When we first purchased our home, it had this massive wood burning stove sticking out of the fireplace. The exterior of the chimney was mostly stucco, with brick exposed at the top 3 feet or so. For many reasons we wanted to remove the wood burning stove and just use the fireplace for good old fashion fires. I called Nick's Chimney to sweep out the current chimney. They showed up promptly and were polite. They also seemingly did a good job. When they left, they said that I should really have the chimney tuck pointed, and that they could also do that work. I went ahead and scheduled them to come back for the tuck pointing, which cost around $1500. They tuck pointed the brick work and also resurfaced the crown cap (flat top surface of the chimney). After paying for all this work, I was excited to burn our first fire in our new home. I lit it up, and smoke filled the home to the extent that I had to use a fire extinguisher to put it out. I called Nick's, and they came out a few days later to examine what had happened. They told me at that time that someone had bricked up the interior of the chimney (to accommodate that old wood burning stove) and it was essentially worthless as a normal fireplace without having those bricks removed, a service that they couldn't do. This is the information that I wanted BEFORE they charged me a dime for sweeping the chimney in the first place, and certainly before tuck pointing the old chimney. Fast forward 2 years: the crown cap had severely cracked and we were taking water in the chimney. I called Nick's yet again because that work was under warranty, and they did sent someone out to re-surface the crown cap. They also tried to bill me for that work, and only after pushing back did they admit that it was in fact covered by their original policy. 2 years later: the chimney at this point had developed some more cracks due to the water it had taken on, and started to slump a bit. I did a ton of research, and had many bids, and ended up paying Twin City Masonry $17,500 to have the old chimney torn down to the ground and replaced completely, using lime stone slaps at the shoulder and crown cap, and all new bricks throughout. Due to the interior of the chimney, I STILL can't burn a proper fire in that fireplace. We have an electric fireplace right now, and will likely someday switch that up to be gas. To what extend the masonry work that Nick's did damaged our chimney is impossible to say. It probably would need to have been replaced at some point. Furthermore, they probably did a perfectly fine job as chimney sweeps. What I think they had 0 business doing was any masonry work. If you talk with true masons, they will tell you that the industry has loads of people who don't know what they're doing offering up brickwork services, and Nick's is a great example of that. If you JUST want a chimney sweep, go ahead and use them, but be ready for a hard pass when they tell you that you need to have your chimney tuck pointed, resurfaced, etc. NOT worth it. Use a real mason, and press for references if you chimney starts to slant, sag or leak water.