American Professional Chimney & Masonry

Steve and his team were extremely thorough and did a great job. Steve stopped by the day before to get another look at the mortar color so that they could be sure to match it in the repairs. Other contractors (with higher estimates) told me that matching wouldn't be possible but Steve matched it to a T. They even took extra time to fill holes in the mortar in the front of the house. I'm so pleased with their work and am glad that I selected them for the job.

Everything went well. They arrived on time, completed the work promptly and were pleasant to work with.

The $99 cleaning and inspection was a special through Angie's List. Brian and Brennan were on time, did their work quickly, and were professional and personable. They explained what they were going to do, and, after the inspection, what they'd found and what repairs would need to be made to address the problems. They provided a detailed estimate for the recommended work. They were great representatives of their company; if their estimate is competitive, I would definitely go back to them for any further work. The office was also courteous and helpful.

One of the best contractor experiences I have ever had. Their price was very reasonable, the crew finished the job according to schedule, did terrific work, and were respectful of my property. They even came into my house to remove the flue and clean out a large pile of soot that was left by another company's botched cleaning job two weeks prior - and they did this additional work for free. Catherine, the office manager, is superb. Highly recommended!

Very professional - they were running a few minutes late and called to let me know. They answered all of my questions and seemed to do a very thorough job. They identified several external repairs and provided a quote to remedy those portions they were able to do - I have not yet received competetive quotes (though I will be) so I have no way of knowing if their estimate was reasonable.

They were friendly, professional and efficient

They arrive a little late due to traffic but once they were here they went right to work. They explained to me what was going to be done and about how long it would take. They cleaned up after the job was done and again explained to me what was done. The two gentlemen who did the work were very professional and polite. I will use them again if I every need it.

Had a hard time making/confirming appointment and Neil showed up a half hour after scheduled window. Inspection took about 15 minutes.

They came promptly to clean the chimney and to get an estimate on repairing the external chimney (new crown and replace 10-15 bricks. They did a very good job cleaning the chimney and provided the estimate for the external work. They said that someone would be in touch too schedule the repairs, but after about a week, I called them back to schedule. They came a few days later to do the work. When I inspected the work, I found that they had not replaced all of the damaged bricks. I called them back and they said they would come the following Monday to check it and make things right. They didn't show up all week, so I called them back and they came the following week and replaced the rest of the damaged bricks. All-in-all, the workmanship was good, but the scheduling was not smooth.

They were late and I had to call to get status. It was bad weather so I understand the tardiness but a call to let me know would have been nice. They were able to complete the job and left the house clean. They did recommend additional services but were not high pressure.

American Professional Chimney & Masonry immediately contacted us after w purchased the Deal to set up an appointment. The inspector, Neil, arrived on time, was very friendly and informative. We had specific concerns about our foundation that he addressed in addition to the overall inspection. We were told that an estimate would be sent to us in about a week. We were very happy with the service we received, however, we are still awaiting an estimate even after emailing a reminder to the company. UPDATE 11/20/13 We were finally sent an estimate which did NOT include half of the work that was discussed. I have since reached out numerous times asking for an estimate for the work we spoke about and have not received any response from anyone in the company. I can only guess that the person who came out for our estimate did not write it up right away (hence taking so long for the first partial estimate we were finally sent) and now cannot remember what we spoke about and the work he said he could do. I cannot comment on the quality of work but their inability to properly complete an estimate and respond to a potential customer is a bad sign.

Work began and was completed on time. The contractor corrected a few minor issues (removing excess gravel/dirt left on property, regrading settled soil after a rain) in a timely fashion.

Very helpful, informative, gave good advice and opinions

The company missed the first appointment. So I rescheduled. The inspection was fine but I wanted a followup proposal to remedy a leak in my downstairs family room. Frankly, it was the only thing I really was concerned about and I told the guy that. In any event, I never have heard back.

The end result is that we paid $50 for the provider to give us an estimate. We wanted a moisture inspection. There was no moisture sensor used and only the basement, not the partially underground floor above it was 'inspected.' We were looking for someone to go around the whole perimeter and tell us where water was an issue and where it wasn't. There were walls we wanted to know if they were slowly sweating water, but they didn't even get a look. Instead, the guy took us around the perimeter of the basement and pointed out some issues, and then told us how they could fix it and approximately what it would cost. At the end, we got a very basic 10ish point 'inspection report,' and a very detailed and expansive estimate to fix all our issues. The total estimate was something like $35K. If I were to call a competitor for a second estimate on the work, I would get the same 'inspection' for free because it is a precursor to doing the estimate. I'm not pleased with the value I received for this item. There was also a minor issue with scheduling the visit, the guy double booked himself and he ended up being several hours late, but I won't ding them on it, it was an honest mistake and he apologized.

Fantastic! The crew arrived early, did a professional job, and inspection of the chimney stack to check on a possible water leak. The crew arrived early, did a professional job and went above and beyond. Great Job!

First visit to home they did not bring the correct tools and that I needed to purchase $1300 in additional services. After rescheduling the chimney cleaning, the second visit to home they did not bring the right tools again. After speaking with office manager they informed me that I still need to do $1300 in additional work to meet code in order to clean my chimney. At this point, I just cancelled the service.

Two very cheerful and able young men arrived punctually a little after 8:30 a.m. (were scheduled to arrive between 8:30 and 9:00, as told us by the company's scheduler the day before), and had finished the job in less than an hour. After they finished, they pointed out a couple of things I could do that would prevent problems and/or save on future repairs. Couldn't be happier with the job they did.

American Professional Chimney & Masonry called the day before our scheduled appointment and provided a time for when to expect their team. The next day, the team arrived on time. They were very polite and got the job done quickly. They made sure the floor was protected and everything was cleaned up when they left. They provided feedback on the state of the chimney and an estimate for suggested repairs (but didn't push the suggested repairs). I was very pleased with every aspect of the service provided by American Professional Chimney & Masonry and highly recommend them.

Arrived on time. Evalutated exterior and interior of chamber. The cleaned the interior. Educated us on the condition by identifing both pluses and minus of the chimney. Listed items needing repair which were the safety issues only. Recommended some maintaince items. Wrote down all potential future work in a proposal as a leave-behind. I did call for them to do the recommended repairs in the safey catagory only. They had to be reminded that I was an Angie's LIst customer and needed to rewrite the invoice reflecting the Angie's List discount.

I felt comfortable with them knowing what they were doing. They were very professional and knowledgeable.

Punctual and professional. Chimney was cleaned quickly. Estimate was provided on minor problems.

Provided free estimate of foundation and waterproofing around the house. Very nice and knowledgable staff.

Brian and his assistant were very pleasant, professional and efficient. The specified arrival time was 10:30-11 a.m., but they showed up a little after 9:30, just as I was about to walk out the door to take my daughter to school. It worked out fine, but I would have appreciated a phone call alerting me to their early arrival (their first appointment canceled on them). They seemed to do a fine job on sweeping the chimney, and then Brian inspected the chimney and gave me a detailed list of needed repairs/recommendations, totaling over $1,000. That price seemed a little high, so I plan to get another estimate or two. If these come in at about the same amount, I would definitely use American Professional Chimney & Masonry to do the work.

In brief, it could have gone better. After purchasing the Big Deal for a basement/foundation waterproofing inspection, I was contacted by Catherine in the main office and told that I would be called by Neil to set up an appointment. I spoke with Neil and settled on a time one Saturday morning. During that original window of time, he did not show up. Speaking with him a few hours later, he said that our paperwork had wound up in the wrong pile and that he was already down in DC (we live in Gaithersburg) so would have to reschedule. I tried to contact Neil via his e-mail (as I'd been requested to do during our first conversation) and after all those got bounced back to me as undeliverable I reached out to Catherine once again. It had been a couple of weeks at this point so I simply requested a refund. Later in the day I was contacted by Neil who apologized for the mix-up and said that he would come out and do the inspection free of charge. I agreed and we set a time for Saturday morning. Neil showed up at the very start of the window, and called to give me about 10 minutes of warning (which was nice because it gave me a chance to corral my dogs out of the way). He was very polite and had the promised refund check for the cost of the Big Deal. I showed him the area in the basement where we've been noticing moisture coming down the wall each time it rains. However, he said that there was not much he could do as we have poured-in-place concrete foundation walls as opposed to CMU block foundation walls. He did a brief survey of the exterior of the house looking at landscaping, grading and downspouts for which he is going to write up a recommendation sheet of what can be done to better get water away from the house. Overall it was an okay experience, but I was a bit discouraged by Neil's lack of helpfulness with a known problem once he discovered that we didn't have block walls. From our discussion, he does have a fair amount of knowledge about waterproofing and water issues in general, simply was stumped by our particular problem. (I am in the commercial construction business so am familiar with both concrete & waterproofing.) As to whether or not I would use this company again, I honestly cannot be sure. As they did their best to be professional and recover from an error on their part, I would be willing to give them another shot but it would be in another area of their work (such as chimney cleaning/repair).