Had a homeowner in Cleveland tell me I was "too thorough" after I spent an extra 20 minutes on a heavy creosote job

He stood there watching me scrape and brush for 45 mins, then said I was wasting his time because he only wanted the flue clear enough to pass inspection, and now I'm wondering how many other sweeps skip the deep clean just to keep customers happy.

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_white21d ago

Man, that drives me nuts. A buddy of mine does chimney work in Pittsburgh and he told me about this one time he spent over an hour on a house because the owner had let it go for three years without a cleaning. The guy paid him and then complained to his wife right there that it was "too much" and he'd just wanted the minimum. Next year, that same homeowner called my buddy back after his flue caught a small fire from the leftover crap another sweep missed. My friend told him straight up that "too thorough" was the reason his house didn't burn down. Now the guy asks for the deep clean every time.

the_skyler21d ago

Sounds like that homeowner learned the HARD way that "minimum effort" equals "maximum problems." Bet he thought he was SO smart trying to save a few bucks the first time, but that tiny flue fire probably cost him way more than the deep clean would have. Classic case of people wanting to pay for cheap work until their house nearly goes up in smoke. Your buddy must have felt GREAT telling that guy "told you so" while cashing his check. Nothing like a little fire damage to change someone's tune about chimney care.