Chimney disaster or a rip off?

[Jacob Beg]

Full disclosure! I never had to repair a chimney before and my knowledge in this regard is quite limited. I have purchase a property where the seller disclosed " Chimney Flu Sleeve is Cracked". I looked it up online and it appeared that the average repairs should not exceed 1K.

My experience of dealing with chimney contractors is eye opening here in Baltimore. Here is the recent quote I received and it seems extortionate. I had another quote for 6K but the contractor gave a pretty poor vibe, would not provide an estimate or scope of work without a $2K deposit. 

"To have the chimney brought back up to code you are looking at $8,305.00. This includes repoiting the bad mortar joints on the outside of the chimney from the roofline up to the top. A new chimney crown on the top of the chimney along with a new piece of tarracotta flue tile to replace the damaged one. A new stainless steel cap on the new tarracotta flue tile. This also includes a new 11" stainless steel chimney liner in the fireplace dude to the cracked flue tile. The liner comes with a top plate and cap to protect the fireplace flue. This also includes grinding out and repointing all of the bad joints inside the firebox of the fireplace as they are cracked up pretty good. We would also remove the smoke pipe from the furnace and the water heater and repace them with all new 26 gauge pipe and install a tapered tee to connect them properly to the chimney."

What is a fair and reasonable price and is there any other suggestions?