CBD's Copper Chimney Caps Ordering page

Lead time
You can see what our work schedule is by going to our Latest News page to find out our most current lead time. We strive to check our e-mail at least a couple times each day even on the weekends, and respond within 24 hours. Give us a ring if you have not received a response within a business day after sending it to see if we got your message.

This process should go swiftly, depending on how fast you are able to answer our questions. We do have a toll free phone# listed on our Contact web page, but I may be busy in the shop or up on a ladder when people seem to call. Not just sitting at my computer. That process can take several hours to do the careful calculations (as long as I have the info I need). I also do not like to quote costs for work over the phone because then neither of us would have a written record of what was said.

In the past we were not so terribly booked out, but this Internet exposure has greatly increased our exposure. After we have locked down all the details and received your deposit, we are still booked out several months with projects before we could begin the actual fabrication of your project, so be prepare to hear we will not be able to deliver your custom project in short order. We currently have no employees to speed up production. We demand excellent craftsmanship and have not found others to equal our meticulous expectations and creativity. So it is simply on a first come-first serve basis hinging on the receipt of the deposit.

If you are confident we will be able to workout a reasonable contract you could send a $200 deposit to lock your project in our cue as soon as possible while we work out the details, taking some of the pressure off. That deposit would be 50% refundable if we were not able to work out an agreement to your liking. That is only because we want serious inquiries only, since that would push our schedule out that much further for the time being.

Prices
Prices can vary to fit your needs for a custom fabricated item due to complexity, but for most projects they run basically $20 per pound calculated from the actual weight of the finished project. Our pricing is not calculated with the the scrap cut-off included. This way the client can double check our cost with the weight once it has arrived to see they were not cheated. Most projects seem to go well over the estimated weight, so it winds up being a better bargain in the end, but the quote places a ceiling on the cost unless there are sunstancial changes made after the quote was accepted.

Besides our very unusual business practice of discounting work like this, we have been told our quotes are quite reasonable and even cheaper than the other shops. We also give discounts to clients who aid us in the quote process by carefully reading over these web pages and clearly convey their needs to us in their first e-mail with good clear photos, in order to minimize the number of e-mails needed to iron out these details. If you have read this far, you are off to a very good start. Feel free to mention this discount in your e-mail.

Currently our base rates per square foot for most custom projects (not including the crate and shipping charges) are:
$20 sq' - 16 gauge stainless steel spark arrest screening
$25 sq' - 20oz copper (most commonly used)
$30 sq' - 24 gauge stainless steel (rarely used)

$30 sq' - 24oz copper
$40 sq' - 32oz copper
$60 sq' - 48oz copper

Tricky curves tend to add substantially to the complexity and cost of a project.

If you are not local we will need to add the cost of a wood crate with the cost of truck shipping through Roadrunner /Dawes w/hydraulic lift-gate service in most cases. One benefit we offer that you will not find else where is how we only charge for the amount of copper actually left in the fabricated piece. We will weigh it upon completion to find the amount of copper that actually went into it and adjust the cost accordingly. We do not charge you for the cut-off waste used within that cost per square foot. This is a detail that you can verify when you receive the unit(s), so there is no deception possible. This has been part of our ethical business model over the last 15 years.

We have no control of the shipping time, other than to charge you a huge cost for 2 day, or overnight shipping, which can cost more than the custom copper fabrication. Most of the ground shipments have not been taking more than a week for delivery, so it hardly seems worth the cost of moving such large projects just a few days sooner. We have rarely had had a client who was willing to pay that much for Express Shipping.

Payments
To lock you into our schedule:
full payment is required on projects under $500
a 1/2 down deposit is required for larger projects over $500, and final payment before it ships.
a 1/3 down deposit is required for large projects over $2k. The second third when we show you we have begun work on your project through digital photos. Then final payment before it ships. By then you will have much more confidence that you will be receiving just what you ordered, and we would have a chance to weigh it in order to recalculate the final cost down to what copper actually went into your order.

Trust
We all know what a scary ugly world it is; full of liars and cheats. I believe that our referrals web page and Business Integrity Award from the Better Business Bureau should give even the worst skeptic confidence in our ethical responsibility and devotion to our clients. Because of this we have only had less than 5% of our potential clients express discomfort with our payment policy. This has not been much of an issue, but if you do not trust us, you should simply not do business with us under any terms.

What Sort of Information Will We Need?
We understand how hard it is to decide on a style of chimney cap that would look best for your house. Here is what a client sent to us that they had done to help them decide what style to go with:

To fabricate a copper chimney cap for you, we need to know a few details:

Your Info: Your complete contact info to send the copper chimney cap out to you: name, address, and phone number. The shipper needs your phone # to call you if there is some problem finding your address. The shippers prefer to have a business address to deliver it to, so there is a better chance to have a person there to receive it, but that is not a requirement in most cases. We will need to know if you will need lift-gate service at the job site to unload the crate.
Size: How long and wide the base needs it be to fit over your chimney and secure properly in high wind situations, that can also be removable for cleaning. We also need to know how wide you want the roof in relation to the base.
Obstructions: What size and type of flues are protruding out of the chimney. What is the inside displacement, so we can match the exhaust flow with the side vent screening area on each of the 4 sides so there is no restrictions. Digital photos may be needed, so we can better see what the chimney cap will be mounted on to be sure it will fit properly.
Style: What style cap you are looking to have us build. If you do not find what you are looking for in the examples shown above, you can have your ideas diagramed, then scan it in to send it to us as a image file. We have a cable modem, so large file sizes are not a problem. Everything you can do to help convey your wishes will aid in getting just what you want from us, and we will better be able to quote you a price. Our primary goal is you provide you with your dream cap at a price you can live with.
Roof Angle: The angle of the roof that would be best. Normally this is calculated in the inch rise per 12 inches in from the outer edge. Example: a 6/12 pitch is half of a 45 degree angle. The second number is always 12. It is best to match the roof pitch of the house roof to help make it look like it fits with the style of the house.

Why do we primarily use copper?
We prefer to work in copper for the client's advantages, not ours. Here is a few of the reasons why:

(a) Copper can handle heat much better than aluminum (as long as it is not soldered together).

(b) Copper costs the same as stainless steel, but has several advantages, as listed below:

(c) Copper sheet metal is thicker than standard stainless steel sheet metal for the same strength, so it is heavier for better stability in high winds.

(d) Copper does not need to be painted, resolving any future repainting issue. It is a metal that is meant to be seen with it's attractive patina effect that darkens the metal within a few months exposure to the elements. It remains a classy look, and less conspicuous than stainless steel, which remains a bright shiny eyesore, and is prone to mildew on the Northern side.

(e) Copper will not mildew and has been known to aid in reducing mildew and moss growth below the area it is installed.

We feel that since the cost labor is by far the largest part of the cost for any custom work like this, why use cheaper materials? If it is built well, it is common knowledge that copper has proven to last out in harsh elements for well over a century. But this is the key we place most of our focus on "If built well". Even if it were to be made with a steel that is 3 times as thick, it would still only last 1/3 as long as copper. That is a 9 to one ratio or better over the most common metal used for chimney caps, but when you calculate the lost labor of fabrication and the replacement installation cost, the spread is far greater.

Even if you got a fantastic deal on a smaller chimney cap made of steel for only $600, in the long run that is actually more expensive than paying over $4,000 for a larger more decorative copper unit that would last well over a century. If you want to avoid the rust stains it will cause if left up there too long, you would have to change out the steel unit every 10 years or so, if you are lucky. Then there is the resale value of the house to consider, which is likely greater than the cost difference of using a cheaper metal. That issue alone would be profitable to go with a better unit.

How thick is the copper we use?
For some reason they do not use the same scale for the different types of sheet metal. Copper is gauged by weight per square foot, so if they use a different gauge it is likely that they are actually using stainless steel or just cheap steel sheet metal that will rust and fall apart in short order. The standard copper fabrication shops work with only a thin 12oz or 16oz copper sheet metal to help bring down the high cost of production, since it is easier to cut, drill, and bend. That is the standard in the industry. They also will not have bracing inside the roof cover. This detail would add about twice the metal needed, but makes a huge difference in the strength of the unit to resist the elements they will be exposed to. Like heavy snow loads, high winds, and being hit by a falling branch.

All of our custom work in the last few years has been fabricated with a thicker 20oz solid copper sheet metal or even thicker where needed. All the way up to 48oz copper. To give you an example of this statement; 20oz copper is so rarely requested by contractors and other shops that we did not even know our metal supplier could order 20oz copper sheets until 2003. A full decade after specializing in sheet metal work. Now it is the only large sheets for custom fabrication that we get there.

We have an old copper scupper on display here that we had replaced it back in 2002, which is a classic design you will not see made in these modern days. It had a few holes worn through the left side because they used such a thin copper in it's construction. Also the soldered seams were cracking apart even though there was no sign of an impact. The client had already bought a new scupper from a different shop for me to replace this with. It was not nearly as ornate. I could see how the new scupper was no better built, so I made a funneling copper liner for it to be hidden inside, so this same failure would not happen again. At least it would last twice as long this way.

Fasteners
We provide the stainless steel mechanical fasteners with each project to make sure it will be secured well and still be removable decades later without damaging the unit. We do our best to design chimney caps that will be attached strong enough to withstand the highest wind gusts you are likely to have in your area, yet still be removable for flue cleaning, or some other servicing that may be required over the next century or so.

Nails: We do not recommend using nails for mounting any of our products, let alone chimney caps. There is a very good chance it will need to be removed again for servicing and the flues may need swept out. On the left is a solid copper 1.5" nail. We also have 2" copper nails and hardened masonry nails if requested. These would be the most inconspicuous looking fasteners, but these are not much good for chimney cap installations.
Standard Stainless Steel Screws: in the middle is a #2 Phillips screw, 1" to 2" long, with a low profile round head. Again this screw is too small and fragile in our opinion. We stopped using the #2 slot screws a few years ago even for aluminum downspout attachment for our gutter systems.
Larger SS Screws: on the right is the stainless steel screws we provide with our custom chimney cap fabrications. We do this so the installers will be sure to use a good fastener. We have these in a 1", 1.5", and 2" #14 shaft stainless steel screw, that takes a larger #3 Phillips screwdriver tip, which is a lot less likely to strip out during installation. Besides installation, this means it is a lot more likely to be reusable if the chimney cap needs any sort of servicing latter on.
SS Bolts w/Locking Nuts: we also supply the client with stainless steel bolts and locking nuts where needed, or use them for assembly where rivets will not be enough to hold the structure together well enough.

Instead of a brick chimney flue; lots of modern houses are built with fireplaces that use an insolated flue pipe that is covered up by a wood stud frame, where the outside is painted. Fancier houses will have a stucco or rock facing mortared over the wood. For these types of chimney caps we usually build a custom angle cut wood base for the chimney cap to rest on (shown above painted blue mounted over the crate base w/screws) This frame bolts down to the studs and overhangs the exterior cover. If the chimney box has a double top stud plate (as shown here), they are just be nailed down, which could be pulled off in high winds, so for these wood frames we provide several 3/8" shaft 8" long lag screws with washers to fasten that base deep into the studs to secure it propperly.

Minimum orders
Our minimum order charge for any custom work is $200, but since most copper chimney caps we make cost well above that, this has not been much of an issue.

What about Volume Discounts
Yes, we will give volume discounts. We also give discounts to clients who aid us in the quote process by carefully reading over these web pages and clearly convey their needs to us in their first e-mail with good clear photos, in order to minimize the number of e-mails needed to iron out these details. If you have read this far, you are off to a very good start. Feel free to mention this discount in your e-mail.

Introduction: How are we different?	Info We Need?	Shape Options?
Why Copper Sheet Metal?	Pricing?	Fasteners?
Copper Sheet Metal Thickness?	Minimum Order?	References?
Step-by-step Cap Fabrication Pages	Lead Time?	Contact Info?