How to Price Gutter Cleaning Per Linear Foot (From Above)

Here is how to price gutter cleaning per linear foot without a ladder. Trace the roofline on satellite imagery for the perimeter, drop the edges that carry no gutter, check the footage against a rule of thumb, and apply a per-foot rate that steps up with each story. Downspouts, guards and heavy debris get their own lines. The same footage then prices a spring and fall plan the customer approves once.

Why gutter cleaning is priced by the linear foot

Gutter cleaning is priced by the linear foot because the work scales with the length of the run, not the size of the house: every foot takes about the same scooping, flushing and ladder moves. HomeAdvisor's US homeowner survey puts gutter cleaning at $0.95 to $2.25 per linear ft, and Fixr's consumer cost guide runs $0.70 to $3.20 per linear ft across one to three stories.

The rate also has to carry costs no single job shows. Insureon, a US business insurance agency, puts general liability for pressure washing companies, a neighboring exterior cleaning trade, at an average of $73 per month. Add up a year of insurance, truck and ladder costs, divide by the feet you expect to clean, and put that on top of your labor per foot; that is your rate. Use the surveyed ranges as a check on it, not a ceiling.

Get the linear footage without a ladder

The footage comes from a satellite outline of the roof: trace the roof edge, close the shape, and the perimeter is the starting number. The free satellite measurement tool reads perimeter in linear feet when you close the shape, no account needed; its address search covers US addresses.

Trace the roofline for a gutter cleaning estimate without visiting

1. 1Step 1: Open the address and zoom until the roof edges are sharp; if trees hide the eaves, pick an older imagery date with less leaf cover.
2. 2Step 2: Tap each corner of the main roof, then tap the first point again to close the shape and read the perimeter.
3. 3Step 3: Add an attached garage, a porch roof or a bump-out as more shapes.
4. 4Step 4: Mark each edge as an eave (gutter) or a rake (no gutter) and subtract the rakes from the perimeter.
5. 5Step 5: Count the downspouts on the image, confirm the stories from the customer's photos, and put the footage on a per linear foot line, one per story count.

In MakeHay, a saved measurement fills a per linear foot line with Use in line and updates the line if the measurement changes. See Measure a property from satellite.

Which edges carry gutters and which do not

Gutters hang on eaves, the low horizontal edges where water runs off the roof, not on rakes, the sloped edges of a gable end. From above, find the ridge: edges parallel to it are eaves; edges that run from the ridge down to a corner are rakes. A plain gable roof has two eaves and two rakes, so its gutter footage is the two long sides. A hip roof slopes on every side, so every edge carries gutter.

Check it against the rule of thumb

Fixr's cost guide gives the rule of thumb: about 10 linear ft of gutter for every 100 sq ft of home, so a 1,500 sq ft house has roughly 150 linear ft and a 2,000 sq ft house about 200 linear ft. HomeAdvisor's homeowner survey puts the average home at 125 to 200 linear ft. If the trace lands far outside those numbers, check the outline again.

The rule is a check, not the measurement: a long ranch with a hip roof runs over it, and a tall colonial with two gable ends runs under it, because the second story stacks floor area over the same footprint. Use it to catch a missed wing or a double-counted porch.

Gutter cleaning price per linear foot by number of stories

The consumer cost guides show the per-foot rate rising with each story: HomeAdvisor surveys homeowners who hired a pro, and Fixr compiles pricing databases, contractors and industry experts.

The guides disagree on how steep the premium is: HomeAdvisor's second-story range sits a little above its first-story range, while Fixr's roughly doubles. These are consumer-side price ranges, not a floor for your market.

Why the two story gutter cleaning price is higher: OSHA ladder rules

The second story costs more because the ladder work that reaches it is slower; the same rule applies on every story, and it costs more time the higher the eave. For a gutter cleaning service, maintenance rather than construction, the US federal rule for employers is OSHA's general industry ladder standard, 29 CFR 1910.23: paragraph (c)(11) requires a portable ladder used to reach an upper landing to have side rails that extend at least 3 ft above the upper landing surface, so a ladder that lands on a roof has to be longer than the eave is high.

The setback ratio is in the standard's Figure D-1, not in the paragraph text: the figure shows the foot of the ladder one quarter of the distance to its top support out from the wall. The higher the eave, the longer the ladder, the farther out its foot sits, and the more moves it takes along the run. That time is the premium; price it as its own per-foot rate for each story count.

On a construction site the construction standard, 29 CFR 1926.1053, applies instead; its paragraph (b)(5)(i) states the one-quarter rule in text.

Good to know: This is general information, not legal advice. Statutes and rules change; read the current text and ask your state licensing board or a lawyer before you rely on it.

Add-ons priced separately: downspouts, guards, debris, haul-away

Downspouts, guards, heavy debris and haul-away are their own lines because none of them is the same work as scooping a foot of open gutter. HomeAdvisor's homeowner survey and Bob Vila's homeowner cost guide both put downspout flushing at $50 to $100 on top of the cleaning.

• Downspouts: priced each, or one flat line for the house. Amerimax, a gutter manufacturer, recommends one downspout per 20 ft of gutter, so count the outlets on the image.
• Gutter guards: lifting and resetting them is a per-foot line of its own. Installing guards is a separate job, priced by Fixr's guide at $2.60 to $18.50 per linear ft.
• Heavy debris: HomeAdvisor's survey and Bob Vila's homeowner guide both say badly clogged gutters cost 10 to 50 percent more. Quote it as a flat line with the photo that justifies it.
• Haul-away: a flat line when the bagged debris leaves with you.

Spring and fall: a gutter cleaning recurring service approved once

A two-visit plan, spring and fall, is the schedule the sources agree on: Bob Vila's guide says once or twice a year with spring and fall as the best times, Fixr's cost guide says at least twice a year, and Amerimax says to check gutters every spring and fall. Fall matters most, because falling leaves fill gutters and block downspouts fast.

Quote the plan as the same per-foot lines twice a year and get the approval once; the footage does not change between visits. A house under tall trees may need a third visit; HomeAdvisor's survey notes two to four a year where debris is heavy. For the house wash on the same visit, see how to estimate a pressure washing job without a site visit.

In MakeHay, the gutter starter list on the gutter software page carries "Gutter cleaning, per foot" per linear foot and "Gutter cleaning, single story" flat. Set the job to repeat with Period monthly and Every 6, then turn on Bill after each visit for one invoice per visit; add Autopay and Done & charge bills the saved card or bank account and emails a receipt (US businesses only). See Set up a recurring service.

In MakeHay, a request form takes the Job site address and the customer's photos through the Photo upload answer type, so the trace and the quote happen before anyone drives. See Take requests with a request form.