Our own crew cleans gutters and downspouts in San Marcos TX. We flush every downspout and flow-test it, haul the debris away, and take photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from the number of stories, the size of the house and how much tree cover hangs over the property, and the number we give on the phone is the number on the invoice. Across Texas, most of our customers book in spring and fall, after the seed drop and again after the last leaves come down.
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 give is the number we charge. Companies that price by the linear foot land in a similar place per foot, but the house decides the total.
On our jobs, the things that move a quote are consistent. A third story or a pitch too steep to walk takes longer and more equipment. A walk-out basement or a sloped lot raises the effective height of the roofline. Gutters that have gone years without a clean come down heavy with packed-up muck, and the clog runs deep into the downspout. Guards that we have to lift and reseat add time. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included and never billed as extras, and anything that changes the job gets raised before work starts, not on the invoice.
Here is what the crew sees when a gutter is full. The clog usually starts at a downspout elbow, where leaves and debris pack together and the drainage stops, and that is how clogged downspouts turn into a full trough. The water backs up the trough and then runs over the front edge. That buildup is what tells us whether a single visit clears a house or whether the whole run has to be opened. We look at each run before we quote it, so the number reflects the actual water flow problem and not a guess from the street, and we tell you whether one visit will leave the run clean.
Most of our San Marcos homes come in with the same few issues. Leaves and grit settle in the back run where the roof drains, and the back gutter gets the most water. Over the years a gutter can sag, and once it sags the water sits and the clog builds faster. When water pours over the edge, it can reach the foundation and cause structural damage before anyone notices, and that is the situation we most want to head off. A clean rain gutter that works carries rainwater away from the house, and that is the only job we are measuring against.
We provide gutter cleaning services for residential and commercial properties, and the pricing logic is the same for both. For residential properties we look at the house itself; for a building with several sections we look at each one. Either way we will tell you what we found and what it costs before the crew climbs the ladder.
After the first visit we know the house well enough to give a number that holds, and that is the point of quoting from the phone. Call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the front of the house, and we will come back with a figure drawn from those three inputs, no range to chase down later.
| 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 San Marcos customers book twice a year, once in spring after the seeds and pollen have dropped and once in fall after the last leaves have come down. On our jobs in spring we find seeds, seed casings and pollen packed into the downspout elbows. In fall it is the wet leaf mat that matters, and in a freeze state like this one the first ice shows up at the eave.
Here is what we see at each visit. In spring the gutter is clogged with seed casings and a grey paste of pollen that holds water in the trough. In fall the leaf load is heavier and wetter, and if the house skipped the fall visit we see runs along the roofline that have sagged or pulled loose by March. Our gutter cleaning service is built around those two visits because the clog builds faster than most homeowners expect. San Marcos averages 36.6 inches of rain a year, and May, September and October are the wettest months, so heavy rainfall finds any blockage in the gutter fast.
Under heavy tree cover, with big trees hanging over the property and the landscape around it, our customers are on a schedule of every three to four months. Needles and grit pack the downspout between visits, and once they block the drainage the water finds its own way down the wall. If the house has few or no trees, once a year in late fall is usually enough. Houses near a busy road or a construction site fall in the same frequent tier, because the grit lands in the gutter faster.
Gutter guards change the schedule a little. They keep out the leaves, so the job gets less frequent, but the surface still has to be cleared, because the seed mat and the grit settle on top of the guard and the rainwater stops going in. We still check the run and the downspout at each visit, and we keep the guards clean even on guarded houses.
The calendar works like this in practice: book the spring visit when the seeds start to drop, book the fall visit once the last leaves are down, which in San Marcos usually means late November to December, and add a visit in between if your lot is under heavy cover. We keep a short estimate for each customer on file so the schedule stays right over the years, and the simplest way to protect your home from water damage is to clean your gutters on a schedule. Ask for regular gutter cleaning in the first call and we will set the calendar to fit your lot.
After the first visit we tell you which tier your lot actually needs. Until then, start with the two-visit schedule and adjust from what the crew finds.
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 handles San Marcos gutter cleaning from a base that serves the whole city and the surrounding areas. Whichever side of town the house is on, the crew comes from the same base and works the same way. Booking starts with a call or text about stories, size and tree cover, and a photo of the house front if that is easy to send.
Lead time depends on the calendar. Spring and fall cleanings are the busiest windows, when most customers book at once, so it helps to call early in those months. We call before we come, and nobody needs to be home for the visit. Whether you are a San Marcos homeowner clearing your gutters and downspouts once a year or a commercial owner booking a set of buildings, the first call sets the date and the scope.
Once the job is booked we confirm the time, and the gutter cleaning process is the same on every house: the crew will flush every downspout, pull out any twig in the elbow, and keep photos of every run for your records. The point of the booking process is gutter maintenance: keep your gutters clean and working through the rainy months without an emergency call, and protect your home from water damage before a leak starts. Call and ask for gutter services by name, whether the house has gutter guards or not, and we will schedule the right visit to get your gutters clean before the next rain.
The number comes from the stories and the size of the house, and we give it by phone or text. We do not quote a figure in this section, because the house decides it. Once we have those inputs, the quote we give you is the number on the invoice.
Our customers here book in late spring, after the seed drop, and again in late fall, after the leaves have come down. If the fall visit gets skipped, we see sagging runs by March on houses where ice formed at the eave. Call (866) 435-6328 to set the date and get your gutters booked before the rains.
Most slots for cleaning services in San Marcos come up within the week, and we confirm the date when you call, so we will not promise same-day from here. Ask about the first open window across San Marcos when you book.
No. Our crew works outside on your gutter system, does not come inside, and sends photos of every run and downspout to your phone so you can see each one clean before the truck leaves. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets inside while the ladders are up.
Yes, every downspout is flushed as part of the gutter cleaning process, and we check that the water is leaving at the outlet and moving away from your home. Clearing a buried drain line is a separate job, and we quote it before anyone touches it.
Yes. Guarded gutters still need cleaning and maintenance on the surface, even when the landscape around the house looks tidy. Seed mat and grit settle on top of the guard, and once that mat is wet the water runs over the front edge instead of going in. We check under the guard on every visit as part of our gutter maintenance, and we keep the trough clean.
A clean gutter that still sheets water over the edge has a slope or downspout-size problem, not a blocked-run problem, and water that keeps spilling over the edge can turn into a leak and rot the board behind the trough. Send us a photo or a short video of it in heavy rainfall 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 after. The number we quote on the phone is the number we charge.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
