Gutter Cleaning Season! $100/hour?!

Here ya George @MrSparkleVA! Thanks for the swag. Did I answer your questions about gutter cleaning or were you after something else?

Shout out to @APW2 Eli & Brodie for the super sweet hat too!

Dropped an @Innocentbystander nugget in there too.

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Nicely done, my brother. Have you done your free voicemail bombs over at SendJim? They’re waiting for ANYONE who attended the Huge Convention, and perfect for the gutter season, don’tchaknow!

BTW, those shirts are impervious to SH and available at WalMart for less than $15.

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I had no idea. I already paid the $800 for 2 years and sent a ton of voicemail bombs. I’m not sold on SendJim yet for mailers, but I love the ringless voicemails. I set up the entire weeks reminder calls on Sunday and schedule them all to go out at the right time.

Luckily I ordered two of the gutter tools when I placed an ordered. I had to cut one down to fit narrow gutters. Love it now!

Nice vid, I’ve cleaned many gutters but have never used one of those tools. If we can’t blow them out, we push the debris to one end by hand. Can get a little dirty, but still easy enough. I will look into one of those tools because cleaning wet gutters in the cold months freezes your hands. Cougar Paws are great on granulated surfaces. but on metal and other smooth surfaces it’s like walking on ice. You can change out the soles from the foam to a rubber sole, but it’s not feasible for us because we’re continuously on and off of granulated surfaces when installing a roof. My Cougar Paws are about 18 years old and still look like new. Maybe they’ve modified their foam sole to be more multi purpose since then, Idk. One of the best things you should keep in the truck is old couch cushions. They will keep you on the roof while cleaning gutters. Cushions keep you from sliding and from scarring hot shingles. They will also hold tools in place while you work, and saves your clothes from wearing thin . We clean tons of gutters a year and up-sell gutter protection/gutter guards on a good percentage of them. We use a hidden style aluminum guard that is easy to install, works fantastic, and lasts as long as the gutters themselves. It costs us a buck a foot for materials and we charge 5 bucks a foot to install them. They are mechanically fastened and come in four or ten foot sections. They go on quick with a cordless drill. A small house with a strait 50ft run on the front and back takes an hour or two and pays 500.00. I mention it just as another source of revenue to consider for your gutter cleaning services.



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Good info. Thanks!

Thanks for the info on the gutter tool. I never even realized they made such a thing, Even after years of cleaning gutters. I’ve only seen them scoop tools that fit in the gutter. With all the straps and spikes, it just makes them a pita to use.

Agreed but make sure you take the foam out of the cover first!

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Absolutely

I’ve always just blown them out with a backpack blower. Idk if that’s good or bad. I would like to make an attachment so I don’t have to get on the roof

I bought a redmax blower for that reason. You can just keep adding length to there tube . I think it was $5 per extension .

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Daaaang! That hat compliments the beard perfectly!

So I turned on my HomeAdvisor gutter cleaning leads yesterday, and already going out on a call this morning.

Also downloaded the app “Pitch Gauge” and it’s WAY more involved than WE need, so in settings I reverted back to Version 2.0, and no mention of cost to use after that and it’s simple to use.

Still on the fence about cougar paws. $160 for boots only for roofs might be a hard pill to swallow, although I AM cleaning quite a few roofs also.

Ordered 2 gutter tools and 2 unger 8’ extension poles from my good friends at WCR:

https://shopwindowcleaningresource.com/the-gutter-tool.html

https://shopwindowcleaningresource.com/unger-optiloc-extension-pole-2-section-luke.html

Let’s go make some money cleaning gutters, Brothers and Sisters!!!

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If you run into gutters with a narrow base cut one of them down. Great tool!

These are half the price of caugar paws.


There korkers 3 in 1 . You can get them on amazon

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Cougar pass are a sound investment. I’ve got a brand new pair of size 12 I’ll send you free of you wear that size @MrSparkleVA. They sent them top me free to try them when they were bringing out the estimator series. They won’t fit me or my guys. I have 7 or 8 pairs and they have kept me on roofs for 15 years

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Just curious about the amount of gutter you’ve cleaned and how many had gutter guards already? I have only cleaned a couple now and am torn. The first one had a mesh style that were screwed down on the gutter (just a Phillips screw, no hex head. They were old and almost impossible to loosen) and the second had no guards.
The first one was so jammed packed with debris (granules,dirt,etc) and a complete PITA to clean out that I questioned why bother having gutter guards? It also had some growth from seeds.
The second had a lot of granules/sludge (and a few leaves) due to the roof being installed a year ago. It was pretty easy. I walked the roof (4/12) scooped out everything, dropped it into a trash can that my ground man moved with me then used a hose to verify all the downspouts were open. Upon rinsing, I was also able to see the water collect in a corner that had sagged over the years and showed the owner so she could get it fixed.
Maybe it was just the style of guard (on the first one) that was worthless but no guard can keep everything out. How often have you had to remove gutter guards to clean? How much extra do you charge?
While I understand the up sell and making money on installing the guards, in the long run is it possibly taking away from a yearly clean out fee?

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I can’t stand gutter guards . Crap gets stuck in them and trapped under them . Most customers that want there gutters cleaned because there not working anymore usually have gutters guards. I usually offer to remove them . There not screwed down around here. There clipped on and half of them come off with just a blower.

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I bought my caugar paws originally for metal roofs. There not perfect but they work. What do you use on metal roofs?

That’s good to know. I should check them more. If they have gutter guards I always price myself out of those jobs. $3-4/foot then refer them to a company that only does gutter cleaning and guard installation. Still get a referral on it though.