Anyone cleaning gutters?

[clean cut man]

I have a chimney sweep business during the busy months of the winter. I have gotten several calls lately about cleaning out gutters-guess not many people offer the service. Did not really want to get into the business, so I priced them really high, only to get the people to ask when I could get it done. My question is does anyone have any experience cleaning gutters with a pressure washer? I have researched a little on this and find that it may be easiest with the 24' extendable pole with the hook and nozzle on the end. Most of the gutters cannot be cleaned from the roof due to the roof pitch and it would really be a pain to have to keep moving the ladder every 4 feet. Does anyone have any experience in this or any suggestions?

[Woody]

Price it as high as you can. I clean them by hand or with a RedMax EB7001 blower if they are dry. Charge a buck a foot, or more if you can get it. I've never used a PW to do it, but if I did I would use VERY low pressure. Make sure the downspouts flow well BEFORE you leave. Clean gutters and clogged downspouts will lead to a callback. Do good work and you'll find that this undesireable job can be a gold mine.

Woody

[GrassMaster]

The going rate from what I read here is...

$1 per linear foot for 1 story gutters.

$2 per linear foot for 2 story gutters.

I would use my hands with leather gloves & a blower to clean them. The roofs you can walk on will be gravy money, those easy to reach 1 story roofs that can be accessed with a ladder are easy work too!

Yes, I would be afraid of doing damage with a pressure & how would you know they are cleaned out without looking in them?

Do a search on gutters you should find plenty of info here. As far as moving the ladder every 4 foot don't worry about it. The gutter cleaning checks you receive will more than compensate you for moving the ladder!

Those extra steep roofs, charge them extra they expect it!

[jimslawnservice1]

Oh NO!!

I am not charging enough

[Scott]

Our esteemed Mr. Grassmaster is correct. $1/$2 per linear foots.

They make a curved head for your pw'er just for gutters. I'll have to look it up though and you could use use your soap nozzle or an 8010. You can also get an extendable wand, I suggest the Magnum or a blue wand (can't remember the name of it right now) but stay away from the yellow noodle looking thing. That sucker is just plain heavy.

[ranger351w]

clean gutters

Grassmaster is right. I clean a lot of them and only use a hand held blower. I have used water and all it does is make a mess. Water is what packed the leaves and whirly's to start with but the blower will clean them out without near the mess. As far as the down spouts go just stick the blower nozzle down or up them and if they are clean you will feel no resistance to the air . If they are clogged use a small plumbers snake then blow loosened debris out.
How ever I certainly am not charging enough at 40.00 per average one story home. Need to fix that.

A.S.D.S. Mowing

[Scott]

I guess I missed the intent of this post. I thought he was asking how to clean gutters(hence posting in the pw'ing forum) not remove debris from them.

[MASTERMOWER]

To hell with cleaning out gutters! I do clean gutters, but that's not saying I like to. Now that I have money again I'm seriously considering becoming a dealer of the GutterFilter system.

Would work well? People call you because their gutters are clogged....you clean them.....and THEN sell them the GutterFilter system, installed. Maybe I'm just dreaming?

http://gutterfilter.com

[Stephen M.]

My wife and I started doing this back in Nov '95. At first we didn't charge enough, but have gotten really good on estimating so we now make $50+ per man hour.

We don't give pricing on the phone, but we tell the prospective customer that we will come out and give them a quote. We have a minimun charge to do any job and we won't take the ladders off the truck for less. The cheap people looking for a "deal" will say "that seems a little high" and I tell them that there are several unlicensed people who will do it cheaper, but very few, other than the gutter installers, will do multi stories like ourselves. That constitutes danger pay, and I want to get danger pay. Besides, if gutter cleaning was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Ladder and roof work is dangerous. The going rate charged by roofers in my area is $40-$50/man hour.

We did a house on Tuesday where I blew of the roof and most of its gutters; washed them out w/ water to make sure the downspouts were clear, and we made just shy of $50/man hour.

We will usually clean up any mess we make when blowing them out, but our preferred method is to use a brush taped to an aluminum extendable pole so you don't have to constantly move the ladder; use a gloved hand to put the debris into a bucket on a long rope or throw down to the ground for pick up. We wash out the gutter and unclog any back ups in the drain.

[Bulldog26]

Just did 170' in an hour today on a ranch style. Blow them out and cleaned up in an hour. Then spent the next 5 hours on hedges. Arms are still feeling like rubber.
bt

[Rocky]

Bit of an old thread, but I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in

I've cleaned gutters both by hand, and with a pressure washer. And having done one with a p/w now I will never go back. I did a single story home by hand, mostly moving the ladder along, but sometimes just kneeling down on the roof. Took about 2hrs, I was exhausted, covered in mud, and my hands were all cut up from the edge's of the tiles. In adition, I ended up having to hose the gutters off cause of all the muck that dribbled down the side as I pulled it out and into a bucket. Made $AU120. Not baad, but not good. Then I got my p/w, quoted a 2 storey house $AU180. Done in less than 1hr, blasted all the crap outta the gutters with ease (using a pointy nozzle, I could 'blast' it out about 15ft ahead of me, standing on the roof). Some of the muck fell on pavement etc, which I promptly blasted off into the surrounding gardens - fertiliser , the plants love it - All in all a very happy customer (booked me in again for next year) and a very happy me

[safari lawn]

I guess I need to adjust my pricing I charge between 35 and 45 per house, and if I can I use a backpak blower, in Virginia our leaves fall about the 2nd to 3rd week in october, I do a clean before thanksgiving and a final after the leaves are down near christmas. All the customers I have are my regulars with the occassional driveby. The leaves I blow off to the ground I incorporate into the leaf job I am doing the same day. If you can start from the top and work down. I agree with others water just makes them messy.

[CCPC]

I clean gutters all the time, and although its not my favorite, I a make really good money cleaning them. Anything that people hate to do, matched with working off a ladder or on a roof, = high dollars.

[1stclasscleaning]

Cleaning gutters can be an annoying hassle, and even with the right information, it can still get messy. This section of DoItYourself.com tries to make the process as easy as possible, providing tips about "the art of gutter cleaning" and even how to use pressure washers.
source:do it yourself .com

[Cash4Trash]

I have just started cleaning Gutters had a look at the "Gutter Witch" www.gutterwitch.co.nz/ over here in New Zealand they are about $NZ100 you dont even need a ladder They also do down pipe diverters However being a bit of a DIY person adapted a extendable house wash brush to do the same job as the gutter witch at 1/3 the price Blowers are no good when gutters are full of wet grit (off tiles)which clog up leaves etc as for collecting the rubbish I made a diverter which sits in the top of the downpipe and channels the rubbish into a 210lt drum with holes in bottom to allow water to escape