Our own crew cleans gutters in North Chicago, IL, every downspout flushed and flow-tested, the leaves and grit hauled away, and photos of every run before we leave so you can see it came out clean. The price comes from the number of stories, the size of the house and how much tree cover is overhead, and the number we give on the phone is the number on the invoice. Our crew has been doing this work for homeowners across Illinois for years, and most of our customers book in spring and fall.
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. We give an estimate over the phone or by text from those three things, and the number we quote is the number we charge. Our gutter cleaning services in North Chicago are priced that way for every house, and once the crew is done the gutters are clean. Other companies price by the linear foot, which lands in a similar place per foot of gutter, but on our jobs the stories and the height of the roofline matter more than the footage. Call (866) 435-6328 and we will ask for those three details, then give you a number on the spot.
What moves a quote is what the crew finds when it gets on the ladder. A third story or a roof too steep to walk takes longer and needs a boom or scissor lift. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot raises the effective height of the back run. Gutters nobody has opened in years come out packed with compacted muck, and gutter guards we have to lift and reseat add time. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included and are never billed as extras. A clog at a downspout elbow is part of the flushing, not a separate charge. Once a run is clean, the crew moves on. If a roof leak or a sagging run changes the job, you hear it before work starts, never on the invoice.
North Chicago homeowners tend to have a mix of tree cover and house height, and the quote reflects both. On one of our recent jobs in the area, the heavy tree cover over the roof meant the crew cleared the valleys first, then worked each run from the bottom up until it ran clean, and the wet leaf load set the time on site. The homeowner gets the same breakdown we give on the phone: stories, size, tree cover, and what we found. If your house has a roof you cannot see from the driveway, send a photo of the front of the house by text and we will tell you what to expect before we book a date. The gutter cleaning process in North Chicago IL is the same for every house, so you know the number before the crew arrives.
| 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 North Chicago homeowners book twice a year, and the timing follows the weather. Across Illinois, the spring visit lands in late May to June, after the seed and pollen drop, and the fall visit lands in late October or November, after the last leaves. Heavy rainfall in April, May and June is the stretch that finds a slow gutter first, so a clean run going into May is what keeps June from backing up. Standing rainwater in the trough is what soaks the fascia, and when a run overflows the water hits the landscape beds below the eave. North Chicago homes under heavy tree cover need a visit every three to four months, because needles and grit pack the downspouts between visits. Few or no trees, once a year in late fall is enough, and the run stays clean. After the first visit we tell you which of those your lot actually needs.
Both visits clear the gutter system and the valleys above it, and on each visit we flush every downspout, which keeps water away from your home instead of letting it run down the fascia. Regular gutter maintenance costs less than replacing a rotted fascia board, and our gutter services are scheduled around both visits. Booking both is how you keep your gutters clean through a wet spring. A rain gutter that goes unchecked between visits starts to hold water, and the rot that follows is structural damage, which costs far more than a visit. Commercial properties in the area follow the same logic on a schedule set per building. Leaves, grit and the odd twig left in the trough between cleanings are what seal the clogged downspouts shut.
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 North Chicago, IL and the surrounding areas from the nearest base, and works the neighborhoods where we have cleaned before. Booking starts with a quote by phone or text from stories, size and tree cover, plus a photo of the house front if that is easy. We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for exterior work. Call (866) 435-6328 to book, and we will confirm the date. Our calendar fills in the two busy windows of the year, spring and fall, so the earlier you call the more slots you will have. The clog problems we see most often start in a gutter nobody cleaned, so booking a gutter cleaning service early in those seasons keeps the drainage working and the water flow where it should be, and the gutters are clean when the rain comes.
Residential and commercial jobs both run on the same schedule logic, and we handle residential properties and commercial work from the same calendar. A house with sag or buildup that has gone ignored for a season is still a standard clean, but we flag it in the report. Regular gutter cleaning and maintenance is the cheapest way to avoid a second visit, and it is the reason most homeowners here book twice a year. Protect your home from water damage by booking early in the season. To clean your gutters before the rain sets in, ask for a date when you call.
The number comes from the stories and the size of the house, and we give it to you by phone or text. There is no fixed figure we quote without those details.
Most of our customers here book in late May or June and again in late October or November. Across Illinois, the spring visit lands in late May to June, so if you want to get your gutters on the schedule before the wet season, that is the window. Heavy rainfall in April, May and June is when a slow gutter gives itself away. If you wait past the first hard freeze, the wet leaf mat and any ice at the eave become the problem, and that is what we find on houses that skipped the fall visit.
Most slots come up within the week, and we confirm a date when you call so you know when the crew will be there. Our gutter cleaning service covers North Chicago homes and the surrounding areas, and a same-day slot depends on the calendar that week.
No. Our crew works outside and does not come inside. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets inside while the ladders are up.
Yes, we flush every downspout and check that water is leaving at the outlet, because gutters and downspouts work as one system. Clearing a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it.
Yes. On our jobs the guards hold the leaves but the seeds, needles and grit sit on top and wash off the front edge, so the surface still gets cleared and the gutter stays clean.
A clean gutter that still sheets water over the edge has a slope or downspout-size problem, not a blockage we missed. Send us a photo or a short video in the rain and we will tell you what it is; we do not sell a second cleaning for a slope problem.
Not without your agreement. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear it before they start. Call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the roofline and we will give you a written estimate.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
