Ah the chartered chimney sweep exam 
Possibly find out how many hundreds of Euros your annual required contributions will be to the Chimney Sweeps Guild, once you become one? I gather professional membership dues can still be required to be paid by a member of some professions even if the declared person of that occupation has completed no work in that year.
I think DrMarkHās wife may have encountered something similar once she was declared as an artist and very hard to revise.
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At least in the UK you only have to usually pay to retain membership of a guild or similar professional letter after name setup.
Donāt knock it - I wish our latest sweep had taken it. For 15 years weāve used the same man who absolutely understood how to clean our Godin. Unfortunately heās retired and the young guy, (with trainee in tow) hadnāt a clue. I sent him packing when I found him attempting to dismantle our flue. He was furious and (of course) told OH that it was all my fault.
Iām still looking for a replacement.
Now its actually moved into law, I would expect that to create the need for more sweeps and bad ones will just find themselves out of it. My flue pipe directly above the fire has the access door making it very easy to clean the chimney, I bet that will have the French sweep scratching his head as I have not seen that in France as I bought it over from the UK.
Many years ago the Guild of Master Builders asked if we would like to join. I asked how and when they would come and check our work,? āno needā he said āso how do you sift out the cowboysā? said I āpeople who used your service would complainā he said. Horse and door came to mind and a thanks, but no thanks.
@SuePJ our neighbours all used the same sweep so we just jumped on the list, his son took over about 4/5 yrs ago, but we noticed his work was not to the same standard as his father. We decided to use only the gas heating , for two reasons, cutting the logs was getting harder and wanted to weigh up the cost of only using gas. When the gas prices soared (bl**dy Putin) we started using wood again and having it cut to 50cms, so much easier. We though we would give the sweep another chance, for whatever reason his work had improved greatly 
even sending before and after photos.
@Corona pricing does vary, we have paid around 90euros for over a decade, but we know people that pay up to 200!
Hope you find a sweep @SuePJ , you are a little too far away for our one 
Thanks ā¬90 seems to be around the average so its helpful when we find one but I will continue for a bit longer as its a new law even if it was Russia, North Korea or China it need not apply until next year at the earliest, on the point that we have just done it as I have for the last 22 years.
Yes the Guild of master bodgers or Checkatrade or indeed any of these middle men or women are just marketing people who should find proper jobs. Checkatrade asked me and all it takes is Ā£140 and I appear as a bonafide whatever I wanted to call myself 
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Out of interest, is this price I see mentioned per chimney or for all the chimneys in a house?
Just the one for us.
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In your neck of the woods, they may charge for traveling to & from their house/business. Best ask when they have work in the village and fit you in on the same date.
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that happens hereā¦ the sweep arrives early morning and ādoesā all 5 properties, before trundling off ā¦ thus slightly cheaper for us as only the one journeyā¦
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Fact check
It is either the Guild of Master Craftsmen or the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) or to add another the National House Builders Council (NHBC).
I wasnāt a member of the first but was in both the FMB and NHBC.
I donāt disagree with comments about the likes Check a Trade as they are indeed a āfor profitā organisation run by those who are not tradespeople.
I joined the FMB in 1974 and remained a member until 2008 when I relocated to France. During my 34 year membership I gave my time freely along with other professionals to ensure building standards were maintained. There were many times when a ābuildersā membership was declined for various reasons. I was an active branch/ regional president and delegate who gave my time freely as someone who cared rather than those who are paid and donāt care.
I recently helped my son (remotely) to design and build an extension to his house in the UK. I would have dearly loved to get out my tools and built it for him but age, distance and common sense told me otherwise. We obtained many quotes and yes there are still many bodge-it and scarper/ rip off builders around but eventually found a builder I felt comfortable with. Believe IT wasnāt easy and yes he was a member of the FMB. Before engaging him I spoke with the FMB who were able to report on his credibility and put me in touch with others to check him out.
I spoke with the builder on almost a daily basis during the contract and feel sure he must have thought I was an interfering has been but we both stuck at it and built a trust between us that produced a first class job.
Whilst the FMB is an optional organisation if you want to build houses that are eligible for a mortgage there are limitations. The NHBC isnāt the only organisation but it is certainly the biggest and most used for house builders and without membership of this or other eligible organisations you cannot build a house. The rules to follow are strict and have to be adhered to and only then will a certificate be issued on a finished project. I was an NHBC registered builder for 30 years.
In all walks of life organisations receive bad press because someone feels they have been ādoneā by one of its membership but when it all boils down it is often because the client/customer didnāt recognise value for money in so much that for less money they expected the same value.
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Have just read in this eveningās Connexion that the new law in most departements applies to wood burners and pellet stoves and that each should now be swept professionally twice a year.
We have one of each and they have separate chimneys.
Was Manuās father a sweep?
Wow, thatās a little excessive.
we use our wood burner in the loungeā¦ from October to Marchā¦ normally after lunch to around 10pm as we switch the oil CH Off by mid-afternoon most of the winterā¦ unless perishingā¦
The lounge chimney is swept before we do the first lighting in early Octoberā¦ canāt see why it needs sweeping more times than currentlyā¦ but will wait for clarificationā¦
Having read the French version a few timesā¦ I think weāll be OKā¦
Delving a bit further, I found this link, which explains things , blow by blowā¦
and certainly seems to say that my routine for sweeping is fineā¦
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