The Gutter Cleaning Business

By Eric Hammer

Starting a gutter cleaning business is a great way to make extra money on the side or to make full time money, though the business does tend to be seasonal. In essence, you will be doing the grunt work that homeowners don’t want to do or simply can’t do (because of age, frailty or both). You will have to be able to climb up on ladders and clean out the gutters from falling leaves around people’s homes.

Needless to say, like a tax accountant, you will have one season of the year when you are particularly busy (the late summer and fall) and the rest of the year you may have occasional jobs (mostly from homeowners who forgot to clean out their gutters but who now need to get it done because they are selling a home or because the gutters are causing smells or showing danger of falling down).

The work is reasonably easy however and if you happen to enjoy the great outdoors then this is a great business to be in since you get to spend time outdoors every time you go out to work. You don’t need many skills either for the job – mostly just a head on your shoulders and strong muscles to be able to scrape out the gutters so that they are cleared of any obstructions.

How Much Can You Make?

Typically, expect to charge around $70-$200 per home for an average size suburban home (around 1500-2000 square feet). The work shouldn’t take more than a few hours, though you must include the time it take to get there, the cost of your truck to carry equipment (ladder, power washer, etc) and the cost of disposables such as heavy duty garbage bags and workmen’s gloves. If you work for someone else, expect to earn similar salaries to those earned by most people who work in unskilled labor – probably around $10-$12 per hour.

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In addition to cleaning gutters, most gutter cleaning services also offer to clean storm drains and the exterior of people’s homes. They may also offer painting services, inspection of the storm gutters and drains, tightening of the fasteners that hold the gutters in place and even cleaning of external windows. In other words, you can pretty much offer outdoor maintenance on people’s homes.

Some companies even go further, offering clean up of things like septic tanks and HVAC clean up services. The money is decent for all these kinds of services as they are typically the sorts of things that homeowners don’t want to do deal with on their own.

Qualifications / Requirements

You’ll need to love the outdoors and have a good sense of business economics. In essence, you are running a service business so you need to be able to work with people. You’ll also need to own a truck, ladder and power washer to clean out the gutters properly and to hose down the side of the house. You may also want to look into municipal garbage disposal services since you may be asked to cart away the bags of leaves when you are done and you’ll obviously need a place to take them.

First Steps

Start by taking out ads in local newspapers and putting out flyers around town at people’s homes. It is best to start advertising in the early summer so that you can get your name known to people when they start looking for a service, though you will need to continue advertising for some time in order to make your name known.

Consider also taking a job with someone so that you can learn the business first hand and find out any of the details of cleaning gutters that you may not think of before you take the plunge.

Resources

Rain Gutter Repair and Cleaning Company by Tim Roncevich and Steven Primm (CreateSpace 2009) – A book which details all the ins and outs of starting a gutter cleaning service, this is the book to purchase if you want to start a business like this.

Cost Helper: Gutter Cleaning Costs – While not really a web site for those who want to start a business, this is a great guide to what people will expect of you and how much you can expect to charge for your services.

The Professional Cleaner’s Personal Handbook by Dori Aslett (Marsh Creek Press 1994) – A book for everyone who works as a professional cleaner (including those who clean gutters for a living), this is essential reading if you are serious about your business.

My Small Biz: Start a Gutter Cleaning Service – a web site with some good information on the basics of creating a service to clean gutters.


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