HVAC reviews in Bethesda, Maryland

I contacted Bethesda chimney's about a month ago and I was scheduled for an estimate with a young man name Bryan.
Bryan was very professional, polite and knowledgeable. He gave me an excellent, competitive quote. About two days after the estimate, the technicians came out and completely rebuilt my chimney. It was quality workmanship and all of my neighbors have been complementing me on the work.
I will always use Bethesda Chimney for any chimney work and recommend them to anyone in used

WARNING! Do not do business with this company!! We signed a contract with them in January to install a chimney fan. They came in person to our house the very next day to pick up $2700 deposit. Since then, it has been a series of disappointments. As of today - over three months later - no work has been performed on the project!! Just a bunch of promises and cancelled appointments on their end. Repeated calls to their office go unanswered. We have tried to speak directly with the owner, Bryan Whitaker, to resolve the matter, but he refuses to accept or return our calls. His team is no better. The very few times we were able to surprise them on the phone they were rude and belligerent and offered no plan of action to complete the project. We have no choice but to report them to the State Attorney’s General Office of Consumer Protection as well and other relevant regulatory authorities about their shoddy business practices in hopes that they can resolve the matter or at least return our deposit. RUN, do not walk, from this company!! They are a nightmare to deal with!!!

We've had a very good experience with Bethesda in the inspection and repair of our chimney. The personnel are friendly, hard working and interactive with the customer about what they are doing. The workmanship and materials are all professionally provided and maintained. The follow up response for any questions is an added plus which shows that they care about customer satisfaction.

Just had my outdoor gas fireplace inspected & serviced by Bethesda Chimney. Great job, organized process until technician arrival. And the technician - Domingo - was very knowledgeable, courteous and did a super job.

I now see that despite the high review score, most of the recent reviews are 1 star, I wish I would have looked closer earlier. I've had the same experience as many of the previous reviews: I had a 10:00 appointment, with a 2 hour arrival window (and 3 texts from them confirming my appointment). I took off of work, waited all day, it's now after 2:00. I've tried calling, emailing, texting and, like other reviewers... nothing. Like others have said, they are a scam.

We had a great experience with Bethesda Chimney and recommend them highly. We had a long term problem with lots of water leaking into the firebox, especially after a heavy rain. Bethesda Chimney scheduled an inspection, then made recommendations for required work and optional repairs/upgrades. The inspector arrived on time, did a thorough inspection, and provided a detailed inspection report and estimate before leaving. That was followed by a written quote. The work had to be scheduled over several days. Daniel kept in regular touch about who would be at the house when. They were careful about what work could be done when. Outdoor work required clear skies and the correct temperature. When we needed additional repairs to our chimney flashing, Bethesda Chimney paused their work to allow for that repair. The techniciansbwere all good at their jobs, friendly, and careful to keep dirt and dust to a minimum in the house. The mason did a great job rebuilding the firebox, which looks brand new (because it is!). We are very happy with the results. Any chimney repair is expensive, no matter who you hire to do the work. Bryan Whitaker and Bethesda Chimney provided superior quality and value.

I can't recommend Bethesda Chimney highly enough - they did fantastic work, were thoroughly professional throughout the entire process, and were, to a person, great to interact with.

We needed some serious chimney work done (as well as some outside cleanup to our brick house). They gave us a very reasonable quote, did the work more quickly than promised, and then made sure we understood all the details and the work that was done. I especially want to call out Zach for sticking with us through the whole process, Natalie for handling all of the necessary back and forth, and Bryan for showing up after hours (8:30 PM!) at our house to get the final check and talk about cats.

You can't go wrong with Bethesda Chimney!

Made an appointment based on all of the positive reviews but ended up disappointed. I called during the arrival window and confirmed that someone was coming. Technician ended up missing the arrival window and company never called to follow up. I left multiple voicemails and never received a call back. Finally got through to someone over an hour later and was told they weren't coming and they couldn't get me back on the schedule for 2 weeks. They suggested I call a different company if I wanted a guarantee that a technician would arrive.... ?!?!

I am switching to Bethesda Chimney's services without hesitation to care for my fireplace. I will also try them for other services such as power washing and dryer vent cleaning. This time, which is the first time I use them, they replaced my old fireplace by a new one. They also did a very thorough inspection of the chase which made me realize that it was about time to replace the whole system (not only the fireplace). They also installed a brand new B-vent. I was impressed by their service and professionalism. They are very knowledgeable and they are quick. I think that what impressed me the most was to get a very detailed estimate only three hours after their first visit. I have also compared their prices with a couple of other companies I used in the past, and for the quality of their service, their price was reasonable to me (and I am a demanding customer!) The whole team I dealt with (Bryan, Nicole, Juan and his helper, and the two guys who came over for the estimate) was really great to deal with. I highly recommend them, I will recommend them to friends and family without hesitation.

I heard about Bethesda Chimney from a neighbor who was very happy with them! At first I was irritated as the original service technician who I spent an hour with left the company and never sent my estimate so I had to do it all over again. But the new expert who came was FANTASTIC. Zach spent time to carefully inspect and explain things to me. I highly recommend this company because it’s rare when you get someone who takes that kind of time to explain what needs doing and why - so that costs seem to all make sense. Chimney repair is not an inexpensive proposition so go for good service to make it all bearable!!! Thanks Zach.

Overall I’m happy with the experience I’ve had with Bethesda Chimney and would use them for future projects. Brian and Nicole did a good job working with us and answering a lot of questions to determine what work we wanted to get done. While they did offer some options we didn’t wind up going with, I never felt pressured to do work we didn’t want. They have also made it easy to coordinate with the plumber and electrician needed to do work.

For the work we’ve had done by Bethesda Chimeny so far, Rogel and his team (William and Uriel I believe) have been great and highly professional. They spent time explaining exactly what they were going to do, answering any questions I had, and keeping me informed as anything came up.

They’re not the cheapest option, but I feel they are fairly priced for the level of service and work provided.

DO NOT WASTE TIME AND MONEY CALLING BETHESDA CHIMNEY FOR ESTIMATE. I made a mistake thinking that this company is a legit honest company that will not try to rip us off. I was wrong. I contacted them to schedule for an estimate for chiminey repairs on a house that we recently purchased. I was working on August 9th the day of the inspection but my wife was home to let them in. They over exaggerated on the condition of the chiminey during the inspection and claim the chiminey is about to fall down soon and needs to be torn down and rebuild a new chiminey. The total estimate they gave us with demolition, rebuild new chiminey, drawing and permits is $45,500. And on top of this, a $249.00 inspection fee that we had to pay out of pocket for them to come out to look at the chiminey.

I contacted another company to get a second opinion and they were very honest and said that we do not need to rebuild the chiminey, just repairs. Total estimate of $4,617. And they did not not charge us anything for the inspection.

So I wasted both time and $249.00 for inspection fee with Bethesda Chimney. And what was really messed up, they had my wife stand there on the backyard deck in the pouring rain while 9 months pregnant at the time to discuss the issues with the chiminey. Seriously? This is year 2024! You guys couldn't do video call or take photos of the chiminey and go over it with my wife while inside the house? DO NOT WASTE TIME. CALL SOMEONE ELSE!!!

Great company. Their inspections are professional and very thorough, everything documented with photos. They do a really good job of explaining things. Honest too — they told us our chimney did not need cleaning yet. They alerted us to a minor safety issue, and fixed it. I now feel confident that my fireplace is in good condition and safe. And Bryan’s a great guy.

Review from October 9, 2024:
I'm an existing customer, and the trip fee (visual inspection only fee) was $199. My fireplace didn't require a sweep and yet I received this invoice for $199. The tech Zach was awesome which is why I gave 2 stars instead of 1 star, but the office personnel, Ross, was unclear on this and seemed completely ignorant to the fact that it would make no sense to charge a $199 trip fee when the result was due to me taking good care of my chimney over the last 4 years. Great service is 1 thing, but what's better is consistent great service and to pay $199 for a visual inspection, isn't in line with the expectation that was set on the phone. Oh, and I had to tell Ross that I was a repeat customer, he didn't know it from my initial reengagement. I paid this ridiculous fee, but as you can tell, the experience I received as a repeat customer and the lack of proper expectation setting by the office staff really rubbed me wrong. So get clarity before you schedule with Ross at Bethesda Chimney.

Review from Sept 2020 below: The details are critical for many of us as both consumers and providers of a service. On the day of the appointment, Brian arrived within the scheduled window, and he called me when in route to confirm he'd be arriving in 20 minutes. BRAVO!! This showed me that he respected our time and his commitment to keeping us in the loop of his arrival.

The service itself included not only a physical cleaning of our Wood Stove insert, but it also include inspection and some education on how to maintain the specific product/insert that was installed. He asked for the manual and checked our clearances and he even shared with us a feature we were unaware of.....in fact, he shared 2 features, to include a modern day convenience called "Green Start". I'm waiting to coordinate a follow up on this potential upgrade, but for the service I called about and had completed a few days ago, I have zero complaints and in fact wanted to take time out to leave this review to say thank you to Brian and to his office manager, Gina, for their service and their commitment to provide such excellent service and such fair pricing. Working for a company myself that has a CORE Value of "Always do the right thing for the customer", made me truly appreciate my whole experience with Bethesda Chimney. I hope this helps someone. God Bless -- September 2020

I hate writing this, but after three winter seasons of smoke pouring into our family room and staining our mantle, dozens of emails and calls (and a couple of actual visits to our house), Bryan and his team have refused to acknowledge that their installation of our "new" chimney was flawed. First they insultingly told us we didn't know how to make fires. Then they told us there was a piece not installed (and came and installed it." But I've been communicating periodically that this is STILL a problem. This was confirmed last month when I brought in another company to clean and inspect the liner and their flexi-camera showed three points at which the liner was not snapped together. I finally caught Bryan on the phone one day a couple of weeks ago, and explained the situation (I had already sent the photos) and he said he'd call me "tomorrow morning." You know the rest. Unfortunately I am now considering filing in small claims court and the BBB, since we are out more than $12k.

I contacted this company to fix a gas fireplace. STAY AWAY! They sent a service person who seemed to be knowledgeable and told me I needed a new part and would order it and install the new part. I was charged $500, I waited a month and called to find out the status. I spoke with the owner who was clueless. After an unfriendly phone call, he reluctantly told me he would refund my $500. I never saw the refund. Obviously, it would be unwise to deal with this company.

Zach was able to make it over earlier than expected, which was great. He was able to quickly identify the issue we had with our gas fireplace and fixed it on the spot. I've used Bethesda Chimney since we installed a gas fireplace a few years ago and the service is always excellent. Thanks Zach!

Do not use this company!!! They are a scam. They replaced my B vent improperly which led to a significant roof leak, drywall damage and insulation damage. Took them months to fix the roof, and they still haven’t fixed my drywall. Every promise to return my calls go unfulfilled. I’ll have the Court decide.

My wife and I have been very satisfied with Bethesda Chimney service. Inspector Zach and his colleague were very knowledgeable
accurate and professional and very nice people to deal with. They're real asset to company. They're did a very good job and took care about our issues. We are definitely recommending this company.

Bryan was excellent. He inspected our chimney and provided his professional review of what we needed to have a safe and productive fireplace. He spent the time we needed to explain the project. When we were ready to move forward he was able to schedule us quickly. The crew was on time, professional and courteous. They cleaned up afterwards and we were very satisfied with the entire project. I would use Bethesda Chimney again and recommend them without reservation to anyone who needs an inspection and work done on their fireplace.

I can't praise the work Bethesda Chimney workers did on our chimney. They had done a super job on a second chimney some time ago, so we asked them to do the same on a second chimney. They cleaned it and put in a new metal lining and much more restoration work. Little did anyone know that this chimney, which runs from the basement up three floors, was kinked and contained a lot of mortar which had accumnulated over the decades. Furthermore the weather was sub-freezing and often high winds. The team worked several more days than they had expected, and once again did a SUPERB JOB. I cannot thank them enough.