How Much to Charge for Gutter Clearing in 2026

What a gutter-clearing quote needs to include

"Gutters cleared — £90" tells a customer nothing about how you'll access the roofline, whether the downpipes were checked, or what happens when the leaves come back in October. Cover these ten things and the quote reads as a proper service, not a guess scribbled on the doorstep:

1. 1Property type and storey count, stated plainly — a single-storey bungalow and a three-storey town house are a different job and a different price, not a variation on the same one.
2. 2Total metres of guttering, or front/rear/side runs counted separately if access differs between them.
3. 3Access method named on the quote — ground-based gutter vacuum system, or ladder — not left for the customer to assume, since it changes both the price and how long you'll be on site.
4. 4Downpipe check and unblock, priced as its own line rather than silently folded in or silently skipped — a blocked downpipe is usually why the gutter was overflowing in the first place.
5. 5Fascia and soffit wipe-down, if you offer it, as a clearly separate add-on.
6. 6Before-and-after photos, included as standard — the simplest way to show the debris that justified the price, and proof the job was actually done if a dispute ever comes up.
7. 7Debris removal and disposal stated explicitly, not left to blow straight back into the border.
8. 8Your public liability insurance cover, named on the quote, not just implied.
9. 9Whether this is a one-off clear or the first visit of a twice-yearly maintenance plan, and what the discounted second visit costs.
10. 10Valid-until date and payment terms.

Clearing isn't installing — don't price it the same way

It's worth being precise about which job this actually is. Fitting new guttering — the fall calculation, bracket spacing, material choice — is its own trade and its own quote (see how much to charge for a guttering job). Gutter clearing is maintenance on guttering that's already up: removing the leaves, moss and silt that build up in every run over a season, checking the downpipes still flow, and flagging anything that's actually failing rather than just dirty. The two get quoted very differently — a clearing job is priced by access method and time on site, not by metre of new material — and conflating them is how a clearer ends up under-pricing a job that still involves working at height on someone's roofline.

2026 UK pricing

Prices vary by property size, region and access difficulty, but these are a fair starting point for 2026:

• Standard clear, most properties: £50–£180, rising to £150–£300+ on a three-storey or genuinely hard-to-access property.
• Per linear metre: £4–£12 outside London and the South East; £6–£15 within it.
• Ground-based gutter vacuum system: £100–£300 for the job — the most common method for a two-storey property with clear ground access.
• Straightforward ladder-based clearing (single or two-storey): £50–£150.
• Downpipe unblock, as an add-on: £30–£80.
• Fascia and soffit wipe-down, as an add-on: £2–£6 per metre.
• Scaffold or cherry picker for a genuinely difficult three-storey or restricted-access property: £100–£500 on top of the clearing price.
• Travel surcharge for an out-of-area job: £25–£50.
• Recommended frequency: twice a year, spring and autumn, for most homes — more often under overhanging trees, less for sheltered properties.

The regulation most gutter clearers ignore

It's easy to assume health and safety law is something that applies to employers, not to a one-person operation working alone. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 say otherwise: the duties fall on "employers, the self-employed, and any person that controls the work of others" — a sole trader clearing gutters is squarely inside that wording, not outside it. In practice that means planning the job properly before you climb, assessing the risk for that specific property, and following the hierarchy the regulations set out in order: avoid working at height where you reasonably can, use the right equipment to prevent a fall where you can't avoid it, and minimise the distance and consequences of a fall as a last resort. A ground-based gutter vacuum system satisfies the first step directly — it's a large part of why it's become the default method on a standard two-storey property.

Where a ladder is the right tool — short jobs, ground-level or low single-storey work — HSE's own guidance is specific about how it should be used, not just that it can be used. Keep three points of contact (two hands and one foot, or two feet and one hand) at the working position at all times. Set the ladder at the correct angle using the 1-in-4 rule — one unit out at the base for every four units of height, roughly 75 degrees. Check it visually before each day's use, including the feet, since worn or missing feet are what make a ladder unstable. And treat 30 minutes in one position as the practical limit before moving or reassessing — a ladder is for light work, not for settling in and working an entire run from one spot. Industry figures suggest ladders are involved in a significant share of all workplace falls from height, which is exactly why the regulations push "avoid it if you can" to the top of the list rather than treating a ladder as the obvious first choice.

None of this needs to appear as legal small print on the quote. One line — "cleared using a ground-based vacuum system, no ladder required" or "cleared by ladder, short single-storey run, standard safety procedure followed" — does the job of showing a customer you've actually thought about how you'll access their roofline, not just what you'll charge for it.

A worked example

A 3-bed semi-detached, two-storey, with an overhanging oak feeding moderate debris into the front run — cleared with a ground-based vacuum system, one blocked downpipe found and cleared, and the autumn return visit booked at the same time:

£280 across both visits of the year, with the spring clear, the downpipe fix and the fascia wipe-down on this invoice, and the discounted autumn return already booked in rather than re-quoted from scratch in six months' time.

Five details that get gutter-clearing quotes accepted faster

• Name the access method on the quote, not just the price. "Ground-based gutter vacuum, no ladder on the property" reads as safer and more professional than a bare number — and it's genuinely useful information for a customer deciding between quotes.
• Spell out what "cleared" actually means. "Debris removed from all gutter runs, downpipes flow-tested and unblocked" is a different promise than a scoop-and-a-wipe — and it's the detail that explains why your price is higher than a quick cash-in-hand job.
• Offer the second visit as a discounted "already set up" add-on. A customer is far more likely to accept "£85 for your autumn return visit, booked now" than to be re-quoted from scratch every six months — and it locks in repeat revenue without a second sales conversation.
• Put your public liability cover in writing, unprompted. Someone letting you up a ladder against their house, or running a vacuum hose over their roofline, notices when you've already answered the question they were too polite to ask.
• Send before-and-after photos with the invoice, not just the quote. A photo of a gutter packed with moss next to one running clear is the easiest proof of work in this trade — and the strongest defence if a customer ever claims nothing was done.

The fastest way to do all of this

A single downpipe check is easy enough to price on the spot. A full round — access method, the downpipe unblock, a fascia wipe-down, and a pre-booked autumn return at a different rate from the spring visit — is exactly the kind of job that turns into a vague "I'll sort you out, mate" instead of a document either of you can check back against.

This is what QuoteRocket is for. Describe the job in plain English — "gutter clear, 3-bed semi, two-storey, ground-based vacuum, one downpipe blocked, fascia wipe-down, book the autumn return at a discount" — and it turns that into a branded, itemised PDF quote in under a minute, with the access method, the downpipe fix and the second visit kept as their own clearly labelled lines. Your customer accepts it with one tap on their phone, and an accepted quote becomes an invoice in one click.

Whichever way you produce the quote, the principle holds: name your access method, price the downpipe check and the second visit as their own lines, and put your insurance cover in writing rather than leaving it to be assumed.

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