What counts as commercial work here? Any property with more than one chimney, dryer vent, or fireplace under one owner or one manager. Apartment buildings. Condo complexes. HOA chimney services for a clubhouse or common area.
Small offices count too, decorative fireplace and all, and so do portfolios of rental homes scattered across the valley. One tech, one visit per property, one invoice at the end instead of a stack of them. That’s true whether the property has two chimneys or twenty.
Who this covers, and what usually brings us out
Most calls fall into a handful of patterns. A tenant reports a smoke smell in one unit and the property manager wants the whole building checked, not just that one flue. An HOA’s insurance renewal asks for proof the clubhouse fireplace was inspected this year. A leasing office wants every fireplace signed off before move-in season.
A property manager notices one dryer is taking two cycles to dry a load and wants every unit’s vent checked while someone’s already on the roof. None of these need a specialist for each unit, just one person who looks at the whole property and writes down what he actually sees.
| What you’re seeing | What it usually means | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Smoke smell in one unit, none of the others | Cracked flue tile or a blocked flue in that stack only | Inspection, then a repair number if one’s needed |
| A load needs two dryer cycles across several units | Restricted duct, often the same age as the building | Dryer vent inspection, cleaning if it’s clogged |
| Insurance or lease renewal needs proof of inspection | No documentation on file for the fireplace or chimney | Inspection with a written result you can hand to the carrier |
| White staining or flaking brick on more than one chimney | Water getting in through the crown or cap, usually building-wide | Crown rebuild or cap install, priced per chimney after a look |
| New units before certificate of occupancy or first lease | Fireplace or dryer vent never inspected since construction | Inspection before anyone moves in, not after a complaint |
What it costs
The six numbers below are what Michael charges on any property, residential or commercial, per unit or per chimney. Nothing changes because of the HOA.
| Service | Starting price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney inspection | $59 | Per chimney. Credited toward the job if you go ahead, charged outright if you don’t. |
| Basic chimney cleaning | from $199 | Standard single-flue sweep, priced per unit. |
| Chimney cap installation | from $350 | Per chimney. Exact price set at the inspection. |
| Chimney crown rebuild | from $350 | Per chimney. Exact price set at the inspection. |
| Dryer vent inspection | $59 | Per unit. Same credit structure as the chimney inspection. |
| Dryer vent cleaning | from $150 | Per unit. One flat starting number, and it doesn’t change by floor height. |
A ten-unit building with ten dryer vents isn’t ten separate service calls. It’s one visit, ten line items, and one invoice at the end. There’s no quote-on-request games - the prices are published, the same for one fireplace as for forty.
Everything past these six figures, things like a batch of matching liners across a complex, tuckpointing on a shared chimney stack, or an HOA-wide annual contract, gets priced on site, after Michael’s actually walked the property. Nothing invented over the phone. It’s the same rule as our published prices for every other job on this site.
Book the $59 inspection at (916) 833-2959, 7am to 7pm, seven days a week. That fee comes off the invoice the moment you approve the work, and you’ll have a real number for every unit on the property before anyone signs anything.
How a property visit actually works
It starts with a walkthrough, not a truck full of guesses.
- Michael walks the property with whoever’s managing it (owner, HOA board member, or property manager) and gets a list of every chimney, fireplace, and dryer vent that needs a look.
- He inspects each one in turn, one unit or twenty, always at the same $59 rate per chimney or vent.
- Every finding gets a number on the spot: what’s fine, what needs cleaning, what needs a repair, and what that repair costs.
- You get one itemized list for the whole property and one invoice, not a separate paper trail for every unit. If a chimney needs a repair on the spot, that gets flagged as its own line so nothing gets lumped into a vague total.
When you don’t need a full property visit
Not every building needs the whole-property treatment. If a unit’s fireplace is a sealed gas-log set that’s never been burned, there’s usually nothing to find yet. Same goes for a building under a year old where every fireplace was inspected at final walkthrough. A single $59 inspection on the one unit someone’s actually asking about tells you that in one visit, and there’s no reason to book the rest of the property around it.
Dryer vents work the same way. If nobody’s reported a slow-drying load and the building’s under five years old, most of those vents are still clear. Wait for a symptom, or for the lease-renewal or insurance paperwork to actually require the documentation, before paying to inspect twenty vents that are probably fine.
What identical units usually mean
Here’s the thing nobody tells property managers: buildings built in one phase fail in one phase, too. An apartment complex or an HOA subdivision built the same year usually has the same fireplace model and the same chase cover on every unit. Same crew installed all of it, in the same season. So when one chase cover starts leaking from twenty-five years of sun and rain, the rest of the property is right behind it, whether anyone’s complained yet or not.
That’s the case for inspecting the whole property instead of just the unit with the complaint. The other nineteen units aren’t a different age. They’re the same age, with the same weak point, just running on a different clock.
While Michael’s already on site
A commercial visit often turns up more than the one thing that triggered the call. If a tenant’s flue needs a real repair, not just a cleaning, that’s a job for Americas Chimney Sweep to diagnose properly before anyone signs off on the cost. Since Michael’s already on the roof for the inspection, most property managers have him check every other chimney and vent on the list in the same trip. That beats scheduling a second visit for something that turns up later. When it’s a crown or a crack instead of buildup, Americas Chimney Sweep repairs get priced on the spot instead of waiting for a second visit.
Licensed for the masonry work, not guessing at it
Michael is the only technician who sets foot on your property. One person, start to finish. He’s licensed under CSLB #1150991, C-29 Masonry, the classification that covers crown rebuilds, brick repair, and tuckpointing on a commercial chimney stack. See reviews for Americas Chimney Sweep from the properties and homeowners he’s already worked with. They sit at 4.95 across 62 reviews, every one answered personally, by the same person who’ll answer your call. Before he’s on your roof, you can see the person who does the work for yourself.
Property types and the cities we cover
Five counties, from Nevada City out to the valley floor: Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Sacramento, and Yolo. Sacramento gets its rain in about five months and none in the other seven, so masonry on every one of your buildings soaks all winter and bakes all summer, HOA-managed or not. That’s the freeze-thaw cycle that pops brick loose on a schedule, not by accident. See the cities we cover for the full list. That includes Americas Chimney Sweep in Sacramento, Americas Chimney Sweep in Roseville, and Americas Chimney Sweep in Folsom, three of the areas with the highest concentration of multi-unit properties in the service area. Property managers in Elk Grove can book a slot for Elk Grove the same way as anywhere else in the five counties.
Commercial chimney questions, answered
Do you work with HOAs and property management companies directly?
Yes. Michael takes the call from whoever’s managing the property. Board member, management company, or the owner directly, it doesn’t matter. He walks the site with that person so the findings go to the right place the first time.
Do you handle gas fireplaces or HVAC systems on commercial properties?
No. Michael’s licensed under CSLB #1150991, C-29 Masonry, which covers chimney sweeping, inspections, crowns, caps, and masonry repair. Gas fitting and HVAC sit under a different license classification, so that work isn’t part of what he quotes on a commercial property.
How does pricing work when a property has multiple units?
Each chimney, fireplace, or dryer vent is priced at the same starting rate as a single-family home: $59 to inspect, from $199 to clean, from $350 for a cap or crown. A ten-unit property gets ten line items and one invoice, not ten separate service calls.
Can one visit cover an entire building or complex?
Usually, yes. Michael walks the whole property in one trip, inspects every chimney and vent on the list, and prices whatever needs work on the spot. Larger properties with dozens of units may need the work itself split across more than one day.
Do you offer a standing inspection contract for HOAs?
Each property starts with an inspection. The rest is priced on site after Michael has looked at the systems and access.
What’s included in a commercial chimney inspection?
How fast can you get on site for a multi-unit property?
Commercial scheduling depends on building access, the number of systems, and the season. September through December is the busy sweep window, so larger properties should plan farther ahead.
Get every unit checked in one visit
One vendor, every unit, one schedule, one invoice. That’s the whole pitch. It holds whether the property has three chimneys or thirty.
Call (916) 833-2959, any day between 7am and 7pm, and ask for the $59 property inspection. It’s the only thing standing between guessing what’s wrong across the building and knowing it, chimney by chimney, before you sign off on anything. Or book with Americas Chimney Sweep and get the visit on the schedule now.