The right price for gutter cleaning is the visit's cost, divided by one minus the margin you want to keep, then checked against the height of the house and the length of its gutters. Cost is your crew's time on the ladder and on the road, plus equipment, disposal and your share of overhead. For a reference point, Housecall Pro's 2026 guide lists $100 to $180 for a one-story home, $150 to $275 for two stories and $250 to $400 or more for three (Housecall Pro), and This Old House, using 2026 Angi estimates, puts the national average at about $275 an appointment (This Old House). Those are what customers pay, not what your visits cost you, so this guide builds the price from your own costs and uses the market as a check.
What the market charges, and why it is only a check
Published gutter cleaning prices come from marketplaces, publishers and software companies, and they overlap without agreeing.
- By the visit. Thumbtack puts the typical national price at $163 to $333, with most people paying about $233 (Thumbtack). This Old House puts the average at about $275 (This Old House).
- By height. Thumbtack lists $135 to $250 for a one-story home and $160 to $300 for two stories (Thumbtack). Housecall Pro lists $100 to $180 and $150 to $275 (Housecall Pro).
- By the linear foot. Housecall Pro lists $0.80 to $2 for residential work (Housecall Pro). This Old House lists $0.95 to $1.25 for one story, $1.00 to $1.85 for two and $1.25 to $2.25 for three (This Old House).
- By the hour. Housecall Pro lists $50 to $100 an hour (Housecall Pro). Thumbtack says companies typically charge a fixed rate, not an hourly one (Thumbtack).
Across the sources above, a one-story house runs from 100 to 250 dollars. No number on a web page is yours. Your price comes from how fast your crew works and what it costs to send them.
Three ways to quote
- Flat price by height. One number for a one-story, two-story or three-story house. It is the easiest to sell and to say on the phone. It hides the difference between 120 feet of gutter and 250.
- By the linear foot. You measure the gutter and multiply by your own rate. It is fair across houses of different sizes and easy to explain. It needs a real measurement.
- By the hour. You charge for time on the ladder. It protects you on neglected gutters, guards and hard access, but customers cannot budget for it.
A workable setup is a price by the linear foot, built from your costs and rounded into a flat quote for the customer, with hourly for the jobs you cannot size up from the ground.
Step 1: measure the job
Measure the gutter length before you quote. Walk the edges of the roof from the ground, or measure the foundation. Count the corners, downspouts and stories. Note what slows you down: tall ground, a fence, steep slopes, gutter guards, trees overhead. Ask for photos if you quote by phone, because a phone quote cannot see a roof full of debris or a guard that has to come off.
Step 2: time your own speed
Time a few real jobs. Note the linear feet cleared per hour for one person and for two, including moving the ladder and bagging debris. Use your own speed, with your own tools, on houses like the ones you serve. Add the fixed time that does not shrink with the size of the job: unloading, setting ladders, laying a tarp, flushing the downspouts and loading back up.
Step 3: labor cost
Multiply the number of workers by their hours on site plus the drive, then by each person's hourly pay. If you have employees, add employer payroll taxes and workers' compensation to the wage. Our labor rate calculator works out that fully loaded rate. If you work alone, pay yourself a wage here too, or the price will leave out the one cost you are sure to have.
Step 4: equipment, disposal and insurance
Put a cost per on-site hour on the ladders, stabilizers, blower or vacuum, scoops and truck. Add bags, tarps and any dump fees per job. Ladder work is where liability insurance and workers' compensation earn their cost, so they belong in your overhead, not on a list of extras.
Step 5: overhead and margin
Overhead is what runs whether you climb or not: insurance, phone, software, your website, and the hours you spend quoting and invoicing. Add up a year of it, divide by the hours you expect to be on site, and add that amount to every on-site hour. Our guide to what a service hour really costs covers each cost line.
Then divide the total cost by one minus your target margin. Housecall Pro's guide does the same: final price is cost divided by one minus the profit target (Housecall Pro). A 30% margin means dividing by 0.7. Margin is profit as a share of the price and markup is profit as a share of the cost, so a 30% margin needs about a 43% markup.
Example: a two-story house, with invented numbers
This is an illustration with invented figures, not an average for any crew or city. Swap in your own.
The house has 180 linear feet of gutter on two stories. A crew of two clears 120 linear feet an hour, setup and cleanup take half an hour, and the drive is half an hour each. Each worker earns 20 dollars an hour, and payroll costs add 20%, which makes 24 dollars. Cleaning takes 180 divided by 120, which is 1.5 hours, plus half an hour, so 2 hours on site. Two workers on site for 2 hours plus the drive come to 5 paid hours.
| Cost line (one visit) | Dollars |
|---|---|
| Labor: 5 paid hours at 24 | 120.00 |
| Ladders, blower and truck: 2 hours at 10 | 20.00 |
| Bags and disposal | 8.00 |
| Overhead: 2 hours at 7.50 | 15.00 |
| Cost of the visit | 163.00 |
- At a 30% margin: 163 divided by 0.7 is 232.86, so you quote 233 dollars. Profit is 70, a margin of about 30%.
- The markup trap: 163 times 1.3 is 211.90. Profit is 48.90, which is a margin of about 23%.
- Your rate: 233 divided by 180 is about 1.29 dollars a linear foot. That sits inside the $1.00 to $1.85 This Old House lists for two stories (This Old House).
- If the job runs long: a house packed with moss that takes 3 hours on site uses 7 paid hours. Labor is 168, equipment 30, bags 8 and overhead 22.50, so the cost is 228.50. At a flat 233 you keep 4.50 dollars, a margin under 2%. Photograph the gutters before you quote, and requote any house that runs over.
Add-ons that belong on the quote
List the extras as separate lines. Housecall Pro lists downspout flushing at $25 to $75 a downspout, heavy or compacted debris removal at $50 to $150, roof debris removal or blow-off at $75 to $200, minor repairs or resealing at $50 to $150, and a gutter guard check at $25 to $50 (Housecall Pro). Price your own the same way: time it, cost it, divide by one minus your margin. If you also pressure wash, how much to charge for pressure washing uses the same method, and how much to charge for window cleaning applies it to glass.
Mistakes to avoid
- One price for every house. Gutter length, height and debris change the time.
- Quoting from the phone. Ask for photos or look first.
- Leaving out disposal and setup. Bags, dump fees and ladder time cost the same on a small house as on a big one.
- Copying a competitor's rate. Their crew, speed and costs are not yours.
- Mixing up margin and markup. The example above shows the gap.
- No add-on lines. Downspouts, guards and roof debris are extra work with their own price.
When to raise the price
- The job took longer than you quoted for several houses in a row. Time it and requote.
- Your costs went up. Insurance, fuel and pay all move. Rerun the numbers at the start of each season.
- The customer adds work. A second downspout flush or a roof blow-off is a new line.
Where your website fits
Once your price is set, the next job is making it easy to ask for. A website that lists the work you do and the towns you cover, with a way to request a quote, helps. Our guide to a Google Business Profile without a website covers getting found, and a phone that gets answered while you are on a ladder keeps the lead.
Fasite is $199 a month, or $1,990 a year, for a done-for-you website, a 24/7 AI receptionist on its own new number that books free visits, online booking, recurring jobs, estimates, invoices and scheduling. The receptionist does not quote prices, so your price stays yours. The first subscription starts with a 30-day free trial, and no card is needed to start.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for gutter cleaning?
Enough to cover the visit's cost and keep the margin you want: cost divided by one minus your margin. The cost depends on the length and height of the gutters, your crew's speed and pay, your equipment, disposal and overhead, so it differs from one crew to the next.
How do I price gutter cleaning by the linear foot?
Measure the gutter, time your own speed in linear feet per hour, then build the price from labor, equipment, disposal and overhead, and divide it by the length. Published per-foot rates differ from one source to the next, so use yours.
Should I charge by the foot or by the story?
A flat price by story is easy to say on the phone, and a price by the foot is fairer across houses of different sizes. Build a rate per foot from your costs, then give the customer a flat quote.
Should downspouts be extra?
Yes. Flushing or clearing a clogged downspout is extra work. List it as its own line, as Housecall Pro does in its add-on prices (Housecall Pro).
What is the difference between margin and markup?
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of the cost. A price with a 30% margin has about a 43% markup.
How often should I update my gutter cleaning prices?
At least once a year, and any time a house keeps running past the time you quoted or your costs change.