Cost of chimney Sweep

Hi

I am a chimney sweep. I charge £40 for a standard fireplace or stove sweep.

It takes approx. one to one and a half hours to clean a chimney flue correctly. Then of course there is the travelling time to the property to take into consideration, the wear and tear on the vehicle, the petrol costs, tax, insurance, public liability insurance, wear and tear on the equipment, income tax and N.I contributions, annual registration costs for HETAS and chimney sweeps association etc. On top of aall of those expenses are the daily cleaning of all tools and equipment at the end of the working day and the twice weekly cleaning and drying of all the sheets used. Of course there are the associated advertising costs too.

Chimney sweeping is quite a manual occupation, hard on the knees and back and quite a dirty occupation. Charging £40 for a chimney sweep is a reasonable cost and no chimney sweep will ever get rich from their job.

When one considers that gas engineers and plumbers charge £80 on average just for a twenty minute call out job the cost of a chimney sweep suddenly looks quite reasonable.

Chimney sweeping is not just about running a brush and rod up a chimney. There is a lot more to it than that. Knowledge regarding the different constructions of chimney flues and fire appliances is required.

In terms of the question started and posed by the person who started this thread, the first question I would ask is why the flexi flue liner needs to be removed. Did the company conduct a smoke pressure test to determine if the liner was no longer in good working condition?

I have come across many customers in the course of my chimney sweep business who have been told by stove and fireplace installation companies that they would need to replace the existing flue liner just because the company was installing a new fireplace or stove.

Liners only need to be replaced when they become corroded and leak gases / smoke. However, there is more money to be made for the company if the automatically replace the flue liner for a new one.

However, the person who started this thread made no mention of a new liner needing to be installed. the thread started simply stated that they had been told they needed to remove the 'pipe' (I assume they mean liner) and have the chimney swept. For this the quoted cost is £240?

This is a bit excessive. The company will need to get on the roof to insert a new liner anyway. So, since they are already on the roof they can quickly and easily remove the liner in under 20 mins. It's a simple case of pulling the liner back up through the chimney. I wouldn't be prepared to pay more than £120 for the sweeep and removal of liner.

Shop around is the advise.

I personally wouldn't pay more than