Our own crew handles gutter work in Columbia Heights, works through the gutters and downspouts run by run, and sends photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from your stories, your roof size and how much tree cover hangs over the house, and the number we give you on the phone is the number on the invoice. Across Minnesota, most of our customers book a spring visit in mid to late June and a fall visit in late October to November. A homeowner with a sag, a stain or a leak can call (866) 435-6328 today 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 how many stories the house has, its size 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, though we do not price that way.
On our jobs, four things move the price. A third story or a roof too steep to walk takes longer and more equipment. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot raises the effective height of the roofline, so the back run sits farther up than it looks from the yard. Gutters nobody has opened in years come down heavy, packed with compacted leaves and debris that has to be dug out by hand. Guards we have to lift and reseat add time on both ends of the visit. We flush every run, check the drainage at the outlet and haul the mess away, and none of it is billed as an extra. Anything that changes the job gets raised before work starts, never on the invoice.
On a recent visit we found a two-story house with a heavy leaf mat in the back run and clogged downspouts that had been dribbling water sideways for a season. The mat took most of the time, and the run needed a flush from the top before water would run clean at the bottom. The number we gave on the phone held, and we photographed the run before and after so the owner could see the difference. Our crews see the same thing across Columbia Heights homes: clogged outlets, and a rain gutter that looks mostly clear from the driveway can still be holding enough buildup to slow the water flow and back rainwater over the edge. Left alone, that water can cause rot and structural damage.
Plenty of the calls we get start with a sag, a stain on the siding, a leak at the eave or a clog nobody can reach from the ground. Those houses usually have a blockage that has been sitting for a while, and clearing it restores the drainage. If the gutter system still overflows once it is clean, that is a slope or sizing problem, and we say so plainly. A clear gutter moves water away from your home, and that is the whole point of the visit.
| 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 Heights customers book a visit each spring and fall, once after the seed and pollen drop and once after the last leaves come down. On our Columbia Heights MN jobs, spring means seeds, seed casings and pollen paste packed into the bends where the pipe drops. Fall means the leaf load, and in a freeze-belt city like this one, the first ice and the ice dams that form at the eave on houses that skipped the fall visit. We see runs that sag or pull loose by March on those houses. Regular cleanings twice a year cover most of the gutter maintenance a typical house needs, and it keeps the gutters clean going into winter.
On a landscape with heavy tree cover, we see gutters clog faster, and those customers usually come back every three to four months, because needles, grit and the odd twig pack the runs between visits. After heavy rainfall, a gutter that looked fine a week ago can overflow. Near a busy road or construction, the same schedule applies. A house with few or no trees usually does fine with a single visit in late fall. Guards reduce how often you need us, but the surface still needs clearing, and we can clean your gutters on whatever schedule the lot calls for.
Here is how it played out on two recent jobs. A customer with no trees on the lot books once a year in late fall, and the gutters come down clean every time. Another customer under the trees books every three to four months, and the spring visit is the one that takes the longest. Each visit is priced from the house in front of us, not from a schedule.
After the first visit, with the gutters clean and the lot measured, we tell you which tier your lot actually needs.
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 regular gutter cleaning services in Columbia Heights run from the nearest base, and we cover the city and the surrounding areas as a whole. For Columbia Heights homeowners, booking starts with a quote by phone or text, built from your stories, your roof size and how much tree cover is over the house, plus a photo of the house front if that is easy to send. Lead time depends on the week, and we confirm a date when you call (866) 435-6328. Our calendar fills in the two busy windows, late spring and late fall, so booking early in those months helps. Here is the gutter cleaning process: a call, a set date, the visit, then photos before the truck leaves. We handle residential and commercial jobs, and residential properties and commercial properties get the same pricing and photo process.
We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for an exterior visit. If you want to keep your gutters clear without having to think about it, we can set up a gutter cleaning service on a schedule that matches the tier your lot needs. Gutter services are booked the same way every time. A clean gutter helps you protect your home from water damage, and we would rather you book a visit to get your gutters cleared before the problem starts than after a stain shows up on the ceiling.
The number comes from stories and size, and we quote it by phone or text. It is the same number we charge on the invoice. Flushing and debris removal are included in it.
Most of our customers here book in late spring after the seed drop, and again in late fall after the last leaves. Summer brings heavy rainfall, with June, July and August the wettest months, so a clogged run shows up fast. If you wait until winter, we often find sagging runs and ice at the eave. Across Minnesota the same two windows work for most houses.
Most slots come up within the week, and we confirm a date when you call. We do not promise same-day service because it depends on the calendar that week.
No. Our 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, each one gets flushed and we watch the water until it runs clear at the bottom. Where a run feeds an underground line, we check that water is leaving at the outlet. Clearing a buried line is a separate job and we price it before we touch it.
Yes, but less often. Guards stop leaves, not needles, seed casings or grit, and on our jobs that buildup mats on top of the guard and blocks the water. Guards cut the cleaning and maintenance, but they do not end it, so we clear the surface, check the drainage and reseat the guards.
A gutter that is clean and still overflows has a slope or sizing problem, not a clog 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.
Only if the crew finds something that changes the job, and you hear about it and agree before they start. The price we quote on the phone is the price on the invoice.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
