Saint Nick's Chimney Service - David Stover
- Brick + Tides
- Oct 28
- 6 min read
Saco, Maine — With a brush rod in one hand and a grin in the rain, David Stover climbs the ladder like he’s done it a thousand times before. Below him, his mother Sherrell runs the vacuum inside the house, her steady rhythm matching his scraping above. Together they form the heart of Saint Nick’s Chimney Service, a Southern Maine company that has been keeping hearths clean and safe for more
than a quarter century.
“We do everything chimney,” says Stover. “Cleaning, repairs — you name it. People call Candice, and she will answer and find the best spot on the schedule. What service you need and where you are — those are the most important things.”
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Candice is his wife. Sherrell is his mother and onsite sidekick. David Stover, 42, is the one climbing roofs in rain, wind, or blazing sun. “I was doing everything myself for the first two years,” he says. “Then Mom came up from Dallas and started working in February — she’s a hard worker.”
A Chance Meeting and a Life-Changing Offer
Five years ago, Stover wasn’t a chimney sweep. He was a transplant from California, newly settled in York, and browsing New Morning Natural Foods in Kennebunk when fate intervened.
“I had the good fortune of bumping into a nice lady there,” he recalls. “We got chatting, and she introduced me to her husband, Stanton Nichols. He called me the following Monday and asked if I’d help him fix an old man’s chimney. I didn’t even know he was a chimney man. I just thought I was helping an old guy help another old guy — and it turned out to be a job interview.”
Nichols, then 76, had built Saint Nick’s Chimney Service from the ground up. Within six months of that first repair job, Stover bought the company.
“He was ready to retire,” Stover says. “He’d been doing it a long time. For any complaint he had, I followed up with an offer — ‘Hey Stan, you don’t have to deal with this one minute longer than you want to.’ Eventually he said yes.”
The deal was simple but gutsy: no money down, payments made from the company’s own profits. “I made weekly payments — large ones — but all that money came from doing the jobs,” he says. “It let me take over with basically zero down.”
Buying a Legacy, Not Just a Business
When asked what advice he’d give to others looking to buy a retiring owner’s business, Stover lights up.
“There are a lot of business owners who literally can’t work anymore — they’re 70, 80, 85 — and they’re having a hard time finding someone to take over,” he says. “Their kids don’t want it. They’d rather do other things. That’s leaving a vacuum for people like me — younger folks who are willing to learn a trade — to come in and make those people reasonable offers.”
For Stover, the benefits were obvious: 25 years of reputation, clients, and trust. “It was a no-brainer,” he says. “I’d seen the calls come in, the checks go out, and the customers were happy. All I had to do was keep it going. It’s like that Michelle Pfeiffer movie Dangerous Minds — she gives everyone a 100 at the start, and all they have to do is keep it. That was my system too.”
From Sailboats to Chimneys
Before he ever touched a flue, Stover and Candace were living a very different life. “We met in California,” he says. “We were living on sailboats and flipping sailboats for a living.”
Candice, who has a degree in early-childhood development, left her field to join him. “It was a life hack,” Stover laughs. “Living on the boat made California affordable. We loved it until she got pregnant and started getting seasick. That was the end of the boating life.”
When they learned that Stover’s mother’s family home in York — built by his great-grandfather in 1947 — was sitting empty, they took it as a sign. “It was a no-brainer,” he says. “We moved in February 2020 — minutes before the pandemic. Candice got a nannying job, but within six weeks it vanished when everyone started working from home. About a week before that, I met Stan and Karen from Saint Nick’s. The timing was magical. Absolutely perfect.”
Four Generations and a Maine Homestead
Stover’s connection to Maine runs generations deep. “My great-grandfather built the house in York. My mom owns it now,” he says. “They were kind of do-it-yourselfers. When we replaced the plumbing, the plumber said, ‘These pipes aren’t standard — they’re salvaged shipyard pipes!’ Turns out a lot of the house was built from material salvaged from the shipyard.”
A Job that Hits Home - Saint Nick's Chimney Service
For Stover, chimney work is equal parts physical labor and human connection. “We help five or ten homeowners a day,” he says. “We have great customers.”
One stands out. “Pretty recently, we had client with a handicap in Sanford whose chimney was crumbling,” he recalls. “She wanted a masonry chimney to match the other one on her house but couldn’t afford it, so she went with a stainless-steel pipe. A few months later, she called and said her property kept getting struck by lightning — she was sure the metal chimney was to blame.”
After a few rounds of negotiation, Stover agreed to rebuild her chimney — and then went a step further. “We surprised her by taking down both of her stainless steel chimneys and building two masonry ones so they’d match,” he says. “We did it for the same price. She was ecstatic. She probably cried more than any client we’ve ever had. She really cared about those chimneys — she loves them."
Mother, Son, and Santa
Saint Nick’s Chimney Service isn’t a franchise or faceless outfit. It’s family: David on the roof, Sherrell inside with the vacuum, and Candice at the phone keeping the schedule full and the routes making sense. “We’re a team,” he says.
The name Saint Nick’s has deep roots. “Of course, it was easier for the original Saint Nick to live up to it — his name was literally Stanton Nichols,” Stover jokes. “Personally, not being able to fit down any of these chimneys saddens me — I don’t get the milk and cookies I probably deserve.”
Keeping the Flame Alive
As we talk, Stover moves with practiced ease across the shingles, swapping brush rods and wiping his hands. His work is gritty and physical, but his outlook is almost buoyant.
“As he tightens the cap on the flue, Stover grins. “I never thought I’d end up in chimneys,” he says. “But it’s honest work, it keeps people safe, and I get to spend my days up in the fresh air. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Rain or shine, it’s clear he means it.
To schedule service for your chimney in Southern Maine - Reach out to Candice at Saint Nick's Chimney Service at (207) 282-9886
Many thanks to David, Sherrell, Candice and Saint Nick's Chimney Service for letting us tag along on a rainy Monday, October 20th, 2025 in Biddeford and Saco.
BRICK+TIDES is a weekly digital magazine based in York County, Maine. We share positive and inspiring stories about local businesses, people, and places that make Southern Maine special. If you want to read another one next week, please subscribe,
