What blocks a gutter is almost never dirt. It is moss washed off the roof tiles, leaf litter, the mineral grit that sheds off tile and felt surfaces, the silt all of that breaks down into, and nesting material where something has got in under the eaves. Packed down over a couple of autumns it forms a dense wet mat that holds water rather than carrying it. Once the run cannot take a downpour, water goes over the front lip or backwards over the rear edge into the wall head, and it does that every time it rains hard until somebody takes the mat out.

This is a separate visit from the window round, even though the same pole system carries the vacuum head, which is why the two get booked together and why the gutter job is quoted on its own rather than folded into a window price. It is also cleaning rather than repair. We clear guttering, wash the outside of it and tell you what the camera saw. Sagging runs, brackets pulling out of the fascia, split joints and leaking seals are a roofer or a guttering firm, and we will show you the footage rather than quote you for work we do not do.

What is included

Clearing

  • Vacuumed from ground level on a carbon fibre pole, up to three storeys
  • Moss, leaf litter, roofing grit, silt and nesting material lifted out rather than pushed along the run
  • Outlets, corners and stop ends, which is where the mat forms first
  • Every downpipe checked for flow and the shoe at the bottom cleared
  • Hopper heads emptied where a run drains into one
  • Debris bagged and taken away, not tipped into the border
  • Conservatory and lean-to gutters where they are reachable from the ground

The camera

  • Wireless camera on the pole head, so the inside of the gutter is visible from the ground
  • A look along every run before anything starts, so you know what is actually in there
  • Stills or footage after clearing, sent the same day
  • Anything we cannot clear is filmed and shown rather than described
  • Defects recorded as we find them: standing water, a split joint, a bracket letting go
  • Worth having if you are a landlord, or simply not at the property that day

Washing and extras

  • External gutter wash, meaning the outside faces of the gutter and the downpipes
  • Fascias and soffits washed down, quoted per elevation or as a whole property
  • Tiger striping on the gutter face treated with detergent and dwell time rather than pressure
  • Downpipe unblocking, rodded and then flushed through to prove it
  • Existing gutter guards lifted, cleared underneath and refitted
  • A repeat visit put in the diary for late autumn rather than left to memory

What is not included

  • Anything that needs a roofer: sagging runs, broken or missing brackets, split joints, leaking seals
  • Walking on a roof, standing on conservatory glazing, or working off a ladder on soft or uneven ground
  • Gutters reachable only from scaffold, a tower or a powered platform, which change the job and the price
  • Replacing, refitting or realigning guttering that has lost its fall
  • Internal damp, which is a consequence of a blocked gutter rather than something clearing it repairs
  • Disturbing an active nest, which is protected while it is in use or being built
  • Supplying or installing gutter guards

Work at height in the UK is governed by the Work at Height Regulations 2005, which require the work to be avoided altogether where that is reasonably practicable. Clearing a gutter with a vacuum from the ground is how that duty is met on an ordinary house, which is why it is the default here, not an upgrade. Ask any contractor for their public liability cover and how they intend to reach the gutter, before they arrive rather than after.

How long it takes

PropertyOur teamOn your own
Bungalow30 to 45 minutes2 to 3 hours off a step ladder, the one row where that is defensible
Terraced house45 minutes to 1 hourTwo storeys, so a ladder repositioned along every run. Not advised
Semi-detached1 to 1.5 hoursTwo storeys, and the rear run is usually reached over soft ground. Not advised
Detached1.5 to 2.5 hoursFour elevations, most of them two storeys. This is where falls happen
Three storey or townhouse2 hours plusNot a ladder job at any duration. It needs a pole or a platform

Those assume a gutter cleared within the last two or three years, and clearing only. Adding an external wash roughly doubles the time on site. A run carrying established moss or tree seedlings takes considerably longer, so a first visit on a neglected house is normally quoted above the ones after it.

What gutter cleaning costs in Nottingham

Gutter clearing by ground based vacuum, at typical UK market rates by property type. Our own cost research puts the Midlands at around the UK average to 10% below it, so Nottingham sits in the lower half of every range on this page.

£70 to £120

Typical per visit in Nottingham. A written fixed price for your property takes about a minute: ask for one.

PropertyTypical per visit
Bungalow or single storey£45 to £75
Terraced house£55 to £90
Semi-detached£70 to £120
Detached£100 to £180
Three storey or townhouse£140 to £220
Priced by the metre instead£4 to £12 per metre

Gutters are quoted per visit, so a semi-detached cleared twice a year sits at roughly £140 to £240 a year. If a quote looks high against that, ask for the per metre rate instead: it shows whether the price was worked out from your actual run of guttering or from a glance at the front of the house.

Priced separately

ExtraTypical cost
Conservatory gutter added to a visit£30 to £50
Downpipe unblocked, per pipe£20 to £60
External gutter wash, fascias and soffits£40 to £80
Gutter guards supplied and fitted, by others£200 to £500

These are typical Nottingham market ranges, not our price list. We quote a fixed price in writing for your property before anything starts, because a number produced from a bedroom count alone has priced an average property rather than yours. The figures above come from our own UK cost research, set out in full in this guide.

How a gutter clearing job runs

Look down the run before touching it

The camera goes up first and travels the length of each elevation. You find out whether you are dealing with a light silt film, a packed moss mat, or a run that is actually broken, and the last of those changes what happens next. Quoting a gutter blind is guessing, and clearing one blind means nobody ever knows what was in it.

Outlets first, then work back along the run

The outlet where the gutter feeds the downpipe is cleared before anything further along is disturbed. Do it the other way round and you push a season of silt into the top of the pipe, which turns a gutter job into a downpipe job you then have to charge for.

Vacuum, not scoop

The head lifts the mat out of the gutter and into the machine. Nothing is dragged along the run into the next section, nothing goes over the edge onto the borders or the patio, and the debris leaves with us. Wet moss is heavy, and a gutter run holds far more of it than people expect.

Prove the downpipes, do not assume them

Water goes down each outlet and somebody watches the shoe at the bottom. If it does not run clear, the pipe gets rodded and flushed. Hoppers, the open funnels some older Nottingham properties have partway down a stack, are emptied by hand because a vacuum head does not sit properly in one.

Film it again, and report what cannot be cleaned

The same camera goes back along every run and the footage is sent to you. Where we found standing water, a split joint, a bracket coming away from the fascia or a section with no fall left in it, you get the picture of it, so you can put it to a roofer with something to look at rather than a description.

When to book it

Late autumn, once the trees nearest the house are bare. Clearing in September means clearing again in December, and that timing error costs more people money than the frequency does. An annual November visit suits most houses with no trees close by; with overhanging trees, conifers or a shaded roof shedding moss, twice a year is realistic. Book before the first sustained wet spell rather than after it, because by the time you have seen the overflow it has already been running down the wall for a while.

Whoever turns up is directly employed by us, DBS-checked and reference-verified, which is not the same arrangement as most companies quoting against this. More on how we work on the about page, and the common pre-booking questions are on the FAQ page.

Where we do this

Gutter Cleaning runs across all 69 areas we cover, at the same price with no travel supplement. Each link goes to what this job involves in that particular place.

If you want everything we do in one place rather than this service on its own, the area pages cover that: Arnold, Aspley, Attenborough, Bakersfield and every other area. The services hub compares this service against the other 13.

What goes wrong, and how to avoid it

The mistakes below account for most of the disappointment in this kind of work, ours included. Several of them will save you money whether you hire us or not.

Clearing the gutter and ignoring the downpipe

The most common wasted spend in the whole job. A perfectly clear gutter that drains into a packed pipe overflows exactly as it did before, and the customer concludes the clean was no good. Every outlet should be flushed and watched at the shoe. If a quote does not mention downpipes at all, ask, because it is the difference between the job working and not.

Assuming clearing and washing are the same job

They are two different things and it is the most common misunderstanding customers have when the quote arrives. Clearing empties the inside of the gutter, which is what stops the overflow. Washing cleans the outside faces, which is what removes the dark vertical tiger stripes you can see from the pavement. One does not do the other, and a cleared gutter can still look filthy from the garden.

Fitting guards and then forgetting about it

Guards are sold as the end of gutter maintenance and they are not. Fine debris, moss spores and silt still get through, and brush inserts in particular pack solid with decomposing leaf litter within a couple of years. A guarded gutter still needs looking at; it just needs looking at less often, and costs more to clear when it does.

Doing it yourself off a ladder

Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of serious injury in the UK, and gutter work concentrates every risk factor: a ladder on soft ground, one hand carrying a scoop, and somebody reaching sideways along a run instead of moving the ladder. The saving is a couple of hours of somebody else's time. It is not a good trade.

What Customers Say

Rated 5.0 out of 5on Google

5.0 from 7 reviews on our Google Business Profile. Every one of them is from a real customer and none of them were incentivised. Read them, and add your own, on the profile itself.

Punctual, thoroughly trustworthy, and respectful of client spaces.

Elehibiri lawson via Google

Thanks for the professionalism in your Services. Nice job.

Adebusola Akinnawonu via Google

Highly recommend.

Manzo Edmunds via Google
Questions

Gutter CleaningQuestions

Anything not covered here, ring us on 07438 843980.

How do I know the gutter was actually cleared?

Because you see it. A wireless camera sits on the pole head and looks down the inside of the run, so we film it before we start and again when it is empty. That is the one thing that makes this service checkable, and it matters because a gutter is the only part of a house nobody can inspect from the ground. Without footage you are taking it on trust.

The gutter was cleared and it still overflows. Why?

Almost always the downpipe rather than the gutter. A clear run that drains into a packed pipe fills and goes over the front edge exactly as it did before, and so does one whose shoe at the bottom is blocked with silt. The other cause is fall: a run that has dropped between brackets holds standing water at the low point, and no amount of clearing fixes a fixing problem.

How often do gutters need doing?

Once a year suits most Nottingham houses, in late autumn once nearby trees are bare. Twice a year if you have overhanging trees, conifers, or a shaded north facing roof shedding moss into the run. Clearing in September means clearing again in December, which is why the timing matters more than the frequency for most properties.

Do you go up a ladder?

No. The regulations expect work at height to be avoided where it is reasonably practicable, and on an ordinary house a ground based vacuum makes it practicable. A ladder footed on soft ground with somebody leaning sideways to reach along a run is the exact scenario that produces serious falls, and a gutter is not worth it. Where the vacuum genuinely cannot reach, we say so.

Are gutter guards worth fitting?

They help with whole leaves and they do very little about moss, pine needles and silt, which is most of what fills a gutter in this country. They also make clearing slower, because the guard has to come off first. Brush inserts are the worst of it: they trap decomposing leaf litter and are frequently found with seedlings growing through them. No guard removes the need for a look.

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Golden Heart Cleaning Services Ltd, New Basford, Nottingham NG7 07438 843980 Mon to Fri 8am to 6pm, Sat 9am to 4pm