Black Cat Sweeps LLC

Frequently Asked Questions

A simple cinder block chimney getting a style update.

What is your typical process for working with a new customer?

This truly depends on the customer, their property, their chimney, and the job they desire to have done. For a chimney inspection and cleaning it is as simple as getting them on the schedule and doing the job. With estimates, we need to make one or more trips to the home to get all our measurements and design ideas in place. With design jobs, we typically get our measurements and get to know our customer's tastes by presenting them with a random montage of sample pictures. What they become excited about helps us to start in the right direction for the final design process which may take multiple visits to the home by our on-staff designer, Melody Norris, and/or our techs. For Insurance and real estate jobs, we need to make sure all parties involved are on board with clear communication being key for those particular jobs.

What should our customers know about our pricing?

Every chimney and home is a separate entity unto itself and is therefore as unique as its owner. This can therefore affect pricing by causing it to go up or down from property to property. This would mean that your price could be more or less than the guy down the street from you who has an identical home. Another thing that dictates price is the size and type of appliance being hooked into a chimney. For example, an 8" pipe will cost more than a 6". We try to be as accurate as we can on our pricing but occasionally, hidden damages are found lurking within the chimney or walls of the home. This of course is more common in old homes where modern codes never existed during the construction of the home. If these do occur then the price would of course increase as we would have to include extra labor and materials to bring everything to current codes. We are never willing to sacrifice safety for cost so we would show you detailed photos of the hidden damage and explain why we are having to add to the bottom line of the budget. When hidden issues are found this will also sometimes increase the amount of time we need to be on the job to complete the job. That often means having to squeeze the extra work on your job between other existing customer jobs.

What education and training do you have that relates to your work?

The owner has a degree in Residential Design and a degree in Business Administration. She has also completed many courses in real estate and HIPAA compliance. She specializes in upcycled design and historical design. She is in charge of the office as well as designing customers' homes. She also is in charge of photo manipulation, design, editing, and photography at our sister company Black Cat Studios.

Our tech, the husband of the owner, started his career in the stove industry working for Abundant Life at the Rainbow Mall in Portland Maine back in the fuel crisis of the 1970s. The rest of his life, well over 47 years now, has been dedicated to the stove and chimney industry. He installs chimney caps, does chimney cleaning, and performs inspections.

Their son has been doing chimney work with his family part-time since he was a young child. He mainly installs liners, Metalbestos chimneys, and woodstoves but has shown excellence in masonry as well. He is currently enrolled in PATHS in Portland Maine and has earned his refrigerant certification. He is studying HVAC and plumbing. He will soon be OSHA certified and will be graduating from PATHS in 2024, after which he will be attending a local college to further his studies in HVAC and plumbing.

How did you get started doing this type of work?

It is a love story of sorts. I was newly divorced from an abusive spouse and had a 4-year-old daughter. I wanted to add a stove in the walk-out basement of my home to help with the heating issues. I heard several ads on the radio for different companies. For some reason, I felt I had no choice but to call one in particular. It was as if something was pulling me in the direction of that company. Meanwhile, Gary had forgotten something at the office and went back to get it. It was January 1st so the office was closed. He saw the blinking answering machine and felt a strong urge to listen to it even though that wasn't his job. He later said that he fell in love on the spot when he heard my voice! He came to my house with a guitar and stove brochures. He installed the stove, hearth, and surround, teaching me as he worked. I loved the work and I loved him! I always joke I never paid for that stove and he never left!! I had been in the housing trades all my life so I was no stranger to construction. Therefore, stoves and chimneys were like second nature to me. That was back in 2002 and I've been helping him ever since, eventually opening our very own business using his chimney expertise and my interior design, real estate, business, and construction expertise.

How do you keep your prices so low?

We never compromise safety but we always compromise in areas that don't affect quality or safety. What this means is that instead of a big fancy glitzy office and showroom we work from our home in Hollis Center Maine in the heart of York County. We also have a workshop in our home to warehouse commonly asked for supplies such as common-sized caps etc. Instead of an in-house staff of advertising executives, accounting executives, ITT guys, bookkeepers, lawyers, and secretaries, we have a host of companies subcontracted to do those things for us. This way, we are paying them only when they are working on our account and not paying them for 40 hours a week. This also helps in keeping the actual office homebound so we don't need to pay tons of overhead for an office space. All we need are filing cabinets, a computer, and me in the office! The other thing that we do is to "lump" customers together into similar address groupings. So, for example, everyone in the Sanford Maine area would be on one particular day and then everyone in the Freeport Maine area would be on another day, and so on. That cuts our travel time drastically and reduces our consumption of costly gas. It also reduces the time our techs are on the road so they can service more customers. We also don't have fancy advertising on our work truck. We are a legitimate company, registered with the state of Maine as an LLC and fully insured with years and years of experience. There is no need to spend tons of money on our truck's signage to prove we are legitimate. Our money is better spent elsewhere. Besides, what benefit would a customer get from hiring a company with a fancy truck as opposed to a plain one anyhow?

Are you required to be bonded licensed and insured?

The answer is no, not under normal circumstances. However, working with condo associations, insurance companies, and Realtors does require being insured. As a result, our company is fully insured. Bonding and licensing are not required in our work area. Our founder, Gary Norris, was licensed for many decades but eventually dropped the licensing when we opened our own company. It was an added expense to the company that wasn't doing our customers much good as expertise, knowledge, and quality of work are what is truly important. The same vein of discussion would be having affiliations and membership with different chimney safety groups. A lot of chimney professionals agree that these affiliations are often simply money out of pocket. Just another expense that we have to pass on to the customer. Instead of joining these fancy institutions, we use other means of education for ourselves. We have membership in many Facebook forums that are not open to the public. These are forums that are designed only for chimney professionals and allow us to candidly speak to each other about problems and questions that arise from day to day. These forums also keep us abreast of new codes and trends in the industry. This is one of our most valuable resources in training as some of the legends of the chimney world gather on these sites to offer advice and training. By going this route we are well educated and trained for a very small fraction of what other, larger companies with fancy affiliations, are paying. This means our customers are getting the same high quality, well-educated, well-trained professionals as they would spending thousands more at a fancier, bigger company.

How do I know if a chimney sweep is legitimate?

I know there are warnings out there about not hiring companies with unmarked trucks. However, that doesn't always dictate a company's legitimacy as people will lead you to believe. Instead of looking at the company vehicles do research online. Look at customer ratings and look at how the company has responded to customers who did have problems. How did they resolve the customer problems or how did they try to resolve them? Sometimes things happen and jobs go wrong but it is how the company handles the complaint and tries to make it right that truly matters. Any construction company will tell you that anything can happen at any time as hidden damages can pop up out of nowhere, weather can cause damage to an in-progress project, in some areas vandalism and theft of tools can occur, sometimes dumb luck plays into problems and sometimes we make mistakes because we are tired and overworked. All companies are full of humans and humans make mistakes no matter how well-trained they are. The world isn't perfect. What matters is how the mistake or damage was fixed and how the customer was treated. Yes, we do encourage you to read our few 1 and 2-star ratings. See how we handled things. These responses, combined with our happy customer ratings will paint a very clear picture of how legitimate we or any other company is. Another place to look is in the state records. Find out if they are registered as an LLC, a DBA, a Corporation, a Partnership, or what have you. Another good source is your local Realtors, insurance agents, and property managers. They deal with chimney professionals all the time. Also, does the company require 100% upfront or 50% upfront, and 50% upon completion? A legitimate company will only ask for a maximum of 50% upfront to cover materials and will not charge you for labor until the job is fully completed. Another sage piece of advice is to be proactive. Watch what your chimney professional is doing and don't be afraid to ask questions. The more involved you are the better. A legitimate company will welcome your curiosity and involvement. If a company offers high prices and meets your questions with, "Because that is how it is!!" then it is time to find a new professional. Lastly, if someone gives you a too-good-to-be-true quote check all of the above options to see if they are a legitimate company. Some companies, like ours, are very good with a dollar so they can pass incredible prices along to you the customer. Other times a too-good-to-be-true offer could be a scam. Another indication of a scam would be social media posts offering incredible sweep prices during the busy season. First, legitimate sweeps don't need to beg for jobs, especially during the busy season. Secondly, if you look at the poster's profile it will often lead to a personal page with no mention of chimney services of any kind. Lastly, if you look at the poster's friends list and/or about page you will notice either no friends and no information available or that they aren't even located in Maine but instead in another country or state! Due diligence and following your gut instinct are your best defenses against scammers!

Average Cost for a Chimney Sweep Buxton