i just realized that the guy i *finally* found that would repair my chimney, & fix my rotting sill... is from NY. much like the guys i have hired at my house in NY, he's inexpensive (relatively speaking), shows up & actually gets stuff done. in fact, he looks around while here, sees a maintenance job that needs doing (gutter repair, door frame) & just does those too... while repeated calls to local contractors are ignored. weird