High’s Chimney Service

Get a second opinion if you use this company and they quote you major work. I called them for a routine cleaning of my chimney after having a squirrel’s nest in there about a year ago. The nest fell into the fireplace, squirrels and all, but I thought there might still be some debris remaining. They told me I still had a nest – and that it was now compacted – and that they couldn’t even get their poles up the chimney because of it. They also told me I needed to reline my chimney at a cost of about $ 2,600. They said it would take at least $ 500 to deal with the nest. I called another company for a second opinion only to find there was NO squirrel’s nest at all. This second company got their poles up the chimney without a problem, cleaned it, and told me that no lining was necessary. I was only charged for the cleaning.

I’m glad the owner reviews these posts because he should know what goes on with his company.
I had part of my chimney rebuilt last year due to a leak I was having that was coming from that area of the house. The initial work was fantastic and looked great. Unfortunately, despite all the assurances of sealing, etc. the leak has plagued us all throughout the year. Every time it rains, we get a leak in our house. We’ve had technicians come out all year to inspect High’s own work. They finally told us it was a problem with our siding.
During the recent holiday, my dad and I took to the roof to have a look ourselves. It was evident (because they used black chimney seal) that they had only sealed less than half of the flashing. I presume they only did the part they did (a) because it was easier to do versus sealing the entire flashing and (b) they did not think I would ever check. Either way, both are poor reasons and bad business … and only caused further damage to our house.
On top of this, one of the «technicians» High’s sent to our house constantly pressured me to do other work around our house (clean gutters, etc.). He’s been out twice now. First time, I paid him EXTRA to caulk around the chimney. Probably should’ve been included in the service, no? Second time (last week), he offered to clean my gutters and he acted like he was infuriated when I told him I didn’t want him to perform any extra services on our house. The best thing I can say about him is he actually sealed the part of the flashing that had previously not been sealed. No more leaking!
Anyway, I’m glad there appears to be no more leaking because I wouldn’t want him visiting my house any longer because I wouldn’t feel safe having him around my family.

I called for a standard inspection — they told me the tech would use a video camera, inspect the outside of the chimney, etc. The two-​person crew rolled up and the lead guy was on his cell phone, using profanity as he got out of his car my neighbors were walking by — not a great first impression. He came in, looked at the chimney visually for about sixty seconds and told me the problems and the work that needed to be done with it. He graciously told me to get on my back to look up the chimney myself. A second minute hadn’t passed before he was talking about 10% off discounts for the work.
My gripe is this: while I understand he is a pro, may be right, and the price may be fair for the work that may need to be done, a company should provide what they advertise. If you agree to a thorough inspection for $ 129 using X, Y, and Z, you should deliver on that in the same way I should pay my bill. If you don’t, it feels like a bait and switch and it makes me never want anyone else to use your business.
I called the company right as the tech left letting them know I’d write this review, they offered to send another tech out but I didn’t see how that made any difference at this point, they were getting paid and they gave me a quote for follow up work regardless.

Super fast. Good communicators. Affordable bid. Scheduled fast. Job completed, inspected. They even photographed the work from all angles so I could see it via text at my workplace. Found them in the Montgomery County Best Pick Reports Quality Home Services Guide 2015 edition where they were top rated. Job done October 30, 2015.

We’ve used them the last four years to clean our three chimneys. Always on time, professional, and pleasant. They have never tried to up sell us on repairs. I will be calling them Monday about how to improve heat output on new gas logs that we mistakenly purchased from Home Living in Chantilly. I didn’t realize that High’s installed gas logs or I would have gone to them first. Just hoping they can help me find a way in get more heat.
Great guys.

This is a delayed review, as the work was done in November 2014. I decided to add a wood stove in the basement as an addendum to the electric heat pump which is an energy hog and since heat pumps are not as efficient in heating. I wanted a heat source that would guarantee better dependability than PEPCO, as during a storm the electricity is known to go out since we are surrounded by trees and a fallen tree on a wire a couple of miles away and eliminate our power source.
I visited High’s showroom and selected the larger model to heat a 2200 sq ft home. I was scheduled within a week and the two workers showed up on time. They spent the entire day installing the unit, as they had to go through an existing fireplace and up a very tall chimney and a very steep roof. The senior technician had to make a hole into the cinder block and cover an old one. He did a fabulous job with the cement repair and new duct work. They were meticulous and efficient in their work, as I noted there were some issues they both consulted each other about to make sure the work was done right.
I fired up the stove that week and kept it running almost ²⁴⁄₇ through the entire winter without mishap and kept the heat pump almost completely off. it kept the heating bill very low and It really saved us from a very cold winter, as I’m taking care of elderly parents and they can not get cold!
I don’t know why others have had scheduling or no show issues, but the crew that arrived at my home did an EXCELLENT job.

I don’t know how their service was because the workman never showed up. Not even after I called to confirm the appointment and to inquire, 90 minutes into the two hour window, where he was.
So, because the worker never showed up to do the work or called to reschedule, I won’t use them. Obviously, they don’t need your money because they can afford to not show up to do work.

Mike Pinto and the High’s Chimney are superb. They have done lots of work for us over the years including rebuilding our chimney and annual gutter cleanings. Recently we bought a fireplace insert and appreciated their consultative approach. Highly recommend.

Only giving one star becuase i cant go any lower. From the moment the man walked in the house he wanted to sell me a liner for $ 2500. He had not even looked at the chimney yet. Then when he did go on the roof he took a picture of the top of the flue… which was the wrong one came back down and said «look this is your chimney » outside of being the wrong flue he couldnt tell me why i needed a liner. Im so sick of dishonest contractors! !! Stay away !!!

Similar experience to many other reviews (it’s also worth your time to view the legitimate reviews that Unilocal hides at the bottom of the page due to their flawed «algorithm»). Scheduled a cleaning; two techs show up towards the end of the window, one immediately throws a ladder up while the second one comes inside after five minutes. Based on his appearance and manner, he apparently was just laid off from the circus or paroled from prison. He proceeds to tell me that because I have a masonry flue, they can’t clean it, and I need to knock it all out and install a new one for a couple thousand bucks. Guess what, I’m in luck! If I give them the go ahead RIGHT NOW, they’ll apply the cleaning cost to the work. I say that we really don’t have the spare cash right now, but if they leave an estimate with a statement of work, we’ll be happy to call them back. He ignores everything I say, and says that since they’re in the area already, he’ll give me a discount for having them do it RIGHT NOW. I again explain that we don’t have that kind of cash lying around at the moment. He then gets on the phone to his boss, and holds a conversation straight out of the cheesiest of used car sales theatrics. It would have been hilarious if it weren’t so aggravating. Guess what? More great news when he hangs up. The boss has authorized a great discount for us to do it RIGHT NOW TODAY. I barely got him out of the house at this point; the shotgun was going to come out if it had taken another five minutes.
In summary, by their own admission, they didn’t even do the work I paid for — that every other sweep before and since has had no problem with– and I know they didn’t because they didn’t pull out the woodstove and clean the debris from the shelf; and then they tried to strong-​arm me into unnecessary work with high pressure tactics. This company is a bunch of scammers. There are a surprisingly large number of sweeps in the area; go with one of those and avoid this outfit. Can’t believe they’re still in business.

I called High’s to inspect my gas fireplace. They were able to schedule an appointment within just a few days, and were able to accommodate my schedule by coming on the weekend. They called to let me know how far away they were and showed up right in the middle of the appointment window. They did a very thorough job and answered all of my questions. I would gladly use them again.

Everyone I worked with there was very polite. I just needed the chimney cleaned — they were on time and it only took about 10 minutes to complete. They did not try to upsell me on anything and only mentioned that there was a small crack in the concrete.

Great service, they stuck to their estimate even though they had to d some extra work. Very efficient team. They gave a really good price and did an excellent job. Highly recommended.

I am highly offended by this response from Mike P. I cannot believe that he has the audacity to allege it was not his company. I have the proposed contract drafted by High’s Chimney Service, Inc, and I am staring at it right now. I was mistaken on one point from my initial review though — the «deal» was for $ 2,100, not $ 2,000.
Mike P, I can fax this document to you (or any other potential customer interested in seeing it), and now I plan on filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Finally, I also post good reviews for honest companies that do good work. You can easily find them on Unilocal by looking at my other reviews. In fact, please see: Rooftop Chimney Sweeps.

They cleaned my chimney and tried to upsell me on $ 1,000 in unnecessary repairs. Got a second opinion from a reputable source and the chimney is fine. No thanks.

We wanted to get our chimney repaired and as part of the cost was a replacement of the cap. We paid $ 1500 to have some brick work done (which I thought was reasonable). But they left and never put on the cap. They claimed they did not have one at the time and would be back. It is now 5 days later and I had to call and complain. I still have not heard from them. Lesson learned: DO NOT PAY unless they do everything they say they are going to do.

Without going into the details, I too had an experience after using them for over 10 years for our maintenance, when we sold our house, they told us for a home inspection repair that we needed close to $ 4,000 in work. We called two other chimney services and both came in at around $ 1,400. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised this has happened to other people. I was so mad at them because they did our service and they were the first people i called and I trusted them. I wasn’t even going to call anybody else — the work was basically theirs but they got greedy. Luckily, I had the good sense to call somebody else. The whole experience was like one of those undercover news investigations.

Update: When a company goes out of their way to make things right, that entitles them to two more stars from me. The owner of High’s commented right here on Unilocal that I should contact him because he wanted to fix the earlier situation I mentioned. We also got a phone call from a female at the company, saying pretty much the same thing. We decided to go ahead and schedule another appointment to see what would happen. Glad we did. The Safety Manager came out and gave us a video tour of the insides of our chimney, as we had expected to get the first time. He spent almost an hour of his time, going through it with us. We could see for ourselves, with his reassurance, there were no cracks or emergency issues that needed to be corrected. He indicated a few minor things we should think about for the future, e.g., some material beginning to crumble a bit near the top, but nothing to be concerned about for the next few years. He did advise getting a larger cap so that rain would be less likely to come into the chimney. He then went up to the roof to do a second inspection, and even took a few photos from that angle as well. There was no pressure, and the inspector was knowledgeable and polite. Overall, we got a much more thorough visit at no extra charge. Kudos to High’s for following up and making sure we got what we paid for.

We got a Regency fireplace wood insert installed from High’s in September of this year. They were very responsive in submitting a quote and honoring specials that were advertised by the manufacturer. In addition — they worked with me on a final price.
The installation was scheduled for that week. The 3 technicians were prompt, polite and professional. They completely covered the floor with tarps before starting work and cleaned up efficiently after the job was complete.
We love our new stove insert. It is efficient, aesthetically pleasing and built solidly. There was an issue with the surround not exactly fitting our existing fireplace opening. High’s worked with us to solve the problem and made sure that we were happy with the total project. Mike Pinto was very responsive and even threw in a complimentary fireplace kit to boot.

We recently moved into a home and in our home inspection was recommended that we have our chimney swept and have a crack examined in the back.
Whenever I have a contractor in the find out ‘if’ something needs to be fixed, I assume they’ll just say yes to get the business. I was pleasantly surprised when we were told that the crack was extremely minor and wouldn’t need any repairs for the time being but they’ll keep an eye on it. I appreciated the honesty. Plenty of other things to pay for/​buy at the moment!
We will continue to have them out for maintenance.