Our own crew cleans gutters and downspouts, flushing each downspout and checking that it runs clear, hauling the debris away, and taking photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from your stories, your square footage 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 spring and fall, and we have been on ladders around here long enough to know why. Call (866) 435-6328 for a quote.
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. For gutter cleaning services in Ottumwa we quote by phone or 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 range per foot, but on a real house the stories and the pitch do most of the work. Commercial properties are a different job, so tell us what kind of building it is when you call.
On our jobs the things that move a quote are consistent. A third story or a steep pitch takes more time on the ladder and a lift. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot puts the back run higher than it looks from the driveway. Gutters nobody has opened in years come out packed with leaves and debris, and that takes longer than a light clean. Guards we have to lift and reseat add time too. A downspout has one job, which is to carry water away from your home, so the crew flushes each one and checks water flow at the outlet. Drainage that stops there is the same problem as a clog upstream. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included and are never billed as extras. If anything we find changes the job, you hear it and agree to it before the crew starts, not on the invoice.
One honest note on the houses we see here. A clog in the gutter usually shows up as water going over the edge instead of out the downspout, and the first thing that suffers is the fascia, with rot setting into the wall behind it. Left alone, a rain gutter that cannot drain turns into structural damage. In a typical year the rain comes to about 37 inches, and a heavy rainfall pushes the overflow down the siding toward the foundation. The reason is often clogged downspouts, and getting them clean early is the cheapest way to stop water damage before it spreads. On most Ottumwa homes the crew photographs anything else it finds on the house and reports it rather than selling it.
| 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 Ottumwa IA customers book twice a year, once in spring after the seed and pollen drop, and once in fall after the last leaves come down. Across Iowa, late May to June is the usual spring window. Our fall visits run October to early November. In late spring the downspout elbows pack with seed casings and pollen paste, and a clog there is how rainwater ends up over the edge. In fall it is the wet leaf mat that causes the trouble, and where winters freeze, the first ice can find a gutter that was never cleared and turn the blockage into an ice dam at the eave.
When we open a gutter here in spring we find seed casings and pollen packed to the elbow. When we open one in fall we find a leaf load two inches deep, with grit underneath. Debris that sits through a freeze holds water against the trough, and on houses that skip the fall visit a run can sag or pull loose by March, because the weight of the winter water has nowhere to go. Snow here averages about 23.6 inches a year, mostly from November through April, and the melt finds every run that is still full. Under heavy tree cover, needles, grit and the odd twig pack each downspout between visits, so those lots need regular gutter cleaning every three to four months. Houses with few or no trees need only one clean a year, in late fall. Gutters with guards still need the surface cleared along the roofline, and that is a lighter job done less often.
After the first visit we tell you which schedule your lot actually needs, and that estimate comes from what we find in the gutter system, not a guess. Keeping one clean run on a schedule that fits your trees is the difference between a quick visit and a repair bill. If you want to clean your gutters before the buildup turns into blockage, book the right tier, not the most visits. Residential properties get the same schedule logic, set house by house.
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 reach homes across Ottumwa and the surrounding areas from the nearest base, and the crew works the same way on every street. Booking is simple, and an Ottumwa gutter cleaning starts with one call. Call or text (866) 435-6328, give us your stories, your approximate size and whether trees hang over the house, and send a photo of the front of the house if that is easy. Calls about residential and commercial buildings both get a straight answer, and we say on the phone whether a building is something we can quote. We can quote the job from that, and if we need a closer look we say so before we come out, so you know how to get your gutters on the schedule.
Lead times depend on the season. Our calendar fills in the two busy windows of the year, late spring and fall, so if you want a particular week, call early. We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for exterior work. Keep your gutters working through the year, and that helps protect your home from water damage. A homeowner who books both windows gets two cleanings a year, and the rest of the house is far less likely to need a visit.
The number comes from stories and size, and we give it to you by phone or text. We do not quote a range over the internet, because the stories and the pitch are what set the price. The quote we give you is the number we charge.
Most of our customers here book in spring after the seed and pollen drop, and again in fall after the last leaves. If you wait past the fall leaves, the wet mat can freeze into a downspout and turn into an ice dam before spring. Good gutter maintenance means keeping the schedule that fits your trees, and cleaning and maintenance go hand in hand.
Our cleaning services in Ottumwa fill fastest in late spring and fall, so most slots come up within the week and we confirm the date when you call. Same-day depends on the day, so ask us when you book.
No. Our gutter cleaning process is simple: the crew works outside, does not come inside, and sends photos of every run and downspout to your phone before the truck leaves. 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. If a drain line runs underground and needs clearing, that is a separate job and we quote it before anyone touches it.
Yes, but less often. Gutter guards keep out the leaves, while needles, seed casings and grit settle on top of them, and guards do not end cleaning and maintenance. We clean the surface off the guards and check that water is getting in, which is a lighter job than an open gutter.
A clean gutter that still sheets water over the edge is usually a slope, landscape grade or downspout-size problem, and a leak at a seam can add to it. Send us a short video 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 we find something that changes the job, you hear it and agree to it before the crew starts. The number on the phone is the number on the invoice.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
