Every chimney job, priced line by line
Chimney work is sold in trades that sound alike and price differently: an inspection reports, a sweep cleans, a liner is measured by the foot of flue, masonry is priced by the square foot of stack, and the crown, caps and flashing are pieces and feet of their own. This page gives each its own line at your rates: inspection and sweeping flat, flue lining per linear foot, repointing and waterproofing per square foot, flashing per foot, caps each, and access, disposal and extras flat. The estimate applies any minimum charge openly, adds contingency once and tax once, and reports the total, a low to high range and the cost per foot of flue, with a downloadable estimate for comparing sweeps and masons.
Inspection and cleaning
Flue lining
Masonry: repointing, crown and waterproofing
Caps, flashing and access
Minimum, contingency, tax and range
Disclaimer: This calculator gives estimates for general information only. It is not financial, medical or other professional advice. A chimney’s condition can only be judged by inspection; if a sweep or inspector reports a damaged flue, treat the repair as a safety matter and not only a budget one.
What this calculator does
It builds a chimney repair estimate from the components a proper scope contains, each measured the way its trade measures it. The flue is a length, so lining is priced per linear foot of height. The stack is a surface, so repointing (tuckpointing: grinding out failed mortar and replacing it) and waterproofing are priced per square foot. The crown is a piece, the caps are counted per flue, the flashing runs around the base by the foot, and inspection, sweeping, access and disposal are the flats they are in real life. On top of the lines, the estimator discipline used across this site applies: lines rounded to cents, any minimum charge applied openly, contingency once, tax once, your range around the total, and the whole job expressed per foot of flue for comparing a tall stack against a short one.
How to use it
- Let the inspection define the scope. The expensive question on a chimney (is the liner sound?) cannot be answered from the ground or the firebox. A camera inspection fee looks like overhead until it is compared with relining a flue that did not need it, or burning in one that did. Price the inspection as its own line and let its findings set the rest.
- Liner quotes live or die by the foot. Height, liner material and whether insulation is included swing this line more than any other. Two quotes for “a new liner” are only comparable when height and per-foot rate are both visible, which is why this page refuses to price a liner as a lump.
- Repointing is measured on the stack you can see, priced for the joints that failed. Enter the area your mason measured. Partial repointing of the weather-facing courses costs less than a full stack, and the square footage is where that difference honestly lives.
- The crown and the waterproofing are the water story. Most masonry decay is water management failing at the top (a cracked crown) and at the face (saturated brick spalling in freeze and thaw). These lines look cosmetic on a quote and are structural in effect; cutting them to save money usually re-buys the repointing within a few winters.
- Access is a real cost on tall and steep work. Scaffolding or a lift for a high stack is legitimate, visible and worth its own line, because a quote that omits it has either planned ladder work you may not want or forgotten a charge that will return as an extra.
How it is calculated
- Lining = flue height (linear feet) x liner cost per foot. Repointing = area x rate per square foot. Waterproofing = area x rate per square foot. Flashing = length x rate per foot. Caps = count x cost per cap.
- Inspection, sweeping, crown, access, disposal and other charges enter as the flat amounts entered.
- Subtotal = the sum of the line amounts. Minimum charge: if a minimum is entered and exceeds the subtotal, the minimum becomes the base and the results state that the minimum charge applied. Contingency applies once to the base; tax once to base plus contingency. Total = base + contingency + tax. Range = total less and plus your percentage. Per foot of flue = total / flue height, when a height is entered.
Worked examples
A full repair on a two-storey house. Illustrative rates: inspection $250; sweeping $189; a stainless liner for 25 feet of flue at $78 per foot, $1,950.00; repointing 40 square feet at $14, $560.00; crown repair $425; two caps at $145 each, $290.00; flashing 12 feet at $38, $456.00; waterproofing 60 square feet at $3.50, $210.00; disposal $75. Subtotal $4,405.00. Contingency at 10% adds $440.50 for a total of $4,845.50, or $193.82 per foot of flue, ranging from $4,118.68 to $5,572.33 at plus or minus 15%.
Why the liner dominates. The liner is $1,950.00 of the $4,405.00 subtotal, about 44 cents of every dollar, because it is a manufactured system fitted inside an existing structure at height. When a second quote undercuts the first by a wide margin, the difference is almost always hiding in this line (a shorter measured height, a thinner gauge, insulation omitted), and the per-foot figures on this page are how that shows up.
A sweep alone meets the floor. A sweeping at $189 against a company’s $250 minimum: the estimate builds on the minimum, adds 10% contingency ($25.00) and totals $275.00, stating that the minimum charge applied. Routine visits are priced by minimums, and the honest estimate says so.
Reading your results
Read the per-foot-of-flue figure when comparing properties or scopes with different heights: liners and access scale with height while crowns and caps do not, so totals mislead across houses in a way the unit figure corrects. Then read the water lines together (crown, repointing, waterproofing, flashing): a scope that replaces a liner but leaves the water entries open is solving the inside while the outside keeps decaying. Finally, weigh the contingency against what an inspection could not see: liners hide the stack’s interior, and masonry opened up sometimes shows more than the camera promised, which is precisely the risk the contingency line prices.
Limitations
- Condition is established by inspection, not by estimate. This page prices scopes; it does not find cracked tiles, offset joints, creosote glazing or spalled brick. Where an inspection has reported flue damage, the question stops being whether the work is worth it and becomes which scope does it properly.
- Partial rebuilds and full rebuilds are different jobs. A stack that must come down to the roofline and be rebuilt is masonry construction, priced by the mason’s own measure; this page’s lines suit repair scopes, and its fixed charges field can carry a quoted rebuild figure for comparison, nothing more.
- Code and listing requirements attach to liners. Liner systems carry installation requirements (insulation, clearances, sizing to the appliance) that affect both price and whether the work should proceed at all. The per-foot rate you enter should be for a compliant installation, and the installer’s credentials are part of the price’s meaning.
- Appliance work is excluded. The stove, insert or furnace the flue serves, its connector and its own servicing belong to other trades and other budgets.
Frequently asked questions
What does a chimney inspection include, and why is it charged separately?
A proper inspection examines the interior of the flue (usually by camera), the firebox or connector, the crown and cap, the flashing and the masonry, and reports the condition of each. It is charged separately because it is skilled diagnostic work whose findings define every other line, and because its answer might be that little else is needed. On this page it sits as its own flat line, before the work it scopes.
Why is a flue liner priced per foot?
Because the liner is a continuous system whose material cost scales with the flue’s height, and height is the dimension homeowners are least able to judge from the ground. Per-foot pricing exposes the two real variables (how tall, at what rate for what material and insulation) and makes quotes from different sweeps comparable in a way a single lump never is.
What is the difference between repointing and rebuilding?
Repointing (tuckpointing) renews the mortar joints between sound bricks: the failed mortar is ground out to a proper depth and replaced. Rebuilding replaces the bricks themselves, in part or in whole, when they have spalled, cracked or lost their bond. Repointing is priced by the square foot of stack treated, as here; rebuilding is a larger masonry job whose price depends on how much of the stack comes down.
Do I need a cap on every flue?
Each open flue is an entry for rain, animals and debris, and a source of downdraughts, so caps are counted per flue on this page (a two-flue chimney takes two). Caps also carry a spark-arresting mesh in many designs. The count field exists because multi-flue stacks are exactly where a single-cap assumption quietly underprices a quote.
Related calculators
Method: itemized quantity times rate lines at user-entered rates, flue work per linear foot and masonry per square foot as defined on this page; minimum charge applied to the base, contingency once and tax once. Last reviewed: 13 October 2026.