Sixpenny Chimney Sweeps

I wanted our chimney cleaned, since it smelled like it had not been cleaned in a long time. Every time it rained really hard, the fireplace smelled worse. The prior owners had converted the fireplace to gas and I suspected they did not clean out the chimney prior to installation of the gas unit. The home inspector already told us that there was a crack in the chimney cap and that the brickwork needed repointing near the cap. So I suspected that the water was getting on to the cinders in the chimney and making it stink. I was correct. They used a shop vac, protected the carpet and gas insert, and scrubbed both at the fireplace bottom and the top of the chimney cap to clean a 3 story chimney. They also cleaned the inside of the fireplace. I was really surprised when they used WD40 to grease the chimney flue hinges. I had to ask them to clean the face of the fireplace edges, which they did. It all looks so much better. They were here about 1 1/2 hours. English was a little bit of an obstacle but the lead person spoke enough for us to communicate most ideas. Price was as quoted on the phone, $135, except I had to remind him about the Angie's coupon, which he honored without complaint. It hasn't rained since we had the work done but I really hope it doesn't smell as bad. I can't get our mason out here until the weather is warmer. They offered to do the repair but I'd rather have the mason do the work.

The workers did not speak English. They had to call their boss on the telephone and have the boss explain to me that they only had me down to have one chimney cleaned. They did a thorough job of cleaning the chimney as far as I can tell. However, at the end of the job they were trying to make a recommendation of having a couple things fixed or replaced and I couldn't understand a word he said.

I looked on Angie's List for a company with a good rating, and Sixpenny was both well rated and close to where I live. I called and made an appointment with Carla, who was very helpful. On the day of my appointment it was pouring down rain, and Carla called to tell me that they were not working because of the weather. We rescheduled for Friday between noon and 4:00. At 3:50, Carla called to tell me that the technician had gotten stuck at an emergency repair job and would would not make it out before it got dark. I know that if it was my chimney in need of repair I'd want the guy to stay and fix it, so that was fine with me. We rescheduled for this morning, December 4 (2010), between 10:00 and noon. Carla called me at around 11:00 to say the guys were on their way, and they arrived about 10 minutes later. They carried in their equipment and put down cloths so they didn't track any dirt onto my rugs (I have 4 cats, 2 kids and a dog so I felt that was a nice touch, but in vain). They immediately got to work. It took about 15 minutes. The lead technician pointed out some brickwork that needs replacing and gave me an estimate for the repair (which I will have done in the spring). I paid the technician by check, he shook my hand, they cleaned up everything, and that was that. Painless.

They told me one of my chimneys was "in danger of falling onto my house" and that I should have it repaired ASAP, that it was cracked on side, as well as the concrete cap on top. Told me I'd need to replace all the brick to the bottom of the crack, which was 27 rows, and have concrete cap replaced. Said concrete cap would be $600 and rebuild of chimney for those rows would be a total of $3500, but said they'd knock off $500, and kept telling me the chimney might fall onto my house if I didn't get this done ASAP. I got another estimate, did not have to replace brick, had mortar replaced and crack repaired and one-inch concrete cap put on for around $800. Six Penny also said my other chimney was fine, not cracked. Company who I got to do the repair also told me the other chimney was cracked and needed concrete cap, which they did.

It did not go well. The team showed up on time, as scheduled. They asked to see the two furnances in the house and the air ducts. They set up their equipment and set to work. The process of duct cleaning is dirty, and their procedures did not contain the mess. I found dust and dirt in various places throughout the house, and no attempt was made to clean it. There were very dirty finger prints left all over the air duct panels, which cannot be cleaned. They will have to be painted. The team broke one of the wooden air grates that is in the floor, and tried to hide the fact that it was broken. Additionally, the team ran out of time to perform the dryer duct cleaning, and had to come back the next day. The team spoke very little English, so when I gave them instructions, there was a lot of "head nodding" but no comprehension. I phoned the company to complain, and never heard back from them. I would not use this company again.

The work was done as described by the company at time of appointment confirmation. It took about 2 hrs and left a light film of dust over every thing. This I attribute to the fact that the giant hose that was hooked up to the truck had a lot of small cracks in it. I'd suggest to the company to invest in a replacement.

overall nice guys did a good job. yes english was a bit broken but hard workers and they cleaned up after themselves so i was happy. they took time to take off the vents and used both compressed air and a device which goes into the vents to knock the dust loose. It is a vast improvement. I chose them becuase others seemed to charge per vent for the services vs a flat rate. the price was not a suprise.

The team arrived within the stated window, and I received a call 30 minutes prior to their arrival. Language was a slight henderance, but they went above and beyond what was expected. (Changed the a/c filter and blew out my garage and driveway on the way out!) I didn't follow them around room to room, and it went so fast, I hope they did what they were supposed to do! I have no reason to think otherwise, but it was so painless, I was asking if they had done everything they needed to when they left. They assured me they did, and I have no complaints.

When I called for the quotes and to schedule an appointment the representative was very accommodating. On the day of the service, I received a phone call informing me the employees were on their way, and they arrived and completed their work within the previously scheduled window of time. Two gentlemen arrived and laid protective coverings around the fireplace and dryer. They started both jobs at the same time, one man per cleaning. Once the chimney was done the 2nd man assisted in the the dryer vent cleaning. They cleaned up after themselves exceptionally well (you'd never know I had the service completed). They were very courteous and answered my questions. The price for chimney cleaning was $135 as quoted, and the dryer vent portion was $189 being $30 greater than the quote; they apologized for the increased price, but I assumed that would happen anyway knowing the dryer vent hadn't been cleaned in several years. All in all, I was exceptionally pleased with these employees and the telephone representative at the company. There were no recommendations for any repairs or extra work (except to have my dryer vent cleaned yearly), which I appreciated. And yes, they were gentlemen despite the dirty jobs they were doing for me. I definitely recommend them.

Very well; required two visits to complete because of extent of work (and bad weather); some damage to a window screen (during scaffolding erection or removal) was acknowledged and promptly repaired;

Things went well. They arrived within the time window. The time to clean was around 1 hour. They were courteous and respectful. I was about a "4 out of 5 stars" kinda job. In all fairness, I'm a tough grader. It was a good experience, would recommend them to a friend, and consider them for next time.

The cleaners where at my house for less than 1hr, did not speak english very well, so i could not really ask any questions as they could not understand them. OVER priced the $200 was with a coupon

The only reason they're getting a B from me is that I had to schedule them twice because of a snafu on their part. I made arrangements to have a number of services performed on my day off, including this one. They were to arrive between 2 and 6 and call before coming out, in case I was out running errands. I decided to stay home, figuring as soon as I went out, they'd call. The hours went by - no Sixpenny and no call. I left a voicemail message asking them to call me at work with an explanation. To their credit, they did, promptly the next morning. They were most apologetic, admitted that it was their error, and made another appointment for me, accommodating my request for early in the day. The technicians called before they came out and arrived well within the 2 hour window promised. They were clean, careful, thorough, and answered my questions. They pointed out that they thought the metal flashing around the exterior chimney cap needed to be painted, but didn't press when I decided it was not really necessary. I would hire them again.

overall it was good. But the forst workers to arrive could barely speak english so I had a hard time communicating with them. They also left a pile of sirt at evry air vent.

I will begin with the end -- Sixpenny did a wonderful job and they have a happy customer. By way of background, Sixpenny was originally scheduled to come out on 10/08/10 (1 pm - 4 pm). I received a call at 1:10 pm from Sixpenny saying that the previous job was taking longer than expected, and they would have to reschedule. We rescheduled the job for 10/14/10 whereupon it rained, and thus, understandably prevented them from coming out again. We rescheduled for 10/15/10 (9 - 12 noon), and the third time was the charm. I received a call at 8:15 am telling me the technicians would arrive within the hour. Franko and another technician did, indeed, arrive within the hour and began the work -- keeping me informed all along in terms of what needed to done immediately and what could wait. Notwithstanding the fact that this was my first time using their service, I trusted them. In addition to the service requested, they suggested and I approved them replacing the chimney cap. In my view, they certainly lived up to the reports on Angie's List. They are a winner and I plan to use them again.

Their bill for the work was not clear. Bill was given to be "not to exceed $2500". Paid $1250 to start work. The final bill was an additional $1250. Had the bill been a flat fee of $2500 we would not have been suprised. By making the bill to read "not to exceed $2500" led us to belive that the cost would be $1250 plus labor at $85 per hour. Poor billing estimate.

The technicians were prompt. No issues with the service.

They were prompt, courteous and I thought the price was reasonable. They took video up there and showed me the video of the cracked crown and then showed me a video once it was all replaced and it looked much better. They were very nice to deal with and I thought the price was reasonable for what they did.

Sixpenny turned up on time, and did a stellar job. They were profession and very neat. Another company had botched cleaning our dryer vent, resulting in a blockage. Sixpenny cleared it up quickly. The bedrooms on the top floor had been hot in the summer and cold in the winter; the heated/cooled air reached them much better after Sixpenny's visit.

Only issue was language....the head guy was decent with English, could have been a tad better but over all, no real issue. I checked other places via Angie's List and the price was avg to just below the others....did a great job, showed me before and after pics as well as had me look at the vents before and after....

The quality of the work was excellent. The estimate went well, and they even cleaned out some of my overflowing gutters when they did the estimate. A nice touch :). Their price was very competitive, so we decided to set a date to do the work. They agreed to my preferred date with no problem, and they showed up on time the first day. They worked hard the first day (at least as far as I could tell), but the second day they showed up very late (1:30 pm) despite the fact that they told me they'd be there between 9-10. Of course, this meant it would take more than two days to complete the job. On Friday night, they indicated that they'd be back Saturday morning to finish the work. On Sat morning, I received a phone call indicating that they would not be coming back until Monday. It was frustrating because I didn't want people to work on my roof when I wasn't home, just in case something happened. I arranged to have Thursday and Friday off from work to be home, and their lack of commitment to schedule made me uncomfortable. Having said all of that, the men doing the work were professional and courteous, and the quality of the work seems to be top notch.

Explained well and were professional.

They arrived and got to work. We did not know that the insert in one of the fireplaces came out of the fireplace and that they would remove this to clean. We recently bought the house and the fireplaces had not been used or cleaned at least since 1992 (date on newspapers stuffed in fireplace). They removed mummified remains from behind that wood stove insert from fireplace #1. They left everything neat. The 2 fireplaces look clean. I assume the chimney interiors are clean. They left written estimates, 1) to remove the wood stove insert =200, and 2) to replace concrete crown, extend one chimney and replace two chimney caps (13x13) for 750. We have not had this additional work done and would get a second opinion before having it done.

The team they sent did an excellent job-they were meticulous, explained everything they were doing, they were friendly and had excellent customer service. We noticed a difference after the work was done. Would definately use this company again. I was able to make an appointment for a time and day that was most convenient for me.

Technicians were good. Showed up on time, cleaned up after themselves. Price for bird guard was high, but they were willing to negotiate.