Yes, the same two people clean the gutters and the outside of your windows in one visit, gutters first and glass last. We price it by the number of stories and an approximate window count, and doing both in one visit costs less than booking two separate trips. On our Santa Cruz jobs most customers book the work in spring and fall, which is when the pollen and leaf load build up on the glass and in the runs.
Priced by stories, not by a visit. The bundle costs less than two trips, and the number on the phone is the number on the invoice.
Our window cleaning services and gutter work are quoted by the number of stories and an approximate window count, and the bundle done in one visit costs less than booking the two jobs separately. Window washing and gutter work share one crew, so one quote covers both. Call (866) 435-6328 with your stories and window count, and the number we give you is the number we charge. Our washing services are priced the same way. We will not hand you a figure before we know the stories and the window count, and we ask for a photo of the front of the house by text so we can see the roofline before the crew is booked.
What changes the quote on our jobs is what the crew finds on the day. A third story or a steep roof means more time on the ladder and a boom or scissor lift for the upper runs. Window count matters, and so does the grime on the sills and frames, which takes longer to lift than rain dust. Large picture windows take two people to handle safely. Gutters and downspouts that have not been cleaned in years, packed with needles and leaves, take longer than a light run. Gutter guards that have to be lifted and reseated add time, and a run that is backed up sends runoff over the lip and down the siding. Hard-water spotting from a sprinkler that hits the glass is one more thing: a regular cleaning is meant to remove dirt, but the mineral marks stay until they are treated separately. Condos and townhouses are quoted the same way, by stories and window count. Downspout flushing, screen rinsing and sill wiping are part of the job and are not billed as extras.
On a recent Santa Cruz job, the quote was driven mostly by the number of stories and how long the gutters had gone without a cleaning, as the crew found them when they arrived. The owner had the full picture before any cleaning services started, and nothing was added to the invoice on the day. When you call us, tell us the stories, the window count and whether the gutters have been done recently, and we will tell you what that means for your house before anyone is scheduled.
| Gutters only | Exterior windows only | Both in one visit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One story | from $150 | from $170 | from $275 |
| Two stories | from $225 | from $240 | from $375 |
| Three stories | from $295 | from $330 | from $495 |
For context, nationally. Angi puts the average US gutter cleaning at $168, most homeowners paying $119 to $234 (Angi, 2026). Exterior-only window cleaning runs roughly $4 to $10 per window, or $100 to $250 for a typical home, with $3 to $5 per window more on upper stories (Angi, HomeGuide, via Google AI Overview, Oct 2026). Priced by stories, the most common model, a two-story gutter cleaning sits around $150 to $300 nationally. If a quote you are holding sits far outside these, ask what is driving it.
On every house we work, the first scoop out of a gutter ends up on the wall below it. We put the glass last so it ends up there once.
Gutters first, glass last. That is the order on every job our crew does, and it is the reason we book both with one crew instead of sending two.
What we see from the ladder. When we clear a run, the leaves, the grit and the black water that sits under them come down the wall and across any window below it. Flushing a downspout throws more of it, in a stream, onto the panes beside the outlet. If the glass was washed first, someone has to wash them again before we are off the ladder. So we do the roof blow-off, clear the gutters, flush every downspout, give the wall a few minutes to stop dripping, and only then start on the glass. The panes under the downspout outlets are the last ones we touch on the house.
Two things we do differently from a window-only crew. We rinse the siding under each run before we move to the glass, so nothing left on the wall washes down onto it in the first rain. And we do the top-floor glass from the same ladder position as the gutter run, one setup per side of the house, which is where the bundle saving comes from: no second trip, no second setup.
Downspouts flushed, screens rinsed, sills wiped, bags hauled. None of it shows up as a line item.
Gutters. Roof blow-off where debris sits above the gutter line. Every run hand-cleared, not just the visible stretch from the ground. Every downspout flushed with water until it runs clear, and a blocked one cleared on the spot where it can be reached from above. A downspout that feeds a buried drain line is checked at the outlet; clearing the buried line is a separate job, quoted before anyone touches it. Debris bagged and taken away. Before-and-after photos of each run, sent to you before the crew leaves.
Windows, exterior only. Every reachable pane on the outside of the house, cleaned with a water-fed pole and purified water so the glass dries without streaks or towel lint. Frames wiped. Screens taken down, hand-rinsed and put back on request. Sills wiped. Upper-story windows done from the pole, not from a ladder leaned on the siding.
Not included, and we say so up front. Interior glass. Hard-water or sprinkler staining etched into the glass, which needs a separate mineral treatment and is quoted after the crew sees it. Post-construction paint, stickers or stucco. Skylights and solar panels. Pressure washing of siding, decks or driveways. Gutter guards: if a run is covered, lifting and reseating the guard adds time and is quoted by the foot before the visit, never on the day.
Twice a year for both, and the same two months, which is why one visit covers it.
Most of our Santa Cruz customers book window and gutter cleaning twice a year, in spring and in fall, which is why one crew in one visit makes sense for the calendar. Our crew does residential and commercial jobs on the same schedule logic, though most of our Santa Cruz work is on residential properties. Across California the same pattern holds for a standard house, but the dates shift with the local weather.
What we find at the spring visit: a film of tree dust on the south-facing glass and a paste of spring debris in the gutters and downspout elbows. Pollen film usually lifts with water alone, so cleaning solutions only come into it on a pane that water does not clear. At the fall visit we find the leaf load that has come down since the last visit, wet and matted in the runs. Storm and wind seasons move the dates, so we check the roofline before we set the slot rather than working from a fixed calendar.
Some houses need a third visit as we see them. Heavy tree cover over the roof means needles and grit pack the downspouts between visits. A sprinkler line that hits the glass leaves the spots that come back a day after cleaning. A house near a busy road or a construction site, with picture windows facing the street, collects fine grime on the frames and sills faster than a quiet street does. Two cleanings a year is the usual pattern for a residential window job, and for those houses a third visit keeps the runs flowing, since regular cleanings beat waiting until the glass looks bad.
On a Santa Cruz job, a customer with no trees near the house books once in the spring and once in the fall, and the work takes a morning each time. A customer with a sprinkler hitting the front windows and heavy cover over the back roof books three or four visits a year. We will tell you which pattern your house matches after the first visit, and we check every window on the way round so nothing gets skipped. Our visit covers the exterior only, so if you also want the interior and exterior done, that is a separate booking.
You can tell the glass needs cleaning when there is a haze you only see when the sun is low, and the gutters need it when water sheets over the edge in the rain instead of running down the downspout.
Most two-story homes are done in a morning. You do not need to be there, and you get the photos either way.
The crew calls the day before with a two-hour arrival window, and again when they are on the way.
How long. This Old House puts a professional gutter cleaning at 30 minutes to an hour on a typical house. Exterior windows on the same house run about the same again or a little more, so plan on a morning for a two-story home and most of a day for three stories or a house with a lot of glass. Gutters that have not been touched in years, steep roofs and wraparound porches run longer.
Before the crew arrives. Turn the sprinklers off the night before, so the glass is dry and the ground is not mud. Move cars off the driveway if windows face it. Keep pets inside while ladders are up. Unlock side gates. Nothing else; the crew brings its own water and power.
While they work. Gutters first, glass last, as described above. Nobody needs to be home for exterior work; the crew does not come inside. If something cannot be reached safely (a pane over a sunroom roof, a gutter run behind a tree limb) the crew photographs it and tells you rather than guessing.
After. Photos of every gutter run and the finished glass, sent by text or email before the crew leaves. The invoice matches the number quoted on the phone.
Send a photo and we tell you what it is. No argument about whether it rained.
Streaks. Purified water dries clean; a streak means something was missed, and that is on us. Send us a photo of it and we tell you what it is.
Spots that come back. Round white spots that return a day after cleaning are mineral deposits from sprinklers or hard water etched into the glass, not dirt. Cleaning cannot remove them; a mineral treatment can. The crew flags it on the visit so you are not surprised.
Rain the next day. Rain is distilled water and does not dirty clean glass by itself; what spots glass after rain is dust already on the frame or screen washing down. That is why frames and screens are done, not just the pane. If it looks worse after a storm, send the photo and we look at it.
Overflow after a cleaning. If a gutter runs clean and still sheets water over the edge in the next rain, the cause is slope, a sagging hanger or an undersized downspout, not debris. The crew notes what it saw and tells you; cleaning it again will not fix it, and we will not sell you a second cleaning for a slope problem.
Your house. Ladder stand-offs on every ladder so nothing rests on the gutter lip or dents the siding. Screens go back in the window they came out of.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, with a lead time we say out loud, and a call before the truck turns in.
Our crew works across the city of Santa Cruz. Unlike some window cleaners who only do the glass, our cleaning services cover gutter and window work on houses of every size. To schedule service, call (866) 435-6328 or text the number of stories and a photo of the house front. We give you the estimate on the spot, and we set the slot once you say yes. Lead time depends on how full the calendar is, and we tell you the first open date when you call.
The two busy windows of the year are the spring season and the fall leaf season, and our calendar fills during those months. If you are planning a spring or fall visit, book early. Outside those windows we usually have room. We quote the exterior on this visit, so if you ask for the interior and exterior together, we will tell you on the phone that we only do the outside. We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for exterior work, since the crew does not come inside.
We run professional window cleaning on houses that need care, with the right tools for each run and each pane. Interior glass is not part of this visit, so the windows inside stay as they are, and we do not do pressure washing. Clean windows and clear runs do a lot for curb appeal on the street side of a house. We scope multi-story buildings on site, since the ladder and lift work changes with the height. For homes where clogged gutters have started to cause water damage at the fascia or along the wall, we photograph what we see and tell you what it is before we leave.
Yes. Many window cleaners only do the glass, but the same two people do the gutters and the outside of the windows in one visit, gutters first and glass last, so the runoff does not end up on clean glass.
We do not quote a figure without the details. For a residential window and gutter job, the number comes from the stories and the approximate window count, and you can text us to schedule service.
On our Santa Cruz jobs, the outside carries most of the grime on residential properties: tree dust in spring, rain dust, and sprinkler spots. Clean windows on the outside are the part you see from the street, and the inside can stay as it is without affecting the outside visit.
Most of our customers here book in spring and fall. The spring visit comes after the pollen season and the fall visit after the leaves drop.
No, because we clear the gutters and downspouts first and glass last. Once the runs are cleared and the downspouts flushed, the wall gets a few minutes to stop dripping before anyone touches the windows.
Every window we do gets its screen rinsed and its sill wiped. Screens, sills and tracks are part of the exterior window work and are not billed as extras.
Not on this visit. We clean the exterior glass only and do not do pressure washing.
You do not need to be home. Turn the sprinklers off the night before, move cars off the driveway if the windows face it, keep pets inside while the ladders are up, and unlock the side gate. Text us the photo of the roofline and we will confirm the slot.
Stories, rough window count, a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
