Clean Sweep of Anne Arundel County

Clean sweep responded timely. They did an interview over the phone to better understand the problem and showed up on schedule with everything they needed to identify the source of the leak(s). They took pictures and showed us what they believed to be the problems. They gave me an estimate which I accepted and they scheduled the work. They called a few days later and said they had an earlier opening if I wanted the work done sooner. Again they showed up on time and did all of the work in the same day. It has been several weeks since the work was completed and so far we have not experienced any more leaks. Work performed included redoing the crown, repointing mortar joints as necessary, resealing where chimney meets the siding and using a water repellant on entire chimney. Pictures of completed work were furnished.

Did a great job and identified a spot on roof where recent roof installation hadn't been completed correctly.

As always, the sweeps are polite and extremely careful to keep our family room soot free. When the job is done, we receive a complete inspection report and photos of both the inside (including the liner) and outside of our fireplace/chimney. We have used them for many years for both our annual cleaning and repair work, and they have never disappointed. We use our wood burning fireplace (which has a heatilator unit) regularly and know that it is safe.

Be prepared to be treated like a juvenile when dealing with this company. First, you schedule your service with the company. Then, the company insists that you be reachable by 4:00 pm the day before service, or that you call before then to confirm your appointment. While I understand that the company probably sometimes gets to houses to find nobody home from time to time, scheduling service with the company is a bit like going to the Principal's office. Chimney cleaning is expensive with this company at something like $299 per chimney. I said it was expensive when I scheduled and got a returning customer discount of $249 per chimney. The cleaners showed up during the window I'd been given and proceeded to work on my chimneys. They then presented me with a huge estimate for repairs they claimed were essential to my chimney and a warning not to use either chimney until the repairs were done. They even left the power off to my furnace blower, without telling me. This prevented my heat pump from being able to heat the house that night. When I woke to a very cold house the next day I discovered what they'd done and resumed using my heat pump. The estimate for my woodburning fireplace chimney was for over $5800 of repairs. The estimate for the oil furnace chimney was $3878. I don't need the fireplace chimney so I'll get a second estimate in the spring, when I have the other chimney cleaned again. I did end up having a second opinion on the furnace chimney: $700. I got the work done with the second company, saving $3100. Sadly, Clean Sweep didn't even do the cleaning properly. Since they came I've had soot falling through my blower unit onto the floor. I just replaced a filthy, black, soot-covered air filter. I'll have to get another cleaning in the spring and will absolutely not use Clean Sweep. If estimates received on either chimney are in line with what I got from Clean Sweep, I'll update this review. In the meantime, I really can't warn people strongly enough to steer clear of this company.

Quick response. On time to appt. Two men came and one cleaned inside while other inspected outside. Recommended a new crown as outside area was rusting. Gave us estimate for part. Very nice gentlemen. I will use again yearly. They also do dryer vent cleaning and i may consult for that too.

If you have a question, please don't hesitate to contact the owner. He does a good job explaining information.

At first, I thought things went well. The gentlemen who came to my house were nice and seemed to know what they were talking about. What I didn't realize then though was that they weren't there to really clean my chimney. The lead guy was clearly a salesman who is there just to upsell the work. He described damage to my chimney from a chimney fire and then proceeded to lay out a full scare tactic. He talked about poor masonry work by the initial installers. He also referred to a "large crack" in the wood stove that rendered it useless. In the end, he indicated that in order for us to be able to use the chimney again, we needed to have the entire chimney treated and resurfaced as well as have a new wood stove installed. All this for the bargain price of $8750. We received a follow up contact from the owner of the company (or that is what we were told) who indicated that there were signs of a chimney fire and they suggested we submit a claim to insurance. We did that and it did not take long for the insurance company to deny the claim. After further research, including talking to the original homeowner who supervised the installation of the chimney, as well as talking to others who had been "serviced" by this company before, I discovered that they have quite a reputation for drumming up business using scare tactics. I sought a second opinion from another professional. Result: the damage they referred to on the inside of the chimney was normal and could be cleaned with a normal cleaning. One by one, I realized that all of the work they were proposing was unnecessary. So, the services they were supposed to provide me were: (1) a chimney cleaning and (2) a chimney inspection. On the cleaning, after having a second professional look at it, he recommended a cleaning. I explained that Clean Sweep had done a cleaning and he was shocked. He indicated the cleaning job on the chimney was not very good. So I had to pay a second company to clean the chimney. Regarding the inspection, they did provide an inspection, but it was faulty in every sense of the word. Each of the "problems" they identified were not actually problems. I mistakingly trusted them in their recommendation to submit a claim to my insurance company. That claim was denied and I am sure I will see an increase in my insurance rates because of it. Tread very carefully with this company and definitely get a second opinion before you agree to any additional work. Or just stay away from them altogether. If they can't even do a proper regular chimney cleaning, why would you trust them to do any other work? I wouldn't.

I first dealt with this company months before by email since we were initially looking to replace our fireplace doors. They got back to me right away and answered all my questions. Since they said they didn't do doors, I had another company come out for a custom door quote and they also provided an estimate on some various chimney things. However, when we were ready to proceed, they never returned calls so we ended up going to a hearth shop for the doors and I then went to Clean Sweep for the chimney cleaning. We have lived in our home for 3 years now and we had no idea how well the chimney was maintained the last 40 years so we weren't sure what to expect except we knew we had vegetation growing which meant water and some crumbling on the sides. Obviously nobody wants to get hit with an unexpected estimate of $4k, but what I appreciated was that they thoroughly explained everything - they had me in the room to do the video inspection, showed me photos of the interior/exterior that I could not see and explained the safety risks and advantages of what they were recommending. In addition, I had emailed the CEO a couple questions in response to getting the photos emailed to me and he actually called me and thoroughly answered all my questions, which I was impressed with since normally CEO don't take the time to deal with everyday customer questions. Brandon and TJ were the two that came back to do the work and again, were very friendly and thorough in their explanations and responses to my questions. Both times they arrived within the time they told me and called me ahead of time per my request when they were coming out for the estimate so I could get home. I was very impressed with the professionalism, friendliness, knowledge and quality of work with this company and will definitely be using them again in the future!

$99 for estimate + service call. Work will cost approx $200. Service call fee applied to work. Leaking from chimney – water was beginning to damage sheet rock.

I had a serious wasp problem in my chimney for years. Clean Sweep cleaned them out and put a spring loaded "wasp proof" cap on my chimney. I have been wasp free ever since! It has also helped with my heating bills and that pesky smokey smell!

He was great, on time, professional and did what they needed to do.

During the torrential rain, there was running water under the dryer. There was no leak that could be found so it must have come in thru the dryer vent. I have not done any laundry that day. I called the landlord and he said to call this company. TJ and Brandon arrived today to clean the vent and do what was needed. They were expected between 8-12 and arrived at 11. They explained about fire hazards in dryers and told me all that they were going to do, showed photos of all the clogs - the vent had never been cleaned in more than 15 years. Everything was taken care of, they were careful not to get anything dirty and cleaned up after themselves.They were able to bend the end of the vent that hooks to the drier so as to save money for a new fitting. I would highly recommend this team of young men and their work says a lot for the company. Since I am renting the house I do not know what the cost was or if it was a good price but from the way the work was done I would say it was worth whatever the bill will be. That is why the price listed is NA*.

Tech listened to my requests, made suggestions for assessing repairs, climbed on roof & took pictures of chimney, explained what he recommended & pricing, upon my approval he did the repairs, took pictures, I paid, and the company emailed the pictures to us!

2 young men, who have come annually for a number of years, arrived, friendly, performed work, cleaned up. They are great!

I went good. They set up their equipment and cleaned the chimney. They made sure not to get any dust in the house. They let me look at the screen from the video camera device they used to a**** the inside of the chimney. They looked at the exterior parts of the chimney. They provided me with a summary of the condition of the chimney and recommended getting the chase cover replaced. They accepted a check for payment.

I have always been very satisfied with their professionalism and the quality of their service.

Cleanup was fantastic. The one thing I didn't like, is that I called them out for an estimate, and they took that as a service call - they charged me $150. They did apply that to the total cost, but I wish I'd known that beforehand. They were fast and professional, but I was a little miffed with the "service call" cost.

Very well. They came in introduced themselves explained everything they were going to do. They took pictures both inside and out cleaned the chimney in 30 minutes. They followed up by taking more pictures and took the time to go over what they did, showed the pictures they took and went over any/all issues thoroughly before leaving.

I was initially worried that the additional problems referenced in the technician's report were a scam, since this industry seems to have a number of bad characters who try to scare homeowners into paying for more expensive and /or unnecessary work after cleaning the chimney. I gradually overcame my concern after considering to the company's long history of operating in Anne Arundel County, the favorable ratings of the company on Angie's List and the Better Business Bureau, the company's professionalism in the use of technology to document evidence of the problems that I would otherwise never be able to see inside the flue, and the owner's willingness to patiently review with me by phone all of the 50+ photographs in the technician's report that I had received from them by email so I could understand the condition of the chimney. After the second service call for the additional cleaning of the flue with a degreaser and the masonry repairs, the resulting photographs made by the technician showed that the condition of the flue was significantly improved and the fireplace was now safe for my tenants to use. The owner personally contacted me after the second service call to make sure I was happy with their work, another nice touch. In addition to my satisfaction, my tenants were also very pleased with the work done by Clean Sweep for several reasons: (a) both service calls were able to be scheduled quickly, even in a very busy season for this type of work; (b) the technician was meticulously clean and left no speck of dirt or soot in the house; and (c) the technician spent time showing them exactly how to use the fireplace safely. Overall, I am very pleased with Clean Sweep and definitely will use their services again.

Workers very pleasant and did job in two hours. Thought price was a little high but was told had to special order parts because of age of chimney. Has not been tested yet to see if any leakage occurs, Roof never ever leaked before and hopefully will not now, Workers cleaned up very well after finishing job. Nice appearance when job was finished. Cannot attest to quality of material. Will have to see how it holds up. Original metal chimney lasted 51 years before rust was noticed on outside.

They have done an excellent service.

Arrived on time. Was very polite and carefully explained the work to be done, allowed me to ask questions which were answered very well. Executed the work quickly and also provided before and after pictures so that I could see how good a job they did. Offered advice on some issues that I might want to address that I was not aware of.

The cost was $199 after receiving a $100 discount for returning customers. The dryer is located on the 2nd floor. He showed up on time, professional, polite. Did a very thorough job and cleaned up afterwards. Also showed pictures before and after and performed an air flow reading before and after the cleaning. After the job was complete we noticed a crimp in the transition duct that occurred when he placed the dryer back in position. Called the company and explained what happened; they were very courteous and sent someone back the very next day to install a new transition duct. I have used this company in the past and I will definitely use them again.

The previous owner of our house did not maintain his chimney. Unfortunately, we forgot to have it inspected before the purchase. I called Clean Sweep because I had used them previously at my old house, and was delighted to see that Brandon was still working there. He and his partner, TJ swept and inspected the chimney and showed me digital pictures of the damage. Apparently, there had been chimney fires that had never been dealt with, and the damper was completely ruined. Also, there were no chimney caps on top! We needed repairs inside and outside. They gave me an estimate for the repairs. They returned at a later date to begin the repairs. The repairs required 3 visits, all of which were on time, professionally and cheerfully done. During every step of the process, they showed me digital photos, and followed up by emailing the photos. When they were finished, they mailed me a warranty which requires annual inspection and chimney sweeping. We are ready to build fires this winter with confidence! I won't use anyone else!

While the cost might seem expensive, the work performed was extensive as the flue replaced was in very bad condition. The crew was very professional, polite and meticulous. The team really worked well together. They arrived when they said they would, and did not leave until the 1st task was completed. They were fantastic. I have two additional flues and fireplaces that need work--this company will be the only one I call. Very happy.