Advance Chimney Specialists

Advance Chimney Specialists was founded 26 years ago as a small, local company in Uniontown, PA. Prior to opening his own business, Michael Schock started as an apprentice with another company for a brief period of time and learned everything he could with the intent of eventually opening his own chimney company. Advance Chimney Specialists began as a one-truck operation, with Schock and one employee serving only the immediate, local area. The company has now grown to a nine-truck operation with 22 employees. Advance Chimney Specialists proudly serves the greater Pittsburgh area, in addition to many other areas in Southwestern PA and several areas within West Virginia

The company values its employees and thinks of them as family. They are the backbone of the company and they strive to do all they can to help Advance Chimney Specialists achieve continued success by becoming certified, completing continued education to retain their certification, attending new training and doing the best job they can with their customers' safety in mind. A large part of Advance Chimney Specialists’ customer base are repeat customers who put their trust and confidence in the company to come back every year and maintain their fireplaces and appliances. Advance Chimney Specialists believes in doing the right thing above all else and their mission is to preserve life by eliminating fire and carbon monoxide hazards, while simultaneously improving quality of life and peace of mind.

“At Advance Chimney Specialists, we pride ourselves on the fact that we provide a quality service for an affordable price, without ever compromising the integrity of our product or craftsmanship,” says Michael Schock, president of Advance Chimney Specialists. “Being awarded the Torch Award for Ethics validates all of our hard work and commitment to our customers and our industry and we are proud that our customers have come to recognize us as chimney experts.”

Advance Chimney Specialists sponsors several local sports teams and various charities and organizations locally and nationwide. They support such organizations as St. Jude Children's Hospital, the Brain Injury Association of America, the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, Goodwill, the Epilepsy Foundation and have volunteered for the Salvation Army. Advance Chimney Specialists also donates to various animal shelters in the area. Volunteering and contributing to such worthwhile organizations has always given the company a sense of great pride, but without their customers and employees, they recognize that none of this would be possible.

According to Torch Awards judge, Jim Weber, “Advanced Chimney Specialists is guided by industry standards and the owner’s vision to safeguard life. The company has a commitment to high standards of integrity, professionalism, concern for fair pricing with customers, honesty and involvement with the community, with both financial contributions and use of employees’ time.”

“Advance Chimney Specialists demonstrated several examples of ethical practices including voluntary certification, use of documentation to educate consumers about chimney issues and ongoing training, including third party safety training,” says Torch Awards judge, Akwasi Opoku-Dakwa. “The company provided examples of how they use customer feedback as a form of auditing work quality and specific approaches to bringing their mantra of ‘serving not selling’ to life.”