Evidence an Adjuster Can Work From.
After a storm, a strike or a chimney fire, the argument is rarely about whether the chimney is damaged. It is about what caused it, how far it goes, and what the repair legitimately costs. We measure it, photograph it, scope the flue where the flue can be scoped, and write it up line by line so a reviewer has something specific in front of them instead of a paragraph and a total.
We document and we repair. We do not negotiate with carriers, interpret your policy, or promise that a claim will be paid.
Four kinds of loss, four kinds of proof.
Each of these leaves a different physical signature, and each one has to be captured differently. A cap ripped off in a hailstorm is documented from the roof. A chimney fire is documented inside the flue, before anybody cleans it.
Wind and hail
A cap torn off, a chase cover dented through, flashing lifted at the counter-flashing line, or a crown cracked by impact. The damage is usually on the roof, which means the photographs have to come from the roof.
Chimney fire
A fast, hot event inside the flue. What it leaves behind is specific and recognizable — puffy or honeycombed creosote, cracked or displaced tiles, discolored or warped metal, damaged mortar joints — and those markers are what a scope has to record before anything is cleaned.
Structural and impact
A leaning stack, a shifted crown, a strike from a falling limb, or masonry cracked along a mortar line. Plumb and displacement are measurable, and a measurement outlasts an opinion.
Water that followed the damage
The chimney is often only the entry point. Staining on the ceiling below, a rusted damper, spalled brick and a saturated smoke chamber are the downstream evidence, and they belong in the same file as the opening on the roof.
Four things we will not do for your claim.
Claim work attracts overpromising, and the homeowner is the one left holding the consequences of it. So here is the boundary, before you decide whether to call.
We do not negotiate with your insurer
We are not public adjusters and we do not represent you in a claim. We produce evidence and a scope; the conversation with the carrier is between you, your adjuster, and anyone you license to act for you.
We do not tell you what is covered
The wording of the contract you bought, plus the carrier reading it, settles that question — and neither one is ours to interpret. Anybody in this trade who calls a chimney claim covered before the declarations page has been opened is guessing at your expense.
We do not promise an outcome
No approval rate, no recovery figure, no claim we "got paid". A claim can be denied on a well-documented file, and a contractor who guarantees otherwise is selling something we are not.
We do not write it to suit the claim
If what we find is age, wear, or deferred maintenance rather than a sudden event, the report says that. That answer costs us the repair sometimes. It is still the only report worth having in a file.
Document first. Clean second.
Most of the damage a homeowner loses is not lost to the storm. It is lost to a well-meant cleanup that happened before anybody took a photograph.
- 01
Make it safe, then stop
If the fireplace was burning when the damage happened, stop using it. If the stack is leaning or masonry is falling, keep people out from under it. Do not clean the firebox and do not have the flue swept before it has been documented — a sweep removes the evidence a chimney fire leaves behind.
- 02
Report the loss yourself
The claim is opened by you with your carrier, and it should be opened before we arrive rather than after. Note the date of the event if you know it. We come in as the trade that examines and documents the damage, not as the party that files on your behalf.
- 03
Documented inspection
Exterior, roof-level and interior examination with the flue scoped where scoping is safe. Everything gets measured and photographed in the condition we found it, before any cleaning, tarping or temporary work touches it.
- 04
Emergency protection where it is needed
An open flue in a wet week keeps causing damage while a claim sits. Temporary covering or a tarp is documented separately, with before-and-after photographs and its own line, so it is never confused with permanent repair.
- 05
Scope written and handed to you
The package goes to you as the policyholder. Send it to your adjuster yourself, or ask us to send a copy directly — either way you hold the original and you decide who receives it.
- 06
Meeting the adjuster on site
If your adjuster wants to inspect with a chimney professional present, we will be there and we will show what we found and how it was measured. That is a walkthrough of evidence. It is not an argument about the settlement, and we will not pretend it is.
Six pieces, and no adjectives.
Dated, located photographs
Wide shots that establish which chimney on which elevation, then close work on each damaged element. Every image carries a date and a location note, because a photo nobody can place proves nothing.
Measurements, not adjectives
Crack length and width, out-of-plumb displacement, missing flashing run, tile offset, chase-cover deflection. Numbers written down on site, so the file does not rest on the word "severe".
Interior flue imaging
Camera footage and stills of the flue interior where the flue can be safely scoped, which is the only way a liner condition after a fire or a lightning strike gets documented at all.
Observed condition and its likely mechanism
What we saw and what physically produces that pattern, written as an observation with its basis. It is a trade opinion, described as one — not a legal determination of cause.
Line-item repair scope
Each element listed separately with quantities and units — feet of flashing, square feet of tuckpointing, liner size and length, cap dimensions — so an estimator can compare it against their own numbers line for line.
Standards the repair is written to
Where a repair method is set by a published standard rather than preference, the scope cites it, so a reviewer can check the requirement instead of taking a contractor's word for the method.
One limitation worth knowing up frontA flue that is blocked, collapsed, or structurally unsound sometimes cannot be camera-scoped safely, and there are roofs we will not walk in ice or high wind. When that happens the file says what could not be examined and why, and we come back for it rather than filling the gap with an assumption. An incomplete file that is honest about the gap is worth more to a reviewer than a complete-looking one that is not.
Paid by you, not contingent on the claim.
The assessment is a service you buy outright. We do not tie its cost to whether the carrier pays, because a fee that depends on the outcome quietly buys an incentive to shade the findings, and the findings are the entire product.
Starting estimate. Stack height, roof pitch, and the reachable extent of the liner move the final number.
Built line by line from the damage found, at our published service rates, and approved by you in writing before work starts.
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.
Where this connects
Insurance claims hub
Carrier-by-carrier guides to how a chimney claim is handled.
OpenOur claims process
The step-by-step we follow from first call through completed repair.
OpenEmergency response
Active fire damage, an unstable stack, or an open flue over an occupied room.
OpenChimney inspection
The underlying inspection, and what each level of it examines.
OpenGive us the event and the day it hit.
The date of the event matters more than almost anything else you can give us, because it is the fact a carrier checks first. Send that, the address, whether the claim is already open, and what you have noticed since — smoke smell, staining, debris in the firebox, a cap you can see is gone.
- Date of the storm, strike or fire, as close as you can place it
- Whether the claim is already open, and the adjuster's inspection date if one is set
- Any photographs you or a neighbor took before cleanup
- Whether the fireplace has been used since the event
Smell smoke in the house, see flame or glow at the top of the chimney, or have masonry that has visibly moved? Leave the building and call the fire department first. Documentation is the next conversation, not this one.
Request a compliance quote
Single-site, multifamily, or national portfolio — tell us the system and the sites.
Claim documentation — FAQ
Will you fight the insurance company for me?
No, and be careful with any chimney contractor who says they will. Representing a policyholder in a claim is regulated work belonging to public adjusters and attorneys, not to the trade doing the repair. What we contribute is the technical half: measured damage, dated photographs, flue imaging, and a scope written line by line. If your claim needs an advocate, hire one — and hand them a file that is already documented.
Is chimney damage covered by homeowners insurance?
Your policy answers that, not us. Broadly, carriers distinguish a sudden accidental event from gradual deterioration, and that distinction is usually where a chimney claim turns — but the terms, exclusions and deductible in your specific policy decide it. Read the policy or ask your agent to walk you through it. We can tell you precisely what the chimney's condition is; we cannot tell you what your contract pays for.
The adjuster says it is wear and tear, not the storm. Can you overturn that?
We can only add facts, and sometimes facts are enough. If there is a physical marker that separates impact damage from long-term deterioration — a fresh fracture face, a displacement that has not weathered, an impact bruise on a soft metal cap — we photograph it, measure it and describe it. Whether that changes the carrier's position is the carrier's call. Sometimes the honest finding supports the adjuster rather than you, and in that case we will tell you so instead of building a case out of nothing.
Should I get the chimney swept before the inspection?
Not if a chimney fire may have occurred. A sweep is the single fastest way to destroy the evidence that a chimney fire leaves — the puffy creosote, the deposits sitting on cracked tile, the scorch pattern. Have it documented first, cleaned second. If the flue is blocked and unsafe to leave, call us and we will document the blockage in place before anything is removed.
Do you bill the insurance company directly?
The work is billed to you, the policyholder, because you are our customer and you are the one who approves the scope. Most carriers pay the homeowner and the homeowner pays the contractor. We can invoice in the format your carrier asks for and itemize to their line structure, which usually makes reimbursement simpler. We will not sign a contract that ties your payment to what a carrier eventually decides to release.
What about my deductible — can you work around it?
No. Waiving, absorbing or rebating a deductible, or inflating a scope so the deductible disappears inside it, is insurance fraud, and it is the homeowner who is exposed as much as the contractor. Our scope reflects the work required. If a repair is worth doing but the claim will not cover it, we would rather talk about phasing the work than about disguising the number.
A storm just came through. When can you be here?
Later than you want and later than we want, in the days right after a hail event — and we would rather say that than post a response time we cannot honor when a whole metro takes damage in the same hour. Active hazards — an unstable stack, a fire, an open flue over an occupied room — are triaged first. Call rather than fill in a form if that is your situation.
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