Potomac Services

I decided to take advantage of Angie's offer of a deal and have my chimney swept. I understand there was a big response, but was fortunate to snag a cancelled appointment for the day after I called. Potomac Services gave me an exact appointment time, not a spread of hours, and Jason actually arrive a few minutes early. He was careful, knowledgeable, and instructive. He protected the floor with with a cloth tarp, shoveled out ash, and vacuumed the chimney. He pointed out the limitations of the way my stove has been inserted, which none of the previous chimney sweeps over the years have mentioned. I found Jason pleasant, good humored, and unhurried. He told me about the company -- all of which was reassuring. I will consider using them to clean my heating and AC ducts in the future. I gave Jason a modest tip which he acknowledged in a charming and appreciative manner. Altogether a nice experience.

Technician was on time (early actually) and very helpful in explaining things to me as he worked. I was very happy with this service and will use them again next year.

Technician arrived on time and ready to work. Tools, equipment and expertise all well suited to the job. Work was completed quickly and without complications. Outstanding service, I will use them again and recommend them without reservation.

Great..professional employees (many are former military)

They came early (called first), and introduced themselves, shook my hand, explained what they were going to do, asked me for a tour of the house, and started working! Jason was teaching Casey the ropes and allowed him to do the whole job unassisted (checking his work of course). They also replaced my vent hose to my dryer (and showed me 5 years of lint built up.) My original old hose was plastic and they replaced it with a metal one. Awesome. I highly recommend them. Extremely professional, friendly, hard-working, thoughtful, thorough and I plan to tell my neighbors about them. I will call for Jason to clean my chimney as well.

I ran my dryer and found several hours later that it was still running and generating a lot of heat (the room was a steam bath), but my clothes were all damp. While I'd had parts replaced in the past, I'd never had the vents cleaned out before. I called Potomac Services and spoke to Jeff, who explained their services and the cost (normally $125 but $100 due to a summer special). I was told they'd do as much as they could from outside the house, and if they got a good reading on the vent after that they'd be done, but if they detected any other problems they might need to come inside and work on the dryer itself. This was a Wednesday morning and I was given an appointment for Friday afternoon. I was given a specific appointment time (1:30 pm), not a range/timeframe, which I appreciated. I got a reminder call the night before from a human being, not a robo-call. On Friday, I got a message at 11:30 am from the technician (Bryson) indicating that he was already in my area and would be happy to come to my house early, but that my original appointment time would be fine if that's what I preferred. I didn't get the message until about an hour later, but when I called back he indicated he could come right over. Bryson and his colleague arrived, and came into the house with booties over their shoes so they would not track dirt into my house. Once I showed Bryson where the dryer was, they both did the work almost entirely from outside the house, so there was really no dirt/noise, etc. in my home. They had the vent vacuumed out in about 15 minutes. Then Bryson told me that when they tested the vent post-cleaning, he could hear the sound of water. So they went to my dryer and opened things up and found that the vent had been so clogged that the moisture from the clothes wasn't being eliminated, and as a result there was a lot of damp, soggy lint clogging up the vent. They removed all it, dried out as much as they could, and told me what to do over the next day or two to make sure all of the moisture was dry. Because they came earlier than originally planned, I had to leave the house to pick up my son from camp before they were finished. I was gone a total of 10 minutes, and they were gone when I got back, with everything cleaned up, and they'd even locked my front doorknob without being asked. You'd have never known they were here. The whole appointment took 30 minutes total, and my dryer is running better than it ever has before. It's faster, drying things more completely, and with less heat. I've had problems with the dryer in the past, and now I'm convinced it's because it was totally clogged with lint and wasn't running efficiently. Wish I'd had Potomac Services come out years ago! I will use them annually to maintain my dryer, and I'd recommend their services highly.

Jason called and said he was running early and could get to my home a half hour earlier and that was great since I am in the middle of packing up the house to move. He explained exactly what he was doing and set up all of his equipment and then showed me what the sweep had cleaned. He then explained more about prefab chimneys and mortar chimneys and that was very helpful. Jason then did the level 2 inspection which is a video of the chminey and showed me the interior of the pre-fab chminey and explained that all looked good and there where no problems. Jason was very professional and if you have the chance to get him to clean your chimney then you are getting a professional young man who does a great job. I would use them again and I will also reccomend the new home owners to use Potomac Services to clean the chimney next time it needs cleaning.

The company came recommended from our friends/neighbors who had just contracted to use them for the same services. We contacted the company 2 days after our friends to schedule an appointment and get a quote. Overall, the initial consultation was ok, but did have one major issue with the pricing. We were quoted almost $50 more than our friends and upon questioning why it wasn't the same price, was told they just had a price adjustment. I was perplexed and challenged how that was so when our friends had the exact same service just 2 days prior. They immediately stated they would honor the same price. The scheduling and availability was very quick and timely, though. The day our house was serviced, they company sent two individuals to clean the airducts and dryer vent. All was going smoothly until they went to clean the dryer vent and one of the guys stated the section of the vent leading outside was covered by siding. Long story short, they didn't even climb up on a ladder to check/validate that the vent leading outside was covered. We were advised to have our ducts reworked then they could come back and complete the job. Alarmed, yet investigative, we bought a $9 fishing tape to verify if the dryer vent actually led outside the house. Additionally we climed up a ladder and checked to make sure the siding wasn't covering the external vent. It turns out that one individual's laziness could have cost us hundred, if not thousands, of dollars, as the dry vent did lead outside. After calling Potomac Services back to explain the situation and request they come finish the job, they oblighed; however, they did state it would cost a $65 service fee!! At this point we were very frustrated and disappointed. It took 30 minutes on the phone with the scheduler to finally state that we were NOT going to pay for the services unless they came to finish the job, or they could come out and finish what they started and were contracted to do. It also took us telling the scheduler that perhaps he should take it up with his boss/manager if there was an issue with this. Within 24 hours we got the confirmation phone call that they would be sending someone (different than the last team) to complete the job at no charge. When the second individual came back to complete the dryer vent cleaning, he did a FANTASTIC job! He was very thorough and even replaced our dyer vent "tube"!! We were very pleased at this point. Although we feel they did a good job cleaning, the experience with the price differences (for no apparent reason), having to do the work on behalf of one lazy individual who wouldn't verify if our dryer vent led outside, and the 30 minute phone call to resolve the issue was not a great. We may use them again in the future, but sure are happy to have it all out of the way now!

They were scheduled to arrive at noon, but called in the morning and were able to stop by several hours earlier. Very nice, explained what he was doing and recommended we add a liner that was missing in our chimney. I gave a good rating on the price, b/c it was comparable to others companies.

Everything went great, from arriving exactly on time to finishing early. He even told me that my second fireplace really didn't need to be cleaned, since I'd only used it once in three years. Good advice on maintenance and a great experience!

He arrived early -- by almost 10 minutes. Then he took a look at the fireplace and then went out to his truck to get the proper equipment. He placed a large blanket to protect our carpeting from any soot from the chimney. He wore booties over his boots when he was walking on the carpet. We'd planned on -- and forgot -- to sweep out the plentiful ashes and wood remnants that were in his way, but Jason didn't complain a bit. He manually swept the chimney what looked like a wire broom. Then he cleaned every speck of the ashes out of the way and vaccumed it so that the fireplace itself was pristine. Very good, quick service. He had the correct price that had been quoted to me the day before by Joe, the man who gave us the price over the phone the day before, including the $25 discount for Angie's List members.

The service technicion Jason was prompt and very personable and professional. The estimated time of completion for the job had been 3 hours, but it only took 1 and 1/2 but was still very thorough. No muss no fuss. Overall I am very satisfied with the service provided.

excellent service. They inspected the cap and found it to be sound, even though home inspector claimed it to be in need of replacement.

Got an appointment in a couple of days. Bryson did a great job! Thinking of hiring them to clean all the vents.

They were on time, they were efficient, and they did good work.

We were very pleased with the service performed and customer service. We have an exterior vent on the front of the house that birds had invaded. The job required an extension ladder. Jason did a thorough job cleaning it and putting on a new cover. (Luckily there weren't any baby birds in there--I was really nervous about it and he worked with my concerns.) Then he cleaned out our dryer vent that hadn't been done in 10 years. He had to go up into the attic as it goes out to the roof. Very quick, clean, courteous. It's nice to deal with someone who really likes what they do! Will definitely call them again.

The staff was very courteous, explained the entire process, and did the job in a timely fashion. I just wish they provided a camera view or pictures to see how much dirt was removed, but overall I was very satisfied with the service. Would recommend!

Outstanding service. We had an 11am appointment (no 4 hour block of waiting around!) and our service technician Bryson, called ahead of time to let us know he was on his way. Upon arrival, he immediately got to work clearing the obstruction. Afterward, he took the time to explain exactly what the problem was, as well as what we could do to help ensure our dryer continues working optimally. Very fast, very efficient, and very clean! He brought his own boot covers to ensure that he doesn't track mud/dirt into the house, which is fantastic given that our family does not wear shoes into the home.

Excellent Experience. The office was prompt in returning my call. They scheduled me within a few days for the exact time I requested. Bryson, the technician, was caught in traffic but phoned ahead to tell me he would be late (he really was not that late). Bryson was polite, friendly and even removed his shoes when he entered the house (if only my wife could get me to do the same). Although I am not an air duct cleaning expert, he seemed to do a thorough, professional job. Finally, the price I was quoted on the phone was the price I paid -- no hard sells for anything extra. Probably my best experience with a provider from Angie's List. I highly recommend Potomac Services.

First off, they were able to schedule me for the second business day. If I'd have called earlier than 5 pm, they could have gotten me in the very next business day. Technician called to say that he was going to be late due to traffic. Instead he showed up 10 minutes early. Walked through the entire house reviewing where all of the vents and intakes were and described the whole process. Slowly he worked through one vent at a time, and in our bathroom he hit one problem. The builder put in the duct work backwards. When he finally got through that vent he said that drywall dust from when our house was built was in there. We had the vents cleaned 5 years ago...guess the other guys never did that vent (or just gave up when stuck). After the vents, each intake was cleaned out. The dryer vent was a problem because there was so much snow outside he could not get to the vent with a ladder. Instead, he crawled up the attic and cleaned the dryer vent (about a 45 foot run) from up there. It was a messier job, but he cleaned up everything afterwards, even vacuumed up our rugs. Extremely professional and courteous. I've already recommended these folks to my sister, my parents and my neighbors.

Excellent: prompt, courteous, clean; discounts for service combinations

Technician showed up right on time, introduced himself, and got started right away. Part of the reason I wanted a chimney company was to address concerns brought up by the home inspector. He stated the flashing around the chimney was sub-par and the cap had some cracks that should be addressed. I brought these concerns up when scheduling the appointment but neither were addressed during the appointment. The technician did a sweep of the chimney, inspected the box from the inside, and left. Now I need to find another company that can do an actual inspection of the flashing and fix it (if needed).

I had never used the fireplace since moving into the house in 2000 (built ini 1985), so I didn't know the condition of the chimney. The tech did a quick cleaning, and then determined it had only been used a few times, so no real cleaning was required. He spent time explaining the type/quality of the fireplace and chimney, some recommendations, etc. Then charged $85 for a house call as opposed to the $175 normally charged for a full cleaning. I was happy...

The technician arrived on time, in uniform, and promptly identified himself. The price was as quoted and compares favorably with the cost estimates on the Chimney Safety Institute of America website. The technician entered the house, and set up canvas cloth all around my wood stove and fireplace in preparation for work. He then inspected and swept the chimney and woodstove. During the process, he identified that my woodstove would require a chemical cleaning as well as a new catalytic combustor. He took down my units information and informed me he would get back to me with an estimate on the cost of a new combustor. He informed me that chemical cleaning of my stove would be a two visit process and would cost $125 an hour flat rate and the final cost would be determined by the amount of time required to clean the stove. He indicated some jobs take as little as 4 hours and some as many as 9 hours (at that point it seems like replacing the stove is nearly as cost effective as having it cleaned). Before leaving, I mentioned to him that I'd be out of town for four days the following weekend, at which point he informed me that he would call me back with an estimate for the combustor and stove cleaning. I haven't heard back from the company since and am still undecided about conducting the cleaning because of the flexible cost which could end up quite high. The overall work completed was completely satisfactory, as was the appointment and payment process. My only minor gripe is the follow up on the stove cleaning service and giving me a complete estimate for the process so I can compare costs with other service providers.. Open ended estimates tend to grow very quickly and don't leave me feeling like I am in control of the work being performed. Overall, I'd say they did a good job and I would consider hiring them again.

Cathy was very nice every time I called her and she really tried to get me an appointment as soon as possible because I had just replaced my heating and AC units. They came to my house on a Saturday (when they normally don't work) and because my house is small they charged me the price for cleaning one unit only when they actually cleaned two. K J was the worker that volunteered to do the job on a Saturday. He is a Marine and got along very well with my husband who is also a Marine. They were chatting everytime they got a chance to. K J did and outstanding job and took him about 5 hours to do it all. We were very happy with the work. It was actually more than we expected.