Our own crew cleans gutters in Portland, and we flush every downspout and flow-test it before we leave. We haul the debris off and leave the lawn clean, and you get photos of every run. Your price comes from stories, size and tree cover, and the number we give on the phone is the number on the invoice. Most of our customers book in the 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 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. Some companies price by the linear foot, which lands in a similar place, but the stories and the condition of the whole gutter system matter more than the length, and a trough that is already clean goes faster.
On our Portland gutter cleaning jobs, a few things move the quote. A third story or a roof too steep to walk takes longer and more gear. A walk-out basement or sloped lot raises the effective height of the roofline. Gutters nobody has opened in years come down packed with compacted buildup, and guards we have to lift and reseat add time. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included and never billed as extras. If anything changes the job, you hear it before work starts, never on the invoice.
Here is what a homeowner here sees, and what we see on Portland homes. A rain gutter that looks fine from the driveway often has a clog two sections down, where the leaves and debris have packed into a sag and the water flow has nowhere to go. Once a gutter is full, the rainwater runs over the front edge and finds the rot behind the fascia. That is structural damage we would rather catch early, before a leak shows up on the ceiling. Clogged downspouts are the usual cause of poor drainage, and a clean run only helps if the downspout carries the water away from your home. We check where every downspout discharges, and we tell you if it is dumping at the base of the wall. Our crew has worked through heavy buildup at houses all over town, and the pattern is always the same: clear the trough, flush the outlet, confirm the water is leaving. Commercial properties follow the same logic at a larger scale, with per-building pricing set on the walk-around.
| 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 two cleanings a year, in late spring after seed and pollen drop, and in late fall after the last leaves. When we open a gutter across Maine in mid to late June we find seed casings and pollen paste packed in the elbows. In November it is the wet leaf mat, and on houses that skipped the fall visit we see sagging runs by March after the ice has been at them. The freeze-belt winters in Portland ME make the fall visit the one that leaves the gutters clean before the first ice, so ask us to clean your gutters before the snow sets in, because a clog or blockage that holds water is how ice dams start at the eave.
Under heavy tree cover, every three to four months is what we see, because needles, twig fragments and grit pack the downspout between visits, and regular gutter cleaning keeps the trough from sagging. Near a busy road or active construction, the same schedule applies to every gutter cleaning service we run. With few or no trees, a single cleaning in late fall is enough for most lots. Where you have gutter guards, cleaning is less frequent, but the surface still needs clearing. Heavy rainfall lands hardest in April, October and December, which is when a clogged run shows up as an overflow.
After the first visit we tell you which tier your lot actually needs. Ask for the estimate by phone or text, and we will match the schedule to the trees and the roof, so you can get your gutters working before the next storm. Spring and fall are the windows we book in Portland, and the calendar fills in those weeks, so the earlier you call the better your date. Residential and commercial jobs both get the same photo report, and on residential properties the schedule follows the building rather than the calendar.
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 cleaning services run from our nearest base, and we keep the route tight across Portland so the visit does not sit idle. Booking runs by phone or text: send stories, rough square footage, and whether there are trees over the roof, and a photo of the gutters and downspouts if it is easy. That is enough for a quote, so call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the gutters, and we confirm a date with you. Lead time varies with the season, and the two busy windows of the year are the ones described above.
Our gutter cleaning process starts with a call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for exterior work. If your gutters are overflowing or you see a leak now, tell us when you call so we can put you on the earliest slot we have. Homeowners on our list get the same goal: protect your home from water damage before the rain does it for you, and keep your gutters clean and working through the next storm season. We also do gutter services for commercial properties and for homes in the surrounding areas, and the crew takes the same care on each.
The number comes from the stories and the size of the house. Call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the gutters, and we quote it from those details. The number we give is the number on the invoice.
Across Maine, spring visits run mid to late June, and here our fall visits run late October to November. When we wait past the first hard freeze, we find sagging runs and ice weight on the fall jobs. Late spring and late fall are the windows we work from.
Our cleaning services in Portland are booked by the calendar that week, so same-day depends on what is open. Most slots come up within the week, and we confirm the date when you call.
No. Our crew works outside, does not come inside, and sends photos of every run and downspout to your phone before the truck leaves. The yard is left as clean as it was found. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets inside while the ladders are up.
We flush every downspout and check where it discharges, and check that it sends the water away from your home. If a line drains underground, we confirm water is leaving at the outlet and tell you if it is not. Clearing a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it.
Yes, less often, and it still counts as gutter maintenance. Guards hold leaves back, but needles, seed casings and landscape debris still sit on top and grit settles underneath. Guarded gutters still need cleaning and maintenance, which means we clear the surface, lift the panels, flush the downspout, reseat the guards and leave the trough clean.
A clean gutter that still sheets water over the edge has a slope or downspout-size problem, not a cleaning problem. 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 issue.
Only if the job changes, and you hear about it before work starts. The quote you agreed to is the number on the invoice, unless you approve a change first.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
