What this work actually costs.

Because on most chimney work the thing that decides the number is inside the flue, and nobody can see it from a phone call. A cracked liner and a light layer of creosote sound identical in a description and cost ten times apart. Anyone who does give a firm price sight-unseen has either padded it enough to cover the worst case, or is quoting a number they intend to revise on the day. The ranges here are for planning; the estimate is for deciding.

National bands. Labour rates move all of them, and the swing between a rural county and a major metro is real — call it twenty per cent either side of the middle of each range. Roof access moves them more than geography does: a steep two-storey roof costs more to work anywhere in the country than a bungalow does.

The scope, the price, and what is explicitly not included — that third one is where surprises live. It should also say what happens if something is found once work starts, because on masonry it sometimes is. If an estimate is a single number with no breakdown, ask for the breakdown before you agree to it rather than after.

Not always, and it is worth knowing what a low number can mean. Sometimes it is a smaller operation with lower overheads doing identical work, which is a genuine saving. Sometimes it is a visit with the inspection stripped out, which is the part that finds problems. And sometimes it is deliberately below cost because the money is in the repair recommendation that follows. Compare what is included rather than the headline.

For anything involving the flue, effectively yes — and that is the right way round. A camera scan is what turns a guess into a quote, and paying a couple of hundred to avoid committing to a several-thousand-dollar reline you may not need is the cheapest insurance on this site. What you should not pay for is an inspection that arrives with a repair quote already written.