How much does gutter cleaning cost in Telford?

Ask three window cleaners what a gutter clear costs and you will get three shrugs and a promise to come and look. Sometimes that is fair enough, because a three storey town house with a conservatory in the way is genuinely a different job to a bungalow. Most of the time it is a semi in Wellington and the answer is knowable, so here it is.

What we actually charge

Gutter clearing starts at £80. For most standard houses across Telford that is what it comes to:

• Bungalow, front and back: from £80
• Terrace or small semi: around £80 to £90
• Standard semi or small detached: around £90 to £110
• Larger detached, or three storeys: £120 upwards

Those are for clearing the gutters out. Cleaning the outside of the guttering, the fascias and the soffits, so the white plastic is actually white again, is a separate job, and the price for that is on the quote page with everything else. Plenty of people have both done at once because we are already set up outside the house, and it is cheaper together than twice.

What changes the price

Four things, in the order they matter:

How much guttering there is. Not how big the house looks from the front. A long, low bungalow can have more metres of gutter than a tall narrow terrace.

Whether we can reach it. Most of Telford is fine. Where it gets slower is a conservatory or a flat roof extension underneath the run, or a locked side gate onto a shared path, or parking that means carrying kit two streets. None of that is anybody's fault, it just takes longer.

How long it has been. A gutter cleared last year has silt in it. A gutter that has not been touched since the house was bought has a hedge in it. We have pulled saplings out of gutters in Dawley that were tall enough to see from the road.

Height. Two storeys is normal and all of it is done from the ground. Three storeys needs the longer poles and takes more time, and that is reflected in the price rather than hidden in it.

Why the cheapest quote is often not the cheapest job

A £40 gutter clean exists, and the difference is almost never the equipment. It is how much of the job actually gets done. The quick version is the front run, the bits you can see from the pavement, and back in the van in fifteen minutes.

What blocks a gutter is rarely the leaves along the top. It is the silt that has packed down at the outlet, and getting that out means working the vacuum right into the corners and the downpipe head, not just running it along the easy stretch.

The test is simple and you can do it yourself: after it is done, wait for proper rain and watch the downpipe. Water should be leaving the outlet, not dribbling over the front edge or out of the joints.

How it is actually done

From the ground, with a vacuum and carbon poles, so nothing leans on your house and nobody is up a ladder over your flower beds. The debris goes into the machine rather than onto the garden, and we can reach over conservatories and extensions that a ladder cannot get near.

What our price includes

Clearing the full run, not just the easy stretch. Working the outlets and downpipe heads, which is where the blockage actually is. Taking what comes out away with us, because a pile of wet gutter silt on a border is not a finished job. And photos if you want them, which most people do, because you cannot see your own gutters.

If we find something we cannot fix, a cracked hopper, a joint that has dropped, a section that needs replacing rather than clearing, we will tell you and show you. We do not do the repair, and we would rather say so than take the money for a clear that will block again in a month.

How often is it worth doing

Once a year for most houses in Telford. Twice if you have anything overhanging, and a lot of the older estates do. If you are not sure whether yours need doing, the honest answer is that they probably do, because almost nobody looks until water is running down a wall. There is more on that in why gutters block and what it costs to sort.

You can get a price for your own house on the instant quote page without ringing anybody, or see the full detail on gutter clearing.

Questions people actually ask

Do you need access to the back garden?

Yes, for the back gutters. If the side gate is locked we will need somebody in, or the gate left open. If nobody is going to be there, just let us know and we will do the front and come back, rather than turn up to a locked gate and charge you for it.

Will you clear a gutter over a conservatory?

Yes, and it is one of the places working from the ground really pays off. Nothing has to lean on the conservatory, because the vacuum reaches over it from where we stand. Worth mentioning when you ask for a price all the same.

Is it cheaper with a window clean?

Yes, if they are done on the same visit, because we are already there and already set up. It is worth asking when you book rather than after.

How long does it take?

Most houses, under an hour. A neglected detached with blocked downpipes can be half a morning. We would rather take the time than leave the silt.