Chimney & Wildlife Specialists - Houston

I heard rain falling in or around my fireplace during the last rain so I had my roofer inspect it. He discovered that some siding had fallen off the back of my chimney and allowing rain, and potentially rodents, to enter my attic. I called the Chimney & Wildlife Specialist in Hockley, TX which services Houston and Galveston and scheduled an appointment for the next day. Hiram, the technician, called to let me know that he could come the same day and we agreed to do so. After showing me that there were no rodents in the attic, he showed me where the damage was to the chimney and the potential threat of more damage from it to my home in the future. He was very courteous, professional, and honest about my 23 year old chimney and I agreed to hire him. He rebuilt my entire chimney and made certain that it was sealed properly and painted. He also secured some siding that he noticed was hanging as well as my sprinkler system rain sensor to my gutter.

They gave me an detailed quote at their first visit. I completely understand what should be done and they did the job as scheduled. I am really satisfied with their professional service.

When I called for an estimate and evaluation, the company was very responsive and scheduled an appointment in a timely manner. When the C&WS agent arrived, I was surprised and greatly encouraged by the fact that he was the same guy pictured on their web-page. Everything after that proceeded in a very professional manner. The work was completed timely, efficiently and with great care and quality. Their pricing was very competitive for the services rendered. They explained everything very well - what was needed and etc. We were victims of Hurricane Harvey and many companies are taking advantage of that - recommending un-necessary repairs, price gouging and etc. Chimney and Wildlife Specialists did not operate in that manner! they were very reputable and had a high level of integrity. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

Hiram Martinez is the best--he is very professional, knowledgeable and courteous.

was never contacted that the technician cancelled the appointments and have not heard back from the company about rescheduling. not very professional

Great! Professional was excellent and very patient!

The job that was done was excellent We are very happy with the results We would definitely hire them again

We scheduled an appointment a week in advance for September 19 between 11-1. When they didn't show, we called and were told "No, we don't have any appointments for today" and that their next availability was in over a month. This is unacceptable. I'm sure their work is fine, but if you're going to make an appointment, be sure to take down the names of who you spoke to and call every day beforehand to make sure you still have an appointment. Not worth the trouble when there are plenty of other companies who keep appointments.

Excellent. C&W Specialists responded quickly and I was able to get my chimney repaired promptly. They arrived exactly when they said they would both for the estimate and the repair. The Serviceman was friendly and professional. He thoroughly and clearly explained what needed to be done. The job was high quality and the cost was competitive. Five stars definitely would recommend!

just fine, it covers our chimney opening so birds don't make a home in our chimney

They came out immediately and gave me several different scenarios to deal. No pressure sell, just options and let me choose. The serviceman was knowledgeable and polite.

Hiram came out and sold me on a chimney sweep/inspection, chimney cleaning and some kind of waterproof spray on the outside of my chimney. Next rain came and my chimney was leaking the same as before. I also had to pay an additional $200 for the call as my location was not in the area they serviced (Cut-N-Shoot), Hiram did come by a few weeks later (since he was in the area) and performed a water test to help determine where the leak might be coming from. He did this for free. I believe he may have put something on the brick where he thought the leak was coming from. He told me next time he was in the area, he would stop by and apply more of the same to other areas of the chimney and only charge me $300 and not the extra $200 for being out of the area. A couple of months came and went and finally got ahold of Hiram and he said he was going to be in my area the following week. Called him the day he was to be there and he never answered his phone, left messages and he never returned any of phone calls/texts. This all started June 2015. I was finally able to contact Guardian Chimney Sweep July 2016 and the owner, Billy Little, came right over, found the leak in my flashing and repaired it and it has never leaked since. I would not recommend C&W Specialists to anyone. Not only did they sale me services not needed, but they charged me way extra just come out in the first place. And they never finished the job!

The technician arrived on time. He inspected my gas log/fireplace system and determined that it was in safe working order. He took time to teach me the safe way to light the logs and that was great because I had no prior experience with this type of system. He went up on the roof to inspect the chimney. When he returned he stated that it was in good shape and had been recently caulked. There was no charge for any of this. He next cleaned the dryer vent and charged me only for that work.

I had been living with a dead squirrel smell coming out of my chimney for 5 days. I had called two other companies and they were not able to get to me in a timely manner. I called C&W Specialists this morning and Hiram was at my house by 3 pm today. He got the job done in a professional and efficient manner and for less than the others had quoted me. I will be calling C&W again for additional work. I highly recommend this company. Thank you so much Hiram!!!!

nothing was done - did not use contractor

This company was responsive and professional. Hiram came within an hour of initial call. After he inspected our chimney from top to bottom, he gave us different options from the most economical to the most expensive. We are looking forward to having him return in 10 days to put seal up our chimney and a new chimney cap on our house.

I wanted my gas logs re-positioned but they told me that I needed new logs. I didn’t want to spend that much money so he moved the logs from my bedroom fireplace to my living room fireplace a cleaned out the fire box. I was very pleased with the work that was done.

After initial inspection, came back a week later and sealed up all potential points of entry and exit in roof and attic and left about 15 traps. Returned about 10 days later to find traps empty, meaning he had successfully sealed their points of entry and blocked them out (as opposed to in, thankfully). Left traps in place, just in case. Hiram was my go-to guy on this, and he's insanely busy, so you have to remember to follow up with him if he doesn't call back. Nonetheless, he was great. Pleasant, professional. I think the services are a tad expensive, but considering I had roof rats, I'm just overjoyed to have eradicated the problem. Would recommend and use again, for sure, since I don't "do" attics!

Hiram did a very thorough job with the inspection. He explained to me that there's no work to be done at this point since the house is already well sealed. He also addressed my concerns with detailed explanations. I appreciate his honest evaluation and professionalism. I would definitely recommend him to my family and friends.

I bought a $44 big deal for this service and it turned out good. They were professional and did a decent job. They answered timely. I paid an additional charge but I can't remember what it was.

Noises in attic suggested wildlife about 5:30 in eve. Chimney & Wildlife Specialist immediately answered, took info, and Hiram in Houston called back few minutes later. Hiram came out that evening and came up with plan. Hiram will work hard with enthusiasm to solve the problem. (Called one other Angie's List provider and got voicemail. They eventually called back, wanted to do less without warranty, and only wanted to set 3 traps, but would have still had rats and not solved problem.) HIghly rec Hiram at Chimney & Wildlife Specialist in Houston.

The first service we called for was an attic inspection because we heard rodents. Hyrum came out quickly on a Sunday to check it out. He found evidence of attic rats and raccoons. From the evidence he figured out that we probably had a mother raccoon who had her babies in our attic. He predicted that she had, or would, smell his presence and move out. The next night I heard a squealing and scratching. I called, he came out that day and found that, although the mother raccoon had taken her babies and moved out, one of the babies had fallen down inside the wall (of the closet) and was trapped in there. He cut a hole in the sheetrock, stuck in his camera and, with my husband holding the camera, he was able to remove the raccoon. The little guy was caged and then taken (somewhere isolated) to be let go. Then rat traps were placed throughout our attic, and the attic was sealed. He came and removed the dead rats whenever we called. We were impressed on many levels with Hyrum; He was very personable, and his professionalism, communication, knowledge, skill, expertise were excellent. We also got a great price that included unlimited visits for a year to keep the rodents out, if needed. This was worth the $900.00 we paid. After the activity had been gone a while, we called him out to clean and sanitize the attic. He did not over-sell us on anything, but did the basics, which is what we wanted. At that time we had him inspect our fireplace for cleaning. It turned out that it wasn't dirty, but the brick chimney and brick arc over it had come apart and bricks were blocking the airflow. We hired him to fix and re-waterproof the chimney, and add a new chimney cap. Again, we received top-notch service from a truly nice guy. It doesn't get much better than this.

Hiram was excellent! We had scheduled service for a Friday during the day and he called on the Sunday beforehand because he was in the area to see if we were around if he could come then instead. He was punctual friendly and extremely knowledgeable. He cleaned out all the old sand, lava rocks, and old "gunk" in our gas firebox set (and was very clean-- didn't get any mess in the house). Then he installed our new gas log set. He was very knowledgeable about the different types of fireplaces and log sets. After installation he taught us the proper way to light the set and use it. I would absolutely call Hiram again and recommend him to friends. He offered us black glass fireplace rocks which we liked but decided not to buy from him for $110 because we saw home depot has them for $30. Call Hiram for all your fireplace needs-- he was punctual, fast (in and out in under an hour), super knowledgeable, professional, and did a great job!

I found Chimney & Wildlife Specialists on Angie's List and called to make an appointment. I specifically chose them for two reasons: their Angie's List reviews, and that they had "wildlife" in their name, as we have been having issues with birds getting in to our wall through our chimney. Even though I coincidentally called just as the news started reporting a freak cold snap, they still managed to get me scheduled within a couple of business days. Hiram arrived punctually, and was exceptionally professional and polite. He was very informative and it was obvious just from speaking to him that he knew what he was about. When I mentioned we had been having a problem with birds getting into our chimney, Hiram immediately set out to find the answer to the problem. I know how busy they were, and I wouldn't have been put off if he'd suggested I make another appointment for that particular issue, but he got right to work investigating where the birds might be entering. After searching both our attics, the perimeter of the house, and climbing my multi-level roof to examine the chimney, he was satisfied that they were indeed entering through the chimney. He was able to confirm this by viewing the firebox through a hole I had already cut in my wall to let the last poor unfortunate out. (Hiram even put a temporary repair in place for me by screwing a square of thin, flexible metal over the gaping hole so that it wasn't such an eyesore!) All this before he even got to sweep the chimney! After his marathon investigative session, the sweep itself was pretty anticlimactic. He placed drop cloths in front of the fireplace, and performed the sweep itself quickly and efficiently. He vacuumed out the fireplace, as well as his work area after he was done. He made sure to ask if I had any questions, gave me an estimate for the chimney repairs, and gave me his contact info in case we needed him. You might think that's where it ends, but wait! There's more! The day after Hiram's visit, my husband lit our first fire of the season, and the house slowly filled with smoke. We turned off the gas to the fireplace and let the fire die out while we opened all the windows to air out the house. I placed a call to Chimney & Wildlife Specialists the next day and let them know that something was wrong. Within minutes, Hiram himself called me. He was very concerned and wanted to know the soonest he could come out. My schedule was iffy that day, but I let him know when my afternoon cleared, and he was out that same evening. After taking a detailed account of what happened, he went through the exact same steps that we had. You can imagine my embarrassment when the smoke lazily curled up the chimney and out into the night air. Not a thing wrong with it. I strongly suspect that even though my husband isn't a novice, somehow the flue was not opened all the way. Hiram was extremely gracious about me wasting his time and in fact, said he was just relieved there was nothing wrong. I will definitely be using Chimney & Wildlife Specialists to do the repair work recommended.

Joe and Brandon was very professional as they clean they made recommendations and suggestions on how I should maintain my fire place.