In short and in plain language
In the fall, many people want a stove. Then they call the stove firm. On the phone, key facts are often missing.
The website can help. Each kind of stove gets its own page. There you see pictures of real stoves.
The form asks four questions. Which stove should it be? Is there a chimney? How big is the room? There is also a photo of the place for the stove.
The page also explains the steps. First comes the request. Then comes a visit at home. Then the stove is put in. At the end, the chimney sweep checks the stove. Only then may it burn.
The website does not promise that heating gets cheaper. It only says what the firm can prove.
When the first cold weeks arrive, the phone at a stove installer rings more often. On the line is someone who wants “one of those wood stoves”, ideally this winter. Whether there is a chimney, how big the room is and where the stove should stand, the caller often does not know exactly. Until that is settled, there is a second call and a site visit that sometimes shows the stove they wanted does not fit at all. A website for stove installers can reverse that order. It shows what is possible for each type of stove, asks four questions in the inquiry form before the site visit and explains the process up to sign-off by the district chimney sweep. This article shows how the service pages are structured, which fields the form needs, what the 1. BImSchV, Germany’s ordinance on small and medium combustion plants, means for the copy, and when the site should be ready ahead of the heating season.
Key takeaways
- With about 11.7 million single-room fireplaces, the stock of wood stoves, tiled stoves and built-in fireplaces stays largely constant (German chimney sweep association). The website therefore addresses first-time buyers and owners of an old stove separately.
- One service page per stove type: wood stoves, built-in fireplaces, tiled stoves and pellet stoves are searched for and planned differently. Each page shows the firm’s own installations, the process and what the firm needs to know in advance.
- The inquiry form asks four questions before the site visit: stove type, chimney in place (yes, no, not sure), room size and a photo of the spot where the stove will stand. Old stove and preferred timing stay optional.
- New wood stoves need a manufacturer’s type test covering emission limits and minimum efficiency (Section 4(3) 1. BImSchV). The service page states this per model instead of making blanket savings or green claims.
- In Lower Saxony a fireplace may only be put into operation once the authorized district chimney sweep has checked and certified it and the chimney (Section 40 NBauO). The process page names this step explicitly.
- The photo of the spot shows wall, floor and flue connection, not the whole living room. The form asks for exactly that and only for what the quote needs (Art. 5(1)(c) GDPR).
11.7 million fireplaces and a short season
How large the market for wood and tiled stoves is can be seen in the annual survey of the chimney sweep trade. With about 11.7 million single-room fireplaces, the stock of wood stoves, tiled stoves or built-in fireplaces stays largely constant (German chimney sweep association). On top of that come biomass heating systems, whose number of around 1.2 million matches the previous year’s level (German chimney sweep association). The German chimney sweep association (ZIV) reads this as a sign that solid biomass continues to play a role in the building stock without currently gaining much in importance.
For a stove installer, a constant stock means that besides first-time buyers there are households that already own a stove and are thinking about replacing it, repairing it or fitting a new insert. Wood also plays a part in new construction, though rarely as the main heating. Of the around 58,900 residential buildings completed in 2025, 73.6 percent mainly heat with heat pumps (Destatis). Wood, for example in pellet heating systems or wood stoves, is the main energy source in 3.5 percent (Destatis). The Federal Statistical Office also points out that renewable energy is used as a supplementary source, for instance through a wood stove.
Inquiries do not arrive evenly across the year. Someone who thinks about a stove in summer plans calmly; someone who calls in the fall is already cold or wants the first evening by the fire this winter. That is exactly when the firm has the least time for long phone calls, because installations are under way and the showroom is busy. In this phase the website has two jobs: explaining in advance what a stove project needs, and sorting inquiries so that the site visit is not the first step of clarification but the second.
A trade of its own with its own vocabulary
Stove and air heating construction is a separate licensed trade in Germany; the Crafts Code lists it as number 2 in its schedule of trades that may only be run with a license (Anlage A HwO). On many websites the trade still disappears. Sometimes the wood stove is a sub-item under heating, sometimes the showroom takes center stage and the craft behind it vanishes. For searchers this is a problem, because they do not search for a trade but for what they want: having a wood stove installed, having a tiled stove built, renewing an old built-in fireplace.
Having a website hardly sets a firm apart anymore. 94 percent of trade businesses use their own website, according to the study report on the digitalization of the trades with 504 businesses surveyed (Bitkom 2025). The difference lies in the content: whether the site uses the customers’ words, whether it shows what the firm has actually installed, and whether it says what needs to be settled before a quote. What a website for trade businesses should generally deliver is described on our page Websites for tradespeople; which other trades we work for is shown in the sector overview.
The showroom belongs in this picture. Many stove installers sell through a showroom where stoves are burning and customers can feel the heat. The website does not replace that visit, it prepares it: with opening hours and directions, with the option to reserve a consultation slot, and with a note on which photos and details to bring along. Customers who come to the showroom prepared like this talk about models, not about whether there is a chimney in the house at all.
One service page per stove type
A single page called “Stoves and fireplaces” answers every question halfway. Someone looking for a wood stove wants to know whether it can be connected to their existing chimney; someone thinking about a tiled stove asks about planning, tiles and construction time. Why separate service pages carry more weight than one combined page is explained in our article Service pages instead of one combined page. For stove building this results in a split by stove type:
| Stove type | What customers ask about | What the service page shows |
|---|---|---|
| Wood stove | connection to the existing chimney, viewing window, how quickly it can be installed | installed stoves in real rooms, connection examples, note on type test and sign-off |
| Built-in fireplace and insert | fire behind glass in the wall, cladding, converting an open fireplace | construction steps with cladding, space required, examples of conversions |
| Tiled stove and masonry heater | stored heat, individual design, built by hand on site | planning and choice of tiles, construction time, dust reduction for masonry heaters |
| Pellet stove | operation, hopper, power connection | placement, pellet storage, day-to-day operation |
Each of these pages follows the same pattern: a sentence on who the stove type suits, pictures of the firm’s own installations, the process from site visit to sign-off, the questions the firm needs answered in advance, and at the end the route to the inquiry with the stove type preselected. Catalog photos from manufacturers are quick to add but show nothing of the firm’s own work, and their use is tied to the manufacturer’s terms. How to get good pictures without a photographer is covered on the page Photos for trade websites.
The split has a second advantage for search. Each page gets its own title and description containing the words customers type, such as “have a tiled stove built” together with the firm’s town. A combined page can only carry one title and has to choose between the stove types.
What the 1. BImSchV means for the copy
The ordinance on small and medium combustion plants, the 1. BImSchV, governs which stoves may be operated. Three provisions matter for a stove installer’s website. Single-room heaters for solid fuels installed from March 22, 2010 may only be operated if a manufacturer’s type test proves that they meet the emission limits and the minimum efficiency under test conditions; masonry heaters and open fireplaces are exempt (Section 4(3) 1. BImSchV). For a room heater with flat combustion, the typical wood stove, installed after December 31, 2014, these values are 1.25 grams of carbon monoxide and 0.04 grams of dust per cubic meter, plus a minimum efficiency of 73 percent (Annex 4 1. BImSchV).
Masonry heaters have a rule of their own. The ordinance means heat-storing stoves built by hand on site, as many tiled stoves are; tiled stove heating inserts, by contrast, are listed in Annex 4 as a separate stove type with a type test. Masonry heaters installed after December 31, 2014 need a downstream device for dust reduction (Section 4(5) 1. BImSchV). This does not apply if the masonry heater meets the requirements set for tiled stove heating inserts with batch firing and this is proven by a chimney sweep’s measurement at the start of operation or by a type test of the prefabricated combustion chamber. The tiled stove page should therefore include a sentence on how the firm meets this requirement, without overwhelming the customer with standard numbers.
The third provision concerns existing stoves. Older single-room heaters installed before March 22, 2010 that could not prove compliance with the limits had to be retrofitted or taken out of service depending on the date on the type plate; the last deadline, for stoves with a type plate date from January 1, 1995 to March 21, 2010, ended on December 31, 2024 (Section 26(2) 1. BImSchV). Open fireplaces, masonry heaters and a few other cases are exempt (Section 26(3) 1. BImSchV). The replacement page therefore no longer needs to announce a deadline. It can, however, explain why the chimney sweep asks about the type plate of an old stove, and offer to send the date along with the form.
No savings promises without evidence
The inquiry form: four questions before the site visit
The form is the most important page for the heating season. It should be short enough to be filled in on a phone and precise enough that the firm then knows whether a site visit is worthwhile and what to bring. How many fields an inquiry form in the trades can generally take is covered in our article How many fields a trade inquiry form can take. For stove building there are four questions that make the difference before the site visit, plus two optional ones:
Stove type
A choice of wood stove, built-in fireplace, tiled stove, pellet stove and “not decided yet”. If the visitor comes from a service page, the stove type is already preselected.
Chimney
Yes, no or not sure. A “yes” is followed by the question of which floor it is on and whether another fireplace is already connected to it.
Room size
Floor area in square meters and the type of room. From this the firm can estimate which output and which stove type come into question at all.
Photo of the spot
One to three pictures of wall, floor and flue connection, taken directly with the phone camera or chosen from the photo gallery.
Old stove
Optional: is there a stove to be replaced? A photo of the type plate saves the follow-up question about manufacturer and year of construction.
Preferred timing
Optional: by when should the stove be in place? The answer helps the firm talk openly about delivery times and dates on the callback.
Room size has a legal background. In Lower Saxony, fireplaces may only be installed in rooms if, given the type of fireplace and the location, size, structural condition and use of the room, no hazards arise (Section 40 NBauO). The form does not calculate anything from this and does not promise a suitable output. It does, however, give the firm the information it needs to say on the first callback whether a small wood stove or rather a heat-storing stove comes into question. The fields are built as tiles and choice buttons with touch targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels (WCAG 2.2) so that they work with a thumb on a phone.
Chimney in place: yes, no, not sure
The chimney question sits near the top because it decides the effort. If there is a chimney and it is free, connecting a wood stove is often the manageable part of the project. If there is none, the wish for a stove becomes a project with a new flue system, such as a chimney on the outside wall, and the price range shifts. The third answer, “not sure”, is not a filler. Many customers do not know their house all the way up to the roof, and anyone forced to guess between yes and no gives a wrong answer or gives up. With “not sure”, the form shows a hint: a photo of the house that shows the roof helps, and the district chimney sweep knows the fireplaces in the house from their work.
<fieldset>
<legend>Is there a chimney?</legend>
<label><input type="radio" name="chimney" value="yes"> Yes</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="chimney" value="no"> No</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="chimney" value="unknown"> Not sure</label>
</fieldset>
<!-- two routes to the picture: camera right away or an existing photo -->
<label for="photo-camera">Take a photo now</label>
<input id="photo-camera" name="spot" type="file" accept="image/*" capture="environment">
<label for="photo-choose">Choose a picture</label>
<input id="photo-choose" name="spot" type="file" accept="image/*" multiple>The photo of the spot
In stove building, a good photo often replaces part of the first inspection. The firm sees whether the wall is clear, whether the floor needs a hearth plate, where the flue connection is and how much space remains to furniture and windows. The form therefore says exactly what belongs in the picture instead of just offering “upload photo”:
- the whole wall where the stove is to stand, with the floor in front of it
- the chimney or the connection opening up close, if there is one
- a shot of the room from the door, so that distances become visible
- for a replacement, the old stove and its type plate
- no people, no documents and no family photos on the wall
Technically there are two routes to the picture. A file field with the capture attribute asks the phone to open the camera directly; the value environment refers to the rear camera (W3C HTML Media Capture). Without this attribute, phones usually offer a choice between camera and existing pictures. Because many customers have already photographed the spot, the form gets two buttons: “Take a photo now” and “Choose a picture”. Before sending, the form should shrink large images so that the upload works even on a weak connection. How customers and the firm take usable pictures with a phone is described in our article Phone photos for trade websites.
Photos from someone’s home are personal data as soon as they are linked to an inquiry with name and address. Processing rests on steps taken at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), and it stays limited to what is necessary (Art. 5(1)(c) GDPR). That is why the hint next to the field explicitly asks for wall, floor and connection, not the whole living room. The privacy policy states how long pictures from inquiries that do not lead to a job are kept.
From inquiry to sign-off
Many customers do not know that a wood stove is not simply connected and lit. A page called “How your stove project works” answers that question in advance and avoids discussions about dates. Four steps are enough:
Inquiry
Form with stove type, chimney, room size and photo. The firm gets back with first questions or a proposed date.
Site visit
Measurements, a look at the chimney and the room, choice of stove. The written quote follows.
Installation
Setting up, connection to the chimney, hearth plate and cladding where needed. The firm explains how to operate it.
Sign-off
The authorized district chimney sweep checks and certifies before the stove is regularly fired for the first time.
Form with stove type, chimney, room size and photo. The firm gets back with first questions or a proposed date.
Measurements, a look at the chimney and the room, choice of stove. The written quote follows.
Setting up, connection to the chimney, hearth plate and cladding where needed. The firm explains how to operate it.
The authorized district chimney sweep checks and certifies before the stove is regularly fired for the first time.
The fourth step is not a formality. In Lower Saxony, combustion systems, even after modification, may only be put into operation once the authorized district chimney sweep has checked and certified that they can be used safely and that the associated chimneys are fit for purpose and safe to use (Section 40 NBauO). The other German states regulate this in their own building codes; the page names the rule of the state in which the firm works. On top of that comes a deadline from the 1. BImSchV: for systems subject to its requirements, the operator has compliance confirmed by a chimney sweep within four weeks of commissioning (Section 14(2) 1. BImSchV).
After sign-off, the customer also has duties that the website can briefly explain. Anyone operating a hand-fed stove for solid fuels must get advice from a chimney sweep within one year of installation on how to operate it, how to store the fuel and how to handle solid fuels (Section 4(8) 1. BImSchV). Firewood may only be burned if its moisture content is below 25 percent, based on dry weight (Section 3(3) 1. BImSchV). Whether stove and fuel meet the requirements is checked by the district chimney sweep during the regular fireplace inspection (Section 15(2) 1. BImSchV). That inspection may take place no earlier than three years and should take place no later than five years after the previous one (Section 14 SchfHwG).
Text block for the process page
The gallery: installed stoves instead of catalog shots
A stove is bought on the strength of a picture, but rarely on the strength of a catalog picture. Customers want to see how a stove looks in a living room like theirs, how the connection to an old chimney was solved and how a tiled stove looks once it is built. The gallery sorts installations by stove type so that it can be reached filtered from every service page. Each picture gets a caption with stove type, room and what was special about the project, such as a new chimney on the outside wall. How to take before-and-after pairs that are truly comparable is covered in our article Before-and-after photos.
Some firms go a step further and show customers in advance how the stove would look in their room. Visualizing services with special software is currently offered by 19 percent of trade businesses (Bitkom 2025). For a stove installer this is an obvious step, because the photo of the spot arrives through the form anyway. Whether the effort pays off is for the firm to decide; the website only mentions such a service if it really exists.
Technically, a gallery with many pictures needs care: several image sizes, lazy loading from the second screen onward, alt texts that describe stove type and room, and controls with sufficiently large touch targets (WCAG 2.2). Otherwise the most beautiful gallery becomes the slowest page on the website, and in the evening on the sofa, when customers browse stoves on their phones, the connection can be slow.
Before the heating season: what needs to be ready when
The stove website for the fall is built over the summer. Service pages and gallery need pictures taken in summer, the form needs test runs, and search engines need time to pick up new pages. A sensible plan follows the year:
- Spring and summer: write a service page per stove type, photograph installations, fill the gallery.
- Late summer: test the inquiry form with real test inquiries, check the confirmation email and the forwarding to the office.
- Fall: update the business profile with showroom hours and new pictures, add a note on the current booking situation to the home page.
- Winter: review inquiries, which stove type was asked for and where follow-up questions were needed, and sharpen the pages in spring.
The note on the booking situation is a short sentence the firm can change itself, such as “We are currently scheduling new installations for January”. It does not replace a commitment, but it takes the first question out of the calls. So that customers in the area find the firm at all, stove types and service area also belong in the Google Business Profile and in local search engine optimization, which we describe under SEO for tradespeople. For plumbing and heating firms that mainly handle breakdowns in winter, we have described the counterpart: the fault report form for winter.
What it costs
A website for a stove installer with service pages per stove type, a gallery, a process page and an inquiry form with photo upload is a new website of the usual scope. With us it costs from 1,490 euros net at a fixed price, with up to eight pages; how such a project runs is shown on the page Have a trade website built. If there is already a website that needs to be reorganized by stove type, a relaunch from 2,900 euros net is the right route, because old addresses are redirected and existing content is carried over.
After that, the site has to make it through the season. With website maintenance from 49 euros per month net, which can be canceled with one month’s notice to the end of a month and has no minimum term, we change copy and pictures on request, such as the booking note or new gallery pictures, and send a monthly test submission of the form to your business address. Hosting in Germany costs from 15 euros per month net, likewise cancelable with one month’s notice to the end of a month and with no minimum term. All prices net, prices as of September 2026; the overview is on the pricing page.
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