I got an estimate from these guys once for a new chimney. The old guy, the owner I think, was a real BS-er. He was actually bragging about how he talked some Senior Citizen into doing $5000 of stonework in her entryway before she sold her house, as if he were giving a seminar on high-pressure sales tactics. He gave me an estimate that "would be either $2700, or $5380, depending on what he found when he got in there". Experienced home-owners, does that raise a huge red flag? Anyway, I took a chance & hired these 2 Hispanic guys who were building a beautiful stone walkway/porch on my neighbor's house. Their charge to build a new chimney? $1300. Did beautiful work, super-polite, & all done in 2 days...... read more

We hired them a few years ago. The work was done and the price was reasonable. The bill was poorly itemized, and I can't really tell what was done based on what was written. The owner was off-putting and somewhat offensive (he bragged that his worker kept his tools in good shape because if they didn't he would "beat him like a red headed step-child"). read more

Chimney Doctor Plus - The owner is a high pressure sales blowhard. First of all the company is located in Malden, preying on the rich in Concord. His rates for any repair or Installation are outrageous. He will also quote one thing on the phone and change his rate on arrival. The older gentleman that owners the company comes on site and trys to upsell you and brags about his great knowledge of everything chimney while his young lackies do all the work. Don't let this charlitan into your house, I learned the hard way, with my wallet. read more

An update! I called CD and they got back to me to say that the reason the chimney was still leaking was they had not done the waterproofing. Apparently it was too cold the day they came but that I would know when they came because they would leave a bill and a warranty card. I was assured they were going to work on this the following week and I would be put at the top of the list for Mon. I was a little annoyed we had not been told the waterproofing had been done. How were we supposed to know? No one was home and no one left a note. Mon came and went and no chimney people. I called again on Tues and was told that they were back logged but the people would come out Weds or Thurs to finish the job and once again, I would know because they woud leave a bill and warranty card. They finally came on Thurs and left a bill (thought not itemized as I had hoped) but no warranty card! So I called again on Fri and was told an itemized bill and warranty card would be mailed out that day. Also I pointed out we had paid extra initially so should have a credit on our bill. It is now Thurs and I am waiting (still) for my bill and warranty card. The good news is we had some rain and the chimney seems fine though it was not the gushing rains we had before. Work-wise I say Chimney Doctor is OK but I hate having to keep calling and following up to figure out what's happening and make sure things get done. That is not my job! I would have appreciated a more proactive approach rather than reactive. read more

My experience with Chimney Doctor differs from that of other reviews on this page. I called them because I was having a draft problem with my chimney. When I called it was explained in detail what the charges would be. The description was accurate and reasonable. The owner, Walter, and his assistant showed up on time as scheduled. Walter then asked a lot of questions about the issue, my heating system, wood burning use and last time I had any service done on the chimney and heating system. He then quickly diagnosed the problem as being caused by my oil furnace not burning correctly leading to soot building up in the chimney and furnace flue pipes. He then spent the next 4 hours cleaning the chimney and furnace flue pipes. He also inspected my wood burning stove and chimney and said they didn't need to be cleaned at this time. All this cost a total of $210.00. Which I thought was very reasonable given the amount of time and effort involved. I would like to add that after they left I noticed that his assistant had left his sunglasses. I called and they came back the next day to pick them up. Coincidentally they met the oil burner guy who was fixing my furnace and Walter worked with him for an additional hour to help resolve the issue and ensure the problem doesn't happen again. About Walter. Walter basically has a PhD in Chimney. He is good at what he does and is not afraid to tell you so. If he says you need work on your chimney, you need work on your chimney. Whether you do it through him or not is up to you. I do not believe for a second that he would attempt to cheat, defraud or otherwise take advantage of you. He is also what I would describes as seriously "old school". He doesn't have the best bedside manner if you follow my drift but his primary concern is the health and well being of you and your heating system. I am happy and satisfied with Chimney Doctor and would use them again in the future. read more

I agree with the positive remarks I've read about Concord Chimney. I've used them twice now, one major issue and one minor. The minor was a chimney cleaning which we had done this year - for which Chimney Doctor asked a fair and competitive price. They showed up early, were fastidious about being clean, did their job well, and were unobtrusive. The major issue was a water-penetration issue we were experiencing on our 7 year-old house. We had a number of folks examine the problem and quote solutions. Only Walter thoroughly identified the problem as he realized that a bend in our chimney would translate into a bend in the flu. His proposal, while similar in nature to the other three that we accumulated, was significantly less expensive than the competitive quotes while at the same time offering a better more complete solution. This despite the fact that the business operates out of Concord (my expectations were that businesses from Concord charged a premium due to their locale). Walter and his team showed up on-time and installed two perfectly sized and high-quality chimney caps on our chimneys. I should note that we've got two very large chimney's on our house, these cap's were both around 36" on a side, so these were custom caps. The competitive quotes were all piecemeal solutions where they would stick off-the-shelf caps just atop the flu's - which I felt would look silly. The caps Walter provided were stainless painted black - they look great and have served us very well. Also in the quote was an application of silicone sealant on the exposed brickwork of both our chimneys, and the addition of two copper shoulders where our brick chimney expands nearer the ground level. Walter is a man of the earth - he's what I call "a talker". He'll bend your ear as long as he's allowed, but he knows his business and he definitely charges a fair price for the services he provides. I don't hesitate to recommend him to neighbors or friends. I should also mention that I received *my* recommendation from a close friend who had Walter and Concord Chimney Doctor rebuild his chimney from the inside out. He was equally impressed and happy with the work performed. read more

I bought a house with a fireplace. I wanted the fire place CLEANED and inspected. Well an old man came to my house the owner. He sat on the floor looked at the fireplace sated that it did not need cleaning, but needed $2,471.00 worth of work to be done on it. He never cleaned it and charged my wife $75.00 for 1 hour and 45 minutes of BS about other jobs he had done that no one else could do. The fallowing month my son-in-law checked out the fireplace and told me that it needs a good cleaning. A screw damper control need to order and a little cementing around the damper all and all it looks good. When to should him the Chimney Doctor visual inspection sheet my son-in- law asked why didn't he inspector clean the Fireplace to see what work needed to be done. We booth agreed that a letter to the better business bureau should be sent out. How many other people have been ripped off from this man? read more

Walter, the owner, is old school so far as sales tactics are concerned (he tries to spoon feed the needed work--and cost--and I would have preferred to hear everything up front), but in him I got someone who came out on a holiday day off, and then did the work on New Year's eve because he knew how important it was for us to have our heat restored. If you are looking for words, someone else might be sweeter, but if actions matter to you, Walter is your guy. Our problem was poor draft due to a poorly designed unlined brick chimney paired with a modern oil furnace. Walter first cleaned the chimney and went the extra mile to get the existing chimney to carry us through the season. When black smoke started coming into the house he jumped at it but it turned out to be a furnace problem. We got him to install an external stainless chimney, and he absorbed the cost of the previous lengthy service call that involved another expert chimney construction guy, Ted. Now we have an excellent chimney with good draft, no more diesel fumes odor in the basement, and they rerouted the furnace exhaust pipe away from the wall where it was thoughtlessly installed by the furnace installers. More importantly, I can rely on someone who will go out of his way to help in case of a future problem. We already have him scheduled to replace the chimney cap on the old chimney, and to seal the fireplace through which the black smoke was coming. When you call, you'll talk to Walter's wife who is a pleasure to deal with. She promptly alerted Walter whenever there was a problem. She even drove an hour and a half away to fetch parts that weren't shipped in time for the chimney installation. Walter was featured in This Old House and when you talk to him you'll know why. He really knows how chimneys are supposed to work and carries with him a work ethic and attitude toward longevity and quality of work from an era when those things mattered. Highly recommended. read more

I had a very good experience with this company. I actually rec'd three bids from different places and the ones lower than his bid were not by certified installers and I understand that you may have problems getting your homeowners insurance to cover any damage caused by fireplace installed improperly. The chimney doctors bid was much lower than the others of certified installers. I had bought my wood stove on line and it was delivered to the curb. He was kind enough to bring it into the house for me and didn't even charge me more to do that. He put together and installed the wood stove without any issues. I think he did an outstanding job and was finished in a day. He came back the next day to make add one minor part that he didn't have with him previously and he tested it before he let me use it. He was very kind and funny and I trusted him in my home without me there .When I had the fire department and town come to approve it, they thought the job was top level quality. I would recommend them for any service at all. read more