Thoughts on chimney repair quote

[Solarguy3500]

Hi all, haven't posted on here in a while.

I just got a quote to have my 30'+ tall chimney with (3) 12X12 flues repaired and new heavy wall liner installed, and it seems very reasonable and fair to me. Just wondering what others think.

Here's the scope:
Take down 7 layers of brick and rebuild, replace top flue tiles as needed, seal unused flue with flashing, new corbel, install stainless cap, drill and pin bluestone hips (one fell off when I was removing vines from the chimney) spray above roof and hips with waterproofing. Total for this part including materials, labor and debris removal is $6,300.

I had him put the liner as a separate line item.
30' long 6" heavy wall liner installed - $1,800

What do you think? Could be a lot worse, right?

 

[Woody Stover]

Sounds to me like it might be a bit high for the chimney, but I don't really know. Liner charge sounds OK, so maybe the chimney cost is good as well..?

 

[bholler]

The liner price is really low and the masonry price is really high

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Maybe he's setting up scaffold around the chimney? Whats the ground like around the bottom? Is he doing more than adding Thermolube for the cold weather mortarwork?

 

[Solarguy3500]

Yes, I should have mentioned that in my OP.

Staging is not going to be a walk in the park. The ground slopes in two directions, there are bushes in the way, and a couple feet to the left of the chimney there is a retaining wall and 6' dropoff.

It's the kind of site that in my younger days as a roofer, when I got there to set up staging, I'd look at it and mutter to myself "oh great" or some variation of that.

 

[bholler]

Yes, I should have mentioned that in my OP.

Staging is not going to be a walk in the park. The ground slopes in two directions, there are bushes in the way, and a couple feet to the left of the chimney there is a retaining wall and 6' dropoff.

It's the kind of site that in my younger days as a roofer, when I got there to set up staging, I'd look at it and mutter to myself "oh great" or some variation of that.

View attachment 308927

Yeah staging that will add about $1000 to the price. Total price probably is about right but the break down doesn't make sense.

 

[Woody Stover]

The liner price is really low and the masonry price is really high....

Yeah staging that will add about $1000 to the price. Total price probably is about right but the break down doesn't make sense.

Makes me wonder what liner was used. Prices vary within the "heavy wall" liner category, don't they? Heck, just getting the vines off might be 2K.

 

[bholler]

Makes me wonder what liner was used. Prices vary within the "heavy wall" liner category, don't they? Heck, just getting the vines off might be 2K.

They don't vary that much. I wonder if they are insulating

 

[vernorz]

I'm in western Mass as well and had some chimney work done a couple years ago on 2 chimneys. The first chimney, about 5'x3' 3 flue, had about 3 feet added. The second chimney was an old roughly 12"x12" chimney with no clay flue, needed the top 5' torn down and rebuilt. No liners were installed apart from the added clay flues on the first chimney. Staging was easy on the first one. The second one is at the peak of a 1700's colonial so a little more challenging. We had this done while we were having a new roof installed, so possibly may have had an affect on the cost. We paid $4800. I also worked for a mason in western Mass a number of years ago, and I agree, the liner price seems fair, but $6300 seems pretty high for the masonry work.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

What kind of stainless cap is going on? It could be anything from a $50 stainless cap from Home Depot to a custom one that could be 5 or 600 or more.

 

[Solarguy3500]

Makes me wonder what liner was used. Prices vary within the "heavy wall" liner category, don't they? Heck, just getting the vines off might be 2K.

That's an old picture. I already pulled the vines off myself last year.

 

[Solarguy3500]

What kind of stainless cap is going on? It could be anything from a $50 stainless cap from Home Depot to a custom one that could be 5 or 600 or more.

He lists it as a 17" X 49" X 12" Stainless Steel Cap.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Well, they aren’t throwing a couple cheapie Home Depot caps on. That looks like somebody measured it out and they’ll order one from somewhere.

 

[bholler]

Well, they aren’t throwing a couple cheapie Home Depot caps on. That looks like somebody measured it out and they’ll order one from somewhere.

Yeah so $400 minimum

 

[showrguy]

I don’t see any solar panels solarguy ?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Any repointing? Looking that chimney over to find missing bits of mortar might take a loooong time!

 

[Solarguy3500]

I don’t see any solar panels solarguy ?

They're on the garage roof.