Berkeley Chimneys

Albany, United States

5

20 reviews

Does not accept credit cards

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Telephone:
+1 510-528-1002
Address:
1221 Curtis St, Albany, CA, 94706
at Gilman St
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
550 ftGilman St & Santa Fe Av
0.2 miGillman St & Ordway St
0.2 miGillman St & Cornell Av
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
No

Today

Today –
Local time (Albany) 8:38 AM Saturday, June 21, 2025

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Berkeley Chimneys provides comprehensive inspections, consultations and evaluations of chimneys, for home owners, realtors and property managers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Berkeley Chimneys has been building and servicing chimneys for over 20 years. We are fully insured State licensed contractors with a perfect record and a 5 star Yelp rating.

We now offer services to assess the structural and functional viability of chimneys, provide escrow inspections and reports, and advise home owners of the best way forward with their chimneys. Is the chimney seismically sound and safe for use? What does it need? Should we convert to gas? If so, what type of unit is best for us? What is best for the environment? There are many options today.

Berkeley chimneys will provide the answers and show you the way forward.

History

Established in 1993.

After managing a chimney construction and servicing company I went on to obtain my C29 Ca State contractors License and establish Berkeley Chimneys.

The business has thrived, and even more so since online reviews have become widely available. Honesty, customer safety and integrity have been the keys to the success.

Due to a non work related accident and maybe a few too many birthdays, I have now largely confined my services to the providing, advise, assessments and reports for home owners/​buyers and managers. Our reports and advice are based on 20 years of experience and technical knowledge. As we generally do not perform the work ourselves, our advice is without prejudice and our findings impartial.

Meet the Business Owner

Nick D.

Business Owner

I have a degree in modern Russian history (1870 – 1927), eight years of experience as a high school teacher in Africa, so naturally I drifted into the chimney business once I arrived in the Bay Area.

I am now totally trapped here as there is still no better place to live that I have found. (and I have looked quiet hard too).

I look forward to your bussiness.

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20 reviews of Berkeley Chimneys

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
Nick is a gem — really knows his stuff. He cut down a wood chimney for me to make it work with gas, and it looks and works great. From there he came over early in the morning on the first day of real heavy rain we’ve had, to help me figure out why the chimney was leaking. He diagnosed the job perfectly and climbed up in the pouring rain to temporarily stop the leak, which had nothing to do with his job but came from extremely old worthless gutters. This all happened right after Xmas when no one else would come by.
A great guy with a superb attitude. I’m really grateful for his services.
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Calm & competent, i have a lifetime support having purchased a refurb years ago.
Totally reasonable & honest.
Since I have recently had an unsatisfactory experience at Genius Bar, FixThatMac can be a much more efficient service for many problems.
Place rating: 5
Lewisville, TX
Nick was super! He returned my initial call promptly. Scheduled a cleaning and maintenance appointment that went very smoothly. Super clean and quick. He told me (reminded me actually, my initial home inspector told me too) of some problems that needed to be fixed and why… which was a great educational plus! He’ll be here today to do the repairs needed.
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Nick is a craftsman. Professional estimate after detailed examination. Fair price quote. Agreed a price and date on the spot. BTW you may have to wait for the work to be done as Nick is much in demand. Nick came around a day in advance to review the job and what he would need to do the job. He reduced the above-​roof stack height on our 109 year old chimney. The curve in it’s profile due to multi year neglect warranted the action. The new profile is aesthetically in harmony with the Craftsman style building. The next day the exterior chimney and fireplace stack were tuck pointed, serviced, cleaned and put right. If you think your fireplace/​chimney need attention and repairs, Nick is The Man. And if he’s busy, it is worth your while to wait.
Place rating: 5
Piedmont, Oakland, CA
I called Nick based on his 5 star Unilocal reviews and was very pleased with his work. I was embarrassed that we had not had our chimney swept for 10 years of occasional use and there was stage 2 creosote buildup. Nick arrived promptly and correctly assessed all aspects of the chimney. He thoroughly cleaned it and touched up some minor hairline mortar cracks. Nick is very knowledgeable and I would highly recommend him for any work you need done.
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Nick called the day before to confirm our appointment time and showed up right on time. He was very courteous and even though he straight away knew he couldn’t do the work himself, he continued to help me understand the problem and what needed to be done. He’s knowledgeable and professional — I highly recommend you give Berkeley Chimney a call.
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
Also found Berkeley Chimneys (Nick) on Unilocal,so thank you Unilocal!Schedule ahead of time as he is popular, but for good reason. He is smart and passionate about what he does and very honest! Our home inspector told us not to use our fire place and so we haven’t …and then Nick came out, gave us an initial look over and said everything looked great and in good condition! Surprise! After a cleaning (which it really needed) he confirmed what he first thought, we have a great chimney with very (very!) minor cosmetic issues (that we can fix ourselves and he showed us how!). Thanks Nick for all of the chimney talk, lessons on proper fire-​building and a thorough and honest job inspecting and cleaning our chimney. Absolutely 5 star!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Nick was professional, knowledgeable, thorough, and prompt. He shared with me his considerable wealth of information about fireplace burning, home heating, fireplace inserts, what wood not to burn, and so on. I got my flue cleaned, and I learned a dozen things in the interim I didn’t know I needed to know.
It’s no wonder Unilocalers like this guy.
There may be less expensive chimney sweeps in the business, but Nick is the man to go to.
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
I chose Nick based on his great Unilocal reviews. He was on time, honest, neat and the supreme professional. My sad chimney could no longer puff smoke. It’s poor damper would not stay open. You know, you do not want to start a fire with a closed damper.
Nick’s initial evaluation was tinged with some uncertainty. He hoped that the problem could be solved with a thorough cleaning and not involve creating an opening mechanism or installing glass doors. Yes, a cash register was clinking in my mind. Then voila, he did his magic, nimbly on the roof, then up through the flue, coming down through the chimney (not that, but I have a tune running through my frontal lobe) and the damper latch was reactivated. All this for a mere $ 20. over the cleaning fee.
Yes, St. Nick you can slide on down come December. Wait a minute, this guy wasn’t old and he wasn’t hefty, but Nick?
Place rating: 5
El Cerrito, CA
After reading all the great reviews about Nick Duggan on Unilocal,I decided to have him come out to inspect and clean our chimney. He was professional and responsive, as well as being really friendly. He showed up on time and immediately became a whirlwind of activity — in the chimney, under the house, up on the roof, outside the chimney, back up on the roof… checking and cleaning everything! He did a great job explaining to me the condition of our firebox and chimney, as well as the foundation under the chimney. We are actually planning on putting in a gas insert, and Nick confirmed that would be the way to go for our fireplace, as it had a lot of the liner missing as well as a sealing problem. I now feel very confident about having an insert installed (Nick gave me a lot of info on that, too). And he even could tell me a lot about the Arts and Crafts tiles surrounding the fireplace!
So I can highly recommend Nick of Berkeley Chimneys! Oh, and I thought the price was very reasonable, as well.
Place rating: 5
Piedmont, CA
Nick is great! He cleaned our chimney at the owner’s request in our rental – and we called him to clean our chimney in our home that we just bought. He’s English – so the Mary Poppins references are unavoidable – but he really knows the details of chimneys even in our very old home (1909) He’s friendly, affordable, and really honest. At first he thought there was an issue that needed fixing, but by the end of the job had come to the conclusion that our chimney was a bit odd – but ok and didn’t need any work. He could have easily duped us, but that’s not his style (so it seems) The other think about Nick is that he really seems to care. About our safety and the optimal function of our fireplace. Nice to find someone with integrity.
Place rating: 5
Boston, MA
First guy we called came out and gave us a bid of $ 10,000 to demolish and rebuild the chimney. The reason was the opening was too big relative to the chimney and would cause smoke to come inside the house.
Then Nick came — $ 300 later the chimney was clean and he had installed a slender metal fringe that reduced the area’s opening, totally solving the problem without a huge expense. Thank you Nick!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
I called Nick inquiring about a problem with my fireplace. I received a prompt return call/​message. Although he does not deal with my kind of issue, he was very helpful and informative about who to contact going forward. Thanks Nick!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Besides my handyman, Nick was the first contractor we hired when we moved into our first single family home. What a great start!!! Nick is friendly, thorough, knowledgeable, skilled and is a great professional. He came out to repair our ailing chimney and brought it back to tip-​top 100% perfect usable condition. It had a huge hole in the hearth, cracking throughout the mortar and on into the flue, damper was not working properly and had no pull cord, the chimney was covered in moss and had no decent spark arrestor or cap and there was no smoke guard. Nick fixed it all up to perfect condition, did it all within his estimate, and all in one day’s work. What a great guy. And then, the next day, when I noticed in my property inspector’s report that it stated the chimney was not stable and broken masonry below roofline, I called Nick to ask about this, he came out immediately to recheck everything. It was fine and it turns out the property inspector just overdid everything to cover himself legally. But Nick wanted to double-​check just to make sure everything was 100% and he did not miss anything. All was perfect! So now, we just wait the requisite three weeks until the mortar all cures and then its bonfires away
in the middle of July!!! Thanks Nick!!!
CALL THIS GUY FOR ANY FIREPLACE OR CHIMNEY NEEDS FOR REAL!!!
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
Nick is he best contractor I worked with during my entire home renovation process. He came when scheduled (oh how very unusual in the contracting world), he was quick, very professional, cleaned up everything, and he is extremely knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to work with him and I can highly recommend him!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Nick was the second bid we had on a 80 year old brick chimney and he came up with a better solution to our problem. He was on time, efficient, and no surprises when the bill came. Very pleasant, honest, and knows what he’s doing.
Thanks Nick!
Place rating: 5
Oakland, CA
Did a thorough job. Very happy.
Place rating: 5
Napa, CA
As Sales Manager of Buck Stove Spa & Fan center in Walnut Creek I get people asking who I recommend for chimney sweeping in Oakland & Berkeley all the time.
Time and time again I get people in the Berkeley & Oakland area raving about Nick Duggan. It is always the same compliments honest and ethical. Fair pricing and great quality of work. I can attest to his integrity and service as being the best I know of in that area. As you can see by the additional 5* ratings he is the real deal. I’d like to thank you Nick for being a great example to all in the chimney sweeping industry. I’ll continue to refer all my clients to you.
Place rating: 5
Berkeley, CA
We just bought a house and I knew the chimney needed some work before using it. Nick came by the day after calling, gave us a quick estimate, explained what needed work and why. He came back the following week, did all the work and charged exactly what was estimated. Super friendly and knowledgeable guy. Highly recommended!
Place rating: 5
Sacramento, CA
A friend recently asked for a good chimney referral and I realized I had yet to Unilocal review Nick’s awesome services! Nick from Berkeley Chimney did the cleaning and inspection of my chimney earlier this year. He was professional, tidy, punctual, a good educator (i had no idea there was so much to learn about chimney design and maintenance), and competitively priced. I highly recommend his services and will contact him again for any future chimney cleaning, inspections or repairs. I wish more service providers actually provided competent and professional service with such a great attitude!