How do contractors estimate chimney repairs?

Top-down by component: cap, crown, upper courses, flashing, and face joints — each a line with its own fix, priced against shared staging cost. Photos drive the sale because the customer can't see their own chimney.

Rebuild or repoint — how is the line drawn?

Spalled, shifted, or multiple-wythe-damaged upper courses favor partial rebuild from the roofline up; sound units with failed joints favor repointing. Quote the fork explicitly when it's close.

Why include flashing in a chimney quote?

Because most 'chimney leaks' are flashing leaks — and you're already staged. Flashing inspection or replacement as a line saves the customer a second mobilization and you a misdiagnosis callback.

Field guide

A Chimney Repair Estimate App for Work the Customer Can't See

Chimney repair is sold on photographs. The damage lives thirty feet up, the customer has never seen their own crown, and three contractors will diagnose three different problems. The estimate that wins carries pictures, names components, and prices the fixes as options on shared staging — which is exactly the document a phone-built estimate produces on site.

Top-down, component by component

Cap: missing, rusted, or wrong-sized — unit price, the easiest yes on the quote.
Crown: hairline seal vs. resurface vs. re-pour — three tiers, one line each as options.
Upper courses: repoint vs. rebuild from the roofline — the big fork, quoted explicitly when close.
Face joints: repointing by square foot on the weather faces.
Flashing: inspect/reseal or replace — the actual source of half of all 'chimney leaks.'
Staging: priced once, carried by whichever options are accepted.

The photo is the salesperson

Narrate from the roof or the drone view and shoot everything: the cracked crown, the open joints, the rusted-through cap. FieldSquire attaches each photo to its line, so the homeowner sees exactly what "crown re-pour" fixes. Estimates with evidence close differently than estimates with adjectives.

Options convert on shared staging

"While we're staged" is honest economics: the cap, crown seal, and flashing check cost far less together than separately. Structuring the quote as accept-per-line options lets the customer build their own scope — and the total usually lands higher than a single take-it-or-leave-it number would have.

Quote it before the ladder's down

Review drafted lines at your saved rates, set the deposit, send the branded PDF with e-signature from the driveway. The masonry estimating app is free for 14 days, no credit card.

Try it on a real job: FieldSquire's Solo plan is free for 14 days with no credit card — unlimited manual estimates and AI-assisted drafts you review line by line. Start the free trial or see the masonry estimating app guide.