Super Sweeps

I just moved into a new place, and the previous owner had not used the fireplace in 12 years. Home inspection noted a crack in the refractory wall. I had called another company, and, well, I was underwhelmed with the phone conversation. Or their pricing.

I called Super Sweeps, primarily because of an advert in the weekly ValPak. An appointment was set. I was told in advance that an inspection would cost $99 with that amount being applied to any work that needed to be done.

Considering I know zip about chimneys, James and his partner (sorry - I can't recall your name) explained what needed doing, inspected the whole fireplace, and chimney. James could easily have told me all sorts of things and I'd have had to believe him. The crack was repaired, and a sweep wasn't recommended at this time. I was prepared to be told that!

These guys are honest, hardworking, and work clean.

Highly recommend these people. In a year or so, when I will need a sweep, I will absolutely be calling them.

James and his employee from Super Sweeps came to our home today and provided a top quality service to our wood burning stove. We purchased the wood stove 18 years ago from a company in Santa Rosa. It was installed incorrectly because they ordered a stove to large for the opening of the fireplace but we had no clue. This ended up causing chimney fires and we could have lost our home. James came out, diagnosed the problem and was able to come out today, fix the issue and provide a wonderful cleaning to the stove and chimney. We appreciate his honesty and communication every step of the way. Super Sweeps will be doing our annual cleaning as they are the only company we trust for this type of service.

I got my chimney cleaned by them and was supposed to receive a report of the findings after the chimney was cleaned and inspected. They told my wife who was here at the time of the inspection that our chimney should not be used and is an absolute hazard and could catch on fire at any time. When I received the report there was absolutely nothing stating of any hazard in the report at all.

I called three times and was instructed that I would receive a call back from the person who did the inspection within the next few days, I still have not received any call and it has been over three weeks.

I should have started by saying that I made a first appointment and they did not show up and apparently I was never put on any calendar. So by the time they actually came to clean the chimney at it already been about a month and a half since I had initially booked my appointment.

I am confused on what I was even charged for from the start, as there was notes in the report that there was something blocking his way and he was unable to fully clean the chimney.

Horrible follow through from planning/scheduling to inspectors communication I would not hire them again to come onto my property.

I hired them to clean the exhaust pipe and woodturning stove in my place in Cazadero.

During the cleaning, one of the guys dropped and broke a piece of the soapstone hearth liner pieces. The main hood piece to be exact.
The gentleman apologized and said they would replace the damaged piece and he glued the broken one together for use in the meantime.
Before leaving, to my surprise, they charged my credit card for the cleaning.

I waited several days, expecting to hear from them regarding replacing the damaged hood. But no contact. So I decided to call and check the status.
During the call, the owner told me they don't take responsibility for damages incurred to these type of soapstone surround pieces as they are fragile and prone to damage. But because his employee said they would replace it, he would honor it. He stated that because the manufacturer (Morso) is European, it might take a while to receive it.
He then said I was also in need of a deep creosote cleaning with would cost around $175. I decided that could wait. (The stove and pipe were only about a year old, how much build up could there possibly be? And funny, but $175 is just about the cost to replace the set of soapstone pieces.)

* First issue: If you don't accept responsibility for damage incurred during cleaning this type of stove, you need to say that IN ADVANCE. Not after the fact. That way I could decide to proceed with your service knowing and accepting the risk or choose to find a sweep that is more confident in their ability.
** Second issue - Their employee DROPPED IT. It didn't just brake by itself, nor brake during removal or reinstalling. He dropped it on my porch while taking it outside to clean it. I stood there and saw it happen. The owner then acting like he was doing me a favor by honoring his employees admission to responsibility is manipulative and insulting.
*** Third Issue - Attempting to up-sell a customer (me) for unneeded services so technically I would be paying for the replacement part. That was an uber slimy move.

About three months later, I called to check the status. I was told he forgot and would "get on ordering it"

Fast forward almost a year and a half since the initial damage, other than my occasional cringe reminder when I caught a glimpse of the cracked and glued hood piece, I had almost forgotten about the replacement piece promised, when I received a promotional email from SuperSweeps. So I replied to the email inquiring about the status of the replacement piece. Again, his response was, that he forgot.

Over two years have passed.
I now burn an occasional creosote sweep log, add anti creosote powder to every third wood load of the stove, purchased a pipe sweep brush ($40 at Friedmans) to use with my shop vac just like they do. I have also ordered, received and replaced the broken soapstone hood piece myself from Morso.
Note: After ordering, It took only about 5 days to receive.

All this and the only good thing about the entire experience was the employee admitting to and accepting responsibility for damaging my stove. So I guess that's what the single star covers.

Amateur night

I'm sure this company does adequate work but I was shocked at how much more expensive it was than two others who I had come and look at the job. I was told I needed a custom cap for my chimney when a universal cap would have done the job and was half the price. I was told I had third stage creosote which two others said I didn't. The two others went up on the roof and actually looked into the chimney while super sweeps used a camera from below. The guy who came out was very nice and thorough and the report I received was thorough with photos. However some of the things recommended I didn't need and the cost of the custom cap with installation was 799 when my entire job cost me $600 and still included a 24 gauge cap with lifetime warranty. Well this may be a very competent company I would just advise to have two other bids before going ahead.

Very dissatisfied with the report that was written. Every individual rating for the various components, (flashing, fire box,glass door, etc) was giving a rating of "Fair". Really? All 7 items were "Fair?" I wonder what a glass door and perfectly good fireplace tools have to do to warrant a better score! Felt a little wary submitting this report to our insurance company but apparently fair was an acceptable rating for them, thankfully.
The price estimate for a couple repairs needing to be made was also ridiculous. We were able to repair the items ourselves at about 10% of the quoted estimate.
The actual job of cleaning the stove and vent was satisfactory.

Purchased a gas insert fire place from here and had them carry out the install, two guys came to the house and were very professional and installed the insert perfectly, and done it fast. We love the new fireplace! We also purchased the fireplace mantel from here also! Love how everything turned out.
Great service!
Great people!

My chimney was leaking into the fireplace when I called Supersweeps. They recommended a repair of the chimney cap and flashing. The person they sent out acted like he had never seen a chimney before much less having repaired one. After doing much damage to some bushes I had, they left. The chimney still leaked and they came back to try again. Unfortunately the same worker was doing the work. This second time they almost killed my two passion vines (still recovering) and they created many acid marks on my patio door and another window (I assume from the concrete cleaner they sprayed on the chimney). I have tried several ways to remove the acid marks with no success. The chimney still leaks as before.
They will no longer return my phone calls. I would give the company a zero rating if I could, nor would I recommend them to anyone.

As a fellow chimney sweep it is refreshing to know there are honest service people out there and James is one of them.
I only refer my customers to someone I trust.
Highly recommend Super Sweeps !

-Darren Brennan

We have a free-standing fireplace in our living room. It hasn't worked as long as I have lived here and I finally had enough. I called Super Sweeps to have it checked out and hopefully get it working again. The quality of service was excellent, and I feel that the estimate we were given was fair and we weren't going to get overcharged to get our fireplace repaired. I already referred Super Sweeps to my co-workers because I was so happy with the quality of their service.