A Better Chimney, LLC

I had 2 other bids prior to selecting A Better Chimney to tuck point the chimney on our 80 year old house. I chose A Better Chimney because of the reviews on Angie's list, the proposed plan made sense to me, the bid was reasonable, and my positive impression of Brandon. I was kept informed of the plan each day. Changes to the schedule (due to the weather) were always communicated, along with the revised plan. Devin worked hard each day and made sure that I was aware of what he was doing and, most importantly, he ensured that the area was secured for my dogs. Devin and Brandon were considerate of, and communicated well with my neighbors, so much so that my neighbors hired them at the completion of the work at my house. This was a very positive experience. The work looks great and the clean up was very thorough. I would not hesitate to refer A Better Chimney to friends and neighbors or to hire them again should the need arise.

the rebuild took two separate days. The worker cam promptly on time, cleaned up well after himself. The new chimney looks amazing and stopped the leak problem we had.. I am pleased with the overall experience and will recommend this provider to family and friends!

If you like supporting smaller and earnest companies, I highly recommend A Better Chimney. When Pedro came out to give me a bid, I could tell that he took pride in his work and was the type of person who would not be satisfied doing a mediocre one. He also struck me as an honest person. I instantly knew I wanted them to do the job (and hoped their bid was what I could afford). I especially liked that he--the mason--gave me the bid...not a ?salesperson? whose main job is to schmooze and close a deal. I had obtained 4 bids for the chimney repair and thankfully, his was one of the lowest. By the time the job was complete, he had done more than what we discussed without charge. I think his work was outstanding. ABC told me they would be out to check the chimney in a year, just to make sure all is good. Pedro and the staff at ?ABC? are courteous, pleasant, respectful and easy to work with. Pedro is very well educated and it shows. I enjoyed talking with him. I can?t convey just how happy I am that I chose them to do my needed work. I received artisan work from an ethical company and I had no worries. Call them.

They sent out a guy to do the job that didn't go so well. When I got home from work and reviewed the job, my wife and I were rather disappointed. The quality of workmanship was pretty sloppy. Grout coloring was off. The supervisor came out and agreed the job wasn't done right. He said he'd discuss with the owner who was out of town and would make things right. They were very apologetic for what happened and were quite surprised. When the owner came back and the situation was discussed, I have to say they bent over backwards to make things right. First off the guy who did the work was let go. Then they scheduled another visit and pretty much re-grouted both chimney areas that were done before. They did the job right and it looks really great! They didn't charge extra either. I did tip them good. I was very impressed with the owner and the supervisor. They were both very easy to work with and very accommodating. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend them or use their services again for any chimney work. Their pricing is very reasonable. Their integrity is refreshing.

Water was leaking to an upstairs bedroom. Upon inspection the chimney needed rebuilt or repaired. A Better Chimney repaired the grout and masonry, waterproofed the chimney and added chimney caps. The work was done promptly. When a big windstorm blew the tops off, they came back as soon as the weather permitted and replaced and reinforced the caps.

these guys are great. called on monday & pedro was here on tues just as promised. the portland east winds knocked down a section of my fence as well as tearing off the flashing. he stopped to purchase some type of glue that would prevent it from happening again since we seem to have lots of strong windy days. it took him no time at all. no charge either. yay.

I hired A Better Chimney based on 4 factors: 1) a personal reference from a trusted friend who had hired them in the past for a large job, 2) Angie's List reviews, 3) my own favorable impression, upon meeting, of the owners as honest and professional, and 4) their very fair and competitive bid. They promptly returned my initial call and scheduled an inspection and bid. I liked it that I wasn't up sold; they presented lots of information from actual inspection including video (taken three stories up) of chimneys condition. Other contractors wouldn't even get up on the roof, but took pics with telephoto lens or guessed at problem. It was a complex job, rebuilding multiple chimneys, brickwork and fireplaces on our 100+ year old triplex. They completed the task in stages, and consistently went the extra mile. For example, the chimney caps were measured, ordered and installed at cost, and they did several small repairs that were not included in the original bid. Phone contact and punctuality were excellent and the work site was tidy. The two owners are best friends and I get the impression that they do most of their own work, with some consistent and trusted part time help. I recommend this company with confidence and enthusiasm and without any reservation.

Brandon Grout is wonderful. On time, very knowledgeable, friendly, efficient in his tasks, clean up was perfect. A very good value! Comparably low fee paid plus no extra fee to come to my house in Hillsboro. And he really cares about doing a thorough and well performed job. I will be calling him again next year; and am delighted to recommend him to others. Given the choice of an array of service providers, Brandon stands out as a really good guy! Bottomline: use him.

These guy were great. I had one other bid and the guy never even went up on the roof to look at the chimney first hand. Pedro went right up there to really inspect it and spent quite a bit of time really explaining my options. The work was done quickly and looks great. I had planned on getting a new roof later on down the road and was worried about having to redo the flashing. They answered all my concerns and were able to put up temporary flashing (would still last years) untill i got the roof down and offered to come out and do a permanent install one the new roof was put in. The new chimney looks great and they even sealed up some air vents with wire mesh while they were up there. I accidently overpayed and Brandon- i believe the other owner personally came to my house to make sure i corrected the mistake' These guys are great. Good service. Great prices (their quote was almost half of the other bid i got) They do not make you feel pressured and are happy to take time to discuss any issues you may have. I would highly recommend them

Brandon did a great job. He told us about the state of the inside of our chimney and the firebox. He cleaned the chimney. We had a funky cement support in the basement under the fireplace that we couldn't figure out. He told us what we needed to do to make it more secure and probably how and why the previous owners had needed to add it. He also measured for a chimney cap to be made and then installed it.

The chimney and firebox inspection went well and the service person was well informed. A bid was prepared promptly and was consistent (a little higher) than other's that I talked to, but I selected A Better Chimney based on Angie's List reviews. On work day, I was not alerted to when the repair person would arrive and I had to track down someone at the company to help me understand when I needed to take off from work. A call or email would have been greatly appreciated so I could plan my day and not sit at home trying to reach them and waiting for a mystery visit time. After eventually establishing when the repair person would arrive, they were punctual. The quality of work appears to be good and the repair person was friendly. I was happy with the repair experience. Billing was accurate and timely (done at the end of the service call). Unfortunately, the repair person left equipment outside my front door when they were done (a flashlight and a chimney brush). After two calls and an email to A Better Chimney telling them that they could pick up their lost equipment, I got no response back. The equipment stayed outside my front door for a month and was never picked up. While I appreciate their donation to my household tool collection, I would have appreciated them communicating with me and/or picking up their abandoned equipment much more. I was happy with all aspects of this company's work except for their failure to set a specific time of day for repairs and for their failure to respond to our communication about their abandoned equipment. Even after several attempts on my part to alert them of the abandoned tools issue, I received no call or email back and they never showed back up to get their stuff.

These guys are awesome. This is the second time they've helped us out and on two different houses. Our current house needed a new roof and we decided to have the chimneys repaired first. Brandon and Pedro both came out to look at the job and provide an estimate. They were able to get our job scheduled prior to our roofers beginning their work. They took their time and didn't rush through it. It is clear that they take enormous pride in a job well done and love what they do. I didn't think you'd be able to notice much of a difference from street level, but the quality of work is apparent even from there. My husband is usually pretty hard to impress with home repair since he does most of the work around our home himself. But he loves these guys and their work! We would recommend them to anyone!

Job was started on January 2. Employee was inconsistant with schedule. He would show up late in the afternoon and only work for a half hour to an hour. Employee was supposed to come back in 30 days to check the mortar to see if it had setup properly and cleanup the excessive mortar on the bricks. He did not come back. On March 23 I received a text message that they were keeping an eye on the weather to apply a sealant but the weather wasn't conducive to the seal process. I did not hear from the owner until I called on April 27 to see if this would be a good time to clean the chimney and apply the sealant. I also requested that the roof be protected since it was a new roof and I did not want to have any damage done to the new roof. The owner texted me on April 29 and said that his employee was scheduled for Monday, April 29 to finish the work. The employee was supposed to be communicating with me but failed to do so. I texted owner that I would be at work and my wife would be gone. I returned home from work and found a hydrangea next to the chimney hadn't been protected and several stems were broken. The sealant that was applied to the lower part of the chimney also was splashed on the hydrangea causing some of the leaves to have brown spots on them. I sent a text to the owner on the evening of April 29 indicating that he should come by and see that the job was not finished. It was not what I would call a professional cleaning job. The excess mortar was not removed from the brick prior to sealant application. A window next to the chimney has some residue on it that was not cleaned off. I received 2 text messages from the owner on April 30. The first said his employee was planning on returning next week to give it another go around. The second indicated the employee wanted me to be there to go over my concerns. I sent a text on May 1 indicating my availability the week of May 6. I have exchanged text messages with Brandon thru May, June and July. Still waiting for Brandon to finish work. Is this any way to treat a customer? Would I hire this company again? Would I recommend that you spend your hard earned money to this company? No! No! No!

Chad and Brandon did a fine job and they will be the first I call for my next chimney job. Great job ! ! !

Our home is 47 years old, and the brickwork of the chimney ABOVE the roof line had deteriorated to the point where bricks were spalling and had deteriorated so badly that rain was actually working through the bricks and waterspotting a celing nearby. Water entry was ONLY NOTICED in severe rainfalls (inch or more of rain - from northerly direction), so it took some time to notice the effects of the chimneys deterioration. A roofing company person actually finally figured out how and why the leak was occurring after being called on site due to the leak which we'd thought would be traced to an earlier re-roofing. A Better Chimney was contacted and was prompt to call back to provide a bid, and after we'd compared other bids, called them to do the work. One thing exceptional about their inspection and bidding visit was that everything was carefully explained to me, and that rather than 'a here's our bids, take it of leave it!' approach, three actual approaches to solving the problem - sort of 'a quick fix' - 'short term', and 'complete rebuild - long term solutions' were offered, and though their complete rebuild was a bit higher than some who offered little or no explanation, some other bids were as much as 35% higher than A Better Chimney's bid for complete rebuild. Though there was fairly miserable weather throughout the time the work was being performed, and some work was delayed as a result, the single craftsman (Pedro) who arrived and set up as promised on one day, did a teardown the next and rebuild the following, and did a commendable job keeping the site as clean and unaffected as possible, even though it was necessary to build a protective 'tent' of sorts over the work site so the masonry work could be done properly out of the rain. I'd very much recommend A Better Chimney LLC. They also did a proper [paperwork presentation, with all legal disclosure forms as required by CCB. Many estimators gloss over these requirements.

Brandon was very nice, courteous, professional, knowledgeable.

The home was constructed in 1910 and the chimney needed repair. I called Brandon at "A Better Chimney" for service. He explained the company and discussed the qualifications of the employees. Chad repaired my chimney and he did an excellent job. I like the job that he did.

Chad was quick, clean, and respectful. I hardly noticed he was there! No mess at all and he was mindful of my mischievous cats.

The gentleman who came was courteous, prompt, answered my several questions helpfully, did a great job and left the fireplace and surrounding area beautifully clean. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

The arrived on time and looked at both our chimneys. We have one upstairs and one in the basement. The cleaned the one upstairs and let us know that the one downstairs didn't need anything done to it. They also looked over our fireplaces for any current or potential problems and told us what we may need down the road but for the present we were good to start lighting fires. Seemed very honest and even told us that caps were not that urgent for our home but when we do get caps we will be calling them to do the job.

We bought our current house earlier this year and as first time homeowners did not know much about chimneys. We called them to perform a chimney inspection and sweep necessary. The appointment was super easy to set up and they were very punctual. In the end our chimney did not need sweeping. They gave us a thorough tutorial on using a chimney. I would recommend Brandon and this company for Chimney work. If we ever need anything done they'd be the first provider we would call!

After a bit of phone tag, I had Better Chimney give me an estimate on repairing mortar cracks and a leaking chimney cap. Per his inspection, he determined that the mortar cracks were leaking, not the chimney cap. He recommended grinding down the cracked mortar and re-mortaring and sealing the bricks as they had never been sealed. The price seemed fair, but I couldn't afford it at the time. He was very professional and let me know that it wasn't critical to do the work now; the chimney was safe to use and needed maintenance down the road.

Prompt, responsive, did a good job. Better price than other estimates.

after having my roof cleaned earlier this year, a leak appeared after a severe thunderstorm. since they had done a good job at a reasonable price on another job last year, i had them check this out. they had caulked in pertinent places last august & there were absolutely no problems during any weather including downpours until right after my roof was cleaned by another company. they gave me a bid to do the chimney at about $200 but came in under that. Pedro goes beyond what is necessary & when i asked him if he would be willing to do the zinc metal tape, he agreed. he not only made an effort to get enough tape, but when he found a hole near the peak of the garage roof, he filled that for me, too.

Brandon and Pedro make a great team. Brandon came out and did an inspection and provided me the estimate right on the spot. He also provided the estimate in writing later in the day. Brandon was professional and thorough. He explained what was wrong with the exterior part of the chimney. When the chimney was built, 1948, the builder had placed a "soldier course" within the brickwork. Unfortunately, being Oregon and really wet, the turned bricks allowed for more water to be absorbed than the mortar could take. Pedro came out to do the work. He is professional and thorough as well. He explained everything he was going to do. When he got up on the roof and inspected the chimney he realized he would need additional materials and a longer ladder from the shop. I thought it would delay the work a couple of days. To my surprise, he told me he would be back in an hour. After Pedro had completed the work, he explained that he would drop by the next three days to check the curing of the mortar and also cap the chimney. He was true to his word. The chimney looks great and the repair work on the fire box is perfect.