Do you prefer to clean gutters from above or below?

Fenceman

New Member
I have seen it done both ways.Do you prefer to walk the roof,or suit up,work below and get drenched with all the funky stuff? Im a bit spooked to walk tall roofs,especially when they are wet... :rolleyes:
 

Aplus

New Member
I work from below, and use a long handled extension for ny brush, which allows me to stand far enough back so as not to get drenched.
 

Henry Bockman

New Member
If your talking about cleaning the debris out of gutters, I do it from on the roof or off of a ladder.

If your talking about cleaning the outside of a gutter, I do it from the ground.
 

GHST915

New Member
I walk the roof so I can see down inside the gutter to see tha I got everything out of the gutter. I also pull the stuff out of the gutters with my hands and put it into bags and use low pressure rinse to wash them out.
 
J

jnoden

Guest
The roof is always the preferable means but most of the time in this area the roofs are too steep. Does anyone use special safety devices to allow you to work from the roof on steeper roofs?
 
J

jnoden

Guest
The roof is always the preferable means but most of the time in this area the roofs are too steep. Does anyone use anything that allows you to work from steeper roofs?
 

Tim Lynch

New Member
Fenceman said:
I have seen it done both ways.Do you prefer to walk the roof,or suit up,work below and get drenched with all the funky stuff? Im a bit spooked to walk tall roofs,especially when they are wet... :rolleyes:


I have a bit of age and bad knees, and houses that are 6 feet apart for the 2 story homes and to top that off the roofs are Terra gotta tile.

Get the picture?

I do only single story homes and work as a one person biz. I do go to the roof and using the gutter grabber tool the stuff to a collection area the grab from ladder with 3 foot stand offs on the roof. Into the bucket the stuff goes then empty the stuff into a bag.

If I can't get to the roof for reasons of being to steep or not walkable I use a 16 foot extension pole and pull the stuff to me then use a gutter scoop and into a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom to reduce water and down the ladder I go. 16 times two for reach 32 feet from ladder set.

A single story house takes about 45 to an hour. I charge 130 vs others that charge 175. I do phone estimates to reduce overhead, if a customer wants an on site estimate I charge 175.

I do use the blower for homes with eves that are large enough from the house and the landscaping is weak. Otherwise you spend half you time cleaning the yard and we all know that stuff in the gutters are nasty and cleaning up the yard is more work than doing it from hand.

Most of my customers would kill me for blowing stuff into the landscaping.

Once you get the right setup doing a job by hand is really easy and fast, and returns more re-calls than making a mess for the customer or boss.

We all have our ways and I do not ever disrespect those that work differently than I do, in fact sometimes I get tips from them but the best tip was by hand and not PW or blower. I am talking more about wintertime when gutter are wet.

I also add for a fee a light bleach to stop moss from growing on new roofs and get good jobs for that, only if the roof is walkable.

Just an old timers way of doing things. :) You Young whipper snappers without care can do all the climbing you want. :) but I have kids and a wife to deal with... :)

Kiss
 

ARCPW1

New Member
I hate cleaning gutters out. Snakes, Ants, chigger bugs, Ladders... Not for me any more. I'm not going to advertise it this year
 

New Look

Registerd User
Alex and I think the same....I just don't like doing them and do not promote them. Due to a balance disorder that I have I just don't like the notion of climbing on roofs and walking a gutter line....I'll do it..but I just don't promote it.

I am good on single story homes but two story homes...naaaaa.....I'll call Mike @ Gutter Dogs!!!
 

Mathew Johnson

New Member
I hate cleaning gutters out. Snakes, Ants, chigger bugs, Ladders... Not for me any more. I'm not going to advertise it this year
If I came face to face to a snake I would fall of the ladder.

We climb and clean, it is a good marketing tool to sell that we visually inspect them. We get good $$$ 1.00 a foot for 1st story and $2 a foot for second story. People pay it or climb and do their own. We proce them over the phone and send contract ahead of crew.

Matt
 

underpressure

New Member
gutter cleaning

I have seen it done both ways.Do you prefer to walk the roof,or suit up,work below and get drenched with all the funky stuff? Im a bit spooked to walk tall roofs,especially when they are wet... :rolleyes:


We clean lot's of gutters. great way to extend the season.
We prefer to get on the roof with strong hand held blowers. We try to schedule the cleaning before the homeowner does the yard cleanup. Blowers will pick everything up and out of the gutters. Quick and easy!

We very rarely use a pressure washer to clean the gutters. It makes more of a mess. All over the roof, the house etc.

If we can't use the blower. It's the old fashioned way. Ladder, buckets and patience.
 

Doug Rucker

PWN ADMIN TEAM -
Staff member
We clean lot's of gutters. great way to extend the season.
We prefer to get on the roof with strong hand held blowers. We try to schedule the cleaning before the homeowner does the yard cleanup. Blowers will pick everything up and out of the gutters. Quick and easy!

We very rarely use a pressure washer to clean the gutters. It makes more of a mess. All over the roof, the house etc.

If we can't use the blower. It's the old fashioned way. Ladder, buckets and patience.

Yeah blowers work great, unless it's just rained and everyting is wet in the gutter and weighted down.

I quit doing gutters, lawn guys are now doing them for 20$ when they are out to service the yard.
 

Xtreme

New Member
What about reoccurring revenue? How about putting them on a 2x a year cleaning spring and fall for a little less money but they are faster to clean out if maintained 2x per year. This way you have a guaranteed income stream and can schedule as your time permits like on days when you can't do something else.
 

Doug Rucker

PWN ADMIN TEAM -
Staff member
Great idea Pat and I use to do that, unil the lawn service guy's started adding it tot here services a lot cheaper than what I can do it for. There are already out there doing the yard so there trip charge is already built in.
 

Mathew Johnson

New Member
People will only pay for once a year cleaning here, after all of the leaves have fallen in the fall, I would like to do them twice a year if I could.


Matt
 

New Look

Registerd User
People will only pay for once a year cleaning here, after all of the leaves have fallen in the fall, I would like to do them twice a year if I could.


Matt

Back in the days when we cleaned gutters more on a consistent basis we would also only get a "shot" of cleaning them once...right around Fall.
 

Xtreme

New Member
In TN the problem was the leaves dropped in the fall but not all of them and then the high winds blew them around and filled the gutters by spring so they had to be cleaned 2x per year. I had one customer balk at this until I got a frantic call saying their gutters were plugged and water was coming into the house. Cleaned them 2x a year after that.
 

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