A chimney service general manager runs one branch as a business: its sweep routes, repair and masonry crews, office and profit. The GM keeps the fall wait short, approves large repair proposals, and makes sure the off-season fills with relines, crowns and other repair work.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building services companies · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $45,720, middle half $60,290 to $118,560, 90th percentile $164,990. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Chief Operating Officer
Department
Operations
Schedule
Weekdays, Saturdays in the fall · Branch office and job sites most days, longer weeks in the fall rush, and after-hours calls for urgent customer problems
Also called
Branch manager · Market manager · Location general manager
Chimney service general manager job description template
This is our Role Blueprint, word for word. Replace the highlighted fields and adjust the example targets and pay to fit your company.
You'll run one chimney and fireplace branch as your own business: its profit and loss, its crews and its customers. You'll staff up for the fall rush, keep sweep and inspection routes full, fill the slower months with repair and masonry work, and make sure inspection findings turn into repairs done right.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Own the branch profit and loss, budget and staffing plan for the fall rush and the slower spring and summer months.
Fill the off-season with crown, cap, damper, masonry and relining work, and with sweep and inspection reminders to past customers.
Set daily sweep and inspection targets per technician, and work with the Operations Manager on routes that keep drive time low.
Set inspection standards: when a Level 2 inspection is called for, such as a home sale or a new appliance, and how the video scan and findings are recorded.
Review repair proposals from inspections, such as relining, crown rebuilds and damper replacements, for scope and price before they go out.
Build referral relationships with real estate agents, home inspectors and insurance adjusters.
Lead the Operations Manager, Sales Manager and Office Manager, and hold the branch to safety rules for roofs, ladders and masonry dust.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review yesterday's sweeps, inspections, repair sales and callbacks.
Check how far out the booking calendar runs and adjust staffing before the fall backlog grows.
Approve repair proposals over [your limit] and any discount requests.
Call customers with complaints, chimney fire damage or disputed inspection findings.
Visit a job site, such as a rebuild or relining, to check quality and safety.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Branch net profit: [your target].
Repair sales from inspections: [your target].
Sweeps and inspections per technician per day: [your target].
Fall booking lead time: [your target].
Callbacks on repairs: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[5+] years managing a chimney, fireplace, HVAC, roofing or other home service branch or department.
Profit and loss responsibility, and comfort reading job and branch financials.
Working knowledge of chimney sweeping, inspections, relining and masonry repair.
Experience planning staff and marketing around a strong busy season.
Experience leading managers and field crews.
6. Preferred Experience
CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep credential.
NFI certification from the National Fireplace Institute.
Hands-on time as a chimney technician.
Knowledge of NFPA 211 and how your local code applies it.
7. Physical Requirements
Office work plus regular job site visits.
Climb ladders and walk roofs to review work.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Based at the [branch] office, with time in the field most days.
Longer hours and some Saturdays during the fall rush.
Occasional after-hours calls about urgent customer problems.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new general manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
The GM's branch makes its money in two very different seasons and closes many of its biggest sales in the customer's living room. Both shape the job.
A repair sold in the living room can be canceled
The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule covers most sales of 25 dollars or more made at the buyer's home. Its exception for a repair visit the customer asked for doesn't reach extra goods or services sold during that visit. So a reline sold after a sweep generally needs the written notice giving the buyer three business days to cancel, plus the cancellation forms. Some states add their own rules. Source: 16 CFR Part 429: FTC Cooling-Off Rule (eCFR).
Local air rules can change a rebuild
Some markets limit wood burning. In the Bay Area, a fireplace or chimney remodel that needs a building permit and costs more than 15,000 dollars, not counting the permit, must include a gas, electric or EPA-certified device. The Air District last amended that rule on October 1, 2025. A GM in a market like that prices and scopes big rebuilds around the rule before the proposal goes out. Source: Bay Area Air District: Regulation 6, Rule 3, wood-burning devices (amended October 1, 2025).
The fall wait is the branch's pressure gauge
When the booking calendar stretches out, callers may book whoever answers first. Decide who gets the open slots: households that heat with wood, chimney fire calls and past customers before brand-new ones. Decide too when to add Saturday routes and when to stop promising dates the crews can't keep.
Agents and inspectors want speed
Real estate agents and home inspectors send inspections tied to a closing date. That work pays and brings new customers, but the report goes to a buyer and a seller with money on the line. The GM promises a turnaround the crews can meet and keeps every finding the same no matter who referred the job or how close the closing is.
How much chimney service general managers make
The closest BLS group for chimney service general managers is general and operations managers. General and operations managers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $82,580 a year ($39.70 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $105,770 median for general and operations managers in all industries. About 74,770 of the 3,503,020 general and operations managers in that survey work for building services companies.
Pay a salary plus a bonus on branch profit, and tie part of it to callbacks and complaints, so repair sales aren't the only number that pays.
Building services companies
$82,580$82,580 median Middle half $60,290–$118,560 10th–90th $45,720–$164,990
All industries
$105,770$105,770 median Middle half $72,320–$167,280 10th–90th $50,090–$253,390
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Building services companies
$45,720
$60,290
$82,580
$118,560
$164,990
All industries
$50,090
$72,320
$105,770
$167,280
$253,390
BLS doesn’t publish pay for chimney sweeps on their own. These figures cover services to buildings and dwellings, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has run a branch or department profit and loss in a home service business
Reads an inspection video and a repair proposal, and can tell when they don't match
Staffs and schedules for a fall peak without losing money in spring
Calms an upset homeowner about a finding or a mess without giving away the job
Builds steady referral ties with agents, inspectors and insurance adjusters
Teach these on the job
Your price book and approval limits
Your in-home contract and its cancellation notice
Local air district and building permit rules in your market
Your inspection report standard
Your field service and accounting reports
The GM runs the branch from field service software: the booking calendar, inspection reports with photos and video, repair proposals and the price book. Monthly branch financials come from accounting, and a good GM can trace any line back to the jobs behind it.
Chimney service general manager interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Planning for the fall rush
In August, the booking calendar already runs [four] weeks out for October. How do you plan staffing and scheduling for the fall?
A strong answer: Forecasts from last year, hires and trains early, moves repair work into late summer, sends reminders to past customers, sets overtime limits and protects inspection quality.
Behavioral · Job costing by service
Tell me about a time you found that a type of job, like masonry repair or relining, was losing money once all costs were counted. What did you change?
A strong answer: Costed real labor, materials, return trips and warranty work by job type, then fixed estimating, pricing or crew assignment, and tracked margin afterward.
The template leaves the targets to you. Set them from the branch's last two years, and set fall and spring targets on their own.
Branch net profit
Monthly profit after branch overhead, compared with budget and the same month last year. Watch how deep the spring dip goes, not only how high the fall peak runs.
Repair sales from inspections
Repair revenue that came from the branch's own sweeps and inspections. Read it next to cancellations, complaints and footage reviews, so the number rises for the right reasons.
Sweeps and inspections per technician per day
Completed sweeps and inspections divided by technician days worked, from the job software. Compare like with like, since a Level 2 with a camera takes far longer than a routine sweep.
Fall booking lead time
Days from a customer's call to the first open appointment, checked weekly from September on. Track how many callers hang up or book elsewhere when the wait grows.
Callbacks on repairs
Return trips on crowns, liners, caps and masonry, counted by crew and by the month the work was done. Leaks often show up only after heavy rain, so judge a crew over a full season.
Can one person be a chimney branch's GM and operations manager?
This template keeps them apart: the operations manager, sales manager and office manager all report to the GM. The split works when the GM spends the fall on proposals, referral partners and complaints while the operations manager keeps routes, trucks and cameras moving. A branch with only a few trucks may not carry both yet, and then one person runs the crews too, with the master technician checking the work.
How much does a chimney service general manager make?
General and operations managers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $82,580 a year ($39.70 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $60,290 and $118,560 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Should a chimney general manager hold CSIA or NFI certification?
The template lists both as a plus, not a must. CSIA's Certified Chimney Sweep covers evaluating and maintaining chimney and venting systems. The National Fireplace Institute certifies people who plan and install hearth appliances and their venting, by fuel: gas, wood and pellet. NFI certifications last three years. A GM who holds either one will be trusted more by the crews.
How should a chimney GM handle a customer who disputes a finding?
Sit down with the customer and the camera footage. If the finding is clear, show it and explain the choices, including doing nothing for now. If it isn't clear, send the master technician for a second look at no charge. Never let the price drop be the only answer, since that tells the customer the finding was a sales tactic.
Why does the chimney GM template mention ladders and roofs?
Because much of what the GM signs off on sits up there: a new crown, a cap, flashing, the top of a liner. Some of it can't be judged from the ground or from photos taken by the crew that did the work. The template adds "with or without reasonable accommodation," so list those checks in the ad and talk through how a candidate would get them done.
