What you're pricing in gutter cleaning
Gutter cleaning is clearing leaves, moss and silt from gutters and downpipes, often with a gutter-vacuum pole from the ground, sometimes from a ladder or tower. One job means clearing and flushing every gutter and downpipe on a property. How often a customer comes back: once a year for most customers, twice for houses under trees. That pattern decides how you should think about price.
The method is the same as for any round (see how to price a round): work out what your time has to earn, find out how long a job takes, and add what it costs you. This page shows it with numbers for gutter cleaning.
What moves the price
- Length of gutter and number of downpipes
- Height: a bungalow and a three-storey house are different jobs
- How blocked it is: moss and silt take far longer than a few leaves
- Access: conservatory roofs, extensions and steep gardens
- Whether a camera check or a photo report is included
Example: pricing one property
- 45 minutes on site + 15 minutes getting there and setting up = 60 minutes
- 60 minutes at £35 an hour = £35
- Add £2 for materials and fuel = £37
Price: £37 per property
Set a minimum
Set a minimum job price, because setting up for a small bungalow takes nearly as long as a large house. If a customer won't pay it, they're costing you more in time than they pay you, and the round is better without them.
How many jobs that means
With that example price, here is what earning £2,000 a month looks like once you've covered the costs of running the business.
| Monthly cost (example) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Public liability insurance | £25 |
| Van, fuel and servicing | £200 |
| Gutter-vacuum kit repayments | £60 |
| Rounds software | £35 |
| Advertising | £50 |
| Total running costs | £370 |
- Income wanted: £2,000 + running costs £370 = £2,370 a month
- At £37 a job: 65 jobs a month
If a regular customer comes 1.5 times a year, that's about 520 customers on the books
Repeat work here is thin (customers come back once a year for most customers, twice for houses under trees), so your diary depends on a steady flow of new customers, and a reminder to last year's customers is some of the cheapest work you'll win.
Raising your prices
Review your prices at least once a year. Tell customers in writing, give them a few weeks' notice and name the new price and the date it starts. The message to copy is in how to price a round.
Run your gutter cleaning in WorkWise
Remember next autumn: A customer list with each customer's next visit date and a reminder text before it's due.