How much should I charge per linear foot for gutter installation?

For standard 5-inch seamless aluminum, most markets support $6 to $13 per linear foot installed, with a healthy target around $8 to $11. Six-inch aluminum runs $9 to $16, and copper or steel can reach $25 to $40 or more per foot. Downspouts are priced separately, usually $8 to $14 per foot of drop plus fittings.

How do I price gutter cleaning jobs?

Either flat by home size (single-story $100 to $200, two-story $150 to $350) or per linear foot ($0.80 to $1.50 single-story, $1.25 to $2.50 two-story). Always enforce a minimum charge of $100 to $150 and cluster jobs by neighborhood so drive time doesn't erase the margin on small tickets.

Why does a second story change the price so much?

Height adds ladder setup time, fall-protection requirements, and real risk. The same 40-foot run is a different job at 22 feet than at 9 feet, especially on a steep pitch you can't walk. Apply a 25 to 50 percent labor multiplier to two-story sections and charge for the safety setup.

Should downspouts and tear-off be included in the per-foot price?

No. Price downspouts, special elbows and fittings, and removal and disposal of old gutter as separate line items. Burying them in the gutter rate guarantees you undercharge on complex homes, and itemizing shows the customer exactly what they're paying for.

What gross margin should I target on gutter work?

Aim for 40 to 50 percent gross margin after material and labor. If your only competitive edge is being the cheapest, you're competing with uninsured operators who disappear after the first leak. Compete on warranty, proper installation, insurance, and clean work instead.

How do I keep gutter cleaning routes profitable?

Density and minimums. Cluster cleaning stops by neighborhood so one drive covers four or five jobs, enforce a $100 to $150 minimum, and bundle a downspout flush and roof-debris check into each visit so the ticket justifies the trip. Tracking time per job tells you which routes actually clear margin.

How to Price Gutter Installation Jobs Per Linear Foot

# How to Price Gutter Installation Jobs Per Linear Foot

Gutters look like a simple trade until you price your first two-story home with three valleys, a steep roof, and 180 feet of run. Quote it like a single-story ranch and you will eat the ladder time, the extra downspouts, and the fall-protection setup. The operators who make real money on gutters price by the linear foot, layer in difficulty and downspout charges, and refuse to chase the lowball bids that flood every neighborhood after a storm.

This guide covers the per-foot numbers that hold up in the field, the cost drivers that sink rookie quotes, how to price cleaning versus installation, and the minimum-charge discipline that keeps a route profitable.

Start with linear footage, then layer the job up

Every gutter quote begins with a measured run. Walk the roofline, measure each eave, and total the linear feet of gutter plus the count and height of downspouts. A typical single-story home runs 120 to 180 linear feet; a two-story with a complex roof can hit 250 feet or more.

Your base material choice sets the floor:

5-inch K-style aluminum (seamless): the residential standard. Installed price commonly runs $6 to $13 per linear foot.
6-inch K-style aluminum: for larger roofs and high-rain regions; $9 to $16 per linear foot.
Copper or steel: premium and labor-intensive; $25 to $40+ per linear foot.
Downspouts: priced separately, often $8 to $14 per linear foot of drop, plus elbows and extensions.

Seamless aluminum is run on-site from a coil machine, which is why the material itself is cheap (roughly $0.60 to $1.00 per foot of coil) but the install carries the value. If you are buying sectional gutter from a box store and joining it, your labor and callback rate both go up; price accordingly.

Build the per-foot price from real costs

Don't pull a per-foot number out of the air. Stack it:

Material: coil stock, hangers (one every 24 to 36 inches), end caps, miters, sealant, and screws. Figure $1.50 to $3.00 per linear foot in materials on a standard 5-inch aluminum job once you include hangers and accessories.
Labor: a two-person crew installing 150 to 250 feet a day. At a loaded crew cost of $400 to $600 a day, your labor is roughly $2 to $4 per foot before difficulty.
Equipment and overhead: the gutter machine, ladders, truck, fuel, insurance, and the office time to quote and invoice. Spread this across your billable feet per month.
Difficulty multipliers: two-story adds 25 to 50 percent to the labor on that section; steep or unwalkable roofs, hard ladder setups over landscaping or decks, and tear-off of old gutter all add real hours.

When you add it up, a healthy 5-inch aluminum install lands around $8 to $11 per foot in most markets and still leaves a 40 to 50 percent gross margin. If your only pitch is being the cheapest, you are competing with the uninsured one-truck operators who disappear after the first leak.

Pricing gutter cleaning is a different animal

Cleaning is volume work, and it lives or dies on route density and minimums. Two ways to price it:

Flat by home size: single-story commonly $100 to $200, two-story $150 to $350, larger or heavily treed homes more.
Per linear foot: roughly $0.80 to $1.50 per foot single-story, $1.25 to $2.50 two-story.

The non-negotiable is a minimum charge of $100 to $150. Sending a crew across town to clean 60 feet of single-story gutter for $75 loses money the moment you count drive time. Bundle cleaning with a downspout flush and a quick roof-debris check so the ticket justifies the trip, and cluster cleaning jobs by neighborhood so one drive covers four or five stops.

The cost drivers rookies forget

Two-story and roof pitch. The same 40-foot run is a different job at 9 feet versus 22 feet, and a different job again on a 10/12 pitch where you can't walk the roof. Charge for the height and the risk.

Fall protection and ladder safety. This is both a cost and a liability. Stabilizers, standoffs, harnesses on steep work, and the time to set up safely are real money, and skipping them is how people get hurt and get sued. Build the setup time into the quote and log your safety checks; insurers and serious commercial clients will ask.

Downspout complexity. Buried drains, long horizontal runs, custom elbows around bay windows, and rain-barrel tie-ins all add parts and time that a flat per-foot rate misses.

Tear-off and disposal. Removing and hauling old gutter is labor plus a dump fee. Price it as a separate line so the customer sees it and you get paid for it.

Material waste and staging. Coil stock, miters cut wrong, and staging material on a tight lot all eat into margin. Tracking your real waste per job tells you whether your per-foot number is honest.

A repeatable quoting workflow

1. Measure the full roofline and count downspouts with heights. 2. Pick the material and set your base per-foot rate. 3. Cost the materials (coil, hangers, accessories) against the run. 4. Add labor at your real crew-day rate divided by expected feet. 5. Apply difficulty multipliers for height, pitch, access, and tear-off. 6. Add downspouts, special fittings, and disposal as separate lines. 7. Check against your minimum and your target gross margin (aim 40 to 50 percent). 8. Present one clean number with the scope spelled out.

Running this once is easy. Running it across a full route, every day, while tracking material waste, drive time, and which jobs actually cleared margin, is where most solo operators lose the thread. The Gutter Installation & Cleaning Operations Kit does the linear-footage and downspout math, clusters jobs into efficient neighborhood routes with time-per-job staging, keeps the fall-protection and ladder-safety log you'll want on file, and tracks seasonal scheduling so spring and fall cleaning demand doesn't catch you flat.

Mistakes that cost real money

One flat per-foot rate for every house. A two-story complex roof is not a single-story ranch; multipliers are mandatory.
No minimum on cleaning. Drive time eats small tickets alive.
Burying downspouts and tear-off in the gutter price. Itemize them or you'll undercharge every time.
Skipping fall-protection time in the quote, then either rushing the setup (dangerous) or eating the hours (unprofitable).
Matching the lowball storm-chaser price. You can't beat an uninsured operator on price and stay in business; compete on warranty, insurance, and clean work.

If you want the underlying method first, the free starter guide and course walk through a sample single-story and two-story quote line by line. Measure the run, price by the foot, charge for height and downspouts, and protect every ticket with a minimum. Do that consistently and a gutter route turns into a dependable, high-margin business instead of a race to the bottom.