\Chimney Sweeps Sweep Up Cash
Shared From MOTHER EARTH NEWS Written By: MOTHER EARTH NEWS editors
Chimney Problems Open Up One Heck of a Business Opportunity
We can draw at least three conclusions from this short history lesson:
[1] Since it now seems obvious that the “convenient” ways of heating a house — with natural gas, oil, and electricity — are going to continue getting more and more expensive as time goes on . . . it seems just as obvious that more and more families in the United States will continue making the switch back to heating with coal and wood in the years to come.
[2] Which means — whether they know it yet or not, and more and more people are discovering the fact every day — that an increasingly large percentage of this continent’s population is destined to live with a steadily increasing risk of fires in their flues.
[3] Which just as surely means that anyone who can nip this growing danger in the bud is suddenly going to become very, very popular and is going to be very well rewarded starting now and continuing throughout the years ahead.
Chimney Sweeps Sweep Up Cash
And who is the most logical candidate to cash in on this burgeoning new demand? Who is the “anyone” most likely to become well rewarded for nipping the danger of flue fires in the bud? Why, a brand-new version of that fine old almost-mythical character of European folklore . . . the chimney sweep. That’s who!
And that’s also exactly how today’s new breed of sweep is bursting upon the scene . . . as a black suited, top hatted, dancing-on-the-roof reincarnation of the character Dick Van Dyke played in the movie, Mary Poppins. Or, to put it another way, as a modern-day version of the traditional 19th century European chimney sweep.
Laugh at this showmanship if you like, but the sweeps who’ve tried it recently here in the U.S. and Canada have found that the legendary “top hat and tails” outfit of their trade has rocketed them to success overnight. As one of the new and very dedicated young men in the trade says:
“By recreating the image of a 19th century sweep, we accomplish several important things. [1] We grab people’s attention, thereby making it easier for us to tell them about the dangers of chimney fires. [2] We grab the media’s attention, and the newspaper stories and TV features which result both help us spread the word about the hazard of flue fires and, just incidentally, makes our business grow by leaps and bounds. [3] Our image puts a little fun back into life. Stop and think. Who would you rather have clean your chimney: a 20th century serviceman wearing white coveralls and a baseball cap . . . or a 19th century tradesman dressed up in top hat and tails? Hell, I’ve even had grown men go out of their way to shake my hand and pretty girls give me a kiss — just like something out of Mary Poppins — when they see my outfit. And [4] this simple little bit of imagery all adds up to a more lucrative operation for us. We attract people’s attention, they feel good having us do a job for them, and-instead of begrudging us a reasonable fee for our services-they usually seem downright happy to pay for our work.”
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To Sum up the Chimney Cleaning Business
Sweeping chimneys may not exactly be a “lazy man’s way to riches” . . . but the pay is exceptional, the demand is steadily growing for this particular service once again, and new equipment now makes the job far easier and safer than ever before. Perhaps best of all, this most definitely is one of those “dream” businesses that so many of us are always looking for: a business with flexible hours and very low overhead that requires less initial investment (figure, at most, $2,000 to get started with August West) than you can earn back in just two full weeks of work.
This may — all things considered — be the best start-on-a-shoestring enterprise that MOTHER has ever featured . . . and we’re gonna be mighty surprised if a hundred or more readers of this magazine don’t eventually wind up as $1,000-a-week chimney sweeps. Be sure to let us know if you’re one of the hundred!
To continue reading about Chimney Sweeping as a Homestead Business, check out Make Money in the Chimney Sweep Business on MOTHER EARTH NEWS.
2 Comments
I started my chimney sweep business in 1983 after ready an August West add in Mother Earth News. While there is money to be made, business varys widely by season. Fall is very busy and spring can be real slow. It took years to build up my business. Repair work becomes a large part of the off season. Expenses are also something to consider. Chimney sweeps are subject to tremendous liability and liability insurance can eat up a lot of profits. For the first few years I was constantly adding to my tools and equipment. If you are truly interested, there is a wealth of information available through the National Chimney Sweep Guild NCSG.org.
I wore a black turtleneck shirt and black jeans to work in and top hat and tails when arriving and leaving. I had people ask me if I was the one who wore a top hat.
If things get really bad and folks can’t afford a sweep, they might like to do it the old-fashioned way I remember my neighbours doing in the 60s. One person climbs onto the roof with a heavy stone tied to a long coil of rope. The stone is lowered down the chimney, where another person indoors gives a tug on it to let the person up top know it has landed; this person then ties a holly bush to the rope, (approximately halfway along), and it is pulled up and down several times until all the soot is loosened. This inevitably drops to the floor and makes a mess. It is nowhere near as tidy a job as a modern sweep, but does the job if there is no sweep available or no money to pay them. I just hope there will always be a sweep available when I need one; mine always leaves the place really clean.