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About Chimney Sweeps
Chimney Sweeps International is your directory to find the best chimney professionals near you. Established by Ray Gessner, the owner of A Step in Time Chimney Sweeps, this directory aims to provide homeowners with the best experience in hiring professional chimney technicians.
Raymond Gessner
Founder and CEO, A Step in Time
Raymond Gessner is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of A Step in Time, a leading home services company specializing in chimney, roofing, foundation, and insurance claim inspections. Since founding the company in 1998, Ray has been at the helm, guiding its growth and innovation across multiple states. Under his leadership, A Step in Time has earned a reputation for technical excellence, customer trust, and a commitment to code-compliant inspections and repairs.
Ray is a Master Tradesman licensed in HVAC, Plumbing, and Gasfitting by the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has also passed the Virginia Class A Contractor Exam, underscoring his deep knowledge of construction practices and code compliance. Ray holds an OSHA 30 certification, reflecting his commitment to workplace safety and regulatory standards. In addition to this, he is currently licensed as a Professional Engineer in a wide range of jurisdictions, including Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington.
Ray leads a team of highly trained inspectors who adhere to the International Code Council’s May 2020 Remote Virtual Inspection Guidelines, ensuring consistency and reliability in all inspection procedures. With specialized expertise in geotechnical and structural engineering, Ray brings a comprehensive understanding of residential construction systems, which plays a crucial role in evaluating complex issues related to roofing, chimneys, foundations, and home insurance claims.
Through his vision and technical leadership, Raymond Gessner continues to expand A Step in Time’s reach while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism, safety, and structural integrity.
Training
We strive to provide the highest level of training or access to training to all of our chimney sweeps. With training and quality control, this is the perfect combination to provide the best chimney sweep and repair services to customers nationwide. Our training video vault and chimney sweep testing programs allows the most seasoned chimney professional the ability to quickly and efficiently train their technicians.
Branding
Our website is the premier website for chimney sweeps from a URL perspective. We have been developing this concept for over ten years. The problem with chimney companies is that to establish a strong online presence, they must expend considerable effort on SEO and other development work, which is often limited to their local area. We thought, “Why not engineer a website, phone number, and call center that handles everything for a local company at a national level discount?” And this directory is an outcome of that vision.
Mentoring
There are over 5000 chimney sweep companies in the United States. Most of these companies are operating independently and learning as they go. As part of our member package, we connect companies in groups of 8 that meet for 4 hours per month via video conference sessions. These guided sessions are designed for chimney technicians and chimney companies to ask questions, share their experiences, and exchange insights. With confidentiality agreements, what happens in these group sessions remains confidential within the group sessions.