Company History
We started in Brady Texas in 1980 when I could not find a chimney sweep for my own chimney. Asking around I was told "I don't know of one but if you find one let me know." So after hearing that many, many times I bought the equipment, studied the manuals and did it myself. Several friends then asked us to do theirs and I haven't stopped cleaning chimneys yet. Funny thing is our chimney had never been used. I just wanted it checked, cleaned and to make sure it was operating properly. It was a very small fireplace and we struggled to get any heat out of it. Our first attempt was to purchase a C shaped grate with a blower that pushed hot air into the room. That worked for a few years until I started selling Fisher brand woodstoves and fireplace inserts. I installed a Honey Bear insert and it provided us with enough heat to heat the 2000+ square foot home. A couple of years later we moved and never returned. We eventually sold the home and I have wondered for years if the fireplace is even used now. If got plenty of use when we were there though.
That start got me to solving chimney problems very early on which I still am very good at.
Service Area
We have cleaned chimneys along a 250 mile stretch from San Angelo to Waco but now focus mainly in the Lampasas, Coryell and Bell county areas of central Texas. We will go outside of the area if you have several friends who want their chimneys cleaned at the same time. When we come and do several in a day, it pays for us to come and help you out. Give us a call and we can discuss it.
We have now stepped up our service to the Temple area and have a trailer with our equipment stationed there. My son Shandy does most of the work there. He has been helping since he was knee high to a jack rabbit and any binds he gets in I am there to help. We are Temple's most experienced sweeps and the only certified chimney sweeps in this part of the state.
We simply think we are the best chimney sweeps in Central Texas, if not Texas. We guard our good name with great customer service.
Experience that counts
Doug Ables was one of, if not the first chimney sweep in Texas to be certified by the Wood Heating Safety Alliance and continues to maintain the level of knowledge the process intended. He and Shandy are now certified by Chimney Professionals. Few other southern chimney sweeps have gone to the lengths we have to let our customers know they can trust us. This knowledge is coupled with over thirty two years experience and translates into many, many happy customers who have benefited from our work. One of the comments often heard is "they are not pushy salesmen. They tell us what we need and why and let's us decide and consider the consequences."
Shandy lives in Temple and is a motorcycle patrolman with the Temple Police Department. Doug's youngest son, Micah helps but has other obligations now as he is attending the United States Military Academy at West Point where he is in his senior year. Sons-in-law Derland Bahr and Daniel Priestly help as needed. Derland is the company accountant also. Grandsons Joseph and Samuel Bahr also help in the busier times of the year. Shandy's son Jacob Ables is standing by waiting to get older so he can help too.
Doug's wife Mary handles all the sectretarial work and most of the phone answering as well as patiently counseling distraught callers with chimney problems. We have been complimented many times on the helpful and pleasant way she conducts business. Our small family business has been doing this since 1980 and growing every year. While we want to grow we never want to outgrow the personalized customer service and friendliness we are known for. And we won't, I guarantee that. Every once in a while we have customers bothered by us not answering the phone in a business like fashion. Too bad-we are just down to earth, friendly people and want to treat you as a friend---not just a customer.
Doug graduated from Brady High School in 1970 and was scouted by the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees to play baseball. He was invited to a tryout with the Dodgers and was hurt in the process ending his dreams. He then decided to stay close to his dream and by becoming a baseball sportscaster. He attended Career Academy of Broadcasting in Houston in that quest. His first job out of school was in Childress, Texas at KCTX where he was a DJ and covered High School basketball for the Hollis Oklahoma Tigers(Darrell Royals' hometown). When his health started giving him problems he moved to Kerrville, Texas to be close to his dear grandparents. There he worked at KERV radio as DJ and color analyst for basketball with Jack Bailey(former broadcaster for the Cincinnati Redlegs). They covered Kerrville Tivy Antler football, basketball and baseball as well Shreiner Mountaineer College basketball.
Doug migrated into news and moved to KBST in Big Spring to become News Director at age 19. He was to appear on "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" covering a freak August killer tornado but was pre-empted by the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He has been heard many, many times on the Texas State Network with regional news reports and given the Newsman of the Year award by the local Civitan club. As his health worsened Doug and his new wife moved back to Kerrville and returned to KERV as News Director and sports color following an ownership change. His health worsened and after a stroke was advised by doctors to get out of the stress filled environment of radio.
He elected to return to Brady and work with his dad house painting with Ables Brothers Painting. His health did not improve and several strokes and hospital stays later led him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where he had open heart surgery.
Following the surgery Doug recuperated and returned to radio as a DJ in Brady at KNEL. In a short time he became News Director and garnered The Texas Association of Broadcasters Newsman of the Year for small market stations while there.
Wanting to recapture his dream of being in baseball, Doug decided to branch into TV after being in radio for 16 years. He worked in news at KOOV in Copperas Cove while attending Central Texas College in Killeen where he earned a degree in Telecommunications. While at KOOV he was awarded the Associated Press' Mark Twain Award for coverage of a helicopter crash killing several National Guardsmen on Fort Hood. His first job after graduation was as General Manager of KGID, Giddings. There he was the voice of the Giddings Buffalo football team. He then became General Manager and News Director of KSTB/KROO in Breckenridge, Texas. From there he went to KNUZ/KQUE radio in Houston where he was appointed News Director after 2 years. He was routinely heard on TSN, AP Radio, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN radio with stories of national interest.
While in Houston Doug was awarded the Best Feature Story in Texas for Large Market Radio Stations. It featured an interview with Dr. John Stehlin of Houston on progress in finding a cure for cancer.
The next stop was Restoration Radio Network International in Nashville, TN. There he worked with Clayton Pepper in helping to spread the gospel in Africa and other nations. He was supported in part in his mission effort by the Copperas Cove Church of Christ.
The chimney sweep business was started in 1980 and continued on the side all through the radio work Ables did. In 1995 Ables moved his family and business back to Copperas Cove working part time sweeping chimneys and full time at a big box home store in Killeen. In 2007 he began working full time chimney sweeping and dryer vent cleaning and part time at the other job.
This is truly a family business with most members helping in one capacity or another from time to time. We involve our grandchildren in the business from time to time. Most of the grandkids can be seen when they ride in parades dressed in thier top hats and tuxedos. Our grandchildren are Joseph, Samuel, Isaiah and Rebekah Bahr. Serenity and Samantha Priestly and Jacob and Callie Ables. The young boys too have expressed a desire to take over the business as they get older. We have won best float awards in all three parades we have been in.
Doug and Mary attend the Copperas Cove Church of Christ where Doug has served as an elder for 13 years.