How Ashby Chimney San Diego Was Born in San Diego
Ashby Chimney Sweep was already a name homeowners trusted before we opened our doors in San Diego. The Kingswell family built the brand around a simple idea: the sweep that shows you the flue. When the opportunity came to bring that standard to San Diego, it wasn’t a question of whether we’d do it, it was a question of who would lead it. Nathan Corliss was the answer.
He’d spent years in the trades here, crawling through attics in La Mesa, working rooftops in Poway, and hearing the same story from homeowner after homeowner: someone came out, glanced at the fireplace, and handed them a quote that felt made up. No camera. No explanation. No proof. When Nathan saw how Ashby operated, with a written price before any work starts and a camera inspection on every single job, he knew San Diego needed this. So he helped open the branch, built the local team, and got to work showing people what was actually happening inside their flues.
The reception was immediate. Homeowners in Chula Vista and El Cajon weren’t used to seeing the inside of their chimney on a screen, with a technician walking them through what was there and what it meant. That moment, when a customer looks at the footage and understands exactly what they’re paying for, is why this branch exists.
Nathan Corliss’s Personal Connection to the Chimney Cleaning Trade
Nathan didn’t grow up dreaming about chimneys. Nobody does. But he did grow up around work that mattered, the kind where you could stand back at the end of the day and see what your hands had done. That instinct stuck. When he first got into the trades, he wasn’t sure where it would take him. Then a homeowner asked him to look at a fireplace that hadn’t been cleaned in years, and he climbed up on that roof and pulled the cap off and looked down into the dark.
What he saw was creosote, thick and shiny, the kind that burns. He remembers the smell of it, acrid and heavy, like burnt tar mixed with old smoke. He remembers thinking how few people ever see this, and how many of them are sitting in living rooms every winter with a fire going, trusting that everything is fine. That moment stuck with him. The more he learned about chimney systems, the more he realized how many problems are invisible until someone bothers to look. Cracked flue tiles. Missing mortar. Liners degraded to the point where the chimney stops venting and starts leaking into the house. These aren’t dramatic discoveries. They’re quiet ones. But they matter more than almost anything else in a home.
There’s a specific satisfaction in this work that’s hard to explain. It’s not glamorous. You get dirty. You spend a lot of time on knees and ladders. But when you finish a sweep, and you show the homeowner the before and after footage, and they see the difference, there’s a kind of relief in their face. That’s what keeps Nathan doing this after all these years. Not the number of jobs, but the moment someone understands what was there, what you did about it, and that they’re safe. If he weren’t doing this, he’d still be working with his hands somewhere. But this is the work that stuck.
Meet Nathan Corliss – The Person Behind Every Job
Nathan Corliss is the Owner & Founder of Ashby Chimney San Diego. He came up through the trades the old way, learning on real jobs with real consequences, and he’s spent his career focused on one thing: doing chimney work the way he’d want it done in his own home. He’s led this branch since it opened, building the team and setting the standard for how every job goes.
What separates Nathan from a franchise technician who drives in from three counties away is that he knows this city. He knows how coastal air in Imperial Beach affects masonry, and he knows why homes in Santee and Lakeside see different creosote buildup than homes closer to the water. That local knowledge isn’t a talking point. It’s the thing that makes the work accurate. Off the clock, Nathan is the kind of person who would rather fix something than replace it if fixing it does the job right. That instinct carries into the business. Our goal isn’t to sell you something you don’t need. It’s to leave you with a chimney that works and the proof to show for it.
Our Promise to San Diego Homeowners
Every job we do runs on the same five values, what our brand calls The Kingswell Way. Say the price before the work. Show up in the window we gave. Leave the place cleaner than we found it. Put the guarantee in writing. Come back if it fails. Those aren’t slogans. They’re the operating system.
We’ve seen what happens when a company skips the camera inspection and tells a homeowner they need a liner they can’t see or verify. That’s not how we work. Every recommendation we make comes with footage you watch yourself. If we can’t show it to you, we don’t ask you to pay for it. Our pricing is given in writing before any work begins, so the number doesn’t change at the door. And our work is backed by The Kingswell Guarantee, which means if a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and fix it at no charge.
Our Credentials
- Licensed: Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license their state requires.
- Insured & bonded: Every pro working under our name is required to carry the insurance their state requires.
- Local experience: Nathan Corliss has led this branch since it opened, with years of hands-on work across San Diego County.
- Guaranteed work: Every job is covered by The Kingswell Guarantee, in writing, before we leave.
- Camera inspection included: Every sweep includes a photo and video report of your flue, so you see exactly what we see.
Why does any of this matter when you’re hiring someone to work in your home? Because the person on your roof is going to be responsible for the safety of your family. A chimney that isn’t cleaned properly is a fire risk. A chimney that isn’t venting properly is a carbon monoxide risk. You deserve to know that the person doing that work is qualified, accountable, and willing to show you proof of what they found. That’s what these credentials mean in practice.
Rooted in San Diego
We work all over this county, from National City and La Presa up through Spring Valley and Encinitas. The homes here are different from what you find in other parts of the country, built for a climate where fireplaces are a pleasure more than a necessity, and that changes how chimneys age and what they need. We see the same slate roofs in La Mesa, the same coastal salt air in Imperial Beach, and we know what those conditions do to a flue over time. This is our community. We’re in it for good.
Written by Nathan Corliss, Owner at Ashby Chimney San Diego, serving San Diego County.