Our own crew cleans gutters around here, flushes every run and flow-tests it, hauls the leaves away, and sends photos before we leave. The price comes from your stories, your roof size and how much tree cover hangs over the house, and the number we give you on the phone is the number on the invoice. Most of our customers book in the spring and fall, which is when we see seed and pollen drop and when the last leaves come down.
Quoted from stories, size and tree cover, over the phone, with nothing added once the crew is on the roof.
The price depends on how many stories the house has, its square footage and what is sitting in the gutters. The estimate comes over the phone or by text from those three things, and the number we quote is the number we charge. Homeowners here get that number before a ladder goes up, whether the job is a first clean run or one of the regular cleanings on a schedule. Some outfits price by the linear foot, but a house with a steep roof or a tall back wall takes longer than its footage suggests, which is why we ask about stories first.
These are the things that move a quote on our jobs. A third story or a steep pitch that cannot be walked means a boom or scissor lift instead of a ladder. A walk-out basement or sloped lot raises the effective height of the back wall. On a run nobody has opened in years we clear the packed material first, and a seam that has started to leak gets its own line on the quote. Gutter guards we have to lift and reseat add a step to every run. A twig jammed in an elbow is cleared on the spot and is part of the price. Once a run is clean, the crew checks the flow. Flushing, flow testing and hauling off what came out are included and never billed as extras, and anything that changes the job is raised with you before work starts, never on the invoice.
Our cleaning services in Los Altos follow the house, not a flat rate for every street. Tree canopy and a drain backed up for a season change the job, and a homeowner gets the real number only after we check both. We walk the lot, look at the eaves, and tell you what we see before we set a ladder. Text us a photo of the front of the house and we can give you a firm number faster than a phone call alone, so you can get your gutters on the calendar. Our gutter cleaning process runs the full length, from the top of the house to the flush at the bottom, so there is no second visit to finish what the first one missed. Routine gutter maintenance keeps heavy rainfall moving away from your home, so every cleaning and maintenance visit ends with the flush.
| One story | Two stories | Three stories or steep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft | from $150 | from $225 | from $295 |
| 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft | from $200 | from $260 | from $335 |
| Over 2,500 sq ft | from $235 | from $305 | from $395 |
For context, nationally: Angi 2026, US average $168, most $119 to $234, $0.95 to $2.25 per linear foot.
Downspouts flushed and flow-tested, debris hauled, photos of every run. The quote already has all of it in.
Our crew clears every gutter run by hand, not just the stretch you can see from the driveway. Roof valleys and the area above the gutter line are blown clear first, so the next rain does not refill what was just emptied. Every downspout is flushed with water and watched until it runs clear at the bottom; one that will not clear is worked from the top where it can be reached. Where a downspout feeds an underground drain line, the crew checks that water is leaving at the outlet and tells you if it is not; clearing a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it.
Debris goes into bags and leaves with the truck. It is not blown onto the lawn, the deck or next door. The ground is left as it was found.
Before the crew leaves you get photos of every run and every downspout, before and after, on your phone, whether or not you were home. Anything the crew sees that is not a cleaning problem, a hanger pulled loose, a seam dripping, a run sitting flat, is photographed and reported, not repaired and not sold on the spot.
What can change the number, and you hear it before work starts, never on the invoice: a third story or a roof too steep to walk; gutters that have not been touched in years; guards that have to come off and go back on.
Twice a year for most houses: once after the spring seed and pollen drop, once after the last leaves fall.
Most of our customers here have us out twice a year. Across California our spring visit falls in mid to late June, and the fall visit lands in late November to December. In spring the clogged downspouts are packed with seeds and pollen paste, and a blockage at the elbow shows up first. In fall it is leaves and debris, wet and matted, that holds rainwater against the fascia and the rot that starts behind it. Los Altos gets about 17 inches of rain a year, and January, February and December are the wettest months, so the fall visit lands right before the heaviest rain. Getting the trough clean before the rain is the goal of both visits.
Across California, atmospheric rivers deliver most of the year's rain in a handful of days, and that heavy rainfall is when a gutter that was clear the week before overflows. Under heavy tree cover, with big trees over the roof, our customers are on a schedule of every three to four months, because needles and grit pack the drains between visits. With few or no trees, once a year in late fall is usually enough. Gutters with guards still need the surface kept clean, just less often. Commercial properties with a rain gutter run on the same logic, and our gutter cleaning services follow the same tiers for every house we service. After each visit we flush each outlet, tell you which tier your lot needs, and note any landscape clutter or sagging run so the next visit starts from the right place. Left alone, the water that backs up turns into rot and, over time, structural damage. A clean run carries water away from the roofline and the foundation, and that is the whole point of the schedule. Across Los Altos the calendar follows the trees and the house more than the month, and the gutter system tells us what it needs.
If you are due, call (866) 435-6328, text us a photo of the gutter line, or book a date now, and we will confirm the visit.
Water over the edge rots the board behind the gutter first. Everything after that is slow, and slow is what a policy excludes.
The three signs. Water pouring over the front edge in rain instead of out of the downspout. A run that sags, sits low or has pulled away from the fascia. Plants growing out of the trough. Any one of them means the gutter is full.
What happens next. Water that cannot drain sits in the trough and spills behind it. The fascia board rots, then the soffit. Water backs up under the first course of shingles and shows up as a ceiling stain. Siding stains and swells. Below, the overflow cuts a channel at the foundation and finds the basement. The wet debris itself weighs enough to pull the gutter off the house. Standing water breeds mosquitoes; dry debris houses wasps. Where winters freeze, the trapped water becomes an ice dam at the eave and lifts the shingles from underneath.
Why your policy will not pay. Homeowners insurance generally does not cover water damage traced to clogged gutters. Carriers class gutter cleaning as routine maintenance, and damage from skipped maintenance as preventable neglect, which a standard policy excludes. A limb that tears a gutter off in a storm is sudden and accidental and is usually covered; a fascia board that rotted over two years is not. This is general information, not insurance advice; read your policy or ask your agent.
Guards stop leaves. They do not stop needles, seeds, grit or the paste they turn into. The job gets shorter, not gone.
Yes, guarded gutters still need cleaning, less often, and it is a different job: clearing what sits on top of the guard and checking that water is actually getting in, rather than scooping out the trough. Mesh and screen guards hold whole leaves off. Pine needles thread through, seed casings and pollen mat on top, roof grit settles underneath, and once that mat is wet, rain runs over it and off the front edge. The gutter is empty and the water never went in.
Guards earn their keep under big leafy trees and on roofs too high to want to climb. They do not end maintenance, whatever the installer said. Our crew lifts the panels, clears underneath, flushes the downspouts and reseats the guards; tell us what is on the house when you get the quote and it is priced as a guarded system, which usually runs shorter than an open one.
Under an hour on most houses. Nobody has to be there, and the photos arrive either way.
The crew calls the day before with an arrival window and again when they are on the way. This Old House puts a professional gutter cleaning at 30 minutes to an hour on a typical home; bigger houses, steep roofs and gutters left for years run longer. Nobody needs to be home for exterior work; the crew does not come inside. Before they arrive: side gate unlocked, cars off the driveway if runs face it, pets inside while ladders are up. Ladder stand-offs keep the ladder off the gutter lip and the siding. After: photos of every run and downspout before the truck leaves, and an invoice that matches the quote.
Send us a photo or a short video in the rain. You hear what it is before anyone talks about money.
Still overflowing. A gutter that is clean and still sheets water over the edge in rain has a slope, capacity or downspout-size problem, not a debris problem. If that happens after a cleaning, send us a photo or a short video of it in the rain and we tell you what it actually is; we do not sell a second cleaning for a slope problem.
The number. The price quoted on the phone is the price on the invoice. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear it and agree to it before they start, never after.
Your house. Stand-offs on every ladder so nothing rests on the gutter lip, and screens and downspout extensions go back where they were.
Payment. The balance is charged when the job is finished and the photos are on your phone. Some dates take a small booking fee to hold the slot, and you hear about it before you book.
The whole city and the towns around it, booked by phone or text from the nearest crew.
Our crew covers Los Altos CA and works the whole city, not one corner of it, and we serve the surrounding areas too. Los Altos homes get the same crew as everyone else. The quickest way to book is to call (866) 435-6328 or text us a photo of the gutter line, and we will confirm a date from stories, size and tree cover. Lead time changes with the season, and in the two busy windows of the year, spring and fall, the calendar fills first, so ask early. A clog found early costs less to clear, and a sag or buildup caught on the first visit is cheaper than a second trip. Keeping a clean line from the first visit protects your home and means fewer trips across the year.
We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home. The gutter cleaning service covers gutters and downspouts, is exterior only, and we will flag anything we see that is not a cleaning problem in the photo report instead of selling it on the spot. Scheduling for residential properties is the same straight process we run for residential and commercial accounts, and our gutter services are priced from the same three questions. We set the next date while we are on site, so regular gutter cleaning stays on the calendar. Our crew checks water flow and drainage at every outlet, and we flush every downspout before we leave; debris removal is part of every visit. Book a date now and we will hold the slot, so you can keep your gutters flowing through the busy season. If you want to clean your gutters before the next storm, the fastest way to get your gutters on the schedule is a call or a text.
The number comes from the stories and the size of the house, and we give the estimate by phone or text. Send a photo of the front and we can be more exact. Houses with heavy tree cover are the ones where a clog is hardest to predict, so the estimate also counts the canopy.
Across California our spring visit falls in mid to late June and the fall visit in late November to December, and most of our customers book around those windows. If you wait past the fall leaf drop, the wet leaf mat and debris are what we find, and the rot that follows is what costs money. A full trough holds rainwater, which spills over the edge and finds the fascia, and a blockage at the outlet makes it worse.
We confirm a date when you call. The calendar fills first in spring and fall, so call early.
No. Our crew works outside, does not come inside, and sends photos of every run to your phone before the truck leaves. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets inside while the ladders are up. The crew leaves the yard clean, and our gutter services stay exterior only.
Yes. We flush each run and flow-test it, and we check that water is leaving at the outlet. Clearing a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it. The ground is left clean, and the check on gutters and outlets is the same either way.
Yes. On our jobs the guards keep out leaves but let needles, seed casings and grit sit on top, so we clear the surface and reseat the guards. Our job is to keep your gutters flowing under a guard, just a shorter job than an open run.
A clean gutter that still spills in rain has a slope or outlet-size problem, not a debris problem. Send us a short video in the rain and we will tell you what it is, without selling you a second cleaning. A blockage at an elbow can look like a slope problem, so the video is how we tell them apart and protect your home from water damage.
Not without a call first. If we find something that changes the job, you hear it and agree to it before work starts. Call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the roofline for a written estimate, and we will keep the number we gave you.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
