Phillips & Son Chimney Service LLC

The work done was replacing my chimney. I had to stop the men because the chimney wasn't plum or square. The mortar joints were mostly unfinished and many to wide. They left my home without cleaning up their mess.

This is a followup to my complaint against Mr. Phillips business, Phillips & Son LLC, on October, 2012. Mr. Phillips complaint response was total false. Mr. Phillis made one offer of $100, which he felt was appropriate compensation for repair work which cost $1,600 to have another contractor to correct. I chose to persue this issue civally instead of through BBB mediation. At the time Mr. Phillips had a positive rating with the Dayton, Ohio, BBB, they were unaware of Civil Court Judgements against Mr. Phillips and his Company ( 2005 CJ 147864, Certificate of Judgement, Capitol One Bank, $1,946.50; 2009-CVF-001725, Civil Judgement, Miami Valley Hospital, $6,648.83; 2012 SCJ 067090, Certificate of Judgement, State of Ohio, $1,676.30; 2012 SJC 067100, Certificate of Judgement, State of Ohio, $1.742.83; 2012 SCJ 067139, Certificate of Judgement, State of Ohio, $1,710.08; 2012 SCJ 079155, Certificate of Judgement, State of Ohio, $1,689.49.)               
In addition, the Board of Directors of the Dayton, Ohio, BBB on 04/09/2013, revoked Phillips & Son, LLC's, BBB rating and issued them an "F" rating. According to the BBB website, the removal of reccomendation and "F" rating was based on Mr. Phillips non compliance with the BBB requirement that he, in a good faith effort, attempt to resolve complaints along his failure to respond to complaint(s).
 
All the information contained in this review followup is based on public infromation, lawfully obtained through local, public record searche(s). I have copies of all the above referenced Judgements against Mr. Phillips and are available upon request. 

The chimney on my home was losing its stucco and the mortar was decaying. I called Phillips & Son along with a couple of other specialists, for appraisals. Mr. Phillips gave an oral estimate to tear-down the existing chimney, then rebuild it, reflash and waterproof it. Mr. Phillips cost was the lowest of those Id obtained and I granted him the job. Mr Phillips claimed he had no written proposal forms in his truck, but would get one to me prior to starting the job. Mr. Phillips didn't provide the written estimate form, prior to sending his crew to my home to start the job. I called my Phillips, who claimed to be hospitalized, but would get the proposal to me as soon as he got out. Mr. Phillips was at my home on two different occasions while the work was being completed. Each of those two times I asked Mr. Phillips for the proposal and each time he apologized for again having forgotten the forms, but would bring it the next time he was out.
Day two of the job; the chimney is partially rebuilt, the crew is gone, the chimney is uncovered and it is starting to rain. I called Mr. Phillips and asked if he intended to place a tarp over the chimney, since it was raining. Mr. Phillips replied that the opening was only about a foot square. I acknowledged I was aware of the size of the opening, but that opening was allowing rain into my home. Mr. Phillips said he would send someone right out to tarp-up the chimney. Six hours later, some one finally showed up.
Day three; I had an independent general contractor working at my home as well. One of the tasks he was completing was the replacement of a few roof shingles that had blown off during an earlier wind storm. The contractor reported that while he was on the roof, he observed the chimney contractors, while doing the rebuild, drinking beer while working. He felt consuming alcohol while at a clients home and on the job was very unprofessional and that I should know. Mr. Phillips informed me that he would have to go six bricks below the surface of the roof to correctly complete the job. Mr Phillips quoted the additional cost at $200.00 the additional expenditure was okayed.
Days three, four and five, crew did not show up.
Day six, Mr. Phillips informed me that my water heater vent was bad I authorized him that to replace it. Mr Phillips  quoted the additional cost at $600.00 (after speaking to two other chimney contractors I learned the average cost should've been $400.00 to $450.00) Sometime during the day a 14 foot section of top rail on my deck was destroyed beyond repair and had to be replaced. In addition to the deck rail a 4 foot planter box was broken. I was never informed of this damage and found it on my own. I contacted Mr. Phillips regarding the damage. Mr. Phillips assured me he would have it looked at and get back with me. After three days with no contact from Mr. Phillips I had the repairs completed by another contractor at the cost of $100.
Mr. Phillips arrived at my home to collect for the job just as I arrived home from work. I did not  inspect the final job (my mistake) prior to payment. This time Mr. Phillips remembered the written proposal. It quickly became obvious why he had not provided the proposal until the day he collected for the job. When Mr Phillips presented me with the proposal, the original quoted rebuild price went from $1,600.00 to $1.750.00 ($150.00 over his oral quote) The quoted price for the water heater vent went from $600.00 to $650.00 ($50.00 over his quote). Mr. Phillips additional cost of $200.00 for the additional brick, below the roof surface cost was properly listed on the quote. I challenged the fraudulent $200.00 increase of the oral quote. Mr Phillips said that the additional cost was due to the extra 6 brick repair. I pointed out that he had already added that amount to the quote and that the $200.00 I was referring to was for the over quote amounts of $150.00 for the total job and $50.00 over for the quote on the water heater vent. I felt as though I was speaking a foreign language, or that Mr Phillips had heard nothing Id just said.  Mr Phillips again said the additional amount was for the 6 brick extra, he'd clearly added to the bill. I knew further explanation to Mr Phillips would've been useless and I would need to perse the issue in a different  venue.
After Mr Phillips left I checked the chimney, from the ground. It was obvious the chimney was not square. There was no flashing at the base of the chimney, but instead it appeared some one had taken hands full of tar and slapped it around the base and onto the surrounding roof shingles. The crew had rinsed tar and debris from the roof down the vinyl siding on the back of my house. So I had a three foot wide black streak down the side of my house. Mr Phillips crew also left a wooden structure over the skylight on my roof. I call Mr Phillips and asked that he send some one back out to clean my siding and remove the structure from my room. Mr Phillips said he'd send some on right out. No one came that day. I came home from work the following day to find the wooden structure had been thrown from the roof into my flower bed and lying against the side of my neighbors house. The black streak was still there and had not been cleaned.
A day or two after the completion of the job, it rained. I awoke to find the ceiling in my kitchen leaking and the floor had standing water. I had two contractors one general and one chimney inspect the roof, chimney and interior of my home to determine the source of the leak. It was determined, conclusively that the shoddy workmanship of the chimney rebuild was the source of the leak. The chimney contractor claimed he'd never seen such an amateur  job. I asked the chimney contractor for his estimate for repairing the rebuild to stop the leak. The contractor determined that due to the excessive amount of tar used (which had cracks at the base which allowed leakage into the roof)he'd be unable to remove the excess tar without damaging the surrounding roof shingles. The contractors recommendation was: since the chimney was not square, there was no cap/crown on the chimney (used tar to secure to chimney vent to the top of the chimney) and the amount of shingles that would have to be destroyed and replaced, it was his recommendation that the chimney be torn down and roof over the location. The general contractor agreed with that recommendation as well. The estimated cost to corrected the damage done by Mr Phillips rebuild includes: tear down of chimney, repair or replace any damage to surrounding roof substructure, roof over/reshingle roof area surrounding chimney area, remove wet drywall and insulation in affected areas, chemical mold remediation in affected areas. The written proposal (available) is $1,725.00 I have cataloged supporting documentation and photos to support all claims made in this review.

I would rate them high overall.

We had water leaking from our chimney onto the ceiling inside our front hallway. There was a water stain and bits of plaster had been crumbling and falling to the floor for years and it was getting worse. We'd tried everything we could think of. We attempted to seal around the chimney flashing but it didn't fix the problem. We'd had several different companies come out, but nobody provided a confident answer. A masonry company told us the chimney was in great shape. A chimney sweep company said the type of stone was notoriously porous and they would seal it for hundreds of dollars. The owner of a home-remodeling company that replaced our roof 10 years ago kept saying he'd try to see what he could do, but he never made it back out after the first visit.

I read Angie's report on Phillips & Son and thought the problem addressed in that report was similar to ours. I called to get an estimate. I called two other companies as well, got answering machines and left messages. When I called Phillips & Son, I got a real person when I called. Bill came out the next day. He went into the attic to see where the leak was coming in, then got up on the roof to examine the chimney. He seemed knowledgable and came up with recommendations right away. He thought the leak was due to a hole in the furnace tile with access from a crumbling area on the crown, issues the other companies didn't mention. He gave me an initial estimate that was to replace the crown, replace the damaged tile and clean the chimney and fireplace. I think that original estimate was around 850.00, but he said he would know more after the crown was removed. His crew was nearby, so he called them to come immediately and begin work. They cleaned the chimney and the fireplace and cleaned up from that. Then they chipped off the crown to get a better idea of what was going on inside the chimney. He showed me where the bricks were wet under the crown, indicating water had been collecting in there and not drying. The morter was also crumbling in multiple areas. He debated whether or not the whole chimney should be taken down, but decided the most effective remedy, in addition to replacing the cap, was to replace the morter, cutting out and re-applying the morter between each stone. He suggested adding another metal cover for the furnace tile to protect that opening. He also agreed to seal the chimney when they were finished and gave a new estimate of 1875.00, and we agreed. He said it should be good for at least 10 years.

They got to work right away. They worked quickly and efficiently and were careful to not track dirt into the house. They were nice, conscientious guys! In 2 days, the work was almost done... and a tarp was placed over the chimney to allow the cement to set up before they planned to coat the whole thing with sealant. I went ahead and paid for the job because I was very happy with the workers and the speed at which they completed the biggest part of  the job. That was my mistake. I had seen that they had already purchased the sealant and sprayer, and was told they would be back out in 2 days to finish up. It looked great! I couldn't wait to get the thing all finished so we could see if it solved our leak problem, and I didn't want them to wait to finish if I wasn't home to pay them.

That was a month ago. The tarp was never removed and the chimney was never sealed. I called again this morning to tell him I was going to write a review on Angie's list and wanted a refund for the sealant. The tarp was finally taken down this morning. Looks like they also sealed it, although I told him I didn't want it to be sealed today because it has been raining and is supposed to snow and get down to 19 degrees in two days. It didn't make sense to spray sealant on wet stone when we're expecting snow and sub-freezing temperatures, but I guess he didn't see a problem with that. 

I'd called 3 times over this past month and was told they hadn't forgotten about us. I called again this morning because the tarp was half off and we're expecting snow and 40 mph winds. He had mentioned that they have had several family health emergencies, which I completely understood, but I also heard that his men were busy tearing down another chimney when the weather would have been perfect (again) to finish our job. We've had quite a few sunny, warm days since this was done. They could have removed the tarp, sealed the chimney and finished the job under perfect conditions.

I was so impressed, then let down to have that huge blue tarp flying over our house all through the holidays. My husband could have removed it, but it wasn't his job!

I still recommend this company for this type of work. They actually did a great job up until the last task! I wanted to give them an A, but now I worry that the sealant will hold water in the wet stone and cause problems when it freezes. Just don't pay until EVERY aspect of the work is completed. And insist on having things done as quickly as possible when weather conditions cooperate.

Bill was at our home within a few hours of the initial call. He gave us a written estimate and came back later that day with brick samples for us to choose from. He and his crew were always professional and polite and really knew what they were doing. The work was done during a rainy period, but as soon as the rain stopped the crew was at our house. The work took approximately one week due to the rain - it would have been done in two full days if not for the rain. We are extremely pleased with our new chimney. It is beautiful and now we know that it is safe, also.