The Chimney Sentence That Stalls a Deal, Answered in Writing.
When an inspection report says the chimney needs evaluation by a specialist, the file cannot move until someone puts a photograph and a figure beside that sentence. We scan the flue, grade what is there against NFPA 211, and deliver a report your client can read and your counterpart can price.
Chimney and fireplace only. Where a finding belongs to another trade, the report names the trade instead of widening the scope.
Two moments. Both of them on a clock.
A chimney almost never kills a transaction by itself. What kills it is finding out about the chimney late, with no photograph, no figure, and four days left on the option period.
Before it goes on the market
You already know which houses have a fireplace nobody has touched in a decade. Having it looked at before the sign goes in the yard means the seller chooses what happens next: repair it, disclose it, or price it. Found later by the buyer's inspector, that same defect arrives as a demand letter three days before the option period ends, and it costs more than the repair.
After the general inspection flags it
A home inspector's report says the chimney needs evaluation by a specialist and stops there, because that is where their scope ends. Nobody can negotiate against that sentence. We scan the flue, photograph the condition, and put a repair scope with a figure beside it, so the credit conversation is about a documented number instead of a worry.
Send it on as it is. No translation required.
You should be able to send the report to your client, to the other agent, and to a contractor bidding the correction, without editing it or explaining it first.
A photograph behind every finding
Dated images of the firebox, damper, smoke chamber, crown, and flashing. Nothing appears in the report as text alone, so nobody on either side of the deal has to take a technician's word for it.
Camera footage where the flue is scanned
A push camera runs the full length of the flue and records what it sees. Cracked tile and separated joints hide in the middle of the run, invisible from the roof and invisible from the hearth, which is the reason a camera tier exists at all.
Findings graded against NFPA 211
Each system is marked pass or fail against the published standard, with the clause it is measured against named. A grade you can look up is worth more in a negotiation than an adjective.
A repair scope with a figure
Where something has to be corrected, the report carries the scope and the price to correct it, line by line. That is the number the repair-credit conversation can start from.
A clear unsafe-to-operate line
If the flue should not be lit until it is repaired, the report says so in one sentence at the top rather than burying it on page four. That sentence is written to be forwarded as it stands.
A summary page a client can read
One page in plain language ahead of the technical detail, so your buyer or seller understands what was found without you having to interpret trade vocabulary over the phone.
Four things worth knowing up front.
You are going to attach our name to a document that sits in a transaction file. So here is what we are, what we are not, and where our interests are not the same as yours.
Agent work is newer ground for this company
We are not going to show you a roster of agents we work with or reviews from brokerages, because we do not have them yet. What is already true: the certification, the camera, and the inspection method are the same ones our residential work runs on. Read the first report we hand you and decide from that, rather than from a sentence about who else supposedly uses us.
Our estimate is our bid, not a neutral appraisal
We inspect, and we also repair. That is a real conflict of interest and it is worth naming out loud. If a repair figure is going to move money at a closing table, get a second quote against our written scope. A scope written properly makes that easy, which is the point of writing it properly.
We will not soften a finding to save a deal
If a flue is unsafe to operate, that is what the report says, and it will say it on the date we saw it. You may not want that sentence in the file this week. It is the sentence that protects everyone in the transaction, including you, if the fireplace is lit next winter.
Chimney and fireplace only
We do not perform the general home inspection, and we do not price roofing beyond the flashing at the chimney, framing, or appliances we do not service. Where a finding crosses into another trade, the report names the trade instead of quietly widening the scope.
Your closing date sets our calendar, or we say no.
Give us the deadline first, not the address
The first thing worth saying on the phone is the date the option period ends or the date the file has to be complete. We will tell you on that call whether the visit and the written report both fit inside it. If they do not, you hear it before you book, not after.
The report date is agreed when the visit is
Delivery of the written report is set at booking and named back to you, so there is a date to hold us to rather than a vague turnaround. A Level 2 carries recorded footage, and that footage has to be reviewed before the report is written.
Autumn is the tightest part of the calendar
Transaction requests land in the same weeks as the first cold-weather service calls, and that is the stretch where dates are hardest. If your closing is in the fall, ask early. We would rather decline a date than take a booking we will miss.
Two inspection tiers. The transaction usually needs the second.
These are the same published starting figures anyone else pays. There is no separate agent rate on this page, because a discount that was invented for a landing page is not a discount.
Chimney Inspection — from
$109
A graded visual inspection for a system that has not changed hands, changed fuel, or been through an event.
Level 2 Chimney Inspection — from
$325
The tier the standard calls for at a sale: full-length camera scan, recorded footage, and the accessible runs through attic and crawlspace.
Prices shown are starting estimates and may change with the condition, access, and scope we find on site. Only a written quote from an on-site visit is a price we commit to.
Each photographed finding gets priced on its own, and none of it is ever folded into the inspection fee. Published rates for the individual repairs sit on the pricing page.
Send the address and the date you are working to.
Tell us the property, whether the fireplace is wood or gas if you know, who should receive the report, and the deadline the file is running against. If you are calling inside an option period, say that first and we will answer the date question before anything else.
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Transaction work — FAQ
The general inspector already flagged the chimney. What does your visit add?
A home inspector is working to a visual scope across an entire house, so the honest end of their chimney section is a recommendation to have a specialist look at it. We pick up where that sentence stops: the flue is scanned on camera end to end, each system is graded against NFPA 211, every finding is photographed, and anything that needs correcting carries a written scope and a figure. The difference is not effort, it is scope and equipment.
Does a sale actually require a Level 2, or is that an upsell?
NFPA 211 calls for a Level 2 at transfer of property, along with two other moments: after a chimney fire or a severe weather event, and on any change of appliance, fuel, or flue shape. The camera is what makes it a Level 2, because cracked tile and open joints rarely show from either end of the flue. If a property does not sit in one of those categories, a Level 1 is the honest choice and we will say so.
Can I forward your report to the other side without rewriting it?
That is what it is built for. Findings are stated as observations with the standard named, photographs sit next to the text, and the plain-language summary is on the front page. There is no negotiating language in it and no advice about what anyone should agree to, because that is your job and not ours. It is a record of condition on a date.
You inspect and you also repair. Isn't that a conflict?
Yes, and we would rather write it here than have someone raise it at a closing table. Our repair figure is a bid. The protection against a bid dressed up as a diagnosis is the documentation itself: the photographs, the camera footage, and a scope written in enough detail that another qualified contractor can price the same work. If the number matters to the deal, get a second quote against our scope.
The seller wants a pre-listing chimney certificate. Can you issue one?
There is no state-issued chimney certificate in Texas, and any document that presents itself as one is a marketing piece. What genuinely exists is a dated inspection report from a qualified inspector: what was examined, what was found, what was corrected, and when. That is the document buyers, agents, and carriers actually rely on, and it is what we produce.
What if the house has a gas insert, or a fireplace nobody has ever used?
Both still get inspected, and both are common sources of a bad surprise. A gas appliance can be venting incorrectly into the room, and a fireplace that has sat unused for years may have a nest, a collapsed liner, or a damper rusted open. Where a licensed trade is required for the gas side, a licensed pro does that portion or signs it off, under whichever code the jurisdiction has adopted.
Who is the customer, and how does billing work?
Whoever books the visit is the customer, and the report is addressed to them. Agents ask us to invoice the seller, the buyer, or their own office, so tell us at booking which one it is and the invoice and the report header will match. If payment is meant to come out of the closing rather than at the visit, raise it before we schedule so it can be put in writing first.
A current certificate of insurance naming your brokerage as additional insured is available on request — ask when you book rather than after the visit, so it is in the file from the start.
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