UKH

Just had my annual chimney sweep. It took about 15-20 mins, the chimney is in a single storey part of the home and it is a new log burner and flue/chimney.

I use seasoned, good quality logs too.

£75.

I know many on here have fires/burners; does this sound like a lot to you guys?

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

£75.00 sounds a lot but then:

Did they cause any mess?

Did they damage anything?

Did they clean the flue?

We get three chimneys swept, (two log, one open fire), two storey house, only gets done once every two years, I would say your £75.00 is dear buts its supply and demand, are there many other chimney sweeps around your area?

(where I live the one chimney sweep offers OAP's a free chimney sweep every December, must be earning some to be able to do free work for a month, even if a quiet one)

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

How much did it cost you last year?

Probably the increased cost of wear and tear on urchins...

In reply to Pids:

No

No

Yes but its very short compared to a 2 storey

Not sure

In reply to LastBoyScout:

£68 - same person we have been using for 5 years. For the effort, it seems quite costly.

I'll be sending my own up there next year.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Mine was £55 last time. It turns out he’s also Corgi registered so I’ll also get him to do our ancient central heating boiler next time. Hopefully that might be more cost effective if he’s turning up to do the chimney anyway. If he also does wedding photography then that would be even better.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

£35 in the North East but I usually give him a bottle of red wine. We always have a great natter about logs and life.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Sounds similar to what we pay, which includes a certificate for our insurers.

I can't see the building height making much difference, a few less rod sections to use but that's going to make minimal difference to the time the job takes overall. 

In reply to Jenny C:

Same here in Devon.

'Remove baffle plates to sweep unlined flue to pot, on sweeping removed creosote buildup from flue and inside of firebox. Remove access in reg plate & clear soot debris
Regular use of chimney cleaning log will assist in preventing creosote build up.
Clean inside of stove and door glass'

£75 and a certificate.

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

Well he must fill his other 20 hours somehow.

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

Will he be giving you the RAW files?  That’ll  be even better better. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

About £70 in West Yorkshire and had to wait two months for him he was that busy. 

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

Dunno about the photography but if you are very superstitious you might pay a chimney sweep to be at the wedding. These sweeps offer that service if you're in Essex. I neglected to hire a sweep at my wedding, ignorant of the custom as I was, maybe some time I will get bitten by that omission

https://www.essexchimneysweeps.com/weddings/

 This follows a tradition that started about 200 years ago when a London chimney sweeper saved the life of King George III. The sweep had been the only person brave enough to stop the King’s out of control horses and carriage.

By Royal Decree the King proclaimed that all sweeps are good luck bearers and should be treated with respect. The folklore was established and to this day chimney sweepers are still invited to attend weddings and kiss the bride for good luck.

To see a Chimney Sweep on your wedding day is a sign of Good Luck & Fertility for the newly married couple. When a Lucky Chimney Sweep attends the wedding, this 200 year old timeless tradition is said to bring Good Luck to the happy couple.

The Sweep greets the guests and Bride and Groom, the Good Luck custom of the Bride kissing the Sweep and the Groom shaking his hand is performed, then he reads a special message and presents the couple with a Traditional Scroll. A bottle of bubbly is presented to the newlyweds with best wishes for the future.

Then a photo opportunity is available with the Lucky Sweep for guests and the official photographer to capture this traditional custom

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

Sounds like it's gone to the dogs since children were banned from going up chimneys.

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

15 to 20 minutes on your property but the sweep also has to get to you and get back. Probably not getting sick pay or holiday pay, has public liability insurance, equipment costs, van running costs. 

Last time we worked it out it costs us around £45 per hour to keep a man in a van on the road and that's just the direct cost, a profit needs to be made on top of that otherwise your going out of buisiness.

£75 per sweep sounds fair to me. 

In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Yeah, for £55 I’d want the RAW files and also his brushes so that I could do any future sweeping myself  

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

If he took two hours and made a mess would that be better value? You’re paying for skill and expertise, as well as kit and travel rather than manual labour

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

We used the same sweep for years, charged £15, cleaned up after himself and knew his stuff. When he retired, the first company we got out turned up and said they weren't insured to go on the roof so couldn't do the job (the flue is recessed into the wall). The second were expensive, left a mess and didn't seem to know much about stoves or chimneys. I've swept it twice a year myself for the last 15 years, brushes are cheap and it's a simple job (child's play even!!!). Good opportunity to clean the gutters and check the roof at the same time. It's good to do it yourself and get an idea of how the build up varies depending on what you burn. I rarely get much out of mine, but I burn very dry wood and usually run it fully vented.

On a related note. My gran once got her brushes stuck when she was sweeping her chimney, then got on the roof and dropped bricks down it to try and dislodge it. It was before my time, but I gather it caused some bother getting the bricks out again.

In reply to Thugitty Jugitty:

Gas Safe replaced Corgi in 2009. I hope his qualifications aren’t as ancient as your heating boiler? 

In reply to Sharp:

Trouble of doing it yourself is you then don't have any documentation. Should you be unlucky enough to have a chimney fire, being able to prove it's been recently swept could be money well spent.

In reply to Sharp:

You what? I know nothing about this, but didn't know you went on the roof. I thought you sent small children (brushes) up the chimney.

But I'm loving the thread cross pollination, I didn't know there were many chimney sweeps that did wedding photography as a side hustle. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

Guy who fitted my stove charges me £70. I thought that was pretty reasonable. Given he has all the equipment.

In reply to Jenny C:

That's a good point, such is the world we live in now. I should probably start keeping a log and photographing each sweep. Sweeping it yourself probably means you're much less likely to have a chimney fire so hopefully it'll not be something I have to worry about. From the prices quoted in this thread, it looks like a saving of about £1500 every 10 years so it's not an inconsiderable sum of money. 

In reply to Sharp:

I am a chimney sweep and insurance companies won’t give a toss what you document. Only trained and qualified sweeps can issue a certificate for insurance purposes. Obviously you can sweep your own chimney/flue but you won’t have a leg to stand on if anything happens. 

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

£75 is on the high side. I would charge £60 for that as that’s the going rate round these parts. 25 mile radius of Skipton if anyone wants a sweep btw😉

In reply to Sharp:

I think I've heard of her. Did she also swallow a spider, to catch a fly she ingested previously?

In reply to accynez:

I hate the modern world sometimes! Are there any test cases you know about where this has happened? i.e. someone had documented evidence of maintaining their chimney and then had insurance refuse to pay out after an incident or is there a legal precedent that has been set in a court case? A cursory google suggests that if your policy documents don't request certification or stipulate that your chimney must be swept by someone with a specified professional accreditation then the condition of your chimney will fall under a clause such as "your property must be maintained to a reasonable standard". I don't understand why a log and photographic evidence would not be sufficient.

There is a similar thing with PAT testing. You will often hear that if you rent your house out, you need to have all your equipment PAT tested each year. This is not what the law says, unless you are in Scotland or a HMO then you only need to evidence that your appliances are in a safe condition and PAT testing is one (arguably the best/easiest) way of proving this but there is no legal requirement for it to be done. 

We are plagued with this in the industry I work in. Quite often, it is easier to have an external body provide evidence as part of their service however in most cases it is possible and legal to do this in house, providing you have evidence on the persons competence and record the work they have done. 

At the end of the day, if the SHTF then it will be the lawyers that benefit as they argue it all out in court and no one will be your friend. In many cases, even if you rely on an external provider you aren't as covered as you think you are. I knew someone whose brakes failed not long after having new pads fitted at the garage. He couldn't prove the brakes weren't fitted correctly when he left the garage so it was his fault - his car, his responsibility. This is why there is often a statement asking you to check the torque of your wheel nuts after a certain number of miles once you've left the garage - it's your problem, not theirs. If you get your chimney swept and then in 6 months time have a fire, at the moment that fire was lit and the chimney was not in a safe condition, is your chimney sweep going to rush into the court room to take responsibility for the state of your chimney half a year after they last saw it? I doubt it. Better to do it yourself, it's you who will be standing on your tod in court.

In reply to Sharp:

So do I (sometimes) you have my sympathy.

But

I'm pretty sure the chimney sweep wouldn't have to take responsibility, and neither would you. If the chimney has been swept in the timeframe required, by a qualified chimney sweep your insurance company should take responsibility. If they think the sweep is at fault they might try and get the sweeps insurance to take responsibility, either way you shouldn't be out of pocket.

If you do it yourself, then have a chimney fire and your insurance company think the sweep (you) haven't done a good job and should take the responsibility, a few pics of you shoving a pole up, or down a chimney probably isn't going to convince anyone that you know what you are doing and have done a thorough job, so it is quite possible that your insurance company might wiggle out of their responsibility.