Nick did a great job repairing our chimney and getting it prepared for the installation of a gas log set. He only suggested repairs that were needed for our chimney use, which saved us quite a bit versus other quotes. He has decades of experience and it shows in the quality of his work. Don't bother with other Bay Area chimney companies. He can be booked out but get on his schedule. read more

Nick was affordable, personable, and knowledgeable. He showed up on time and answered all our questions. Really, a wonderful experience with a contractor. read more

Nick did a great job, had very helpful recommendations, and even cleared out a gutter which the gutter cleaners had missed! Am asking him to put me on the schedule for annual service. read more

Nick was helpful, courteous, knowledgeable and reliable. He removed the top of the chimney above the roof, capped it and repaired the crumbling mortar between the bricks below the roof. His work was neat and he cleaned up really well after each day of work. The job was completed in a very timely manner without waiting long for it to start. He was helpful in providing information about fireplace inserts, both gas and electric, how they are installed and gave resources for visiting showrooms to find out more about them. His rate was reasonable considering his professionalism and years of experience. Considering earthquake risk in our area, I would highly recommend his work. read more

Nicholas came out the day after I called him and did a great job for me. He was so easy to work with and trustworthy right off the bat. He has over 30 years experience and knows what he is doing and is fair in his pricing. He explained things well and made the process very easy. He is thorough and very conscientious. Would use him again anytime. read more

Nick was friendly and efficient- appreciate him taking the time to share info about our fireplace and chimney that hadn't ever been shared by prior inspections. highly recommend for a cleaning and service ! read more

Nick was such an easy person to work with and even made an exception for us as our home was a little bit outside his usual service area. He was very thorough in his inspection and gave us some different options before we hired him. We had a chimney stack that needed to be removed and Nick and Joshua were able to finish the job in just a couple days. Very great work! read more

See all

We just moved into a new home and were told that the previous owners who lived here three or four years never used the fireplace so we wanted to get it checked out ASAP. After doing some research online, we found Berkeley Chimneys and called to see if they were open for business. Nick came out shortly after speaking with him and was able to very efficiently check things our and give our chimney a clean bill of health. Extremely happy with the experience. read more

Super happy with Nick's work. He legit knows his chimneys! Came over and helped us diagnose some parts of our very old chimney that needed some work and he clearly knew what he was talking about. We ended up hiring him to remove an ugly old glass and aluminum door insert from our chimney, patch up some cracks, and install a a dampener (since our chimney apparently didn't have one, which I didn't even know what possible!). Everything looks and works great :) read more

Nick's the best! I echo all the wonderful things everyone else has already said about him. I wish all my problems were chimney-related so he could come fix them all. read more

Nick is old school and knows his craft. Total gentleman and provided a free estimate. He was 1/3rd of the price of others I called who also charged me $95 for an estimate. He Explained everything to me and gave me options versus other firms who just said rebuild everything for the most expensive price. He's the best! read more

Nick did an excellent re-crown on my deteriorating chimney. The final product showed both his craftsmanship and his fastidious cleanup. Not worrying was a much welcomed benefit! And his pricing was more than fair! Thanks! read more

This review is for the owner's responsiveness (we didn't end up needing services). We mistakenly thought that our young cat was stuck in the fireplace and were frantic to figure out how to free her. I called Berkeley Chimneys and left a message asking whether it might be possible for them to help. The owner (Nick) promptly returned my phone call and took the time to talk me through the steps to take to free our cat. He was booked already that day with other clients, but also offered to squeeze us into his schedule after hours if we still needed help. As it turns out, we were embarrassingly mistaken about our cat being stuck, but I will be forever grateful for Nick's quick response and kindness in sharing his expertise! read more

Affordable, affable, extremely skilled, arrives on time and cleans up when he's done, Nick is our go-to guy for all of our chimney needs. He cleaned and inspected our chimneys when we bought our house, ordered and installed gorgeous mid-century screens on our fireplaces (after I called multiple fireplace stores and ALL of them refused to help because apparently two fireplaces is "too small of a job") he even helped us safely drill into the outside of our chimney when we wanted to install lights over our patio. In other words, if you have any fireplace/chimney question or concern, Nick is your guy. read more

Berkeley Chimneys - Nick ordered and installed this mid-century screen on both of our fireplaces and we absolutely LOVE them! Thanks Nick! - Chimney Sweeps Near Me

See all

We're delighted that our friends referred Nick Duggan to us. Our chimney was long overdue for "a sweep. Nick did an excellent job cleaning the chimney and leaving the living room as it had been found. He also educated us about our fireplace and chimney, for example teaching us why the structures should hold during an earthquake. Nick is a good guy, very knowledgably and very pleasant. read more

I chose Nick based on his great yelp reviews. He was on time, honest, neat and the supreme professional. My sad chimney could no longer puff smoke. It's poor damper would not stay open. You know, you do not want to start a fire with a closed damper. Nick's initial evaluation was tinged with some uncertainty. He hoped that the problem could be solved with a thorough cleaning and not involve creating an opening mechanism or installing glass doors. Yes, a cash register was clinking in my mind. Then voila, he did his magic, nimbly on the roof, then up through the flue, coming down through the chimney (not that, but I have a tune running through my frontal lobe) and the damper latch was reactivated. All this for a mere $20. over the cleaning fee. Yes, St. Nick you can slide on down come December. Wait a minute, this guy wasn't old and he wasn't hefty, but Nick? read more

Nick Duggan is the BEST!. He's interesting and cool, efficient and knowledgeable, but mostly, he's the best at what he does. We've hired him twice to clean the chimney in our house and this last time was pre-installation for a gas fire system. Nick was very helpful with information about how to go about picking the insert and hiring a plumber to install. I feel like he actually cares that it goes well. His work is pristine. He's up and down on the roof, in and out of the house, but he preps perfectly and when he leaves it is spotless. Also, in my experience, he is on time every time. I love a person who takes pride in running an excellent business. Thank you, Nick! You will be getting referrals from me! read more

Nick is a gem - really knows his stuff. He cut down a wood chimney for me to make it work with gas, and it looks and works great. From there he came over early in the morning on the first day of real heavy rain we've had, to help me figure out why the chimney was leaking. He diagnosed the job perfectly and climbed up in the pouring rain to temporarily stop the leak, which had nothing to do with his job but came from extremely old worthless gutters. This all happened right after Xmas when no one else would come by. A great guy with a superb attitude. I'm really grateful for his services. read more

As Sales Manager of Buck Stove Spa & Fan center in Walnut Creek I get people asking who I recommend for chimney sweeping in Oakland & Berkeley all the time. Time and time again I get people in the Berkeley & Oakland area raving about Nick Duggan. It is always the same compliments honest and ethical. Fair pricing and great quality of work. I can attest to his integrity and service as being the best I know of in that area. As you can see by the additional 5* ratings he is the real deal. I'd like to thank you Nick for being a great example to all in the chimney sweeping industry. I'll continue to refer all my clients to you. read more

Highly recommend Nick @ Berkeley Chimneys. We had two chimneys that needed an overhaul and Nick took care of it. Fair price, clean and easy, especially during COVID times. read more

Just had an awesome experience with Nick from Berkeley chimney's. His cleaning & inspection price was just a bit above what I was quoted from other places, but turns out his repair price (to fix a crack in our chimney) was well, well below what I was quoted from another guy. He was on time, friendly, and honest (as in -- "I can do that for you and charge you, but you can also do it yourself!"). He also just went ahead and fixed a flashing issue on the roof while he was up there, just because he saw it and saw what needed to be done! I'm new at the home ownership thing, but finding trustworthy people to do the work, but not try to convince you that you *need* them to do every bit of it, nor nickel and dime you, is so far quite rare. I couldn't be more pleased, and will plan on using Berkeley Chimney exclusively for my chimney needs in the future! read more

Also found Berkeley Chimneys (Nick) on yelp, so thank you yelp! Schedule ahead of time as he is popular, but for good reason. He is smart and passionate about what he does and very honest! Our home inspector told us not to use our fire place and so we haven't ...and then Nick came out, gave us an initial look over and said everything looked great and in good condition!! Surprise! After a cleaning (which it really needed) he confirmed what he first thought, we have a great chimney with very (very!) minor cosmetic issues ( that we can fix ourselves and he showed us how!). Thanks Nick for all of the chimney talk, lessons on proper fire-building and a thorough and honest job inspecting and cleaning our chimney. Absolutely 5 star! read more

Nick was the second bid we had on a 80 year old brick chimney and he came up with a better solution to our problem. He was on time, efficient, and no surprises when the bill came. Very pleasant, honest, and knows what he's doing. Thanks Nick!! read more

First guy we called came out and gave us a bid of $10,000 to demolish and rebuild the chimney. The reason was the opening was too big relative to the chimney and would cause smoke to come inside the house. Then Nick came -- $300 later the chimney was clean and he had installed a slender metal fringe that reduced the area's opening, totally solving the problem without a huge expense. Thank you Nick! read more

A friend recently asked for a good chimney referral and I realized I had yet to yelp review Nick's awesome services! Nick from Berkeley Chimney did the cleaning and inspection of my chimney earlier this year. He was professional, tidy, punctual, a good educator (i had no idea there was so much to learn about chimney design and maintenance), and competitively priced. I highly recommend his services and will contact him again for any future chimney cleaning, inspections or repairs. I wish more service providers actually provided competent and professional service with such a great attitude! read more

Besides my handyman, Nick was the first contractor we hired when we moved into our first single family home. What a great start!!! Nick is friendly, thorough, knowledgeable, skilled and is a great professional. He came out to repair our ailing chimney and brought it back to tip-top 100% perfect usable condition. It had a huge hole in the hearth, cracking throughout the mortar and on into the flue, damper was not working properly and had no pull cord, the chimney was covered in moss and had no decent spark arrestor or cap and there was no smoke guard. Nick fixed it all up to perfect condition, did it all within his estimate, and all in one day's work. What a great guy. And then, the next day, when I noticed in my property inspector's report that it stated the chimney was not stable and broken masonry below roofline, I called Nick to ask about this, he came out immediately to recheck everything. It was fine and it turns out the property inspector just overdid everything to cover himself legally. But Nick wanted to double-check just to make sure everything was 100% and he did not miss anything. All was perfect!! So now, we just wait the requisite three weeks until the mortar all cures and then its bonfires away in the middle of July!!! Thanks Nick!!! CALL THIS GUY FOR ANY FIREPLACE OR CHIMNEY NEEDS FOR REAL!!! read more

Nick is extremely professional and tidy. He tapes off your fireplace while making a mess in the chimney. If he sees something off about your setup, he'll let you know, but not upselling anything. He even gave us a leftover iron floor chute door that happened to fit perfectly -- no charge! read more

Nick called the day before to confirm our appointment time and showed up right on time. He was very courteous and even though he straight away knew he couldn't do the work himself, he continued to help me understand the problem and what needed to be done. He's knowledgeable and professional - I highly recommend you give Berkeley Chimney a call. read more

Nick is a total pleasure to work with. He checked out my chimney, told me everything I needed to know and answered every question fully. He was clear about what needed to be done soon, what could wait, and showed me everything he'd be doing from interior mortar work to the chimney top damper mechanism. He gave me alternatives, advantages and disadvantages, costs for each. Then he did all the work beautifully, and cleaned up everything afterwards. He even came back later to paint the damper chain - which wasn't anything we'd talked about - and wouldn't accept any additional money. What a great guy. He gets my strongest recommendation! Yay Nick. read more

Nick is great! He cleaned our chimney at the owner's request in our rental--and we called him to clean our chimney in our home that we just bought. He's English--so the Mary Poppins references are unavoidable--but he really knows the details of chimneys even in our very old home (1909) He's friendly, affordable, and really honest. At first he thought there was an issue that needed fixing, but by the end of the job had come to the conclusion that our chimney was a bit odd--but ok and didn't need any work. He could have easily duped us, but that's not his style (so it seems) The other think about Nick is that he really seems to care. About our safety and the optimal function of our fireplace. Nice to find someone with integrity. read more

We just bought a house and I knew the chimney needed some work before using it. Nick came by the day after calling, gave us a quick estimate, explained what needed work and why. He came back the following week, did all the work and charged exactly what was estimated. Super friendly and knowledgeable guy. Highly recommended!! read more

Nick was professional, knowledgeable, thorough, and prompt. He shared with me his considerable wealth of information about fireplace burning, home heating, fireplace inserts, what wood not to burn, and so on. I got my flue cleaned, and I learned a dozen things in the interim I didn't know I needed to know. It's no wonder Yelpers like this guy. There may be less expensive chimney sweeps in the business, but Nick is the man to go to. read more

After reading all the great reviews about Nick Duggan on Yelp, I decided to have him come out to inspect and clean our chimney. He was professional and responsive, as well as being really friendly. He showed up on time and immediately became a whirlwind of activity - in the chimney, under the house, up on the roof, outside the chimney, back up on the roof.....checking and cleaning everything! He did a great job explaining to me the condition of our firebox and chimney, as well as the foundation under the chimney. We are actually planning on putting in a gas insert, and Nick confirmed that would be the way to go for our fireplace, as it had a lot of the liner missing as well as a sealing problem. I now feel very confident about having an insert installed (Nick gave me a lot of info on that, too). And he even could tell me a lot about the Arts and Crafts tiles surrounding the fireplace! So I can highly recommend Nick of Berkeley Chimneys! Oh, and I thought the price was very reasonable, as well. read more

I had Nick inspect and clean two fireplaces in an apartment in Berkeley. He showed up on time, charged what he said he was going to charge, cleaned out the fireplaces, was very careful about cleaning up the area. He made recommendations for needed repairs. He's a nice guy! read more

I did my research thoroughly before deciding on going with Nick, from Berkeley Chimneys. It seems like a service like this, that is somewhat less prevalent but obviously necessary, would be hard to find at a good price and with exceptional service and work. However, my experience with Berkeley Chimneys was nothing less than this; I wouldn't go anywhere else or recommend anyone else. The overall inspection was timely, professional, and extremely enjoyable. The service quote was competitive and the installation was finished in less than an hour and was very thorough. Nick's general demeanor is honest and informative. Definitely give them a call if you just need a cleaning but they are great with advice for following up on the now enforced RECO compliant fireplace codes. read more

Nick is he best contractor I worked with during my entire home renovation process. He came when scheduled (oh how very unusual in the contracting world), he was quick, very professional, cleaned up everything, and he is extremely knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to work with him and I can highly recommend him! read more

I scheduled a chimney cleaning and inspection with Nick from Berkeley Chimneys and it was a breeze from start to finish! He was professional, courteous and did his job quickly and efficiently, and left my house clean and neat. He did not try to sell me anything I didn't need. I recommend him highly. read more

Calm & competent, i have a lifetime support having purchased a refurb years ago. Totally reasonable & honest. Since I have recently had an unsatisfactory experience at Genius Bar, FixThatMac can be a much more efficient service for many problems. read more

I called Nick based on his 5 star Yelp reviews and was very pleased with his work. I was embarrassed that we had not had our chimney swept for 10 years of occasional use and there was stage 2 creosote buildup. Nick arrived promptly and correctly assessed all aspects of the chimney. He thoroughly cleaned it and touched up some minor hairline mortar cracks. Nick is very knowledgeable and I would highly recommend him for any work you need done. read more

I'll second the good review for Nick. The only difficulty was that it can take a while to reach him since he seems to be a one-man show. But he arrived on time for the appointment, cleaned everything out well and took his time, didn't leave any soot or dirt around the interior, was even cheerfully tolerant of the dogs and didn't leave the door open when they were around. A really nice bonus is that I could get lots of advice from him about local fireplace-related services. I was mostly interested in adding an insert and/or doing some tile-work around the hearth. He suggested books, a tiler, and gave opinions about different local stores. We'd definitely use him again if the need arose. read more