Best chimney repair specialists near Montecito, CA

"The Short Story: I have found that Ashler Fireplace and Chimney is a competent, honest company that does great work and follows through with their promises. I was selling my house, it had a bad chimney that needed to be fixed before we could close escrow, and I wound up wasting a lot of time and money chasing the wrong vendors before discovering Ashler. Ashler got the job done right within the timeframe they promised. Despite some challenges and setbacks that weren’t their fault, Ashler was courteous and gracious throughout the job. I really appreciated that. The Long Story: It was time to sell our house of 23 years, and a general home inspection revealed that it had cracks in the chimney and that a professional chimney inspection was recommended. I hired a chimney specialist recommended by my general home inspection company, and they determined that our chimney was of the infamous pre-cast type (historically problematic), was cracked beyond repair, and needed to be replaced. The inspection cost me $185, and I was quoted about $15K to replace the chimney. Ouch. I needed a second opinion. This opinion cost me $189, and claimed that the chimney only needed to be patched for $3-4K! This assessment seemed too good to be true, and I was now faced with having to pay more money for a third opinion… Ultimately, we paid for THREE different chimney inspections, and got chimney repair quotes from FOUR different companies before making our decision. A chimney repair company cannot give you a meaningful quote without an inspection, and an inspection costs money, so getting multiple quotes was very costly for us. But we were determined to do this right. Our first two inspection/quotes varied so wildly in price and repair scope, we weren’t sure what to do, and we needed yet another quote. Our gut told us that the company who quoted $3-4K was looking to make a quick buck. His inspection “report” was a one-sheet checklist that conveniently glossed over certain key details that other companies pointed out. This felt misleading at best, and further research of this company reinforced our concerns. Selecting a chimney repair company was a lot harder than I originally would have guessed. First of all, it was difficult to find competent companies capable of giving meaningful quotes. Many seemed to be merely glorified chimney sweeps that lack construction expertise and credentials. Second, the chimney inspections we received varied wildly in thoroughness, details, and assessment. Third, repair quotes also varied wildly in their specifics -- what we would be getting, what is covered, and what isn’t covered. My wife and I had a big fear of hidden costs, and knew that this wasn’t a simple matter of just going with the lowest quote. In the end, we wound up selecting Ashler Fireplace and Chimney to replace our chimney. We contacted Ashler largely because of their strong reviews on Angie’s List, and because they had a history of previous work evident on Angie’s List that clearly showed they have handled big jobs in the past. Our job most likely required major demolition and reconstruction, so companies that showed a history of only nickel and dime patch jobs were out of the question for us. Unlike other companies we contacted, Ashler does NOT do chimney inspections, and recommended a company called Certified Chimney Inspectors (CCI) for a thorough inspection. At first we were put off by this (“oh great, yet another company we have to hire, and more money to spend”) but we soon realized the wisdom of this approach. Independent inspection means no conflict of interest. Do you really want to know the true condition of your chimney? Why leave this assessment in the hands of someone who could be after easy money? After my experience, I’m convinced that a 3rd party inspection is the safest and best way to go for work of this nature. I may write a separate review for CCI (they are great), but in a nutshell: At $345, their inspection was not cheap. (If you are keeping track, to date I was out $719 total for three chimney inspections, with no repair work done yet!) But CCI was prompt, very thorough, and their report made the earlier two inspection reports I received look like jokes. The report I received from CCI is 12 pages long and contains tons of annotated color photos and details. Their report is so thorough that I was able to use it to get two sight-unseen quotes by simply emailing it to two different chimney repair companies that I found on Angie’s List, Ashler being one of them, without having to pay those companies visit/inspection fees. If I had to do this all over again, I would hire Certified Chimney Inspectors first to get the definitive chimney assessment, then shop their report around to find the best repair company. My chimney replacement went smoothly with Ashler. Ashler jumped through a bunch of hoops for us at the end that allowed us to close escrow sooner rather than later, which was above and beyond their call of duty. They even as a favor to me applied some touch up paint on few areas on our house exterior that was not their responsibility, which saved me a 150 mile round trip drive. And I learned at the end that Ashler could have charged me for some added out-of-scope expenses, but didn’t. This was because Ashler’s owner, Mike Fletcher, had already told me that we were squared away, and wasn’t going back on his word. That’s integrity. If you have a faulty chimney, I highly recommend that you do things right and hire a company like Ashler Fireplace and Chimney for repairs and construction, and Certified Chimney Inspectors for inspections."

Hello, We specialize in Full service and install of Firepaces, Heating and Air Conditioning systems. We are a small local family business with plenty of time and dedication for each of our customers who we value, respect and appreciate so dearly. Thanks for visiting our profile, we hope to have the honor of servicing your Home Comfort Systems one day. Best, Jeremy Varela Owner and Operator

"Nice guys. Arrived early. Fixed the problem with great expertise."

"Rich was on time and very informative. I was already doing some other home repairs and he worked around us. He cleaned and inspected our chimney. It looked great when he was done. He told me of some ways to keep the fireplace from allowing smoke to enter the house. He could see I was a DIYer and told me how to fix that on my own. I highly recommend him.
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"not that great. basically paid $99 to get an estimate. included cleaning roof and minimal repairs. took a while to get appointment, and then when they came, they didn't even do the work! gave a really big estimate and then re-seheduled to have someone else do the work. they wouldn't totally replace the roof, gave different estimates to repair, I went with a different company to do a full roof rplacement."

"Joe uses very good judgement in all my repairs. He quickly responded to this service call placed by the tenant. He assessed the age of the water heater and advised it was past it's useful life and recommended replacing.
He does service calls on all my rentals from minor repairs to complete remodeling. His judgement is good on what needs fixing or replacing. His rates are very fair plus his quick turn around of the homes gets vacant rentals back on the market quickly. He always treats my calls as important whether they are a small repair like a garbage disposal gone bad or a roof that's leaking and that needs replacing. He is my go-to guy for all service calls."

"Really courteous and friendly. Fixed the problem quickly and did a complete inspection of my fireplace along with reasonable rates. Would use again."

"Very promp response, on time and very professional. The tech was very knowledgeable and fixed my problem in one appointment. Will definitely call them again"

"Jeff at Arellano Masonry was amazing. He rebuilt their interior fireplace. He was available immediately to give me ideas and pricing. Once we decided on the concept he and his crew jumped on the project quickly, efficiently and it turned out beautiful. Better than I could ever have imagined"

"I contacted several recommended contractors on my kitchen remodel and decided to go with the best quality-price ratio provided by LA Expert Builders. Nir and his team started this project on time and it was a true pleasure to work with them. Nir was very knowledgeable, communicative, honest and helpful. He and his team finished this remodeling project in a timely manner and final outcome s great. I really like my new kitchen! Thank you Nir and LA Expert Builders!"