Our own crew cleans gutters and downspouts in Cambridge homes, flushes every run and flow-tests it, bags the leaves, hauls them off, leaves the ground clean, and takes photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from your stories, the size of the house and how much tree cover is over the house, and the number we give you on the phone is the number on the invoice. Most homeowners here book in the spring and fall, and that is when we are on the ladders most often. Call (866) 435-6328 to get your gutters on the calendar, or ask us how to keep your gutters clean in between.
Quoted from stories, size and tree cover, over the phone, with nothing added once the crew is on the roof.
The price for gutter cleaning services depends on stories, square footage and what is in the gutters. We give you an estimate 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 we would rather give you one number for the whole house.
On our jobs the things that move the quote are consistent. A third story or a roof too steep to walk takes longer and more care. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot puts the back run higher above grade than the front, so the effective height of the eave line changes. A gutter system nobody has opened in years comes out packed with compacted leaves, which is slower than a normal clean. Guards we have to lift and reseat add time on both ends of the visit. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included and never billed as extras. Anything that changes the job is raised before work starts, never on the invoice.
Our customers here are mostly older houses with a mix of front and rear runs, and the most common problem we find is clogged downspouts, especially the one that feeds an underground line. Where water is not leaving at the outlet, we tell you before we touch the line, because clearing a buried drain is a separate job. The sag we see on the back run usually traces back to a buildup of leaves and grit that has been sitting for a season or two, and clearing it out is often enough to restore the water flow and drainage. Where a run has real structural damage, we photograph it and report it rather than sell you a repair.
We see the same pattern on the commercial properties we clean in the area: during heavy rainfall the flat-topped buildings with internal drains back up quietly, and the residential properties on the same blocks show the same pattern in smaller form. Whether it is a rain gutter on a triple-decker or a single-family house, the job is the same, clear the leaves and debris, flush each downspout and keep the water away from your home.
Send us a photo of the front of the house by text if it is easy to take, and tell us the stories and roughly how big the house is. A homeowner gets the quote before we put a boom or scissor lift on the job, and if we see anything else on the house you should know about, you will hear about it in the photos.
| One story | Two stories | Three stories or steep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 1,500 sq ft | from $150 | from $225 | from $295 |
| 1,500 to 2,500 sq ft | from $200 | from $260 | from $335 |
| Over 2,500 sq ft | from $235 | from $305 | from $395 |
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.
Across Massachusetts, the spring visit falls in late May to June, after the seeds and pollen drop, and the fall visit falls in November to early December, after the last leaves are down. Most of our customers book twice a year. On our jobs the spring visit finds seeds, seed casings and pollen paste packed into the elbows, and the fall visit finds the wet leaf mat that rots the back run along the roofline if it sits through winter. The fall visit matters most here, because freeze risk is real, and the houses that skipped it are the ones where we find runs sagging by March, pulled loose under ice weight.
Under heavy tree cover, regular gutter cleaning means a visit every three to four months, because needles, a twig or grit pack the downspout between visits, and a single clog or blockage in an elbow can back water over the edge in the next heavy rainfall. Houses with few or no trees near the eaves, set in a quiet landscape, are usually fine with one visit a year in late fall. Near a busy road or active construction, the grit load is heavier and the rainwater running off the roof carries more into the trough, so we move those customers to the shorter schedule as well. If you have gutter guards, you still need the surface kept clean, though less often; the debris sits on top of the guard, and the water still has to get in.
We do not think of gutter cleaning here as a formula you can apply by looking at the calendar. What matters is what is actually in your gutters when we open them. A house with a clogged rain gutter in May and a clean one in November can be on the same schedule, and a house that looked clean in spring can need a second visit in the fall. Treat cleaning and maintenance as one job: after the first visit we tell you which tier your lot actually needs, and the schedule follows from what we found. If you decide to clean your gutters between visits, do it from a ladder with stand-offs, and call us if you see a sag.
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 Cambridge MA from the nearest base, and we have worked across Cambridge on most residential blocks. The gutter cleaning process starts with a quote by phone or text from your stories, the size of the house and how much tree cover is over the roof, and a photo of the house front if it is easy to take. Lead time moves with the season, and the two busiest windows of the year are late spring and late fall, when the calendar fills and most people want a slot in the same few weeks.
We call before we come, so you know the crew is on the way, and nobody needs to be home for the visit. Once the crew has finished, the gutters are clean and the photos of every run and downspout are on your phone before the truck leaves. If you want to protect your home from water damage and a slow leak at the fascia this year, the simplest step is to get your gutters booked for the spring and fall visits now, while the calendar still has open dates. Call (866) 435-6328 to do it.
We also do residential and commercial gutter services across the surrounding areas, and a single crew can handle a block of houses in one visit when the schedule allows. Tell us what you need when you call and we will tell you what slot we can offer.
Our team quotes cleaning services in Cambridge from the stories and the size of the house, by phone or text. We do not quote a figure here because the same two-story house can take very different time depending on what is in the gutters. The quote you get is the number we charge.
Across Massachusetts, spring visits run late May to June, and the fall visit runs November to early December. Most homes get two cleanings a year, one per season. The fall visit matters most here, because the first hard freeze comes before winter and the houses that skipped it are the ones where we find runs pulled loose by March.
Same-day depends on the calendar, so we confirm the date when you call. Most slots come up within the week, and we will tell you the first opening we have.
No. Our crew works outside, leaves the yard clean, 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 watch the water until it runs clear at the outlet. Where water is not leaving through an underground line, we tell you before we touch it, because clearing a buried drain is quoted separately.
Yes. Guards keep leaves out, but they do not end gutter maintenance, because the seeds, needles and grit that sit on top still block the water from getting in. We lift the panels, clean underneath and reseat them, and the visit is priced as a guarded system.
A gutter that is clean and still sheets water over the edge in rain has a slope or downspout-size problem, not a debris 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 problem.
It should not. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear about it and agree to it before they start, never on the invoice.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
