Our own crew cleans gutters in Lake Tapps, flushes every downspout, flow-tests the run, hauls everything away, and sends photos of every run before we leave. The price comes from your stories, your house size and how many trees hang over it, and the number we give you on the phone is the number on the invoice. Across Washington, most of our customers book in the spring and fall, and we keep the same routine on every house.
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, how big the house is, and what is sitting in the gutters. We quote each gutter cleaning service over the phone or by text from those three things, and the number we quote is the number we charge. Some cleaning services in Lake Tapps price by the linear foot, and that lands in a similar place per foot, but the stories and the packed material are what change the job, not the footage alone. A run that is already clean takes less time than a packed one, and the quote reflects that.
On our jobs the things that move the quote are a third story or a steep roof we cannot walk, a walk-out basement or sloped lot that raises the back run, gutters that have not been opened in years and are packed with compacted leaves, and guards we have to lift and reseat before we can get in. Downspout flushing, flow testing and debris removal are included, never billed as extras. Anything that changes the job gets raised before work starts, never on the invoice.
On a Lake Tapps job we cleaned a two-story house under heavy tree cover where the back run was packed with needles and a twig had jammed the elbow, and the outlets had to be cleared from both ends before the water ran clear. Once we saw the state of it, we told the homeowner what the extra time meant and confirmed it before we set the ladder. Nobody got a surprise on the invoice, and the homeowner kept the same quote they were given on the phone. To get your gutters looked at before the rain, call (866) 435-6328 or text a photo of the front of the house, and we will tell you what we see from it.
Cleaning and maintenance cost less when they are kept up between the big cleanings, because the packed material never gets the chance to compact. Clean gutters move water away from your home, which is how you protect your home from water damage, and the cheapest version of this job is the one that happens before a leak starts. Keep your gutters clear between visits and gutter maintenance stays a small job. Heavy rainfall in the wet months is when a backed-up run shows its problem first, so most homeowners who call us book before that point.
| 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.
Most of our Lake Tapps customers book twice a year, once in late spring after the seed and pollen drop is finished, and once in late fall after the last leaves come down. Across Washington, the spring visit falls in mid to late June, and our fall visit runs late October to November, so the gutter system is clean before the wettest stretch of the year.
In June a clog forms at the downspout elbows, where seed casings and pollen paste collect, and the leaves from the winter are still matted in the back run. In late fall it is the wet mat of leaves and debris, and clogged downspouts back the water up into the trough. On houses that skipped the fall visit we find runs that have sagged or pulled loose under the weight of winter ice. A sagging run can cause structural damage, and the joint where the debris has sat longest is usually the first to rot.
Under heavy tree cover, big trees over the roof in a wooded landscape, our crews are back every three to four months, because needles and grit pack the drains between visits faster than the rain can clear them. A house with few or no trees only needs one visit a year, in late fall, to stay ahead of the leaves. Guards cut the trips down, but the surface still needs a clean, so they do not remove the schedule entirely.
We do not hand out a fixed schedule on the phone. After the first visit we tell you how often to clean your gutters, based on which tier your lot actually needs and what we find in the gutters and under the guards. We keep the record on the next visit so the decision is made on your house and not on a 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 reach Lake Tapps homes from the nearest base and cover the city as a whole. Booking starts with a quote by phone or text, from your stories, your roof size and whether trees hang over it, and a photo of the front of the house helps us spot any buildup and check the water flow off the eave before we arrive. Call (866) 435-6328 to book, and we confirm the date while you are on the line. Nobody needs to be home for the visit.
The calendar fills in two busy windows, the spring window in June and the fall window in late October and November, so book early if you want one of those dates. Outside those windows the slots come up faster. If your house sits in the surrounding areas, ask on the phone before you book so we can confirm the visit. We call before we come out to clean, so you are never left wondering who is on the ladder.
Our gutter services cover residential properties and commercial properties alike, and the booking is the same for both. If you are a property manager with several buildings, tell us how many and we will set the schedule per building. Lake Tapps homeowners who want regular gutter cleaning on a set calendar can ask for the spring and fall pair, and we will hold the dates.
The estimate comes from the stories and the size of the house, plus what is in the gutters. We quote it by phone or text, and the quote is the number on the invoice. There is no separate charge for downspout flushing or haul-off.
Most of our customers here book in late spring, after the seed and pollen drop, and again in late fall, after the leaves come down. If the fall visit is skipped, runs that were not clean going into winter can sag or pull loose under the ice, so the late fall visit matters most.
For Lake Tapps WA homes, most slots come up within the week, and we confirm the date when you call. The schedule depends on the season, so we will tell you the first open day on the phone.
No, you do not need to be home. Our crew works outside and does not come inside. Leave the side gate unlocked and keep pets in while the ladders are up.
Yes, we flush every downspout and flow-test the gutters and downspouts, and we check the drainage at the outlet. If a clog sits in an underground line, we tell you what we see, and clearing a buried line is quoted separately before anyone starts.
Yes, on our jobs guards still need the surface cleared. Needles and seed casings sit on top of the guard along the roofline, and once they are wet the water runs over the front edge. We lift the panels, clean underneath, and reseat them.
A gutter that is clean and still spilling rainwater over the edge has a slope problem or a blockage farther down the line, 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 any work starts, never on the invoice.
Stories, size and a photo of the front by text. That is a real number, not an appointment.
