Meet the Team - Top Hat Chimney

Meet the North Bergen Team Behind Top Hat Chimney

Top Hat Chimney has been working in North Bergen homes since 1999, and the crew that shows up today still operates the way Wendell Pike ran things from the start: show up on time, tell the truth about what the chimney needs, and leave the house cleaner than you found it. We’re not a rotating cast of subcontractors. The people below live in Hudson and Bergen County, shop at the same grocery stores you do, and run into you again on Saturday. You’ll likely see the same faces year after year, and that’s the point.

Call (848) 361-3227

Our People

Wendell Pike, Owner and Lead Technician

Wendell founded Top Hat Chimney in 1999 after spending his early twenties learning the trade from an old sweep in Jersey City who refused to let him touch a brush until he could explain exactly why a flue draws the way it does. He’s certified with the Chimney Safety Institute of America and has personally inspected or swept more than 11,000 chimneys across North Bergen, Guttenberg, Fairview, and the surrounding neighborhoods. Wendell still takes the phone calls at odd hours, and if you hear a voice picking up at 2 a.m., there’s a decent chance it’s him. He’s the reason the 90-Day Done Right Promise exists: if the work isn’t right, one call brings him back, no arguments and no invoice. His name is on the truck and the job, and he treats both like they belong to him.

Ray M., Senior Installer

Ray has been with Top Hat for 17 years, which means he’s installed more liners, caps, and crowns in Hudson County than most companies have inspected. He holds certifications with DuraFlex and HeatShield and is the guy Wendell trusts with the heaviest rebuilds, the ones where the flue tiles are spalling and the masonry needs real structural repair. Ray can tell the difference between a chimney that needs a $400 repair and one that’s going to fail again in two years just by tapping the bricks with the back of his trowel. He lives in North Bergen with his wife and two sons and still complains, every fall, about how many people wait until the first cold night to call about a smell they noticed in March.

Marisol T., Service Coordinator

Marisol has been the voice on the other end of the Top Hat phone for nine years, and she’s the reason you’ll never reach a voicemail box or a call center. She knows the schedule, knows which truck is closest to your street, and knows enough about chimney work to ask the right questions before anyone shows up: Is there water staining near the fireplace? Does the smell get worse when it rains? Has the damper been stuck for a while or did it just start? Marisol coordinates every appointment in North Bergen and the surrounding towns, gives you a real arrival window, and calls you if that number slips. She’s also the reason the free second opinion offer runs smoothly: fax or email her the competitor’s written estimate, and she’ll get you on the book without a trip charge.

Devon K., Apprentice Sweep

Devon is the newest member of the crew, three years in, and he earned his spot the old way, by carrying brushes, hauling drop cloths, and watching Wendell and Ray work until his questions got sharper than their answers. He’s going through his CSIA training now and already runs his own basic sweep jobs under Wendell’s supervision. Devon grew up in Union City and knows the difference between a prewar fireplace with a terra cotta flue and a newer build with a stainless liner, which matters more than you’d think when you’re quoting work in this part of the county. He’s the one who tapes off the hearth, lays the canvas down the hallway, and makes sure your living room looks like nobody was ever there when he leaves, except for the cleaner chimney.

One Standard, Every Job

Every person on this page works under the same rules Wendell wrote down in 1999 and never had a reason to change. The price you get on the phone is the price on the invoice, period, no add-on once the tools come off the truck. Every sweep gets a camera inspection before and after, with footage you can watch yourself and a plain-English explanation of what the camera shows. Background-checked and uniformed, every time. The 90-Day Done Right Promise is stamped on every job, in writing: if it’s not right, one call brings the crew back at no additional cost. And the phone, all twenty-four hours of it, is answered by a live person. Not a menu. Not a mailbox. Call (848) 361-3227 and Marisol, Wendell, or one of the crew will pick up and talk to you like a neighbor, because that’s exactly what we are.

Written by Wendell Pike, Owner at Top Hat Chimney, serving North Bergen and surrounding Hudson County communities since 1999.