American Professional Chimney & Masonry

They did everything they said they were going to do, but the workmanship was poor. They slapped the new pipes on an existing gas line, the workers who did the work also requested a $150 tip since the office manager took $150 off the price of the service. I gave them the money to get them to leave my property and contacted the office manager, who refunded the money to me. I also spoke to the office manager regarding the quality of the work and she said they didn't see anything wrong with the work that was done. The workmanship was poor and they claimed they wanted to fix it, they have yet to fix anything and I have been going back and forth with them. The bottom line is that I would not recommend this provider to anyone, nor would I use them again in the future. They don't seem to want to fix the problem and just seem to want to take my money and finish the job with lack of care.

The company was prompt, polite, professional and provided the services as promised. I should have posted earlier so I'd have more details (including the exact date and price) but I do remember referring them to a friend right afterwards as we were so pleased with their service.

Amazing! After a slight miscommunication about location (I share an account with my mother who lives an hour away), they arrived on-time and inspected my chimney quickly. Unlike other companies who seem to always try to upsell, they were very honest and told me my chimney was in great shape and didn't need any work. I asked them about the depth of my fireplace though, which I was afraid wasn't deep enough. They tested the fireplace and discovered that while it was deep enough for a fire, smoke may enter my room because of the height of the fireplace. They suggested a smokeguard, and promptly showed me with some tin foil the effect a smokeguard would have. It was clear it was needed, and two weeks later, they returned to install it quickly and easily! Only $220, which included the smokeguard and installation. They would have returned earlier but due to the weather they were unable to make it out to my home. All in all, a wonderful company that I would happily work with again. Very responsive, very courteous (they wore booties inside my home so as not to drag in outside dirt, promptly cleaned up any mess they made, etc) and just nice, nice guys. Definitely book!

Purchased an Angie's special for a chimney cleaning and inspection. While scheduling through Angie's list I suggested any Friday would work. APC promptly replied and scheduled me for Friday, November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving (which was one of the days I suggested). I received an email the Monday before asking me to call their office to provide a phone number so the technician could call us to confirm a time the day before our appointment. While on the phone with the office I asked for an approximate timeframe and the customer service representative told me that only one technician was working the 28th and that she would have to get back to me. I never heard back from the customer service representative, nor did I hear anything from the technician on Wednesday or Thursday before. As a result I called the office on Thursday evening and left a message requesting that we reschedule. I did not hear back from the office on Friday, nor did I hear anything from the technicians until they showed up at 5:15pm to perform the service. Luckily we were home so we went ahead with the cleaning and inspection. The technicians were very professional and did a thorough job cleaning and inspecting our chimney. They also provided a quote for recommended repairs and let us know that we could give them a call if we would like to schedule any additional work; no pressure. The following Monday I received a phone call from the office manager asking me when I'd like to reschedule the service. Overall, the quality of the work was good but communication between the company and the customer, as well as communication between the technicians and the office, needs some work.

I hired this company to clean and inspect the chimney of the house that I had recently purchased. They looked at the chimney and claimed that they cleaned it and gave me a list of problem that the chimney had for total of $8000. I hired another contractor to get a second opinion. He showed me that the chimney was not cleaned at all and after inspection he said the chimney has no major issue and it can be used.

Great. I have been very happy with American Chimney since discovering them a year ago. They called in the morning when they knew they were going to be delayed and set expectations. They arrived on time, worked quickly but efficiently, did not try to upsell me on anything I didn't need and pointed out likely future maintenance issues - and how they could stem them temporarily but also how I could save a few bucks by inspecting it myself and ordering the piece for the next time they come to sweep the chimney. We burn enough wood in our stove to need two cleanings per season; I plan to keep using them!

They came out quick and replaced the whole thing. I am very happy with them and I would recommend them to anyone.

Very thorough and prompt. Will definitely use again.

American Professional Chimney and Masonry employs excellent craftsmen who actually installed the steps and railing. The quality of the work looks first rate and I am very pleased with the way the steps fit perfectly with the existing landing of cement. Steve Rogers (who installed the steps) and Albert (who installed the railings) did an excellent job of communicating with me about what I wanted the structure to look like and when they would actually be putting in the steps or railings. They both performed their work efficiently and cleaned up afterwards. I am very pleased with the outcome and applaud their workmanship. What I am not pleased with is the inefficiency, lack of communication, confusion and inability to receive a prompt estimate from the office representative, Catherine Wilson. The front office of this company lacks any sense of prompt and satisfactory customer service. Thus the "F" rating for their "Responsiveness" above. Had I not been persistent with calls and emails, I never would have met the skilled workmen who actually did the installation. I had a great deal of difficulty in finding a company to do this small but important job for my front steps. Finding the office representative to be so incompetent and unresponsive was frustrating and time consuming. However, I am pleased with the final outcome and wish to recommend them for the quality of their workmanship.

Estimate was provided quickly and firm worked to accommodate our schedule. Excellent communication.Work was conducted quickly and neatly. Office manager called several times to confirm that work was satisfactory. I highly recommend this firm.

Overall, I am very happy with the work performed by this company. The individuals who performed the work were polite, friendly, and very accommodating to my schedule. The scheduling was somewhat challenging at times, but in the end the customer service was very responsive and friendly. I would definitely consider this company for future work.

Brian arrived in a timely manner with his associates and conducted himself as an absolute professional! his specialty was only chimneys and we needed a load bearing brick wall repointed. He offered to have someone named Neil call me back to arrange of possible estimate. Neil contacted me within a reasonable time however the position has already been filled. I would consider hiring this company in the future and was very pleased at the responsiveness and their professionalism. Thank you all for responding to my concerns and being professional and honest. I appreciate you all very much and hope we can work together in the future.

I had a very up and down experience with this company but after a lot of back and forth, I was satisfied with the end result. After the original work, I was actually getting more water leaking than before. The guys they sent out to see what the problem might be said that was to be expected which didn't seem right. After talking with the office manager, the owner got involved, figured out the problem, and did a temporary fix.

After an initial inspection, we had to do some work on the chimney and flues. The crew was friendly and punctual. It was a multi day project. They cleaned up well at the end of each day and gave us an update about how everything was going. Alex was great. The initial inspection had to be rescheduled at the last minute.

We moved into our home in 2013 and I wanted to get the chimney checked out before using it, so I purchased a $99 big deal for a chimney sweep and inspection from American Professional Chimney & Masonry Specialists. It was a straightforward and positive experience. The technician, Alex, arrived at the house on time and was very considerate about not making a mess while sweeping the chimney. He let me know that it was pretty clean to start with and likely not used much by the previous owner. Once he wrapped up inside, he went up on his ladder to inspect the exterior of the chimney, taking photos of what he saw to show me when he came back down. He recommended installing a new cement crown on top of the chimney to repair some cracking, and extending the flue liner. He quoted me $300 for the work. He also recommended cutting out and replacing a broken brick on the shoulder of the chimney ($50 job) and spraying the entire chimney with a water repellant ($500). The overall quote for the recommended work was $850 with a 5-year warranty on the masonry and 10-year warranty on the water repellant. Even though Alex offered to reduce the price to $750, I opted not to have the work done at the time, mostly because we were cash strapped after buying the house. Most big deals come with some sort of up sell, but I appreciated that Alex wasn't pushy about it. I will certainly contact them again when I am ready to have the work done.

They did the inspection they were hired to do, unfortunately what was offered in the special did not meet our needs. They can out on a Sunday, as the Monday they were scheduled was suppose to rain.

Our chimney has never really drafted well. After our first season of fire-burning when we first moved in, we had our chimney cleaned, inspected and minor repairs to firebox done by another provider. A few fires into the next season , we found that it still wasn't drafting well and the room would become a little smoky during and after we burned a fire. So we just didn't burn many fires. This year we decided to have the chimney cleaned and inspected again and ask for guidance on how to get the chimney to better draft. Our team of two was punctual and courteous. They cleaned the chimney (finding that it wasn't really that dirty, as we hadn't burned many fires since it had last been cleaned) and inspected everything. There were no recommendations for repair. When asked about the drafting concern, he tightened the glass doors to front of the fireplace and said that better seal should help with the drafting a little. We have burned several fires in the past month and a half since the work was done and the drafting is much less of an issue (only a minor problem when we open the fireplace doors to add fuel).

I bought the Angie's List deal for the chimney sweep and inspection. The appointment was made at one of the times I had requested and they arrived right on time for the appointment. The inspection revealed several issues with the tuckpointing and masonry. Howard was very thorough in outlining the work that he recommended be done and explaining what the repairs would entail and showing me pictures he had taken while on the roof. He also drew up an itemized quote for the work and answered all the questions I had about it.

Selected an afternoon appointment for 16 Dec expecting a confirmation call on the 15th (as was stated in the ad). No confirmation call. Received a call morning of 16 saying the "crew would arrive around 1030". This interfered with another morning appointment I had. Person said that it was going to rain in the afternoon and the "crew" needed to get on the roof & they could not do that if it was raining. Made sense, I canceled my other appointment. The "crew" arrived and entered the house to work the fireplace. I asked about going on the roof and Manny said it was not necessary with a townhouse fireplace. After the chimney was swept I asked about the chimney inspection. Manny, with a flashlight, looked up the chimney from the fireplace and said it was fine. I also mentioned the note I placed on the order in reference to a "cracked" back wall in the fireplace. Manny said that there was also a crack in the floor panel of the fireplace. He quoted a price (that I agreed to) and said the work could be done before Christmas. He advised that the "office" would contact me the next day. Nothing heard the next day so we called in the afternoon. Apparently Manny had not turned the paperwork in yet and she (office person) would call us back later in the day. Still have not received a call. Bottom line..the chimney was swept and since "inspection" was not defined I guess I did get an inspection. Although this company minimally met my expectations I will not use this business again or recommend it.

The job went extremely well. The men spent a day builiding the scaffolding to each chimney so they could be very close to the proble mareas. They were timely, worked diligently and carefully. The job was completed as expected. Steven's team was excellent and well managed. The men were very skilled at their jobs. I would definitely use this company again. The front office (Katherine) was very responsive and used email and online info efficiently. The owner provides EXTENSIVE information about chimneys which is easily accessible on their website. All around, a top notch experience!

It wasn't easy to find a company to fix our chimney block chimney. Some wouldn't travel that far, one didn't do that type of work, one sent 2 men out and gave us a bid of $2700. It was pretty clear they were baffled by the chimney block and planned to tear down the chimney to the roof line and rebuild it with bricks. Chimney blocks are large square cinder blocks with a center opening for the 8 inch flue tile. The sides of the block have openings from top to bottom that help keep the outside wall cool. The labor to build a chimney block chimney is a small fraction of that needed to lay brick to do the same job. We were so happy to finally talk to a company that understood chimney block, even the person answering the phone knew what I was talking about.. The blocks and the flue were fine. Some mortar between the stacks needed repair, and the exterior coating needed to be redone. The key was in the word "Masonry" i the company name. From all of this we learned that some companies clean chimneys and install new caps, many want you to buy a metal liner pipe for your flue, and some serve northern Montgomery County but not Bethesda where traffic delays are such a problem. When we found the right company for our job at 1/3 the price of our only other bid, we knew we were in good hands.

Very smooth. Came on time and did work well.

I bought the Angie's deal for $119 for chimney cleaning and inspection on 12/22 and was contacted that evening by Catherine to set up an appointment the next day. The crew showed up on time and finished quickly, leaving no mess! Will definitely use them again.

Overall I had a positive experience. they werent able to call with a time until late the night before and for a morning appointment said they were coming a noon. I booked a big deal for cleaning/inspection and it was already the busy season. They apologized for the late call and explained that it was due to high demand. However they were right on time and the service was quick and efficient. They cleaned out my chimney and I explained that I had recently purchased my home so I just wanted to ensure everything was in working order. They inspected and said everything looked good and showed me where the flu handle was located. I would use again.

Everything went great from beginning to end.