FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Every chimney is a separate entity unto itself and is therefore as unique as its owner. This can consequently affect pricing by causing it to increase or decrease. This would mean that your price could be more or less than the individual down the street from you. Another factor that influences price is the size and type of appliance being connected to a chimney. For example, an 8" pipe will cost more than a 6" pipe. We strive to be as accurate as possible with our pricing, but occasionally, hidden damages are discovered deep within the chimney or walls of the home. This, of course, is more common in older homes where codes did not exist during the initial construction of the house. If we do find hidden damages, then the price would, of course, increase over the original quoted price, as we would have to include extra labor and materials to bring everything up to current codes. We are never willing to sacrifice safety for cost, so we will show you detailed photos of the hidden damage and explain why we are having to add to the budget.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
This truly depends on the customer and the job. For a sweep and/or inspection, it's as simple as scheduling them and doing the job. With estimates, we need to make one or more trips to the home to gather all our measurements and design ideas. For redesign jobs, we typically take our measurements and get to know our customers' tastes by presenting them with a random montage of sample pictures. What they become most excited about helps us to start in the right direction for the final design. This may take multiple visits to the home by our on-staff designer. For writing, genealogy, and photo-based jobs, we can consult with the customer online.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
The owner has a degree in Residential Design and a degree in Business Administration, is a published writer, and a Creative Memories consultant. She has also completed many courses in real estate and HIPAA compliance. She specializes in upcycled design, historical design, photo preservation, genealogy, writing, editing, and photo manipulation. She is in charge of the office as well as designing customers' homes and fireplaces, and creating gorgeous photo art while forever preserving a family's history. Our tech, the husband of the owner, started his career in the stove industry working for Abundant Life at the Rainbow Mall in Portland, Maine, during the fuel crisis of the 1970s. For the rest of his life, well over 45 years now, he has been dedicated to the stove and chimney industry. Their son has been doing chimney work with his family part-time since he was a young child. He primarily installs liners, Metalbestos, and woodstoves, but has also demonstrated excellence in masonry. He attended PATHS in Portland, Maine, and has earned certifications in refrigerant, plumbing, and HVAC. He is also OSHA certified and graduated at the top of his class in 2024. He works on Saturdays, installing liners and woodstoves for Black Cat Sweeps LLC.