Our Guarantee & Warranty - Top Hat Chimney

The Top Hat Chimney Guarantee

Wendell Pike started Top Hat Chimney in 1999 with a simple rule: if the work isn’t right, he comes back. That’s still the deal in Newark, the Ironbound, Forest Hill, Weequahic, and every neighborhood we serve. The 90-Day Done Right Promise is stamped on every job we finish. One call brings Wendell back, no argument, no invoice. We don’t hide behind fine print, and we don’t make you chase a call center. If something we touched isn’t holding up, we make it right. That’s what over 29 years of showing up has taught us: your chimney either works or it doesn’t, and you’ll know which one it is long before we do if we did it wrong. So we write the promise down, every time.

Call (848) 331-2638

What’s Covered

• Workmanship on every sweep, repair, cap, crown, and liner job. If the work fails within 90 days of completion, Wendell and his crew return and fix it at no additional cost. No deductible, no labor charge, no “that’s normal wear” conversation.
• Parts and materials sourced from brands we stand behind. DuraFlex, HeatShield, Gelco, Olympia Chimney, Famco, and Copperfield. We install them, we service them, and we handle any warranty issue that comes up on our watch.
• Cleanup is part of the job, not an add-on. The sweep who shows up at your door leaves your hearth, floor, and furniture the way he found them. Drop cloths go down before a single tool comes off the truck.
• Your arrival window is real. When we say the crew will be there, the crew will be there. If something slips, we call you before you call us. Wendell’s name is on the work, and he runs into you again on Saturday.
• The price you hear is the price you pay. Upfront pricing before any work begins. The number quoted on the phone is the number on the invoice. No surprise fees, no “we found something else” upsell after the fact.
• Every job ends with evidence. Camera footage of the flue and a plain-English verdict. You’ll see what we saw, and you’ll understand exactly what we did and why.

Our Satisfaction Promise

Here’s the process, and it’s deliberately uncomplicated. If you’re not satisfied with any work Top Hat Chimney performed, pick up the phone and call (848) 331-2638. A live person answers, every time, around the clock, and it may well be Wendell himself picking up. Tell him what’s wrong. He’ll schedule a return visit. The sweep who shows up will be the same one who did the original work whenever that’s possible, because he knows exactly what he did and where to look. We’ll review the camera footage together, compare it to what you were told, and determine what needs correcting. If it’s our workmanship, we fix it. No invoice, no debate. If we find something unrelated, we’ll show you the footage and give you a plain-English explanation of what it is and whether it can wait. Nothing gets recommended that you can’t see and verify for yourself. That’s the whole promise, and it’s been the same since 1999.

Licensed & Insured Backing

A guarantee is only as good as the company standing behind it, and that’s where the paperwork matters. Top Hat Chimney is a licensed and insured contractor with a published address here in New Jersey. Wendell puts his name on the work, not the name of a franchise that rotated in last spring. Insurance protects you if something goes wrong on your property. Licensing means the company answers to a regulatory body that can pull credentials if work doesn’t meet code. Together, they’re the real guarantee behind the written one. We’re also insured and bonded, which matters when work involves the structural integrity of your chimney. Ask anyone on your street. Ask for our license number. Then call (848) 331-2638 and ask Wendell yourself.

What the Guarantee Doesn’t Cover (And Why We Tell You Up Front)

Chimneys break in the off-season too. That’s not a slogan; it’s a fact of masonry and moisture in Newark’s freeze-thaw winters. Water gets into brick, freezes, expands, and cracks. That’s not workmanship. That’s weather. Our guarantee covers what we do. If we rebuild a crown and a nor’easter hammers it for a decade, the crown is doing its job until the elements say otherwise. That said, we’ll tell you what to watch for, and we’ll be straight about whether something is covered under our workmanship promise or whether it’s new damage. The camera footage and a plain-English verdict, every time, no exceptions.

How Often Should a Chimney Be Swept in Newark?

Once a year, burn or no burn. That’s the rule we give every homeowner from Forest Hill to the South Ward. Newark homes burn wood in masonry fireplaces and vent gas furnaces and water heaters through the same flue, and creosote doesn’t care which one you used. First-degree creosote is a brush job. Third-degree is a glaze, and that’s when a sweep becomes a more involved project. If you burn regularly through the winter, you may need a mid-season check. If you don’t burn at all, critters and debris still find their way in, and rust never takes a season off. Call (848) 331-2638 and we’ll schedule a sweep that fits your calendar and your budget. Seniors and veterans always get 10% off.

What Actually Happens if You Skip a Sweep?

Your flue doesn’t care how the fire looks. It cares how it breathes. Skip a season and you’re gambling with creosote buildup, which ignites at around 451 degrees Fahrenheit and burns hot enough to crack a liner. That’s how chimney fires start, and most of them happen in homes where the sweep was “put off until next year.” Skip twice and you may also be dealing with animal nests, blockages, and carbon monoxide backing up into the house because the flue can’t draft. None of this is fear-mongering. It’s the plain reality of what accumulates in an unmaintained chimney. The good news is that a sweep is inexpensive, fast, and backed by our 90-Day Done Right Promise. Call (848) 331-2638 to book one, and remember there’s no trip charge inside the county.

Do You Offer a Free Second Opinion on Written Estimates?

Yes. If another company has given you a written estimate and you want a straight read on whether it’s fair, bring it to us. We’ll review it at no cost and give you our honest take. Sometimes the numbers are reasonable and we’ll tell you so. Sometimes the scope is inflated and we’ll show you why. Sometimes the work isn’t necessary at all, and we’ll tell you that too. Wendell’s been doing this since 1999 and he’s seen every version of an overpriced chimney estimate there is. A free second opinion is one of the standing offers at Top Hat Chimney, and it doesn’t obligate you to hire us. Just call (848) 331-2638 and ask.

What Does the 90-Day Done Right Promise Actually Say?

In writing, on every single job, it says this: if the work is not done right, one call brings Wendell back to make it right at no additional cost. That covers labor, materials, and whatever it takes to correct the issue. It’s a workmanship guarantee, not a lifetime warranty against acts of God or the slow grind of New Jersey weather. What it gives you is 90 days of certainty that the sweep, repair, cap, crown, or liner work was performed correctly and will hold up as it should. If it doesn’t, the next visit is on us. Plain and simple, the same way it’s been since the first job in 1999.

Why the Guarantee Is Only as Good as the Person Answering the Phone

Plenty of companies print guarantees. The difference is what happens when you call to use one. At Top Hat Chimney, a live person answers every call, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No voicemail box, no call center, no automated maze. Often it’s Wendell himself. That matters because the person who owns the company is the person who made the promise, and he’s the one who keeps it. When you call with an issue, you’re not explaining yourself to a dispatcher in another state. You’re talking to the guy whose name is on the truck. That’s not a guarantee so much as an operating principle, and it’s why people in Newark have been calling us since before half the homes in the Ironbound had central air.

Get the Guarantee Working for You

If your chimney needs a sweep, a repair, a new cap, or an honest assessment, call (848) 331-2638. The number you hear on the phone is the number on the invoice. The estimate is free, the second opinion is free, and there’s no trip charge inside the county. Seniors and veterans always get 10% off. Any repair over $200 comes with $40 off. And when the work is done, you’ll have the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing, signed and stamped, because that’s how Wendell has done it since 1999. One call brings him back if it’s not right. It’s that simple.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Newark since 1999.