HANSEN & SONS CHIMNEY REPAIR

I would use them again.

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2/1This work was actually done by Chimney Doctor in 2008 which has since been purchased by Hansen & Sons. After purchasing our home we had Chimney Doctor inspect and do what we thought were the required repairs on our chimney. This involved removing and replacing all the masonry from the roof up and spraying the flue with SMOKTITE "to fill in cracks and smooth out the corbelling where creosote could build up..." We did not have occasion to use the fireplace until ~a year later. When we did have our first fire, the house began to smell like smoke so the fire was put out. I called Chimney Doctor and found that Hansen & Sons had bought Chimney Doctor. They sent out a person to inspect the chimney with a fiber-optic scope and he informed us that the flue tile joints were all bad and the smoke and gases could seep out into the surrounding chimney space and then into the house. He said "for sure the company will make-good" on the problems and intimated that the job had been grievously botched or the original problems just plain hadn't been addressed. When I called to make an appointment for the repairs, Bill Hussel, the owner of Hansen & Sons, got on the phone and said he would come take a look himself. Instead of committing to remediation, he gave me a quote for doing repairs for another $6000 or more. He told me the chimney was unusable and unsafe as it was and that it was poorly constructed in the first place (this home was built in 1935). He thought maybe it would be preferable to install a gas insert instead and said he would call with quotes for that. I was shocked at this and he immediately gave me some more quotes for less work at lower cost. He left and then mailed several more quotes ending with a $2000 quote for spraying the whole interior with SMOKTITE (which I have since read should only be done on inspection-passed chimneys). I have had nothing more to do with them. Granted the original work was done by another company, but at this point, Hansen & Sons WAS Chimney Doctor and therefore should have backed up Chimney Doctor's work and followed up with commitment to their new clients. I was and am appalled at their business ethic, or rather, lack thereof!

I will not use them again as I feel they were trying to make repairs that were not required or necessary to make money.

Very well.

See above

Very nice group of workmen. Would use again

On a Tuesday, Hansen & Sons representative estimated a chimney repair job at $1,155. The company required a 30% deposit ($385) in advance, which I paid. We'd agreed the work would commence approximately three weeks from that date. During the following weekend, I checked with my favorite roofer and found that he would perform the same work for $400. I called Hansen back on the the following Monday, and I was informed then that per a clause in fine print on the reverse of the estimate, deposits were not refundable if work was cancelled more than three days after the date of signed estimate. I found this business practice to be outrageous, and made several very polite calls to Hansen to ask that they reconsider their policy and refund my deposit as my request to cancel was outside of the refund window by only two days. They refused to do so. Shameful business practice.

When we bought our house, the inspector couldn't examine the chimney because of debris blocking the floo. We had Hansen come out to clean the floo and inspect the chimney. Our realtor (buyer's agent) coordinated everything. From our understanding, they did show up at the appointed time and did the cleaning and inspection promptly. They said that the masonry on the chimney had recently been redone, and it appeared to have not been used since then. (This matched with records provided by the seller.) The debris blocking the floo had simply fallen in during a year or so disuse. However, they also reported that the bottom row and ceramic tiles inside the chimney was missing mortar. They said that this was a serious safety issue: resin and whatnot would build up in that area and eventually ignite, causing a chimney fire. They also noted that the fireplace box was an old, dangerous design. We recommended against using the fireplace until that had been fixed. They estimated ~$2000 to repair the ceramic tiles, and I believe another ~$3000 or so to replace the firebox. It struck me as a odd that the chimney would have relatively recently been worked on but that it still had such a "serious" safety issue. After a little negotiating with the seller, we opted to buy the house without having the repairs done and not use the fireplace until we could look into matters further. In the following spring, I looked into this again. Checking Angie's List, I saw that someone had posted a similar experience with Hansen and that their ratings were relatively low. I went with a more highly-rated organization, and asked them to do an inspection. I was home for the second inspection, and didn't mention anything about what Hansen had said previously. This inspector listed off a series of potential issues (spalding brick at the crown of the chimney, some plywood in the old ash container, a relatively small damper). He gave very reasonable risk assessments for each, advice on how to proceed, and diagrams on how it all came together. I found him quite credible and did not at all feel pressured into spending money unnecessarily. So, I asked him if he noticed anything about the ceramic tiles and the mortar. I explained that another company had done an inspection before we bought and suggested that there was a fire hazard there. He said something to the effect of "yeah, there is some missing mortar, but given where it is and the type of burning you're likely to do, it's not really dangerous at all." He drew a diagram, explained why, and didn't think it was an issue to concern ourselves with at all. So in the end, I felt that Hansen was trying to scare a new homebuyer into a $2-5000 job that wasn't at all necessary. I won't use them again, and would recommend others away from them.

I used someone else to do the work. The price they quoted for the work they said I needed wasn't out of line, but I didn't need all the work done that they said. They said I needed to put in a stainless steel chimney liner and they said that the cracked tiles couldn't be repaired. They said they couldn't get to the liner to clean it effectively because of the tube that the hot air passes through. They were going to have to chip the concrete out to get to it. They grossly exaggerated what needed to be done. I had the work done for $1,100. They tried to take advantage of a situation for a fair amount of money, which was my opinion. It I had to do all this work, my guess is that it was a reasonable price. According to my insurance company the price was way out of line. They did come out and take photographs to prepare the estimate. I wouldn’t use them because I couldn’t trust what they said.

Very courteous individuals. Did a great job and cleaned up well after themselves

They were very punctual and good communicators. I think their craftsman ship was good. I felt that the price was a little high, but I wouldn't say it was outrageous.

Bill spent extensive time understanding our objectives, beyond just function. He wanted to undertstand our expectations so that he could meet/exceed them. His follow thru to ensure our satisfaction was comforting to both me - but especially my wife. - We're thrilled with the results!! - and the price. He did more than we expected and charged less than we were quoted.

Estimator was punctual, scheduling took longer than we thought it would, the work itself went smoothly

Got a very professional estimate with photos and very knowledgeable contact person. But work was not done when they said it would be had to call and complain many times. They kept billing me for whole amount when job only half done. Brick cleaning accomplished nothing - brick is still dirty. They kept pushing me to buy more services even though I said no many times. Those doing the work didn't seem to be talking to the rep who made the contact. They caused damage to garage roof, left dirty work scene, promised to contact me about dirty brick after I paid in full but I never heard from them again (just as I expected while they were promising me - nothing they said ever happened as they said it would!). I also paid too much. The work appears good but they used black flashing on blonde brick - now I have to paint it! I hope this dissuades others from using this company.

They were here when they said they would be. The quality of the work was excellent. I have had so many compliments on how good my new chimney looks. It costs what I expected it to which is very good.

The company redid the work TWO TIMES after earlier masonry work did not meet my expectations or that of the company president. Final work as well as clean-up was excellent.

Used wrong color mortar. Had to return to redo it. Did poor job 'dressing' the mortar (missed hard to reach spots). Left mess on roof. When I notified them within months that the chimney continues to leak water after the tuck-pointing and sealer they did not respond despite 5 year warranty.

Two other accredited chimney repair specialists indicated liner did not need to be replaced. Missing mortar could be replaced at much lower cost, or the liner could be replaced with a tile liner could be used at less than half the cost. One of them estimated the cost of a stainless liner at $1500 less than the estimate from Hansen & Sons. I had the missing motral replaced for $150 (including the cost of an inspection)