TLDR – check out our companion Short -> DON’T BUY Without A Site Visit!
Picture the following scenario:
You go to a fireplace dealer and find a fireplace you love. It looks great, it gives off all the heat you could ever want, and it fits neatly into your budget. You sign the paperwork, put down a few thousand dollars, and you’re booked for a fireplace installation date. The installers show up, start work, and then…the project halts. Maybe they need different venting, maybe they need to rework your gas system, maybe there isn’t any power nearby, or maybe the worst case has happened. The fireplace itself can’t be installed where you want it. Suddenly both you and the dealer are under a massive amount of stress trying to figure out what to do.
Avoiding this situation is precisely why we don’t install a fireplace without conducting a site visit.
Sadly, this scenario plays out far more often than it should, in my opinion. Most of the time, we won’t even present a contract or collect any money without a site visit first. Getting a new fireplace should be an exciting experience for a homeowner, not stressful.
A lot of trust is placed in a fireplace dealer.
You’re trusting them to know what they’re selling, know how to install it safely, and to do so without you having to micromanage the project you’re paying them to complete. So instead of asking someone to trust us, while holding a paper out for them to sign and a credit card machine for them to tap, I prefer to show someone what we do and then let them decide.
There are four main reasons we conduct a site visit before asking a client to commit:
1) We want to ensure you’re going to get something that does exactly what you’re expecting it to do.
Not all fireplaces are the same. Heating, controls, aesthetics, and other things can vary tremendously from model to model, and brand to brand. Being in the space where you’re expecting the fireplace to be gives us invaluable information about your vision.
2) Closely related to the first point, we want to ensure that the selected fireplace is safe for the intended application.
Every fireplace design undergoes extensive testing and certification. Manufacturers then write manuals specific to these designs that detail exactly how these fireplaces can be installed safely. Ensuring the physical space and expected use are compatible with safe installation is one of the critical steps of a site visit.
3) To ensure proper pricing.
No one wants to commit to a project only to be told halfway through that the price has changed. Not all fireplace installations are the same. A fireplace model that takes 4 hours to install in your home may take 10 hours to install in your neighbor’s home. Things like venting configuration, gas system configuration, framing, electrical, roof work, and other aspects of the trade all need to be accounted for. Individual homes, even homes of the same model, can vary widely in these aspects depending on different circumstances unique to each home and each client. A site visit allows us to know exactly what will be required and to offer the best possible price from the very beginning without overpaying or surprises later, once you’re committed.
4) It saves everyone from wasted time and unnecessary stress.
Few things can be as frustrating for a homeowner as having an install crew show up to install your fireplace, only to ask you what needs to be done, then they disappear for an hour to go get materials they should have already had. By conducting a site visit, we will know, to as high a degree as possible, exactly what kind of materials and labor will be required to perform a safe installation. By reducing our uncertainty, we reduce the stress and frustration you, as the homeowner, experience. We’re able to complete the project with as little waste and stress as possible, saving everyone from these headaches.
All of that said, site visits are not a crystal ball.
Concealed issues, changes made by other trades, and the nature of construction itself means that sometimes things just can’t be known until a project is underway. But knowing as much as possible ahead of time minimizes these types of issues, and if issues do come up, everyone is better equipped to handle them.