Plan Better

A common design flaw in most homes, where the roof line comes into contact with the fireplace, is the lack of a small gable to whisk water away from the bricks of the fireplace.
But this often leads to water being pushed back up the roof line under the shingles and leads to water damage to the structure.
The most common solution is to place layers of flashing under the roofing shingles and into the bricks of the fireplace.
When this fails a cacophony of flashing, caulk, neoprene and tar paper is the more expensive "answer".
But all of this can be avoided altogether by the elimination of any contact between the fireplace and any large amount of water by building an inexpensive gable which pushes water to the sides of the fireplace.

What's the point of all this?
That my young cousins are making a financial killing by retrofitting roofs with a cheaper (but better performing) solution to a common problem in rain prone areas.