We called Safe Chimneys to come out and take a look at the crumbling mortar between the bricks of…read moreour chimney. Dave, the owner came out and gave us a fair estimate. He was professional, honest and dependable. Work was done in a very timely manner and now our chimney looks uniform with the rest of the brick on our house. If we ever need work to be done, I would not hesitate to call Safe Chimneys.

I would highly recommend Safe Chimney. They were honest,fair…read morepriced and completed an excellent job.I would definitely have them in the future. Beverley- -Waltham

I have had a gas fireplace in my house for 10 years. It has not worked correctly for 6 of them. I…read morehave had two other companies come in to fix it and neither were successful. I was told I needed to buy a new unit $$$. Mazzini came in and found the problem and wouldn't charge me until they fixed it! I really appreciate their service and integrity.

I found these guys on Super Pages looking for a fire place for my addition, I decided to go into…read morethe store and met with the owner/sales guy Mike. He was very helpful from the start and knowledgeable about all his products. He helped me pick out the best fire place for my house. It was a little more money then I wanted to spend but I have to say Mike was right it was the perfect one to get! I didn't think I would use it as much as I do either, thanks Mike

Was having an issue with a wood stove chimney in a rental house. Had someone else come out and the…read moretenant didn't have any faith in them so, her boss recommended Downeast. Certainly glad he did. Had to order some stovepipe and then came out and did the job cheaper than the fly by night company and 1/3 of the cost of another reputable local company. Highly recommended

The whole experience was great. Ross examined the chimney and fireplace, mortared some cracks,…read morehelped me set up my GrateWallofFire. (You want to use GrateWallofFire!). I learned so much about the fireplace: how to use it, what to watch for, when to service it. And absolutely zero upsell! Very reasonable price. Super helpful. Can't say enough good things.

I'm happy to say, this was a great experience. They were very responsive and returned by call…read morewithin minutes. I explained the problem and he said, "we'll be there within the hours. And they were. The plumber they sent quickly assessed the issue and resolved it in no time. He was efficient and let me know what he was doing. I highly recommend they.

Marty and his crew are courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt. I have had several repairs by…read moreMacLellan Plumbing and all have been top shelf. Having a company you can trust and who is prompt with appointments is a winning combination.

I engaged Billy Chimney Sweep for a clean chimney and an honest safety assessment for my 1760 home…read more Instead, I received an inaccurate lecture on modern building codes, which an unaltered 1760 Colonial inherently cannot meet. The service focused on bureaucratic liability and upselling rather than a professional evaluation of historic masonry. The lead technician, John ("Jay"), asserted prior to any inspection that all five fireplaces were non-compliant and unusable based entirely on modern clearance rules regarding decorative wood trim within six inches of the masonry firebox opening. Under the Massachusetts State Fire Code (527 CMR 1.00/NFPA 1) and the Building Code for historic structures (780 CMR/IEBC), unaltered, grandfathered chimneys are entirely legal for continued use unless an imminent safety threat or "distinct hazard" exists. The code defines this as severe structural failure, like a collapsing flue, active fire, or carbon monoxide venting. My inspection confirmed that zero structural defects or hazards exist. Yet, Jay still declared them unsafe based solely on decorative clearances, stating "you cannot grandfather safety hazards." Based on his numerous anecdotes, this company successfully dissuades consumers from using legal, sound fireplaces because they do not meet new construction thresholds. Instead of evaluating structural integrity, Jay required a signed report acknowledging his assessment. He stated this form relieves him and his employer of liability, noting he can "overlook twenty-five structural issues but remain legally protected as long as the homeowner signs the form regarding the indifferent woodwork clearance." He also refuses to perform maintenance or repairs unless the chimney is brought to modern compliance. This misrepresents Massachusetts law; standard maintenance and component repairs are expressly permitted under 780 CMR without triggering a whole-system retrofit. Jay related multiple accounts of customers who disputed his code interpretations, citing a Vietnam veteran engineer in Boston and the President of the Marblehead Historical Society, who both told him his assessments were incorrect. He also mentioned a customer who ordered him to stop cleaning and refused to pay due to these code disputes, stating he compelled them to pay by threatening a contractor's lien on the home. The company charges a base rate of $375 per chimney. Jay declined to clean four of the five fireplaces at this rate, claiming one was too dirty for a standard sweep and the money for two others was better spent on a $2,000 "non-traditional sweep" for the dirty one. This required containment tenting and a temporary fan placed via bucket truck on the stack. Jay explained this policy followed an incident at a $15M Boston apartment where he failed to recommend this service, resulting in ruined furniture and a $7,000 insurance claim, stating he no longer tries to "be a hero" and mandates the higher price whenever he encounters heavy soot. The apprentice, Ian, who has cleaned for seven months, performed most of the physical cleaning. He was courteous and uninvolved in policy. However, on the first fireplace, I discovered he missed a corner of the stack, which he re-cleaned after I pointed it out. When Jay observed me taking photos and video of Ian, he specifically requested I not post them online. The number of local sweeps is limited, so I am not advising against them for standard cleanings. However, consumers should beware of unwarranted non-use recommendations, expensive upselling, and becoming another narrative added to their stories of dissatisfied customers who question their practices.

They did a great job mainly they help they diagnose a persistent gas problem. They're very…read moreconsiderate and they identified pretty much what I had to do and they verified that the chimney had nothing but nothing wrong with the chimney. I have really good things to say about them, they work for me 20 years ago, putting in a steel liner.

We noticed a leak coming in from our roof we thought maybe a shingle would have been out of place…read morebut upon inspection by this team they noticed the led flashing on the chimney was out of place and it wasn't in the best of condition we had them carry out the work and I was amazed with the before and after photos, I highly recommend these guys 5+

This is a follow-up from my review of ThermOil of Watertown, MA on December 11, 2025…read more ThermOil called me on Saturday March 14, 2026 at 4:09pm from their number of 617-926-0779 and left me a voicemail to call them back to talk which I returned their call. They asked or should I say they told me to me to remove my review of them from yelp because it was bad for their company. I said "Why"?, that's my review of what I went through with dealing with you. The individual told me that he knows my next door neighbor and that we met, he was referring to a party that my neighbor had and had most of her colombian friends over. I responded "What does that have to do with anything"? He went on to say that I said my water heater was not leaking or broken so I told him that I was making a customer call for service and you people never, ever returned my calls. He told me they were busy with "No Heat calls" and I said every company was busy in Massachusetts and I am not talking about the service staff out in the field, I'm talking about the office staff not returning my many calls to them. He told me that they were busy too! I told him that they were too busy to call a customer back? He asked me again to remove my review of them which I responded "NO" it's my honest review of what I went through with ThermOil and told him about my awesome service dealing with 128 Plumbing and Heating in Wakefield, MA. And I went on to tell him that this phone call to me is only going to make a worse review of ThermOil. He responded "So you are not going to remove your review of our company" and I told him again "NO" and he hung up. Well, if I get a knock on my door and some guys from ThermOil tell me they are here to change my mind about my review of their company, I will let you know, lol. This is not Colombia and what tactics they do down in that country do not work well here in the USA. And you know if he said to me that they would do a free service to make it up, things would be different but he stuck to his intimidation tactic. Oh well, they "Live and Learn" in this day and age.

I chose Thermoil for an outdoor installation through the Mass Save rebate program and had a great…read moreexperience. The technicians were professional, always on time, and kept everything extremely neat and clean. Anytime I had a question, they took the time to explain things clearly and made the process easy to understand. They stayed on schedule from start to finish, which made the project smooth and stress-free. My wife works from home, and the team was very respectful and kept noise to a minimum so she could continue working without interruption. Overall, an excellent experience and definitely a five-star company. The office staff was also fantastic and very helpful with the loan process and paperwork.

Felt good about Our fully guaranteed job for the two chimneys Bob did 13 odd years ago for…read more$12k...until the chimney cap blew off in the wind. Now he "doesn't service Cambridge anymore". Boston. Not over the bridge to Cambridge. And now the full guarantee and warranty is now just for the manufacturer of the steel in the liner. Would love to find somebody to fix his work.

We just had them out to clean 2 chimneys. They quoted us a price of 375 for and 275 for the second…read more The technician came and cleaned first and stated it would be 1000 for the second. When asked to go check chimney on roof he could not do he did have a ladder. Real POOR services.