Sweep Fee?

I have a chimney sweep lined up. He will remove the insides of the stove, hook up a vacume to the face, and brush the liner. He wants $180...does that sound right or reasonable?

BTW, I crawled up on the roof and I have little to no creosote. Just a very fine powder that instantly falls away with a paint brush.

Sounds a little steep to me, but "I am not in Kansas anymore..."

Local Shop is $140

$180 wouldn't be out of the question IMHO. The guy is carrying Liability, has equipment, and is certified. They usually can spot problems before they become dangerous and threaten the safety of your house/Family. If you think $180 is too much you probably should have verified the fee before he swept. IMO At this point you are stuck. Pay the $180 and consider it a lesson. If the next time you would like to do it yourself and assume the risk, by all means buy the tools and do it your self.

Mind you I know the sweep cert is a few thousand dollars. and a good deal of training.

Just to be open I have a friend who owns a fireplace shop, they are good, not the cheapest but the best. Quality costs and when it comes to safety..... I pay the long dollar. I do have the equipment but I still will pay to have his guy come out once a year or so

I appreciate the honest and candid remarks. I maybe didnt say it real well above, but I have a sweep preped to come out, just had not pulled the trigger on it yet. He has been in business for a long time around here, and by all accounts is reputable - I just didn't know what other areas of the country were paying and wanted to feel out the market.

I need to start cleaning chimneys

I am a fairly new EPA stove person and had our stove installer come out and clean our chimney after our short first season. Cost me $150 and it was worth it as he checked everything out with the chimney and cleaned the stove with no mess. I could do this myself and did in the past but feel the money is well spent for at least the first few seasons. I will probably go back to doing it myself but for now I feel it is value for me to have them do it.
S

I pay 100.00 for the whole job. 180 sounds steep

Thanks for the input.

I paid $90.00 per chimney in SE PA ( about 40 min outside Philly.

However, at the time, there was not a stove hooked up so they didn't need to move anything. Just sweep.

$150 is the going price for a certified sweep to come out. I wouldn't be scared if it was a bit more, I would on the other hand, be scared of a Cheap Sweep.
Cheap Sweeps are know for doing the job half way, or not noticing safety concerns. Due to lack of training.

I had a certified sweep come about 30 miles, $229. He did a hand sweep, a power rotary sweep, and a level II inspection with a written report. Spent about 3-4 hours, even cleaned the glass doors on the fireplace. I thought it was a very good deal.

Cost me $45 and works great,did my whole sweep from the bottom up.

http://www.amazon.com/Gardus-Inc-RC...UTF8&qid=1360676563&sr=8-1&keywords=sooteater

Looks like a good deal, especially with free shipping.

I pay $89

That is what a sweep is supposed to do. Unless there was excessive build-up I don't know why the rotary was necessary though. Typically, the rotary broom is use in an open fireplace smoke chamber, and only on flues that have heavy build-up.
But it should only take about an hour and be in the $150 range.

150 for one flue and 100 for a second for me.

I pay about $200 each year. Used the same guy for a few years now and he does a good job. It's a two-man operation - he goes up on our challenging roof [probably 30-40 feet] while his cohort works from inside. Maybe I pay a little bit more because of the dangerous roof work?

The $229 was for just the hand sweep and the level II inspect(camera). According to the price sheet he could have charged so much for every 15 minutes for the rotary sweep on top of the standard charge, but did'nt. I believe hand sweep with level I inspection was about $150.

$60.00 for me

I would say so. I think some set-ups should have a higher charge, but most companies just have a standard charge.

I wouldn't expect to keep using this company. There is no way they could cover their over head and pay insurance at this price. This is a company that will, unfortunately, fall.

Or a company with no training and insurance... just about like doing it yourself...