Most people never see their own roof. When we are up there clearing your gutters we can see all of it, so we write down what we find and hand it to you with photos. A standard home is $250, and the report comes with it.
Clogged gutters are rarely just a gutter problem. Water that cannot get away backs up under the roof edge, soaks the fascia and soffit, and freezes at the eave in January into the ice dams that cause most of the winter leaks we get called out to fix. By the time it shows up on a ceiling it is a roofing bill, not a cleaning bill.
So this is the same job most companies offer, done by people who know what they are looking at. Same ladder, same buckets, same hauled-away debris. The difference is the page you get afterwards.
Gutters cleared by hand, not blown out from the ground, so the debris ends up in a bag instead of across your beds and windows
Downspouts flushed and checked all the way through, including the elbows where blockages actually sit
Debris bagged and hauled away, not left at the curb
Hangers and seams checked while we are there, with anything loose or leaking noted
One price before we start. Standard home, one or two stories, up to about 200 linear feet
Photos of what we saw, so you are looking at your own roof rather than taking our word for it
Flashing, valleys, pipe boots and shingle edges, which is where leaks start long before anyone sees a stain
Fascia, soffit and gutter condition, the parts the water damages first
A plain verdict: fine as it is, needs a specific repair, or getting near the end with a realistic window
No obligation attached to it. Quite often the honest answer is that the roof is fine and you should spend your money on something else
The clean that counts is the one after the leaves are down. Around Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights that means late October into November. A September clean feels productive, and then the maples let go and the gutters are full again before the first freeze.
What you are really racing is the first hard freeze. Water sitting in a blocked gutter at the end of November is ice in December, and ice at the eave is what pushes water back up under the shingles. Almost every ice dam call we take in January traces back to drainage that stopped working in the fall.
Under heavy tree cover, twice a year is sensible: late fall, and again in spring once the seeds and buds have dropped. With little overhanging cover, once in late fall is usually enough.
Mostly houses in Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Prospect Heights and Des Plaines, where we are working most weeks anyway. If you are on a street where we already have a job running, the scheduling is easy. Past customers get first call on dates in the busy weeks of November.
Gutters, scuppers and roof drains on small commercial buildings, two-flats and association property. Same idea, bigger scale: the drainage gets cleared and the condition report goes to whoever has to plan the budget. For larger portfolios this usually belongs inside a scheduled maintenance agreement rather than a one-off visit.
A standard home is $250. That covers a house up to roughly 200 linear feet of gutter, one or two stories: the gutters cleared by hand, the downspouts flushed and checked, the debris bagged and hauled away, and a written roof condition report with photos. Larger homes, three stories, steep pitches, and homes with gutter guards that have to come off and go back on are quoted after we see the house. You get one price before we start, and it does not change unless you ask for something else.
Because the gutters are the reason we end up on most roofs in the first place. Blocked gutters back water up under the roof edge, rot fascia and soffit, and feed the ice dams that cause most of the winter leaks we get called out for. While we are up there clearing them, we are standing on your roof with a clear view of the flashing, the valleys, the pipe boots and the shingle edges. Looking at all of that and writing down what we see costs us very little and tells you something useful. Most gutter services cannot do that part, because they are not roofers.
One page, with photos. The condition of the shingles or the flat roof surface, the flashing at chimneys and walls, the valleys, the pipe boots, the gutters and fascia themselves, and anything visible from the attic if you give us access. Then a plain verdict: the roof is fine and you should spend your money elsewhere, it needs a specific repair and here is roughly what that costs, or it is getting near the end and here is a realistic window to plan for. Sometimes the answer is the first one. That is not a wasted trip for us.
The useful clean is after the leaves are down, which around Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights usually means late October into November. Cleaning in September feels productive and then the maples drop and you are back where you started. If your house is surrounded by mature trees, twice a year is reasonable: once in late fall and once in spring after the seeds and buds come down. If there is little overhanging cover, once a year in late fall is usually enough.
Usually yes, but it depends on the system. Some screens and hinged covers lift off and go back easily. Some foam and brush inserts pull out, get rinsed and go back. Some sealed hood systems are fastened under the shingle course and removing them risks the roof edge, and on those we will tell you honestly that the manufacturer or the installer should service it instead of us. We will not pull a guard system apart if putting it back would compromise your roof.
We install gutter systems, including covered ones, but we do not push guards as the answer to a cleaning call. On a house under heavy tree cover they can reduce how often you need someone up there. They are not maintenance free, whatever the advertising says, and on some roof edges the wrong system creates more problems than it solves. If you ask, you will get our honest read on whether your particular roof is a good candidate.
Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Prospect Heights and Des Plaines are the core, because those are the towns we are in most weeks and the ones where we can route a crew efficiently. We take gutter cleaning elsewhere in the northwest suburbs and the North Shore when it fits the schedule or where we have worked on the house before. Call with the address and we will tell you straight whether we can get to it.
Give us the address and we will confirm the price and a date. Standard home $250, cleaning and the written roof report included.