Kobel Chimney Repair LLC

They were very responsive to install a chimney cover in March, but nothing but evasive to totally unresponsive and not assuming any responsibility to reinstall that cover that fell off seven months later ( or less) in October. Paid $330 for seven months at best to catching and releasing 6th bird and running in my house while they don’t answer or respond to Two phone lines and text. Seemed to want to avoid any responsibility from the start and now no response at all after I sent clear picture

Top notch! They're professional, friendly and courteous.

Kobel Chimney just finished tuckpointing my chimney, and did a great job. I would use them again. Kobel is willing to do the difficult work that many other chimney contractors won’t take on. My chimney is tall, and difficult to reach. Kobel erected scaffolding that enabled them to tuckpoint the entire chimney, and seal the crown. In contrast, some other bidders proposed tuckpointing the easy to reach parts of the chimney – claiming that the difficult to reach parts didn’t need repair. (Eight years ago, a contractor repaired only the parts of the chimney that could be reached with a cherry-picker (lift bucket), and claimed that the back side of the chimney didn’t need tuckpointing. I wasn’t falling for that this time.) Regarding the fireplace flue, I had three “Level 2” chimney inspections, which involve inspecting the fireplace flue with a camera. The first bidder engaged in “fear marketing”,and told me that I needed a liner, because of a few small cracks in the flue. The other two inspectors said that my flue was OK. In light of the fact that 8 years ago I had the fireplace flue coated with Heat Shield sealant, and two inspectors said that the flue is safe, I declined the liner. (My boiler flue already has a metal liner.) Kobel’s price was reasonable. Other bidders quoted very high prices, and quoted work that I felt wasn’t needed (i.e., liner). And, other bidders omitted the difficult exterior work (e.g., tuckpointing the back side of the chimney). Everyone that I dealt with from Kobel was friendly and helpful. (Harvey is the father. Jeff, and his cousin Devin, did most of the work.) They did good quality work. And most important, they did the complete job – not just the easy parts. They are informal in terms of contracts and communications, which posed no problems for me. IMO they are “old school” in the best sense of the term. My advice: If your house is 90+ years old, and your chimney has never been tuckpointed, I suggest that you use a pair of binoculars to inspect the top courses of brick. You may see a lot of missing mortar, and places for water and critters to get in.

Provider did a great job installing a chimney flue.  Provider gave good service while on our property.  
Some kinks along the way.
fProvider came out to provide a quote on a chimney flue.  Provider did not get on our roof to provide a quote.  Provider only wrote on the back of the business card $560.  We later contacted the provider to set a date for install.  During this conversation, we inquired with provider about possible coupons or discounts.  We were told no, there were not any, however, the lowest the provider would/could/does go was $530.  Naturally, we accepted this as being the price quoted and expected to pay $530.  
Provider was paid $560 rather than $530...long story there.  When provider was contacted and asked to adjust the price paid as quoted in a follow-up phone call, to $530, the provider was extremely rude, argumentative refused and even denied ever saying anything about the $530.  
Provider later admitted to mentioning $530 during the call but stated the quote was for a 4" flue and we needed a 5" so the quote of $530 would not have applied to us.  Cleary makes no sense why $530 was even mentioned on the phone after the initial quote of $560 was written on the back of a business card, since provider knew we needed a 5" flue and could not go lower in price due to the size of the flue liner needed.  
We contacted the company that referred us to ask for resolution.  The company that referred us to this provider gave us a $40 certificate towards future service.  Provider claims this should have resolved the $30 discrepancy between us.  We disagreed and sent this through the BBB process.  Still no resolution was reached.  We then went back through the company that referred us to this provider and the matter was finally resolved.

Bottom line is get quotes in writing and record conversations.