McDowell's Complete Chimney Service

Did not use the contractor.

They were here on time, always called ahead of time to let me know they were on their way. tried to cause as little disruption in the use of our driveway as possible, and cleaned up every scrap from the work.

I can't say enough about this company. Good people. Prompt, professional, and excellent quality work.

Very good work on time and as promised.

They did a fantastic job. They may cost more than their competitors but they are well worth it.

This is a very professional company. I have used them before and they do good work. They recommended some maintenance for the chimney which I will have done at a later date. The company is a bit more expensive than companies that do similar work but the quality and professionalism are first rate.

We had bought a house (over 80 years old) and had a chimney inspection due to the recommendation of the home inspector. McDowells was suggested by our realtor. When the weather started getting cold we called to see if they could do the work for us. Because I waited till the fall they were very booked up and said they wouldn't be able to come out until Dec. I regretted waiting so long to schedule the work, however when I explained my situation of having 4 kids in the house and not being able to use the furnace because the exhaust wasn't connected to the chimney. To my surprise they were very understanding and called in extra help to get my work done that same week. The work took two days, the workers were very kind and cleaned up everything. The first day they put up some scaffolding and a ladder, fixed the exhaust connection, replaced the vent pipe, took down the chimney layers that needed to be rebuilt, and put in the liner. Second day they rebuilt the chimney and put on the cap. We didn't have to get involved really, they came did the work, cleaned up and went home. It was a very pleasant experience and McDowells is obviously a family owned company, everyone from the office ladies to the workers and the boss were all willing to help anyway they could. All my questions (which were several) were answered quickly and professionally. Also one other thing I would like to say is that we had a second chimney inspection done by the people that we bought the house from and the estimate we got from both was about the same price, but McDowells was definitely the better value. They installed a stainless steel liner with a limited life time warranty for the same price that the other company quoted us for an aluminum liner that only had a 15 year warranty. Overall it was a great experience and I would use them again!

The repair is described in sufficient detail above.

Our chimney was damaged by weather and in danger of falling, and they came very quickly to make sure that it did not collapse. We would use them again in the future.

As others have said I may have been able to have the work done a bit cheaper but, given the quality of work and professionalism of the team sent to our house I feel this was money well spent! I am 100% confident in the work that was done and particularly impressed with 2 aspects. 1) The workers themselves. I’ve had a lot of work done over the years but never by a more professional and friendly crew. This is clearly a company that has done an excellent job in selecting / training their employees. 2) The home we had the work done on was built in the early 1960’s (recently purchased) and the chimney was built with recycled (i.e. old) brick. I am very impressed with the effort put in to matching the new brick to the old and blending the color of the new mortar in to the old. I think it is typically very obvious when this type of work has been done but, in this case, if we didn’t point it out no one would notice. Thanks to the crew for taking the time to make the new work look as good as possible. The crew also took the time to explain exactly what would happen, when and why. That may not be critical to everyone but… I like to know and appreciate the time and effort. I would recommend, if you are to have this type of work done, that you line up a roofer in advance to have new flashing installed where the chimney meets the roof. I had a bit of a hard time getting someone to come out but, at McDowell’s suggestion called a company on a Thursday afternoon and they came out on Friday to provide an estimate / seal the roof. Overall this was a very positive experience and I would definitely use / recommend McDowell for any chimney related repairs / service.

This is the second time we have used McDowell's, and we will use them again next fall. They are very thorough and neat. They arrived on time and were very polite and professional.

They came when they said they would come.

I regularly use McDowells (1-2x/year since 2001). I called in October and received an appointment within a week. Unfortunately, a new employee was assigned and was unable to determine appropriate flue access for cleaning. I had installed a new Morso wood stove in the spring, and this was it's first cleaning. It is Danish and not a common stove in this area. So I had to reschedule the flue cleaning. This was done 11/1/11 - Jason Rigger, my regular technician in the past, came for this appointment. Access to the stove required dismantling some inside structures - this was done neatly and the flue was cleaned. Separation of caulking was identified on the rain collar and this was repaired. Jason took pictures - before and after in order to show me what was needed and the caulking which Jason completed. Within a week we had torrential rains and water entered the flue collecting in the stove then draining onto the floor. I called for a reevaluation of the flue speaking with the office staff. It required a followup call to receive an appointment. Jason returned, took pictures of the inside of the stove, could see where the water had caused staining. He evaluated the flue, chimney cap and rain collar again taking photos for me. He explained that no gaps or leaks were visible and then next option would be to hose the flue in a very graduated way while his associate examinied the inside of the stove for water flow. This was done and no water entered the stove. He explained that with certain wind/rain angles, water can enter the flue. Changing the cap would not help. I have not had any water enter the stove since this time and we have had several rains since, none as fierce. Dryer vent had never been cleaned altho I had had the venting piping replaced in 2007. Hmmm - what a huge difference the cleaning made in drying time. Over the years, I had not noticed drying time had been creeping up for the same load of laundry. Drying time is now shorter, resulting in less electricity usage! As to the new employee mentioned in the beginning - he no longer works for McDowells.

I am very satisfied overall with my experience with McDowell's. The workers were prompt. I received a written estimate. I also received an estimate for additional work that they thought needed to be done. I will be using them again if needed.

I was thoroughly impressed with the services provided by this company. For starters, I was aghast to discover that it's VERY difficult to find a chimney sweep on short notice...they are booked weeks out in this area and I desperately needed a cleaning to satisfy my rental move-out requirement. Mcdowell's squeezed me in. That alone was a great big feather in their cap. I got a call the day before my service to remind me, one the morning of to tell me a time frame, and then one right before to let me know that the technicians were on their way. The two technicians were neat, fast, and incredibly courteous and friendly. Even though I was just having a quick sweep done for move-out purposes, the report given to me was incredibly thorough. I will be able to pass this on to the homeowner so that she can make necessary repairs before putting her house on the market. This was definitely a five star experience. As an aside, their matching embroidered jackets were a nice touch of professionalism...while I wouldn't choose a service based on this, I'm a marketing professional and I recognize good branding and attention to appearances when I see it. It raises the expectation the second the technicians walk through the door...and they live up to it. Impressed!

This firm required a deposit of $65.00 for an estimate which was refunded if contract was obtained from them. Professionalism was not at all nice which turned me off from pay. It was a take it or leave it attitude. I have had roofers come to estimate and even made helpful suggestions that suggested the problem was not the roof, but the masonary.

Great experience..very responsive and prompt. Will use them again and use them for the work they've recommended in the spring.

In August, McDowell's performed a chimney cleaning and cleaning of a fireplace pellet stove insert. At that time, it was noted that the tile lining the chimney had seriously degraded (previous inspections had noted only smaller cracks in tile). At this point, we were advised not to use the pellet stove until the chimney was either relined or a stainless steel liner could be installed to bypass the tiles. Since relining costs a significant amount more than the stainless steel insert, we opted to have the latter work done. A contract was sent out in mid-September; and work was scheduled several weeks in advance; initial downpayment was made about 2-3 weeks before the scheduled work date. The morning before the work was to be performed, I called to confirm that we were on the schedule and was told that, yes, our name was on the schedule and that we would be called the next morning to let us know the approximate timeframe for the installers to arrive. The next morning, I called ~8 am; I was told that due to an inter-office miscommunication, that we weren't on the installation team schedule. I explained that this was one of the few off days I could schedule to have the work done, and Laura (the office manager/administrator) told me that she would talk to Wayne McDowell directly and see what she could do about fitting me into the schedule and call me back shortly. I had to call back over an hour later, at which point I was told that they were having difficulty reaching the closest installation team. She told me that we would definitely be on the schedule, and that she would contact my cell phone # within a 30 min. window. I was out running errands when she called and told me that Mr. McDowell and another installer were on their way. I met them at the house, and the work was performed as quoted. Mr. McDowell and his installer were courteous and professional, and quickly got the installation done. I was able to watch them perform the work and saw pictures of the top of the chimney where the major cracks were found. They also showed me photos of the final liner installation at the top of the chimney (capping off, sealing, etc.). Overall, I was pleased that the work was done well and at a reasonable price, and that the owner of the company was personally available to supervise the job. I wasn't too thrilled about the scheduling snafu, especially because we had a similar problem with this company previously (where we scheduled work and then were somehow dropped off the list). So I think their office needs a more reliable system for tracking service calls. But they did adjust their schedule and were very good about making things right, so I appreciate their willingness to provide better service.

Quality was good. Price a bit higher than some other estimates (~1000 dollars). Removing old mortar was very messy and I was not warned that they were going to make such a mess. A screened porch and furniture covered with heavy layer of mortar dust. (No attempt at clean up.) Front sidewalk and steps cobered with heavy layer of dust that was tracked into house. I finally washed them down enough to get them clean. Chimney crew paid no attention to where the dust was going. Final masonry work looks good. They did a good job of matching the brick of our 90-year-old house.

They are a good local company and have a great reputation. They came when they said they were going to come, did a good job and did not make a mess. I don’t think they could have done anything better. At that time, I thought the price was acceptable; it wasn’t cheap though. I would use them again in the future if necessary.

It went well. They arrived on time, I had moved my car out so they could use driveway. They got old chimney cap off, cleaned chimney, put new cap on, changed pipes in basement to furnace which had lime deposits on them. When done I signed and they had cleaned everything up.

We exposed a wall in a very old (1800s) house and found a beautiful but no longer functional fireplace. So after many glowing recommendations, we hired McDowell to somehow get us a working fireplace back. They ended up having to tear-down the old fireplace and completely rebuild with reclaimed bricks (which we were happy kept to the character of the old home). They also repointed the chimney, built out a hearth, rebuilt the smoke chamber, installed a stainless steel liner, built up a new cement crown, and installed a damper cap on top of it all. So basically...a whole new fireplace. There was also an old brick wall that separated the kitchen from the small living room with the fireplace that we liked the look of but was in very bad shape too. So, we ended up having them build up a new wall of brick which was seamlessly integrated with the new fireplace, as well as a column of brick at the end of the wall that went up to the ceiling.

They called before coming out and were here when expected. Jason and John covered the area surrounding the wood stove well, and did a thorough job cleaning the chimney. They vacuumed around the wood stove after the cleaning and left it better than when they had arrived! I am having them come back to do more work. I recommend this company highly.

These folks are fantastic and we HIGHLY recommend them. This is the second time we have used them and both times they were polite, prompt, thorough, very neat and the price was reasonable for the services performed. We have two chimneys, one on the lower level and one at street level. They cleaned and examined both, making recommendations that would help us enjoy and make the most of our fireplaces. They brought lots of extra dropclothes to cover the work area and made sure that no dust/soot got loose in the house while they were working.

I use McDowell?s Complete Chimney Service every two years. I have been using them for many years now. They do a very good job. They are always punctual. They have to access the chimney through my living room. They leave every thing very clean. I feel very loyal to them. So, I haven?t checked with any other company for their relative price.