Where We Work, Starting From West Hollywood
What changes as we leave West Hollywood
Close to home the work is mostly buildings. Further west and up the hills it shifts toward houses, canyons and the coast.
our home neighborhood, 1.89 square miles of apartments, condos and houses
West Hollywood
West Hollywood is where we are based, and most chimneys here belong to a building rather than a house. In the 2020 census about 80 percent of homes in the city were rented, so the person who calls is often a tenant, an owner of one unit, or a manager looking after the whole building. We write a separate note for each fireplace and send the building's part to whoever runs it.
our closest neighbor, west along Santa Monica Boulevard
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills shares a border with West Hollywood, so it is often a same-day booking for us. South of Wilshire the work looks like ours at home: duplexes and small apartment buildings with one fireplace per unit. North of Sunset a single house can have three or four, and every one gets its own page.
just east of our home streets, flats and hills
Hollywood
Hollywood starts a few blocks east of West Hollywood, and its courtyard buildings are close cousins of ours: several units around a garden, each with a fireplace that may share a stack with the one next door. We map which flue serves which unit before we sweep, then note each one separately.
hill streets around the reservoir, east along Sunset
Silver Lake
Silver Lake has plenty of duplexes and small buildings stepped into the hillsides, so a chimney can serve two units and sit two stories above the downhill side. We go up, photograph the crown and flashing, and send the pictures with each unit's note so the owner and the tenant see the same thing.
down La Cienega from West Hollywood
Culver City
Culver City has been building townhomes and condos alongside its older bungalows, so a Culver City day can include both. In the older houses the fireplace is often the one part a remodel left alone. We note what the remodel left behind: a gas line run into a wood-burning opening, or a flue that now passes through a new attic.
the city around our West Hollywood base, booked by building
Los Angeles
West Hollywood sits inside Los Angeles on almost every side, so a lot of our LA calls come from blocks a short drive from home. We book them the way we book our own buildings: tell us how many units and fireplaces there are, and whether the fireplaces burn wood or gas, and we plan one visit that covers them all.
houses in the canyons and condos down by San Vicente
Brentwood
Brentwood splits two ways for us. South of Sunset there are condo and apartment buildings much like ours in West Hollywood, with gas fireplaces and shared vents. North of Sunset the houses are bigger and often have two or three fireplaces, so each one gets its own line in the report.
the coast west of Topanga, booked on planned days
Malibu
Malibu is the far end of our map from West Hollywood, so we plan those days ahead and fit the full visit into one trip. Beach condos along PCH can share a stack, much like our home buildings, and we note each unit on its own. Canyon houses get a close look at the cap and spark arrestor first.
the bluffs and canyons above the coast, many lots now rebuilding
Pacific Palisades
The Palisades Fire in January 2025 destroyed thousands of buildings here, so a Pacific Palisades call is often about a house that survived next to lots that did not, or a new house with a factory-built fireplace that has never been lit. Either way we write down what we saw before anyone lights the first fire.
a beach city of apartment blocks and older houses
Santa Monica
Santa Monica is a lot like our home turf: plenty of apartments, duplexes and small condo buildings, each with one or two fireplaces and an owner who is not always the person living there. We note each unit on its own and keep the roof items, like the crown and cap, on a separate sheet for the building.
Just Past the Edge?
Your street is not on the list?
Call with the address. If it sits between two of these areas, we can usually add it to a day we are already working nearby, and for a building we plan the visit around access.