our 100 year old plus fireplaces safely function as woodburning, but the old, narrow, unlined flues presented a challenge. The first company we spoke to told us it would cost roughly $25,000 to make both fireplaces function, that we would have to tear down and rebuild the top 5' of our old chimney, and that the work would destroy the beautiful old tile surround on our fireplaces. We were unsatisfied and called Olde English. The technicians who did the initial inspection were very professional and answered lots of questions from us and our architect and contractor. The use of the camera inspection reassured us that we weren't being taken for a ride and that there really was a problem. Olde English then told us it would cost roughly $12,500 to do the same job that someone else wanted to charge us $25k to do. As if that weren't good enough, for $12,500 we did not have to have our chimney torn down and rebuilt and our tile surround was undamaged. They also suggested installing a concrete chimney cap at the top, which our chimney lacked; both our contractor and architect said that was plainly needed, so we did that as well ($1650). We only spent $10,000 at the end of the day because we opted to only fix up one of the two chimneys. Finally, we were really impressed with how Olde English stood by their work. The original damper the company installed required the draft inducer (at the top of the chimney) to sit very high and we complained about how it looked. Olde English came back out and replaced the damper with a custom sized damper that they had to have specially made so that the draft inducer could be lowered. They did all of this without any complaints or dragging of feet and it now looks fantastic, inside and outside of the house.

I found the company through the Chimney Safety Institute of America website, and sent them an email inquiry. We received a response within a few hours, asking further questions about our issue. Then, I responded in detail, and heard nothing back for a week. I finally called, and left a message. I then heard nothing back for another week. I called again, and was able to speak to someone who answered. She apologized for the delay, and then told me she would get back to me with scheduling, and then did not call for another ten days. After that call, she told me she wasn't really sure who she should send out, and told me she would get back to me about who would come by, and when, and then, after another ten days of her not calling, I gave up.

I ended up installing a ventless gas/coal firebox based on their professional opinion. He was very knowledgeable. He was very responsive. He gave excellent product advice for my application. I received conflicting advice from other chimney advice on what would be the correct approach would be. I thought his advice was creative and was less expensive alternative compared to other companies.

Quick and easy install. Patient to show me how to use them.

I had to get the chimney looked at quickly. Olde English answered the phone (not everyone I called answered) and their rates seemed okay- I reached them through American Heritage who installs fireplaces. They came within the allotted time frame promised, advised me of the situation and most costs before they started work. They cleaned up the basement nicely, although did not cart away the debris. Vince said he would return within 5 days to rebrick the outside but I had to call twice to find out when he was coming. Someone finally came after one week. They expected immediate payment for the outside bricking, an extra cost which seemed unreasonable to me, and for which represented work had to wait a week for them to complete.

The initial visit and cleaning seemed fine. I felt educated and decided to go ahead with the work. No problems reported. The downside seemed to be in the company's internal communication. The next visit a different guy came out, who did not have all the same ideas as the first visit's worker (who had since left the company in the 3 or 4 weeks between). The second worker did not know we needed a custom sized cap. He fitted what he had on his truck to ours with some modifications. That was ok by me. He did not know that we had a smell problem or that was why we were having the chamber sprayed. He came down off the roof and told me the terracotta chimney was cracked, which indeed can be seen from the street (it's huge). I don't know if he did this in trying to fit the non-custom cap, or the previous guy. The previous guy never mentioned it. We haven't fixed this yet. The smell is maybe 60% gone. The second guy thinks we should have had a better cleaning before the spray.

I WAS PLEASED WITH THE JOB THEY DID. THEY WERE ON TIME, DID THE WORK EFFICIENTLY AND QUICKLY, LAID DOWN TARPS SO THAT THEY WOULDN'T TRACK ANY DIRT OR SOOT ONTO THE FLOOR AND LEFT THE FIREPLACE AND SURROUNDING AREA SPOTLESS. A GREAT JOB!

THEY WERE ON TIME, CLEAN, AND REALLY NICE.

THE WOMAN WHO ANSWERED WAS COURTEOUS AND HELPFUL. WE DID NOT END UP USING THE COMPANY BECAUSE WE NEEDED THE WORK DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SCHEDULE US IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS. THEIR PRICES SEEMED VERY REASONABLE.

WE WERE TOLD THEY WOULD BE AT THE FIRST UNIT AT 8 AND THE SECOND AT 10. THESE TIMES WERE CONFIRMED SEVERAL DAYS LATER. THEN, ON THE DAY OF SERVICE WHEN THEY DIDN'T SHOW, WE CALLED AND WERE RUDELY INFORMED THAT THE TECH SAID HE'D ARRIVE AT THE FIRST UNIT BETWEEN 8-10, AND THAT HE'D DO THE SECOND UNIT WHENEVER HE WAS DONE WITH THE FIRST. WHEN THEY DID ARRIVE, THEY DID THE WORK, AND THEN ADMITTED THAT THE VENT HADN'T NEEDED CLEANING. WHEN THE JOB WAS COMPLETED, THEY COULD NOT REINSTALL THE DOOR THEY'D TAKEN OFF THE HINGES TO GET TO THE VENT, NOR COULD THEY REINSTALL THE MACHINES PROPERLY. A MACHINE THAT SLID OUT OF PLACE ON A TRACK WAS SHOVED BACK IN THE WRONG POSITION UNDER FORCE. THE GUYS WERE POLITE ENOUGH, BUT REALLY NOT KNOWLEDGEABLE OR DETAIL ORIENTED. ONE POSITIVE POINT; THEY WERE ABLE TO EXPLAIN THAT BECAUSE OUR DRIER VENTS WERE SO SHORT, THEY DID NOT NEED CLEANING ON A REGULAR BASIS.

THEY CALLED BEFORE THEIR APPOINTMENT TO MAKE SURE WE WERE HOME. CAME AND DID THE WORK AND CLEANED UP. NO MESS, NO FUSS. THEY INSPECTED THE CHIMNEY AND MADE ME AWARE OF SOME WORK THAT IN THEIR WORDS "SHOULD CONSIDER FOR NEXT YEAR". THEY DID NOT TRY AND SELL ME ON NEEDING TO DO THE WORK THEN AND THERE. EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE.

OUR SERVICE TECH WAS VERY NICE, EXPLAINED WHAT HE WAS DOING AND PROVIDED A LITTLE HISTORY ON OUR CHIMNEY. THEY WERE LATE, BUT HE DID CALL EARLIER TO SAY THAT HE WOULD ARRIVE TOWARDS THE LATTER PART OF THEIR ''WINDOW''.