Booking, payment, cancellation and what to expect on the day. Written to be read, not to hide things.
Last updated 23 October 2026. These terms apply to work carried out by Jaconelli Chimney Specialists Ltd. Nothing here affects your statutory rights as a consumer.
A booking is confirmed when you receive our confirmation email with a reference number. Slots are held for one property and one appointment; if you need more than three flues swept, ring us rather than booking online, because the timing needs working out properly.
Sweeping prices are per flue and are shown before you book. Payment on completion — card or cash, whichever suits. Inspections are paid in advance, and the slot is held once payment clears.
Sweep prices assume a flue that's had reasonably regular attention. Where a flue is significantly more neglected than that — a heavy blockage, or years without a sweep — and the job runs well past the standard time as a result, extra time is charged at £80/hr, agreed with you before we continue.
Repair and masonry work is quoted individually after an inspection. We do not quote that work from photographs, and a quote is valid for thirty days unless it says otherwise.
Lining is a bigger job than a sweep or inspection — normally the best part of a day on site — so it's treated differently, and it isn't booked online. The price is worked out after a Flue Inspection, agreed with you directly, and accepted in writing (email, text or WhatsApp all count) before the day is booked in, so there's no argument later about what was agreed or what it costs.
The quote assumes the flue is basically sound once the old lining and soot are cleared out. Sometimes it isn't. If the liner won't route past an offset the camera survey couldn't fully show, or masonry has to be opened up to free or bring down a liner that's stuck, we stop, explain what we've found and what it means, and quote the extra work — including making good any brickwork opened up — separately before carrying on. That extra work is not covered by the original lining price, and the Flue Inspection fee is not refunded in this situation, because the inspection was genuinely carried out and the finding is a genuine one.
Because lining ties up the best part of a working day, cancelling or rescheduling with less than 48 hours' notice makes the full lining price payable, in the same way a missed sweep appointment does under 24 hours — see Cancellations below.
More than 24 hours' notice: cancel or move the appointment free of charge. Use the link in your confirmation email or ring us.
Less than 24 hours' notice, or no access on arrival: the full price of the booked service becomes payable. A slot given up at short notice cannot realistically be filled, and the travel has already been made.
Chimney lining requires 48 hours' notice to cancel or move free of charge, since it's booked as a full day. Inside that window, the full quoted lining price becomes payable.
Prepaid inspections cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice are not refunded, for the same reason.
If we cancel — weather, illness, or a job overrunning — you pay nothing, anything prepaid is refunded in full, and we'll offer you the next slot that suits.
Your cooling-off right. Because you booked online, you have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days of booking, and where that right applies it takes precedence over the 24-hour rule above. If you've asked us to attend inside that 14-day window and we've already done the work, that right no longer applies to work completed.
The External Chimney Inspection and the Drone & Thermal Stack Survey are carried out outdoors, so they depend on safe weather. An External Chimney Inspection means working on the roof at the stack, so we won't carry it out in rain, high wind, ice or poor visibility. A drone survey can't be flown in rain, strong wind or low cloud, and thermal readings are less reliable on wet surfaces.
Whether conditions are safe on the day is our decision. If they aren't, we'll contact you by 9.30am on the day — or the evening before if your appointment is before 10am — and move your appointment to the next available slot, with priority over new bookings. You pay nothing extra. If the new date doesn't suit, you can cancel instead and anything you've paid will be refunded in full.
Please don't light the fire for 24 hours before we arrive, and clear roughly a metre in front of the fireplace. We need somewhere to park within reasonable reach of the property. If the appliance or flue is unsafe to work on, we'll stop and tell you why — the visit is still chargeable, because the inspection is the work.
Tenement and shared-stack access. Where the chimney is on a shared or communal roof — a tenement close, or a stack serving more than one property — arranging safe, legal access is the customer's responsibility. That might mean a factor's permission, a common close key, or agreement from neighbours who share the stack. We won't force access, and won't take on a risk we're not satisfied is safe and lawful to take. A visit that can't go ahead because access wasn't arranged in advance is chargeable in the same way as a missed appointment.
Sweeping includes a visual check and a certificate issued on the day. A sweep is not a structural survey and does not certify the condition of the stack or the liner; those are separate inspections and are priced separately.
A sweep is a visual check, not a structural survey, and some faults only show once the flue is clean and clear — a loose terminal or pot, a section of damaged liner that soot had been hiding. We'll always tell you what we find and what it means. Fixing it is separate work, quoted on its own; it isn't assumed to be included in the price of the sweep.
We are HETAS approved and BPSS vetted, and we carry public liability insurance. Evidence of either is available on request.
Loose, corroded or poorly fixed chimney parts. Most sweeps are carried out from inside the property, from the fireplace upwards. We don't go on to the roof, so a sweep does not include checking the condition of the pot, cowl, cap, terminal or their fixings. Keeping those in good, secure condition is the property owner's responsibility.
Sweeping puts normal, unavoidable pressure through the flue and on to the parts at the top of the chimney. A part that is already loose, rusted, cracked, badly fixed or past its working life can be moved or dislodged by a normal sweep. That is a sign the part had already failed, not damage caused by us. Where we have carried out the sweep with reasonable care and skill, we are not responsible for:
We'll tell you straight away and quote for the repair separately. If you'd like the top of your chimney checked, that's our External Chimney Inspection. Please tell us before the visit if your chimney has a cowl, cap, bird guard or anything else fitted at the top.
If we damage something through our own negligence, we'll put it right or meet the cost of doing so. We are not liable for pre-existing defects that come to light during the work — a cracked liner or a failed pot that was already failing is not something the sweep caused — nor for loss that isn't a reasonably foreseeable result of our work. None of this limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, which cannot be limited in law.
Ring 07440 173696 or email jaconellichimneysltd@gmail.com. We'd much rather hear about a problem than read about it. We'll acknowledge within two working days and aim to resolve it inside fourteen.
These terms are governed by the law of Scotland, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction.
If anything here isn't clear, ring and ask. We'd rather explain it than have you guess.