Gutter cleaning from our own crew means every downspout gets flushed and flow-tested before we leave. Everything we pull out leaves in the truck with us, and you get the photos on your phone.
The price comes from stories, square footage and tree cover, and it is set before the ladder goes up. Most of our customers book in spring and fall, and we have been running that schedule long enough to know what a clogged run looks like by the time it starts to leak at the edge. A clean gutter should carry rainwater off the house, not over the lip.
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 size and how much buildup is sitting in the gutters. We quote it over the phone or by text from those three things, and that number holds. Our gutter cleaning services are priced for the whole house, so you are not doing the arithmetic yourself.
The things that move the number on our jobs are the ones you would expect to see at the eave. A third story or a steep pitch the crew cannot walk changes how the crew sets up. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot raises the effective height of the eave, so the back run sits farther up than it looks from the yard. Gutters nobody has opened in years come down with a clog of packed leaves, and that takes longer than a light clean. Guards we have to lift and reseat add time as well. Poor water flow often shows up at the downspout first, and a back run can hide it until the next storm.
Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal come with the quote, with no add-on line. If something we find changes the job, we tell you first. Chicago homes run from small bungalows with a single clogged downspout to larger houses with leaves and debris working into every corner, and the quote reflects what is actually up there.
Chicago averages 44.3 inches of precipitation a year, and May, June and July are the wettest months, so a gutter that is full when the heavy rainfall arrives is the one that spills over the edge. Snow adds another load, about 38.8 inches a year, falling in the months from November through April, and a run packed with wet debris carries that weight into the freeze.
Commercial properties get the same approach, quoted per building. The rain gutter on a flat-topped building behaves differently from a pitched house, and clogged downspouts on a commercial building can send water toward the foundation or into a parking area before anyone notices. Structural damage from a single season of standing water is what we are trying to keep you from paying for, so we keep the drainage clear and report anything that looks like the start of a problem. Getting the water away from the building is most of the job, and that is what the quote covers.
| One story | Two stories | Three stories or steep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft | from $150 | from $195 | from $255 |
| 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft | from $170 | from $225 | from $295 |
| Over 2,500 sq ft | from $200 | from $265 | from $345 |
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 book twice a year, in spring and fall, once after the seed and pollen drop and once after the last leaves come down. Across Illinois the spring visit usually lands in late May to June, and our fall visit runs late October to November. That is the rhythm to clean your gutters on, because it lines up with what we find when we open them. In late spring the seed casings form a clog in the downspout elbows, and the pollen has turned into a paste that holds water. By November it is the wet leaf mat, and on houses that skipped the fall visit a run can sag under the weight of ice by March.
Freeze risk is what makes the fall visit matter most. On our jobs the first hard freeze is the point where a blockage stops being a nuisance and starts holding water against the eave. Ice dams form where trapped rainwater backs up under the first course of shingles, and a gutter that was not clean in the fall is the one most likely to pull loose by spring.
Under heavy tree cover, the gutters need a visit more often than the spring and fall pair, and we set the interval after the first look. Regular gutter cleaning is what keeps needles and grit from packing the downspout between visits, because a gutter that looks fine from the ground can be half full by the next season. Houses with few or no trees can often go with a clean in the fall alone, and guards mean less frequent work, though the surface still needs clearing.
After the first visit we tell you which tier your lot actually needs, based on what we found in the gutters and along the roofline rather than a general rule. Most residential properties land on twice a year, and the clean that covers spring and fall keeps a gutter working through the rainy months and the freeze. We set the schedule for residential and commercial buildings the same way, and each gutter cleaning service visit starts with an estimate.
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.
We clean gutters across Chicago IL and the surrounding areas, and the gutter cleaning process is the same wherever the house is. Call (866) 435-6328 or text with the number of stories, the approximate size and whether there are trees over the roof, and we give you a quote on the spot. If it is easy, text a photo of the front of the house so we can see the roofline before the truck rolls out.
Lead time depends on the calendar. Across Illinois, the spring window runs late May to June, and our fall window runs late October to November, when most customers book and slots fill fastest. Book a clean early in those windows if you want a specific day. Get your gutters on the schedule before the wettest months, May through July, when heavy rainfall tests every run. We call before we come, and you do not have to be home for the work.
We serve homeowners who want the gutters clean before the rain starts, the homeowner who finds the leaf mat already packed, and the property manager with several buildings on one schedule. Whatever the reason, our gutter services follow the same steps, and you get a photo record of the job. We do not push add-ons.
Chicago gutter cleaning visits cover every run, and we flush every downspout before we leave. Whether you run open gutters or gutter guards, a twig or a wad of seed casings at a downspout elbow is enough to start a leak at the joint, and it is cheaper to catch that on a visit than after it soaks the fascia. Regular cleanings are how you keep your gutters working and protect your home from water damage. Keeping gutters and downspouts moving water cleanly is the cheapest protection a house has.
The number comes from stories and size, and we give it to you by phone or text. We do not quote a figure without knowing the house, because a two-story with a shaded side and a two-story with a steep roof are not the same job. Heavy landscape around the house, like beds and trees pressed against the walls, can add time too. Tell us what you have and we will give you the number.
Across Illinois the spring visit usually falls in late May to June, after the seed and pollen drop, and our fall visit runs late October to November, after the last leaves. If you wait past the first hard freeze, the fall leaf mat is often already holding rainwater, and a run that skipped the fall visit can sag by March. Regular gutter cleaning on that spring and fall schedule is what we keep to here.
We schedule cleanings across Chicago one date at a time, so ask what is open that week when you call and book it. Call (866) 435-6328 or text, and we will tell you the next opening if the week is full.
No. The work happens outside, so you can stay at work. If the side gate is locked, give us access ahead of time, and move animals indoors while the ladders are up. We will text you when the job is finished.
Yes. We flush each downspout with water until the bottom runs clean, and where it feeds an underground drain line we check the water flow at the outlet. Water that pools instead of leaving should be running away from your home, and if it is not, we say so. A buried line that needs real clearing is a separate job, and we price it before any work starts.
Yes, guarded gutters still need cleaning, though less often. On our jobs we find needles threaded through the guard, seed casings and pollen sitting on top, and grit settled underneath. Once that mat is wet, rain runs off the front edge and the gutter never takes the water in. Guards change how the gutter system collects material, but they do not replace gutter maintenance, and a twig that lodges under a guard still has to come out.
A gutter that is clean and still sheets water over the edge in rain has a slope or capacity problem, not a debris problem. Send us a photo or a short video taken during a storm, and we will tell you what it is. Standing water left at that run can rot the fascia behind it, so the fix is the slope, not another visit up the ladder.
Cleaning and maintenance are quoted together, so the figure you hear before booking is the one that stands. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear about it first and decide before anyone climbs back up. What the number buys is a clean gutter line and a downspout that moves water.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
