Why so many chimney sweeps out of business all of a sudden?

[chimneyballoon]

I sent out a direct mail piece to about 1000 chimney sweeps scattered across the US. It was nothing special, just a postcard that said "hope you have a great season. Blah-blah" I had about 300 postcards come back because their business had closed. Now, normally when i do a direct mail like this I get a couple back...maybe up to 30 or so at worst. Is there something going on with the chimney sweeps in the US that is forcing some sort of turnover? I was under the understanding that the industry was doing quite well right now.
Then again it may just be a fluke, and I am jumping to a conclusion.

 

[Yamaha_gurl]

Newbie here says the new EPA stoves don't produce much creasote...so not much need for sweeping often.

 

[Pagey]

I talked to a dealer yesterday who started their business in the 80s as chimney sweeps. She stated clearly that today, with the new EPA certified stoves in use, there was no way they could make a living as just chimney sweeps.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Besides that, probably most folks have learned that it is pretty easy to keep their own chimneys cleaned themselves. Tis usually a small job so why pay to have it done?

 

[gpcollen1]

Just look at what is available in HD and Lowes and you can tell that more folks will just go out, buy a brush and some rods and give it a whirl themselves.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I talked to a dealer yesterday who started their business in the 80s as chimney sweeps. She stated clearly that today, with the new EPA certified stoves in use, there was no way they could make a living as just chimney sweeps.

]

Make sense. My chimney sweep also does chimney and stove installs, and he's so busy he hardly has time to sleep.

 

[GrantC]

I was talking just the other day with an employee with one of the more well-known chimney sweep firms in the area. He said that their company has only one sweeping crew left (out of four), the others have been replaced with chimney building (bricklaying) and chimney repair (re-mortaring, etc.) crews. They have enough sweeping business to keep that one crew scheduled about 2 weeks in advance, while the building crews are much further out.

-=[ Grant ]=-