Meet the Team - Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Meet the Wakefield Team Behind Hearthstone Chimney Co.

Our Wakefield crew isn’t a rotating cast of subcontractors. These are the same faces who’ll show up at your door in Lynnfield, Saugus, or right here on Main Street. They share a stubborn preference for doing something once and doing it right, plus a collective inability to leave a jobsite messier than they found it. Russell built this team slowly, and he’s kept them longer than most companies in this trade can claim.

Call (857) 364-8219

Our People

Russell Haines, Owner & Master Sweep

I’ve been climbing roofs in Essex County since 1984, back when Wakefield still had more dairy farms than Starbucks. Started Hearthstone Chimney Co. with a borrowed brush and a stubborn belief that homeowners deserved to actually understand what was wrong with their chimney, not just hand over a check. These days I spend more time running Level-2 camera inspections and training our apprentices than I do on the roof myself, though I still take the steep ones nobody else wants. I live in Melrose with my wife and a border collie who has opinions about ladder safety. You’ll know it’s me on your job because I’ll be the one explaining creosote buildup with hand gestures.

Dan M., Lead Technician

Dan’s been with us fourteen years, which in this trade means he’s seen pretty much every way a chimney can fail in New England weather. He’s our go-to for complex rebuilds and the guy who figures out why a fireplace smokes only when the wind comes from the northeast off Lake Quannapowitt. Certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America and oddly proud of his collection of vintage chimney pots. Lives in Reading with two teenagers who think his job is “literally just cleaning stuff.” Dan’s the technician who’ll notice your flashing was installed backward in 1987 and explain why it matters without making you feel foolish for not catching it yourself.

Marcus T., Senior Installer

Marcus joined us after eight years doing commercial HVAC, and he brought a rigor to liner installations that frankly made the rest of us step up our game. He specializes in DuraFlex stainless steel relining and HeatShield cerfractory flue repair, the kind of work where a quarter-inch miscalculation means starting over. Grew up in Malden, still plays in a men’s hockey league where his teammates call him “Chimney” because he’s always leaving early for emergency calls. Marcus is the reason our liner jobs rarely need a return visit. He’s also the one who remembers to bring boot covers and actually uses them.

Jen K., Service Coordinator

Jen’s the voice you get when you call (857) 364-8219 at 10 PM on a Saturday because you smelled something wrong after the first fire of the season. She’s been with Hearthstone nine years, knows every technician’s strengths and every customer’s history, and has talked more than one panicked homeowner through safely extinguishing a chimney fire while dispatching help. Grew up in Wakefield, went to Wakefield Memorial High, still roots for the Warriors. Jen’s the one who makes sure Dan doesn’t get scheduled three towns away from Marcus when they’re supposed to be working the same job, and she’s the one who remembers that you have a dog who hates strangers and tells the crew to call first.

Elena R., Apprentice Technician

Elena’s in her third year with us, working toward her CSIA certification while already handling standard sweeps and basic cap installations solo. She came to us from a general home maintenance background and asked more questions in her first month than most apprentices manage in a year. The rest of the crew was skeptical at first, a young woman in a trade that’s mostly middle-aged men, but she’s won them over by being the first one up the ladder and the last one to call it a day. Lives in an apartment near Lake Quannapowitt, runs the Wakefield Farmers Market volunteer crew on summer Saturdays. Elena’s our future, and she knows it, though she’d never say so out loud.

One Standard, Every Job

The K.E.Y.S. code isn’t a poster in our break room. Krafted right, Every time, Your home first, Standing behind it. That’s the agreement Russell made with every one of these people when he hired them, and it’s the agreement they make with you when they show up. Whether it’s a $89 seasonal tune-up in Wakefield or a full liner replacement in a Peabody Victorian, the process is the same: camera inspection, photos you can see, a plain-English verdict, and a price that doesn’t budge once it’s written down. The 90-Day Done Right Promise covers every technician’s work because Russell’s name is on the company, and he’s the one who answers when something goes sideways. Most jobs finish in a single visit. When they don’t, it’s because we found something worth showing you before we fix it. That’s the Keystone Standard, and this is the crew that lives up to it.

Written by Russell Haines, Owner at Hearthstone Chimney Co., serving Wakefield and Essex County since 1984.