Vonderhaar Fireplace Stove & Masonry

He came in and talked with me about what was going on. Asked me questions. Looked throughly through the chimney and fireplace. He cleaned the logs and repositioned them. He showed me how to start the gas fireplace and what to look for and how to work it more efficiently.

Horrible. It took a year from the time we got the estimate to the completion of job. This was a very small hearth. We were sent to the Tile Shop to pick out tile and it was put on back order. This happened three times. They would call and say the tile was in and Vionderhaar would go to pick it up and it would not be there. Never did know if it just never came in or if they were selling it before Vonderhaar could get there to pick it up. So I guess The Tile Shop gets an "F" also. The estimate was high and I questioned the cost of removing the existing hearth and was told that it was an estmate and it covered unexpected problems. They came to remove old hearth, and ran into an unexpected problem, such has some rotten subfloor. I got a call explaining what they ran into, and was told he did not have the time to fix, and that I would have to get someone else to fix the floor. Which I did. Took the guy a couple of hours.Time went on and the tile was back ordered three times. The new hearth was constructed and I thought the cost of that was high also because it did not take him that long to construct. I am thinking that the final bill will be adjusted for the removal and construction of the new, again because it was not time consuming, plus he was not willing to fix the rotten subfloor, which was an area less than 2 ft by 2 ft. The day came when the tile was finaling in and in the posession of Vonderhaar, so dates were set again for them to come and work. That day, neither one of us was able to be at home, so they did the work while we were not here. We got home late and walked in all excited that our hearth was finally going to be done, only to find the worst job ever. The tile was not put on properly. The hearth stones had mortar all over them and the mortar joints ranged from 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch. Looked horrible. I called and said that the job was not to our satisfaction and would have to be redone. This was with no argument because they knew the job was bad. The tile installation required corner pieces that should have been ordered and were not and they went ahead and slapped the tile on without these pieces. I guess they thought we would not notice. They order the needed pieces and came back to redo the work. The tile got corrected and then we decided to not go with hearth stones but get a solid piece of rock cut to fit. So when the rock was done, Vonderhaar picked it up, came and installed. In the end the hearth looks good but this took a year for a hearth 10 inches high and 6 foot long. The final piece to this was the final bill. No adjustments made to the removal or construction estimates. Got billed for all the tile, even the pieces they messed up and had to take off and replace. They did not bill me for the hearth stones they messed up. No adjustment for the fact that an area of our family room was under construction for a year. I refused to pay without reducing the removal cost since we had to get someone else to fix the area that he was not willing to take the time to fix. I also would not pay for all of the tile. In the end, Vonderhaar did make the adustments and I wrote the check.

I called Vonderhaar for an inspection and cleaning. I was quoted a price of $169 and told it would take about 2 hours. The representative arrived a little later than expected, but, he was extremely thorough, inspecting my chimney and fireplace and telling me it did NOT need to be cleaned. He could have cleaned it or acted like he was cleaning it and really done nothing. He took pictures of a couple of minor issues up on my chimney and showed them to me. All in all, this was excellent work.

Initially, a slow start due to calls not returned. When the work was started, it was clear that the installer, Brian was very experienced and knowledgeable. He was simply struggling due to the stress of being overbooked. Originally, we were emphatically told that it was a 2 day job, but when it became obvious to them that they needed about 5 days to complete the project, our installer was being sent to other jobs for hours at a time. When I insisted that ours be completed immediately and other jobs wait a few days just as we had waited, they responded appropriately. In the end, we have a beautiful new gas fireplace, with amazing tile. I think I made it sound like the delays were extreme, and although they were frustrating they were minimal. Brian and his helper, Eric were efficient and friendly. The overall job was an A. I can understand businesses have to bid and schedule jobs to make a profit. They just need to be a bit more thoughtful of the fact that a customers time is valuable also. I will definitely call them again. I will just be more clear in advance, about the time constraints. One more comment: we have had 6 projects about this size ($3,000-18,000) done in the last 18 months and only one of those (BathFitters) was careful about our flooring by either using booties or covering our floors. It matters!

Excellent. They were on time and provided excellent knowledge of the products and also provided helpfull hints regarding maintanence.

I wanted to get an idea on what they offered in fireplace inserts and their installation charge. First just over the phone, but later visited the showroom. Vonderhaar has many floor models, maybe 7 were inserts. They appear to be quite busy, because I never got the salesperson's attention more than a couple of minutes because she kept having to answer the phone. I settled on three models and made an appointment for a pre-install inspection.

Nice as can be and very knowledgeable. Very impressed with their service and will be using them again!

Vonderhar serviced our fireplace at our previous home prior to selling and our new home. Fireplaces and chimneys were cleaned and inspected. All work and personnel were highly satisfactory.

He did a good job but provided conflicting information from the previous inspector / cleaner and his quote was over $1000.00 where as last year the repairs were only $400.00 from another company so I am conflicted on who is correct?

They were prompt, professional and left the area very clean.

It went really well. They were prompt. and gave us a lot of information before they did the job so we knew exactly what they needed to do, and we weren’t surprised when we got the bill.

I scheduled an inspection and they sent out a person to inspect and provide an estimate, which totaled approximately $1,200. I found the price to be acceptable, so I immediately scheduled the follow-up repair visit. The workmen arrived for the repair visit and quickly completed the fireplace cleaning and repair. However, I was told that additional labor and parts would be needed to complete the wood stove due to the estimate being incorrect. I reluctantly agreed to a second estimate. Parts would be ordered and a second visit was scheduled to complete the repair. When the workmen returned on the second visit, they worked for several hours only to conclude that the wrong parts had been ordered and that the estimate was, again, incorrect. I was going to need to pay for a length of pipe that had not been calculated into the original bill. I was upset, but needed to have the work completed. I agreed to the third estimate and scheduled a fourth visit to complete the repair. Several days later, the workmen arrived for the fourth visit and encountered difficulties. They eventually concluded that they would not be able to install a chimney liner. The installer, Brian, was very sympathetic, knowledgeable, and friendly, but was unable to get the liner to install due to a bend in the chimney that they could not navigate and that had not been detected during the inspection or previous work estimates. In the end, I was very disappointed that, after all this work and money, they could not guarantee the safety of the chimney because they could not get the liner to install. I was forced to take time away from my job on four different days to have the work performed. It's worth noting that the installer was very apologetic as well as the person on the phone that schedules appointments. They offered a refund for the uninstalled parts and for some of the labor. I believe that I still paid slightly more than the first estimate that I had been provided. It is possible that I may use this company again due to few businesses of this type available in my area. This company came highly recommended and appears to have a very good service record. Perhaps this was just an an unusual set of circumstances that combined to provide me with this bad experience.

Gas Logs: We had Vonderhaar come out for a second opinion after a previous chimney sweep/inspection identified some signifcant problems with the structure of our chimney. The representative was extremely knowledgeable and took the time to explain everything to me in detail and come up with various options on how to resolve the problem. We decided to have gas logs installed as it was much cheaper than what it would cost to repair the chimney. Some repairs to our gas lines were required before we could have the logs installed and Vonderhaar recommended a contractor who promptly came out to get the work completed. We spent some time in the Vonderhaar showroom choosing the log set, they came out and installed the logs and gave us instructions on how to operate them. We LOVE our gas logs and are so happy with the work done. I believe their cost was competitive with other local companies and we appreciate the time they spent with us and advice on different cost-effective options. Masonry: Our initial chimney inspection identified some exterior masonry repairs to our chimney. We hired Vonderhaar due to our past experience with them and their estimate came in much less than a local masonry company. The work was done quickly and it looks good from the outside- to my knowledge it was done correctly. My only comment is that it would have been great if the Vonderhaar rep came out again to inspect the work and call with a follow-up to confirm it was all ok. I did not call after the work was done to request this- I'm sure if I did they would have gladly come by as they were very responsive and pleasant to work with.

The work was performed on schedule and according to the contract. They beat our their competition on price by a lot, which made me a bit concerned about having them do it, but I have no regrets. The work looks great, they cleaned up after themselves and the problem we were trying to solve (water leaking into our living room) is resolved. I would recommend this company for chimney repair.

It went very well. Technician was on time. Was polite and did a good job. (A previous company "repaired" the unit...but it stopped working shortly thereafter! The owner/technician was not very pleasant and just did a poor job, at that time.)

We just moved into a new house and were concerned about the stove insert in our wood burning fireplace. We wanted to get it checked out before we used it. So we called Vonderhaars to have them inspect it. They arrived when they said they would, looked it over, gave us some advice, ordered a part that we would need, and didn't even charge us a service call! Excellent Service. The only B I would give them is that we had to wait over 2 weeks for an appointment. Busy time of year - I get it. But overall - great company. Would definitely use them again and recommend them to all.

We were having trouble with our pilot light on our gas fireplace and called to have someone come out and take a look at it. They replaced a value BUT LEFT A LEAK. We began smelling an odor and my wife began getting headaches - We called back a week later indicating something was wrong - they were not very nice about coming back out to fix it and CHARGED US for the return visit, and additional replacement part and were rude when we inquired as to why there was an additional fee for something that should have been addressed during the first visit. The maintenance person also was condescending to my wife - very unprofessional. WOULD NOT USE AGAIN.

It went very well. Very professional. Would use again.

A crew of two showed up right on time and began working. They were fast and thorough. Both guys were very polite and answered all questions that I had about my stove. I would use them again. Thanks!

I would use them again in the future.

Brian showed up on time, got right to work. Was careful not to track up carpet. Did a good job and was very respectful.

They did a great job cleaning the chimney. We rearranged our schedule to accommodate the service tech as they had later appointment in our area. We were to be the first appointment. The tech arrived at 10:30 rather than 9:00. It seems they added another appointment before ours. A call would have been nice.

They were very helpful and performed the work quickly. After inspection we were told of other work that needed done due to water damage. They were very reasonable and scheduled the work promptly. I will always use Vonderharr's in the future.

Came out quickly, did a good job, honored the coupon. They even told me I could wait a while longer next time before having my chimney swept again.

The estimator was prompt and efficient. The workers came sooner than expected and did a great job. They were very professional, and answered all our questions.