How much does it cost to clean gutters on a two-story house?

As of mid-2026, a two-story home with roughly 180 to 200 linear feet of gutter typically runs $180 to $360, at about $1.00 to $1.85 per linear foot. The second story adds a height premium of roughly 25 percent over the same footage at ground level, because it means taller ladders, more setups and more time. Three stories push the range to about $210 to $450 and $1.25 to $2.25 per foot. Steep or complex roofs, dormers, and gutters over conservatories or decks add more, because access rather than debris volume is what drives the labor.

Is gutter cleaning worth paying for?

For a single-story ranch with easy access and a stable lawn to set a ladder on, cleaning your own gutters twice a year is reasonable and the tools cost less than one visit. For anything two stories or higher, a steep roof, or soft or sloping ground, paying is the better decision — not because the work is difficult but because ladder falls are the dominant injury in home maintenance. The CDC recorded 113 deaths and about 34,000 emergency-department visits from work-related ladder falls in a single year, among people who do it professionally. A $250 service call is cheap against that risk.

Do gutter cleaners charge by the foot or by the hour?

Most residential gutter cleaning is quoted by linear foot or as a flat price for the house, typically $0.95 to $2.25 per linear foot depending on height and access. Hourly pricing appears mainly on repair work or on jobs where the scope is unknown until someone is up there. Many companies also apply a minimum charge — often somewhere in the $100 to $150 range — so a small bungalow with 80 feet of gutter may not actually cost less than a larger house. Ask whether downspout flushing and debris haul-away are included, because those are the two line items that commonly are not.

How often do gutters need professional cleaning?

Twice a year is the standard baseline — late spring after seed drop and late fall after leaf drop. Under heavy tree cover, particularly pines that shed year-round, three or four times a year is realistic. A house with no overhanging trees can often stretch to once a year with an inspection. What matters more than the calendar is watching for the symptoms: water spilling over the front edge in rain, plants growing in the gutter, staining down the fascia, or downspouts that trickle rather than run.

Does adding gutter guards remove the cost?

No, it reduces it. Guards stop leaves and twigs, so the twice-yearly full clean often becomes an annual inspection with a surface brush-down. They do not stop shingle grit, pollen and fine sediment, and downspouts still need checking. Professionally installed micro-mesh runs roughly $8 to $12 per linear foot, with premium branded systems quoted much higher, so payback against a $250 annual clean takes many years. DIY guard materials at $1 to $3 per foot pay back considerably faster — see our gutter guard picks for what each type actually stops.

How Much Does Gutter Cleaning Cost? 2026 Price Ranges

Written & researched by Elena Marsh Gardening & Landscaping Editor

Updated September 2026

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Most US homeowners pay between $150 and $360 to have gutters cleaned, or roughly $0.95 to $2.25 per linear foot. A single-story house with about 150 feet of gutter typically lands at $145 to $250; a two-story at $180 to $360; a three-story at $210 to $450. Height, roof pitch and access drive the price far more than how dirty the gutters are. Many companies also apply a minimum charge of around $100 to $150, so very small houses do not scale down proportionally. Figures are as of mid-2026 and vary by region.

We are a review site, not a contractor. We do not sell gutter cleaning and have no quote to give you — these are published market ranges you can use to sanity-check the quotes you receive.

What does it cost by home size and number of stories?

Gutter cleaning is priced on access, not on debris. A pro can clear a clogged gutter in minutes; what costs money is the number of ladder setups, the height of those setups, and whether the ground under them is level. That is why story count moves the price more than square footage does.

Home	Typical gutter run	Per linear foot	Typical total
Single story, simple roof	~150 ft	$0.95–$1.25	$145–$250
Two story	~180–200 ft	$1.00–$1.85	$180–$360
Three story	~180–200 ft	$1.25–$2.25	$210–$450
Small bungalow / cottage	~80–100 ft	Minimum charge applies	$100–$150
Large or complex roof, dormers	250 ft+	$1.50–$2.25	$375–$550+

Across the whole market, the national average sits around $360 per appointment with a typical range of roughly $191 to $529, which reflects the fact that larger and more complex homes are over-represented among people who hire this out at all.

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What actually changes the price?

If a quote comes in above the ranges above, one of these is usually the reason — and most of them are legitimate.

Roof pitch. A steep roof means the ladder cannot lean against anything above the gutter line and the crew works from a harder position. Expect a premium on anything above about 6:12.
Ground conditions. Gutters above a deck, a sloped bed, a conservatory roof or a retaining wall need standoffs, plank staging or a lift. This is the single biggest legitimate price escalator.
Debris load. A gutter that has not been touched in five years and has soil and seedlings in it is a different job from a seasonal clear, and haul-away of that volume costs money.
Downspouts. Flushing and clearing downspouts is sometimes included and sometimes a separate line. Blocked underground drains are always extra.
Guards already fitted. Counterintuitively this can raise the price, because panels must be unfastened and refitted. Ask specifically.
Region and season. Coastal and high cost-of-living metros run at the top of the ranges. Late fall is peak season everywhere; booking in midsummer often costs less.
Repairs found on the day. Resecuring a sagging run, replacing hangers or resealing a corner joint is common and usually quoted separately.

What does doing it yourself cost?

The materials side is genuinely cheap. A telescoping gutter wand runs about $30 to $60, a wet/dry vac gutter attachment kit about $40 to $70, a gutter scoop under $20, and a 24-foot extension ladder is $200 to $350 to buy or $40 to $60 a day to rent. Two DIY cleanings a year, on that math, break even against a single professional visit inside the first season.

That arithmetic is real, and it is also incomplete, because the cost that does not appear on the receipt is the ladder. Our gutter cleaning tool picks cover what to buy, and the no-ladder methods page covers the tools that let you do it from the lawn.

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The cost nobody quotes: the ladder

Gutter work puts a person on a ladder, leaning sideways along the gutter line, with both hands occupied. That is the exact combination that causes falls, and the scale is not trivial. The CDC's analysis of occupational ladder fall injuries in the United States recorded 113 fatalities and an estimated 34,000 emergency-department-treated injuries from work-related ladder falls in a single year, and found that 43 percent of fatal falls over the preceding decade involved a ladder. Those figures describe people who climb for a living.

The safer options are, in order: use ground-based tools, or hire it out. A telescoping wand or a vacuum attachment clears most single-story gutters from the lawn, and a $250 service call is a rounding error against an ER visit.

If you are going up anyway, the rules are specific and worth following exactly. OSHA's ladder standard, 29 CFR 1926.1053, requires that a non-self-supporting ladder be set at an angle where the horizontal distance from the foot to the top support is about one-quarter of the working length — the 4-to-1 rule, one foot out for every four feet of height. Maintain three points of contact at all times, which means tools go up in a bucket or on a belt, never in your hand. Never let your belt buckle travel outside the ladder rails; get down and move the ladder instead. Do not stand on the top two rungs. Set the feet on firm, level ground, not on soft bedding soil. And never rest a ladder against the gutter itself — an aluminum K-style gutter deforms under the point load, and once it dents the ladder slides sideways off it. Use a stabilizer bar that bears on the fascia or the roof.

What does it cost per year?

Situation	Visits per year	Annual cost (2-story)
No overhanging trees	1	$180–$360
Typical suburban lot, deciduous trees	2	$360–$720
Heavy tree cover or pines	3–4	$540–$1,440
Guards fitted, deciduous trees	1 inspection	$180–$360

That last row is the real economic case for gutter guards — not that they end maintenance, because they do not, but that they can halve the number of visits. Run the payback honestly: DIY guard materials at $1 to $3 per foot pay for themselves in a few years against a twice-yearly service. Professionally installed premium systems quoted at $20 to $45 per foot may never pay back at all in pure cash terms, though buying fewer ladder trips has value the spreadsheet does not capture.

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What to ask before you book

Is the price for gutters only, or does it include downspout flushing?
Do you bag and remove debris, or leave it on the ground?
Is there a minimum charge, and what is it?
Are you insured, and will you send a certificate?
Do you photograph the gutters before and after? Reputable firms do; it is also the only way you will ever know the job was done.
What do you charge for repairs found on the day — resealing a joint, replacing hangers on a sagging run?

The bottom line

Budget $150 to $360 for a typical US house, expect a minimum charge on a small one, and treat anything much above $2.25 per linear foot as a quote that needs explaining — usually access, sometimes optimism. Get two quotes. And if the only reason you are considering doing it yourself is the money, price the ladder risk honestly first.

We never buy, test or physically handle the products we rank, and we do not perform this work. Cost ranges here are drawn from published US market data as of mid-2026 and will vary by region — see how we rank.

How Much Does Gutter Cleaning Cost?