Our own crew cleans gutters in Columbia, every downspout flushed and flow-tested, leaves hauled away, and photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from the number of stories, the size of the house and how much tree cover hangs over the roof, 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, and we have been doing it that way long enough to know when a house needs us back to keep the gutters clean.
Quoted from stories, size and tree cover, over the phone, with nothing added once the crew is on the roof.
The price depends on stories, square footage and what is sitting in the gutters. We quote it over the phone or by text from those three things, and the number we quote is the number we charge. Companies that price by the linear foot land in a similar place, but on our jobs the number that matters is the one that accounts for how the house is built and what the crew has to do to reach it. Our cleaning services in Columbia follow the same process on every house, and every run comes out clean.
For Columbia homeowners, a third story or a roof too steep to walk changes the work more than anything else. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot raises the effective height of the roofline, so the back run sits well above where the ladder can reach from the ground. Gutters nobody has opened in years come down packed with compacted debris, which takes longer to clear than a run we see every season. Guards that we have to lift and reseat before we can get into the trough add time as well. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included in the quote and never billed as extras. The gutter cleaning process is the same on every house: the gutters and downspouts get cleared, flushed and checked until the water runs clean, and the quote covers cleaning and maintenance for that visit. If anything changes the job, you hear about it before work starts, never on the invoice.
Our Columbia jobs show the pattern clearly. Think of a homeowner who had the front run cleared and the back run left full, because the back of the house is two stories up over a walk-out. We went back and left that run clean, and the difference was in the quote at the start, not a surprise at the end. Text us a photo of the front of your house if that is easy, and tell us the three things we need, and we will give you a number from there.
| 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 Columbia customers book a visit twice a year, once in late spring after the seed and pollen drop, and once in late fall after the last leaves come down. In late spring we find clogged downspouts packed with seeds, a twig or two, and a paste of pollen that has been washing down the run for weeks. In late fall it is the wet mat of leaves and debris on top of the trough, and on houses that skipped the fall visit, which runs late October to November, we have seen runs sag under the weight of ice before winter ended. Freeze risk is real here, so the fall visit is the one we push hardest. Heavy rainfall in April, May and July is when a run is most likely to overflow, and a clog left that long can lead to rot and structural damage at the fascia, so a clean trough by late spring matters.
Columbia homes under heavy tree cover, with big trees over the house, book every three to four months, because needles and grit pack the downspout elbows between visits faster than a twice-a-year schedule can keep up with. Houses with few or no trees and a simple landscape do well once a year in late fall. One clog at the outlet is enough to send the water over the edge. Guarded gutters need less frequent visits, but the surface still gets cleared, because material sitting on top of a guard turns into a buildup that keeps water from getting in. Regular cleaning keeps that in check. Clean your gutters between visits if you can, but stay off the ladder in wet weather.
After the first visit we tell you which of those schedules your lot actually needs. The cleanings are not a fixed package; they follow what we find up top, so a house under trees and a house on an open lot do not get the same calendar. Clean gutters keep the gutter system doing its job, and when the water flow is clear the downspouts can carry rainwater off the roofline and move the water away from your home instead of over the edge, and the drainage holds. Treat it as gutter maintenance, not a one-time job, and keep your gutters on a schedule that matches the trees. That is how a clean gutter helps protect your home from water damage.
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 gutter services in Columbia IL come from the nearest base, and the crew works residential properties across Columbia, including the neighborhoods where we have done the most cleanings. Booking starts with a quote by phone or text from your stories, size and tree cover, and a photo of the house front if that is easy for you to send. We confirm the date when you call, and we call before we come. We can tell you on the phone whether the surrounding areas are on our route. Nobody needs to be home for exterior work, though the photos of every run and downspout come to your phone whether you are there or not.
Our calendar fills in the two busy windows of the year, late spring and late fall, when the seed drop and the leaf drop both hit the gutters at once. If you want to get your gutters done in those windows, call early. Outside of them the time to a visit is shorter, and we will tell you what we have when you call. Booking is simple: give us the address, the stories, the rough size and whether trees hang over the eaves, and we will hold a day for you. Ask about residential and commercial jobs when you call, and for commercial properties we will tell you on the phone whether the scope fits. Call (866) 435-6328, text a photo, or book a date, and the gutters come out clean on the day we agree.
The number comes from stories and size, and we give it to you by phone or text. We do not quote a figure from a rate card here, because two two-story houses can take very different amounts of time depending on what is in the gutters. Call (866) 435-6328 and we will give you an estimate on the spot.
Most of our customers here book in late spring after the seed and pollen drop, and again in late fall after the last leaves. Our fall visit runs late October to November, and if it is skipped, freeze risk means the runs can sag under ice before the thaw. Text us a photo of the gutters and we will tell you which visit comes first for your house, and whether the run is clean enough to wait.
Most slots come up within the week, and we confirm the date when you call. If a day opens up sooner, we will tell you when you call, but we do not promise same-day service without checking the calendar first.
No. Our crew works outside, does not come inside, and sends photos of every run and downspout to your phone before the truck leaves, and the gutters are clean when the photos arrive. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets inside while the ladders are up.
Yes, every downspout is flushed and checked for flow at the outlet. If a downspout feeds an underground line, we check that water is leaving at the end and tell you if it is not. Clearing a blockage in a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it.
Yes. On our jobs, gutter guards keep the leaves out, but seeds, needles and grit sit on top of the guard and turn into a mat that stops water from getting in. We clear the surface, flush the downspout, and reseat the guards so the gutters run clean, and that is priced as part of the cleaning.
A gutter that is clean and still sheets water over the edge in rain, or that has a leak at a joint, has a slope or downspout-size problem, not a cleaning problem. Send us a photo or a short video of it in the rain and we tell you what it is. We do not sell a second cleaning for a slope problem.
It should not. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear it and agree to it before work starts, never after. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice, and that is the number we stand behind.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
