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When employees feel financially secure, they can be more engaged, productive, and loyal workers. But simply offering a variety of financial benefits may not be enough to let all members of your workforce actually achieve financial wellness. And that’s especially true today, as employees navigate persistent inflation, elevated borrowing costs, and uncertainty about the future.

So what are you doing right? And what can you improve?

Measuring financial well-being can help you answer those important questions.

Why Measure Financial Wellness and Why Now?

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, financial well-being is defined by a person’s sense of security and freedom of choice, both today and in the future.

However, Bank of America’s 2025 Workplace Benefits Report — which surveyed nearly 1,000 full-time employees and 800 employers — reveals a stark reality:

•   Only 47% of employees feel financially well-off.

•   77% are stressed by the current economic climate.

•   85% are carrying personal debt.

•   50% wish they had started saving for retirement earlier.

So, how is your team faring? Measuring your workforce’s financial health allows you to identify specific struggles, understand how those challenges impact business performance, and refine your total rewards strategy to provide meaningful support.

How to Better Understand Your Unique Workforce

Measuring financial well-being will allow you to determine what segments of your workforce are struggling the most. It can also help you figure out what you can provide to help all your employees move forward. For many employers, that’s a two-part process.

1. Wage Assessment

Many employers start this process by assessing wages. No doubt you’ve compared your wage and salary decisions against competitors’ offerings, the local labor market, and industry averages. Indeed, you may be paying above the industry standard. But it’s important to remember that even above-standard wages don’t ensure financial wellness. Your workers may still be struggling.

With that in mind, you may want to compare your company’s wages against what constitutes a local living wage in the areas where your employees work. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator may be able to assist you with this. This tool helps determine how much money a person in a specific area needs to earn to cover basic expenses and how much that person has leftover for disposable income, including saving for the future. This may be a more realistic gauge for all levels of your workforce when assessing wages and determining financial well-being.

Recommended: 3 Ways to Support Your Employees During Times of Uncertainty

2. Self-Assessment Survey

The next phase involves gathering direct input from your workforce. If you haven’t already, design an anonymous online financial wellness survey to get a baseline assessment of your employees’ needs.

An effective assessment evaluates the four pillars of financial security:

•   Spending: Determine if employees are living beyond their means due to high living costs or budgeting habits. By asking how long employees think their money would last if they suddenly lost their income, you’ll also collect data on how many of your employees are prepared for an emergency.

•   Saving: While retirement participation and 401(k) deferral rates are primary metrics, a survey allows you to look deeper. Assess whether employees are saving for short- and mid-term goals like emergency funds, tuition, or homeownership, especially if your benefits package supports these areas.

•   Debt and borrowing: Identify the burden of high-interest credit card debt versus “strategic” debt like mortgages or student loans. Understanding your workforce’s debt-to-income stress is important, as it is often the most significant barrier to long-term financial health.

•   Planning: Evaluate employee preparedness by tracking enrollment in life and disability insurance. This section should also assess whether staff have set formal financial goals or are utilizing company planning tools. These insights reveal how effectively your workforce balances long-term stability with immediate needs, while identifying critical gaps in your current benefits communication.

Depending on your workforce and your goals for the assessment, you may also want to include more subjective elements in your research, such as employee interviews or focus groups. This can add human stories to the data collected and help inform new benefits going forward.

Measuring Financial Wellness Empowers Employees

When employees take a smart, well-written, and well-designed assessment survey, they’re not just providing information to their bosses, they’re also thinking through their own financial wellness strategy.

Incorporating an interactive tool that gives immediate feedback can help employees identify their current status and balance their short- and long-term financial goals.

Consider providing a one-on-one meeting with a financial planner or other expert to each employee who completes the survey. This encourages your workers to take action with their newfound knowledge and further enhance their overall financial wellness. (It can also prompt more willingness to take the assessment among employees.)

Recommended: Top 10 Reasons Financial Wellness Is Important in the Workplace

Measuring Provides a Compass for Your Financial Wellness Benefits

It’s also important to analyze your own data on the benefits you’re currently providing to determine how well they’re contributing to employee financial wellness. A comprehensive look at who is using what benefits — including everything from health insurance and 401(k)s to paid parental leave and student loan assistance — and what employees are paying for or contributing to those benefits, can unlock details about access and participation among all levels of your workforce.

A benefit analysis combined with a wage assessment and employee financial wellness survey helps provide a deeper understanding of gaps in your total benefits strategy, areas where employee engagement and education are needed, and what new tools and programs might enhance financial well-being among your workers.

The Takeaway

Measuring your employees’ financial well-being now can lead to the design and implementation of benefits that will enhance financial wellness for all of your employees in the future.

Photo credit: iStock/SDI Productions

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SOAW-Q226-002

Benefits professionals play a critical role in leading their teams through periods of uncertainty. Whether driven by economic shifts, political/regulatory changes, or a global crisis, uncertain times can heighten employee stress, reduce morale, and impact productivity. Now more than ever, workers look to their employers for stability, empathy, and meaningful support. For HR pros, this presents a unique opportunity to strengthen employee trust, promote well-being, and reinforce organizational stability.

Supporting employees during challenging periods generally requires more than just maintaining current benefits; it often calls for thoughtful adjustments, clear communication, and a focus on mental, emotional, and financial health. What follows are three actionable ways benefits pros can meet the moment and help employees feel valued and secure even when the future feels unclear.

1. Make Sure Communications Are Honest and Accurate — and That They Reach Everyone

During uncertain times, it’s important to remain as open and transparent as possible with your team. This helps normalize what employees may be feeling and fosters a supportive environment where workers feel connected and reassured, even if the future is unpredictable.

Be Honest

Research indicates that employees engage more if they think company communications are honest. That means it’s OK to tell employees management is still looking into a change or isn’t sure exactly when a new policy will be implemented. In uncertain times, it’s better to keep in touch. Employees are looking to you for leadership, but they also want to be in on the process when changes are taking place. What’s more, giving employees honest updates can avoid the need for damage control later.

Be the Voice of Reason and Compassion

Your employees are likely overloaded with news and information, some of which may be contradictory and confusing. It’s important that your communications stay on top of breaking news and add a clear, helpful, and understanding voice to the discussion when events impact the company, the employees, and benefits.

Recommended: How Financial and Mental Health Can Collide With Work

Take a Multi-Channel Approach

While internal email remains the most common way to communicate with employees, you also want to use mobile and social media to help ensure that all workers see vital communications no matter where they are or what their work situation may be. This will be, literally, reaching out to your employees where they are.

Recommended: Benefits of Working From Home for Employees

2. Review Your Voluntary Benefits

In times of uncertainty, employees may look to their employer for a shoulder to lean on. Many HR professionals recognized this during the pandemic and responded by offering a variety of flexible benefits that helped employees solve their short-term financial challenges while also assisting them in building a stronger future.

Research shows that more employers are offering voluntary benefits across a wide spectrum of needs. The most popular add-ons include: supplemental health insurance policies (e.g., critical illness, accident, and long-term care), legal benefits, identity theft protections, and pet insurance.

Whatever combination of flexible or voluntary benefits you may be considering, you’ll want to be sure it fits your workers’ demographics and pressing needs. A variety of well-chosen benefits can help your employees face their specific challenges while also reducing stress and calming nerves during any period of uncertainty.

3. Help Employees Balance Short-Term and Long-Term Financial Well-Being

In uncertain times, a flexible financial well-being approach that includes the short-term benefits employees need to make it through is more important than ever. That’s why so many employers have introduced the types of benefits that employees feel are most relevant to their current financial concerns. Those may include emergency savings programs, homeownership benefits, and student loan repayment programs, to name just a few.

But this doesn’t mean that the importance of retirement savings and other long-term benefits should be diminished. Far from it. The security of knowing long-term retirement savings is in place can help add to employees’ overall financial well-being, especially during tumultuous times. Through effective communication and education programs, HR professionals can help employees balance short-term and long-term financial needs and goals.

The Takeaway

Periods of uncertainty present both challenges and opportunities for benefits professionals. By prioritizing clear, honest communication, strategically reviewing and expanding voluntary benefits, and offering resources that support both immediate financial needs and long-term security, employers can effectively support their workforce.

These proactive steps not only help employees navigate stressful times but also build essential trust and reinforce the organization’s commitment to employee well-being.

SOAW-Q226-003

Supporting employee homeownership is a strategic win-win. When companies help workers plant roots, they don’t just gain a more loyal workforce — they gain a more stable one. Homeowners are statistically less likely to relocate or switch jobs, creating a foundation of security that translates directly into higher productivity and job satisfaction.

The timing couldn’t be more critical. Stubbornly high home prices and mortgage rates, low housing inventory, and the high overall cost of living have meant that it has been harder for employees, particularly workers under age 35, to afford to buy their own homes. For many first-time homebuyers, the only option is to move to a lower-priced housing market. If those employees can’t work fully remotely, they may simply switch jobs. Studies suggest that the cost of replacing an individual employee costs six to nine months of that worker’s salary.

The ultimate result? A huge challenge for HR professionals.

Offering home-buying benefits can help. Numerous companies, understanding the link between homeownership and retention, have introduced homeownership benefits to help build a loyal, productive workforce that can further advance their business objectives.

Below are some of the ways employers can help their workforce become satisfied homeowners. After studying your workforce demographics and your budget, you may find inspiration among the various approaches below.

Homebuyer Education and Counseling

Knowledge is one of the most cost-effective benefits there is. Consider pairing up with area mortgage experts, financial counselors, and others to produce on-site or virtual information seminars on various homebuying topics. Banks, mortgage brokers, and real estate brokers in your area may be willing to offer free information sessions at your organization in hopes of generating clients.

These programs can provide interested employees with the basics on the local market, different types of mortgages and their rates, mortgage insurance, down payment assistance, legal issues related to homeownership, foreclosure prevention, and much more. And an informed employee can avoid the financially costly mistakes that can so often be part of real estate purchases.

Recommended: How Homeownership Can Help Build Generational Wealth

Credit Counseling

A good credit score is key to qualifying for a mortgage with favorable rates. Employer-sponsored credit counseling can help employees learn how to check their credit scores and, if necessary, take steps to improve them. Consider partnering with a respected credit counseling firm to conduct in-house or virtual workshops or allowing employees time off to attend approved credit counseling seminars outside the workplace.

Down Payment Assistance Programs

With home prices as high as they are in many markets throughout the U.S., saving up a down payment of 10% to 20% or more can be a barrier to homeownership for many workers.

Employers can help in two ways. They can offer direct financial assistance. This usually entails paying a percentage of an employee’s down payment with a dollar amount maximum.

Employers can also help employees access government-sponsored grants and low-interest loans designed to help first-time homebuyers cover down payments and/or closing costs. Your state’s housing finance agency and your local housing authority likely have first-time homebuyer programs. Many offer qualifying buyers grants that don’t have to be paid back. Others have low or no-interest loans that often don’t have to be paid back until the house is sold or refinanced. As a rule, these programs aren’t broadly advertised, so employers who help workers find and apply for such assistance can play an important role in securing these funds.

Help With Finding and Paying for Real Estate Professionals

Consider partnering with a local bank or mortgage broker to help employees find home financing. In return for the potential mortgage clients, you may be able to negotiate lower closing costs and fees for your employees that your firm also might or might not help subsidize.

A partnership between your firm and local realtors can provide workers with special help in the house-hunting process. And a relationship with local real estate lawyers or access to your own firm’s legal expertise can help lower legal fees associated with home buying for your employees.

Professional relocation services can help with home buying when a new hire moves from one area of the country to another. However, with the rise of remote work, this is increasingly less common.

Important Extras

There are lots of small but important and cost-effective gestures employers can make when employees are finishing up with the home-buying experience. Extra days off (with pay) for closing and moving, for instance, can reduce stress and produce goodwill.

When the deal is done, it’s a nice gesture to acknowledge the new homeowner with a card or housewarming gift. Be sure to remind your employees that you or your expert partners can help answer any follow-up questions that come with homeownership.

You’ll also want to make sure that learning to manage mortgage payments and home ownership is part of your employees’ overall financial well-being picture. Your wellness programs may be able to help with budgeting for home improvements, maintenance, insurance, and other costs your employees may not have anticipated with home ownership.

The Takeaway

Employers can’t be the only resource employees turn to when it comes to buying a home. But a company that has a workforce full of employees of home-buying age may find that it can fill an important need and, in the process, help keep its workforce steady, loyal, productive, and satisfied.

SOAW-Q225-003

Weddings are notoriously expensive, with the current median cost hovering around $10,000 according to SoFi’s most recent data. Some couples will spend multiples of that amount.

But it’s not all about the dollars and cents: Weddings are also an important and romantic day in a couple’s life. Who foots the bill for this party has changed over the years. Below, learn who pays for which wedding expenses in 2026 and beyond — and who traditionally paid in previous generations.

Who Pays for the Wedding in 2026?

In the past, it’s been the tradition for the bride’s family to pay for nearly the entire wedding, and the groom’s family to pick up smaller expenses such as the rehearsal dinner. In some cases, families still follow these traditions, but increasingly people are embracing new ways of covering these costs.

Nowadays, wedding expenses can be split any number of ways, and couples are exploring many different ways to pay for their big day:

•   Independent couples may decline help from parents and instead pay out of pocket or borrow money to cover the wedding costs.

•   Both families and the bride and groom may decide to split the costs. Sometimes grandparents or other extended family members will offer to pay for a portion of the wedding.

•   If the groom comes from a wealthier family, his parents may chip in beyond their traditional requirements.

•   Since the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, LGBTQ+ couples are creating their own traditions.

That’s the beauty of your wedding day: It’s yours. Many brides and grooms are embracing the fact that they no longer have to follow outdated customs if they don’t want to.

For others, however, tradition matters — and that’s okay, too. If you’re planning to follow cultural traditions when funding your wedding, how do you split the bill?

Here’s a breakdown of who traditionally pays for the wedding and other related expenses.

The Bride’s Family

Historically, the bride’s family pays for most of the wedding expenses. Depending on the size and extravagance of the wedding, it can add up.

If you’re the parents of the bride who plan to foot the bill, but you don’t have enough money in savings, it might be worth taking out a personal loan to cover the wedding expenses. In the long run, it’s typically a cheaper option than putting everything on a credit card.

While the bride’s family traditionally takes care of many of the wedding expenses they don’t pay for everything. And every wedding is a little different. You may choose to skip certain items or events (and you may find yourself adding, too). Here’s what the bride’s family typically covers:

Expenses the Bride’s Family Is Traditionally Responsible For

•   Engagement announcements

•   Engagement party

•   Wedding planner

•   Invitations, save-the-dates, and wedding programs

•   Venue for the ceremony

•   Venue for the reception

•   Flowers and decorations

•   Wedding photographer and videographer

•   Wedding dress

•   Transportation and lodging for the bridesmaids

•   Transportation and lodging for the officiant

•   Food at the reception

•   Wedding cake

•   Brunch the morning after the wedding

Recommended: Personal Loans for Wedding Financing

The Groom’s Family

If you have only sons and think you’re off the hook, don’t get too excited. You still have to cover some costs at the wedding as the parents of the groom.

Though less extensive, the groom’s family’s financial burdens can add up. Personal loans are also an option for the groom’s family; in fact, weddings are one of the most common uses for personal loans.

Here’s everything the groom’s family traditionally pays for at a wedding.

Expenses the Groom’s Family Is Traditionally Responsible For

•   Rehearsal dinner

•   Marriage license

•   Officiant’s fee

•   Boutonnieres for the groom, his groomsmen, and family members

•   Bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids

•   DJ or band

•   Transportation and lodging for the groomsmen

•   Alcohol at the reception

•   Honeymoon (in some cases)

The Bride

Many women have dreamed of their wedding days since childhood. But as little girls, they probably didn’t think much about the actual wedding costs they’d have to pay themselves — and there are quite a few.

Expenses the Bride Is Traditionally Responsible For

Traditionally, the bride pays for her future husband’s wedding ring, as well as a special gift for him. She may also buy gifts for her bridesmaids. In some cases, she’ll pay for the flowers, and she usually pays for her own hair and makeup.

Nowadays, however, brides may step up and pay more to help out her parents. Many brides choose to do this in part so that they can feel like they have more say in determining the plans for their special day.

People are also getting married later than they did in past generations (the average age for women is now 28 and for a man it’s 30), which means brides (and grooms) may feel more financially capable of covering the expenses themselves.

The Groom

The groom isn’t off the hook either. At weddings, he’s responsible for a few purchases as well.

And even though he and the bride may have separate wedding responsibilities, as a newly married couple they are likely planning to combine their finances, if they haven’t already. Even if they don’t have a joint bank account, the bride and groom are essentially covering their wedding expenses together.

Recommended: Personal Loan Calculator

Expenses the Groom Is Traditionally Responsible For

The first big expense a groom encounters is the one that sets the whole wedding in motion: the engagement ring. The average cost of an engagement ring is now about $5,200, according to the wedding website The Knot. Grooms who don’t have that kind of cash lying around often turn to engagement ring financing options, including personal loans.

While the ring is often the groom’s biggest expense, he’s also responsible for the bride’s wedding band, gifts for his groomsmen, a gift for his bride, his own tux, and the honeymoon — if his parents aren’t footing the bill. (The average cost of a honeymoon is now $5,300.)

Some grooms may also pay for the license and officiant, instead of asking his parents to cover that cost.

Who Pays for Other Wedding Costs

There is also the cost of being in someone’s wedding. For instance, groomsmen and bridesmaids are typically responsible for paying for their own tuxedos and dresses.

These two groups also pay for the bachelorette and bachelor parties for the bride and groom. Bridesmaids may also need to pay for their hair and makeup on the big day.

As someone attending a wedding, you should give a gift, unless the couple has discouraged this. And if it’s a destination wedding, you’ll have to pay your own travel costs, which can include hotels and transportation.

Wedding Costs

Now we know who traditionally pays for what at weddings — and that many modern couples are foregoing these traditions. But how much does a wedding cost?

Currently, the median cost of a wedding is $10,000, according to a recent SoFi survey. For couples who are paying without their families’ help, a personal loan is the best route, if they don’t have the money in savings or have that money earmarked for buying a house or starting a family.

Are you considering taking out a loan to cover the cost of your wedding? Research the typical personal loan requirements you’ll need for approval.

The Takeaway

Weddings are expensive, and traditions usually put the bulk of the financial burden on the bride’s family. However, many couples are breaking from tradition nowadays, paying for wedding expenses themselves or splitting the cost among family members more evenly — or in a way that reflects each family’s means. However you choose to divide the cost, ways to pay for a wedding can include savings, family contributions, and personal loans.

Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. See your rate in minutes.

FAQs

Who pays for the wedding reception?

Traditionally, the bride’s family pays for most of the wedding reception, including the venue, food, and decorations. However, the groom’s family usually pitches in by covering the music and the alcohol. Increasingly, couples are choosing to pay for their wedding receptions themselves or splitting the cost with their parents.

Who pays for the engagement party?

The bride’s family is traditionally responsible for paying for the engagement party. Nowadays, however, engaged couples often pay for such parties on their own.

How much does a wedding cost?

The median cost of a wedding is currently around $10,000, but the average price tag can be a multiple of that, reflecting the impact of high-priced weddings on the data.

Photo credit: iStock/Halfpoint

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SOPL-Q425-003

The cost to replace a chimney typically ranges from $3,100 to $15,400, depending on the type and size of the chimney. As of 2025, the average expense is about $9,300, according to the home improvement site Angi. You can install a smaller or prefabricated chimney for $1,000 to $5,000, but a full masonry chimney replacement cost can reach $15,000 or more.

Below, explore new chimney cost factors, break down labor and materials expenses, discuss financing options, and help you determine if you might be able to replace the chimney yourself.

Chimney Replacement Costs: An Overview

How much does a chimney replacement cost? Anywhere from $3,100 to $15,400 on average, as of late 2025. A full chimney replacement is on the higher end of that range while a partial replacement — or a basic prefab chimney installation — is on the lower end.

In some cases, it might be possible to repair the chimney instead of replacing it. Chimney repair costs typically cost $455, though it varies depending on the extent of the damage.

Recommended: The Ultimate Home Maintenance Checklist

Full Chimney Replacement

A full chimney replacement costs between $5,000 and $10,000 — or up to $20,000 in some cases. Prefabricated chimneys are the lowest-cost option. You’ll pay moderate prices for a metal chimney and the highest prices for a brick chimney.

Partial Chimney Replacement (Rebuild)

You may only need to replace part of a chimney, like the stack, which extends above the roof. In other cases, you may need to pay for the repair of specific elements, like collapsing mortar, a damaged chimney crown, or a cracked flue.

Partial chimney replacement costs may typically range from $1,500 and $4,000 per job.

Recommended: Home Improvement Calculator

Chimney Installation Labor Cost

Labor makes up a large portion of the cost to replace a chimney. Depending on your geographic location, if you can reach the chimney by ladder or you need scaffolding, and the type of chimney being installed, labor rates may range from $50 to $75 or more per hour for an experienced mason.

You will usually need to hire a structural engineer before the mason can begin their work, which adds to your overall labor costs. Depending on where you live, that can cost around $300 to $800.

Chimney Installation Material Costs

Material costs vary depending on the type of chimney being replaced, rebuilt, or repaired. Prefab chimneys have lower material costs while masonry chimneys require more expensive materials like bricks and mortar.

Chimney Installation Cost Financing

Paying for a new chimney — or even a more basic chimney repair — can be difficult on a tight budget. If you don’t have the money in emergency savings, you can explore other options like:

•   A payment plan with the contractor: Ask the contractor if they can set you up with a payment plan over a set number of months, rather than requiring the full payment all at once. Costs may be higher if you go this route.

•   A credit card: Some contractors will let you pay with a credit card but be careful. Your credit card may have a high APR or annual percentage rate, and if you can’t afford to pay the full bill at the end of the month, you could end up paying a lot of interest, which will make the new chimney even more expensive.

•   A home improvement loan: Home improvement loans are a low-cost option for homeowners. These personal loans typically have a lower interest rate than your credit card, and you can choose repayment terms — often three to five years — that make sense for your budget. A personal loan can be a cost-effective way to pay for common home repair costs.

•   Home equity loans: Homeowners can also tap into their home equity with a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC).

Before you decide on the best financing option, you will want to compare the difference between home equity loans vs. home improvement loans.

Can I Replace the Chimney Myself?

A chimney replacement requires special skills and training. A lot can go wrong if you install or repair a chimney incorrectly. It could become a fire hazard or potentially collapse. No matter your DIY skills, we highly recommend hiring a qualified mason to tackle all repairs and replacements.

What Factors Impact a Chimney Replacement Price?

Several factors can impact your overall chimney replacement cost, including:

•   Permits needed: You’ll almost always need to get a permit for larger chimney replacement projects. Permit costs vary depending on your state and municipality.

•   Level of work required: Wholesale chimney replacements cost significantly more than minor work. For example, chimneys may just require some repointing or tuckpointing to keep them in good shape, or you may need to replace the crown or cap or only rebuild the stack. If you have to replace the whole chimney, it may require demolition, which can be expensive. Talk with your contractor about the extent of the work to get a better idea of the total chimney installation cost.

•   Type of chimney: Prefab chimneys are the most affordable to install. You’ll spend more to replace a metal chimney, but the most expensive type of chimney to replace is a brick one.

•   Size and location: Larger chimneys will cost more to replace than small ones. Chimneys that are easy to access (by ladder, for example) are also more affordable to repair or replace. If the positioning of the chimney makes it harder for the contractor to access, labor costs will be higher.

Signs Your Chimney Needs to Be Replaced

How do you know when it’s time to replace your chimney? Here are a few signs to watch for:

1.    Crumbling brick: If the brick is visibly crumbling or deteriorating, call a mason quickly to determine the extent of the damage and begin the repair or replacement work.

2.    Leaks: If your chimney is the source of leaks (look for water damage to the surrounding walls and ceiling), it’s time to call a contractor to look at it.

3.    Cracks: It’s good practice to have your chimney inspected each year. During the inspection, the contractor will look for large cracks. If they are found, it could be a sign that it’s time to repair or replace the chimney.

The Takeaway

Chimney replacement costs can range from $3,100 to $15,400 as of 2025 — it’s not a cheap project, but luckily, it’s also not a common one. Get your chimney inspected every year, and keep up with regular maintenance and cleaning. Unless there’s unexpected storm damage or the chimney is old, you may not have to replace the chimney the entire time you live in your home.

Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. See your rate in minutes.

FAQ

How long does it take to replace a chimney?

Basic chimney repairs can be fairly quick: A professional should be able to repair a partially damaged chimney in one to four days. Significant damage may lead to longer timelines — in some cases, it might take weeks to repair and rebuild a chimney.

Can I replace my chimney myself, or do I need to hire a professional?

Replacing and repairing a chimney requires specialized knowledge, skills, and equipment, not to mention physical strength. If you make even a small mistake when replacing your chimney, you might accidentally cause a leak, inadvertently create a fire hazard, or build a structurally unsound chimney that could collapse. Always hire a professional for this work.

What qualifications should I look for in a chimney replacement contractor?

When looking for a contractor to work on your chimney, always confirm that they are licensed and insured. You should also verify that they’re certified by the Chimney Safety Institute of America. Ask the contractors if they offer warranties or guarantees for their work and read reviews online to make sure they provide quality services. You can also ask them for references.

How do I compare quotes from different chimney replacement contractors?

When comparing quotes, look not just at the overall cost but also the timeline to ensure they can replace your chimney quickly, if needed. Also verify what is and isn’t covered in the quote. For example, has the contractor included the necessary permits, or is that a separate cost not part of the estimate?

Are there permits or inspections required for chimney replacement, and how much do they cost?

When replacing a chimney, you almost always will need to get a permit and an inspection. The costs will vary depending on where you live, but you might pay up to $800 for an inspection by a structural engineer, and permits can cost a couple of hundred dollars or more than $1,000 depending on the scope of work and location.

How often should I replace my chimney, and what factors affect its lifespan?

A well-built chimney should last several generations of homeowners. If you do replace your chimney, you likely won’t need to replace it again as long as you’re in that house.That said, certain elements may need to be repaired or replaced more frequently. Chimney liners, for instance, last 15 to 20 years, and mortar lasts 25 to 30 years. Extreme weather, like high and low temperatures, hail, and earthquakes, may shorten a chimney’s lifespan, as can exposure to water.

What are the risks of not replacing a chimney that is in disrepair?

If you ignore the signs that it’s time to replace or repair your chimney, you’re exposing your home to considerable risk. Water could more easily get into your home, leading to mold and mildew. Walls, ceilings, and floors could deteriorate over time, and the inner workings of your chimney would be exposed to rust. Eventually, your chimney might collapse, leading to much more expensive and extensive structural damage to your home.

Photo credit: iStock/AntonioSolano

SoFi Loan Products
SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC). For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. Equal Housing Lender.

SOPL-Q425-001