Meet the Team - Top Hat Chimney

Meet the Astoria Team Behind Top Hat Chimney

Top Hat Chimney has been working in Astoria since 1999, and the crew that shows up at your door is the same kind of people who’ve always worked here: local, plain-spoken, and serious about chimneys. Wendell Pike started this company with one truck and a set of brushes, and he’s kept the crew small on purpose. No rotating cast of subcontractors. No trainee sent out alone to figure it out on your roof. The people below are the ones you’ll actually see on a job in Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, or anywhere else in the borough. They know the row houses, the prewar walk-ups, and the particular way a Queens flue behaves after 80 years of winters.

Our People

Wendell Pike – Owner and Lead Technician

Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 after spending years working for other sweep companies and getting tired of watching corners get cut. He still runs calls himself most weeks, which means the person who gives you the estimate is often the same person who does the work. Wendell is certified through the Chimney Safety Institute of America and has pulled everything from a 1970s television antenna to a desiccated pigeon out of Astoria flues. He’s the one who answers the phone at odd hours, and he’ll tell you plainly if a chimney doesn’t need work yet. His rule, repeated to every new hire: “If I wouldn’t do it to my own house, I won’t do it to theirs.” He lives in the borough and has been known to run into customers at the grocery store on Saturday, which he considers a feature, not a bug.

Manny R. – Senior Installer, Liners and Rebuilds

Manny has been with Top Hat for 14 years and handles the heavy work: stainless steel liner installs, flue rebuilds, and the masonry repairs that older Astoria homes tend to need. He’s certified on DuraFlex and HeatShield systems and is the person Wendell trusts to run a job when the scope goes beyond a standard sweep. Manny grew up in the Bronx and worked masonry with his uncle before coming to chimneys, which is why he can look at a crumbling crown and tell you whether it’s a repoint or a rebuild without pretending to guess. He’s quiet on the job, but ask him about his daughter’s soccer team and you’ll get a rundown of the whole season. If Manny tells you a liner can wait another year, it can wait.

Elena V. – Service Coordinator

Elena is the voice on the phone when you call Top Hat Chimney, and she’s the reason nobody gets sent to a voicemail box. She’s been with the company for eight years and knows the schedule cold: which jobs need a two-person crew, which neighborhoods have parking restrictions that affect arrival times, and which customers prefer a text when the sweep is 20 minutes out. Elena handles the upfront pricing calls, so the number she quotes is the number on the invoice, period. She’s from Astoria originally and her parents still live near Ditmars, which means she fields the occasional “Elena, it’s your father, the fireplace is making a noise” call with remarkable patience. She also keeps the 90-Day Done Right Promise log, and she’s the one who makes sure a callback gets scheduled within days, not weeks.

Chris T. – Apprentice Sweep

Chris is the newest member of the crew, two years in, and he’s the one you’ll see hauling the vacuum, setting up drop cloths, and learning the difference between first-degree creosote and a glaze that needs more than a brush. Wendell hired him after watching him work a roofing job in Jackson Heights and noticing he actually cleaned up the site at the end of the day, which counts for a lot in this trade. Chris is training toward his CSIA certification and has already developed strong opinions about which chimneys in Astoria are the most annoying to access, a list he’ll happily share if you ask. He’s the one who double-checks the camera footage before it goes into a report, because he knows the photo is what keeps honest estimates honest.

One Standard, Every Job

Every person on this crew works under the same rules, and those rules haven’t changed since 1999. The price is set before a single tool comes off the truck, and it doesn’t change unless you approve a change. Every job gets a camera inspection, and you see the footage yourself, plain-English verdict included. If something doesn’t need fixing, the crew says so, even when it means a smaller invoice. And every completed job carries the 90-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if it’s not right, one call brings the crew back at no charge. Wendell and his people work under their own names, they live in the same borough they serve, and they know they’ll see you again at the bagel shop. That’s the standard. Nobody gets to skip it because it’s a busy week.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving Astoria since 1999.