Our own crew cleans gutters here, every downspout flushed and flow-tested, leaves hauled away, and photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from your stories, your square footage and how much tree cover hangs over the roof, and the number we give you on the phone is the number on the invoice. Most of our customers book in the spring and fall, when seed drop and falling leaves have done their work on the gutters. Text a photo of the front of your house and we will tell you what we see.
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. The stories and the height of the roofline are what actually drive the time on a ladder, so our gutter cleaning services are quoted from them.
On our jobs the things that move the quote are a third story or a roof too steep to walk, a walk-out basement or sloped lot that raises the back run well above the ground, gutters nobody has opened in years and packed solid, and guards we have to lift and reseat before the gutter can be reached. Gutters and downspouts are flushed and flow-tested, leaves and debris removal is included, and none of it is billed as an extra. Anything that changes the job is raised with you before work starts, never on the invoice.
On a visit here the crew often finds the same few problems: a sag where the run has pulled off its hangers, a clog at the elbow of a downspout, buildup of leaves and grit that has sat in the trough since the last visit, and water flow stalled behind a blockage. Each of those is part of the cleaning, and each is photographed before the trough is left clean. Our customers with heavy tree cover tend to see more structural damage and rot from years of standing water, and we point it out before anything else is done.
Our Lake Elmo homes get the same care as our commercial properties. The crew treats the rain gutter as a drainage system: once the clogged downspouts are open and the trough is clean, the water away from your home is the measure of a good job, and we check it before we pack the truck. Call (866) 435-6328 for a quote, or text a photo of the house and we will work out the stories and the tree cover from 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 customers book two cleanings a year, in spring and fall: once in the spring after the seed and pollen drop, and once in the fall after the last leaves come down. When we open a gutter here in May we find seeds, seed casings and pollen paste packed into the elbows. In the fall it is the leaf mat, and in a Minnesota winter, the first ice and the ice dams that build at the eave. Houses that skipped the fall visit are the ones where we find runs sagging or pulling loose by March.
Under heavy tree cover we see clogs every three to four months, because needles, twig pieces and grit pack the elbows and outlets between visits, and a gutter cleaning service on that schedule keeps the rainwater moving and the trough clean. A lot with few or no trees and a simple landscape usually needs one visit a year in late fall. Gutter guards change the schedule, though not the need: the surface still gets cleared, just less often. In every case the first visit tells us which tier your roofline actually needs.
Heavy rainfall in May, June and July, heavy tree cover, busy roads and nearby construction all shorten the interval. We plan the calendar around the season rather than the number of visits, so the timing matters more than the count. Residential properties here, and properties with a residential and commercial mix, usually settle into the twice-a-year rhythm within a year of booking, and that regular gutter cleaning is what keeps a clog from becoming a repair. Ask us for an estimate of the interval when you call at (866) 435-6328, and we will tell you how often we would clean your gutters if it were our own house in lake elmo mn.
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 Lake Elmo gutter cleaning crew works across Lake Elmo and covers the whole town. Booking for our cleaning services in Lake Elmo runs the same way for homeowners: you call or text with your stories and approximate square footage, and a photo of the house front helps if it is easy to send. We give you the number on the same call, and the crew calls before it comes out. Nobody needs to be home for an exterior visit.
The calendar fills in two windows, a spring visit in mid to late June across Minnesota and a fall visit from October to early November, so book early if you want a slot in those months. Outside those windows we can usually fit a visit sooner, and we confirm the date when you call. We do not promise same-day or next-day service here, but our crew will tell you the earliest opening it has.
Every visit is priced as one of our gutter services, a cleaning and maintenance call that covers gutter maintenance from the trough to the downspout outlet. A customer with a gutter system that has been left a long time will want a clean start and a clear plan, and we give one: which runs need clearing, which outlets need flushing, and what to watch between visits. We also cover the surrounding areas when a crew is already close by, so keep your gutters clean without waiting for a long lead time. Call (866) 435-6328 to get your gutters on the calendar, and we will protect your home from water damage with the schedule that fits your lot.
The number comes from your stories and your square footage, and we give it to you by phone or text. We do not quote a figure without knowing those, because a two-story house with a low roofline and one with a walk-out basement can take very different time on a ladder. Once we have the stories we give you the number, and that is the number on the invoice.
Our customers here book a spring visit, which across Minnesota lands in mid to late June, and a fall visit from October to early November. In June we find seed and pollen paste in the elbows, and by early November it is the wet leaf mat and the first ice. Houses that skip the fall visit are the ones where we find sagging runs by March, so the fall visit is the one we push hardest to keep the runs clean before snow.
We do not promise same-day service. We confirm the date when you call so there are no surprises, and if you need something sooner, tell us and the crew will say what the earliest opening is.
No. As a homeowner you do not need to be there. The gutter cleaning process is all outside work: the crew does not come inside, and it sends photos of every run and downspout to your phone before the truck leaves. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets in while the ladders are up, and that is the whole list.
Yes, every downspout is flushed and the crew checks that water leaves at the outlet. Where a downspout feeds an underground line, we check the outlet and tell you if water is not coming out, but clearing a buried line is a separate job and is quoted before anyone touches it.
Yes, though less often. On our jobs the guards hold the leaves back, but needles, seed casings and grit settle on top of them and turn into a mat that sheds rain over the front edge. We lift the panels, leave the trough clean, flush every downspout and reseat the guards before we leave.
If the gutter is clean and still sends water over the edge in rain, the problem is usually slope, capacity or downspout size, not a leak or a pile of junk. Send us a photo or short video taken 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. The price we give you covers the stories, the size and the tree cover we already know about. If the crew finds something that changes the job, you hear about it and agree to it before they start, not on the invoice.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
