Start a Gutter Cleaning Business

It is unglamorous, seasonal, and involves ladders, so competition stays thin; a careful operator charging $100 to $250 per house can build a twice-a-year route where the same customers rebook automatically, and no license or background check stands in the way of starting.

1. 1

   Gear up safely for under $1,000

   A quality extension ladder with a standoff stabilizer, gloves, scoops, buckets, a blower, and tarps. Ladder safety is the whole risk of this business; buy the stabilizer, always level the feet, and never overreach.

2. 2

   Get insured before the first job

   General liability insurance runs roughly $40 to $90 per month and matters both for accidents and for winning customers; 'licensed and insured' closes doors that 'guy with a ladder' cannot. No special license or background check is required to operate.

3. 3

   Price by house size and condition

   Single-story homes commonly run $100 to $175, two-story $150 to $250, more for heavy debris or gutter guards. Quote from the driveway with a simple size-based sheet; do not underprice the nasty ones.

4. 4

   Launch when the leaves do

   Spring and late fall are the seasons. Door hangers on streets with mature trees, neighborhood app posts, and same-week scheduling fill a calendar fast when gutters are visibly overflowing.

5. 5

   Turn one-time jobs into a route

   Offer a twice-a-year plan at a small discount and photograph before-and-after on every job. A 150-house recurring route at $150 average is a $45,000-a-year base from two working seasons.

6. 6

   Add rain-season extras

   Downspout flushing, minor gutter repairs and re-securing, moss treatment, and referral partnerships with roofers and pressure washers raise ticket size, and those trades refer work back.

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