Repairs · 4 min
Newark Gutter Cleaning · $50/hr Per Person · Same-Week Booking
Most Newark houses need a gutter clean twice a year. Here is what we actually do up the ladder, what the price covers, and why a clogged downspout is the most expensive thing you ignore.
Brian Zalewski ·
A typical two-story Newark house with 120 linear feet of gutter runs $100 to $200 for a full clean — one or two crew members, two hours on the ladder, every downspout flushed. Here is the scope, the gear, and the reason a clogged downspout is the most expensive maintenance item you can ignore.
What is included in a gutter clean
- Hand-clear every run — leaves, sticks, helicopter seeds, asphalt grit. We bag the debris on the roof and haul it down, not blow it onto the lawn.
- Flush each downspout with a garden hose at full pressure. Confirm water is exiting where it should — splash block, extension, or buried drain.
- Snake clogged downspouts with a 25-foot drum auger. Most clogs sit at the elbow at the bottom of the run.
- Photo of every section before and after — sent to your phone the same evening so you can see what was actually done.
- Note any issues — loose hangers, rust holes, missing end caps, sagging sections. Free written list, no upsell. Most are casual-labor fixes we can do same visit; the rare structural problem we flag for a roofer.
Why a clogged gutter is so expensive to ignore
Water that should be 30 feet from the foundation ends up against the foundation. That is how basements flood, fascia rots, and ice dams form. The $150 gutter clean prevents the $5,000 basement waterproofing.
Specifically: a single clogged downspout can dump roughly 600 gallons during a one-inch rainstorm right at the corner of your foundation instead of carrying it to the storm drain. Multiply by every storm in a Newark spring and you are running a slow-motion flood at your basement wall. Two cleans a year is the cheapest insurance line item on a house.
The gear we bring up the ladder
- 24-foot fiberglass extension ladder with rubber feet and a stabilizer bar — fiberglass because it is non-conductive near power lines, stabilizer because it spreads the load on the gutter and does not crush it.
- Roof harness for low-pitch roofs, cleated boots for higher pitches.
- Drum auger for downspout snakes.
- Garden hose with high-pressure nozzle for the final flush.
- Five-gallon bucket on a ladder hook — debris goes into the bucket, not onto your lawn.
What does not get done on a gutter clean
We do not replace gutter sections, re-pitch a sagging run, or install gutter guards on the same visit — those are light-repair jobs we book separately, usually for a follow-up the same week. Anything involving the roof system itself (re-roofing, flashing, full gutter replacement) we hand off to a licensed roofer. The cleaning is the cleaning.
When to book it
- Mid-spring — after the maple seeds and oak pollen finish dropping, before the summer storms.
- Late fall — once the last of the oak leaves are down. Newark's last leaf drop usually lands around mid-November.
- After any major storm that drops branches — quick visual check, $50 if nothing is clogged.
Recurring twice-a-year customers are on the calendar for the same April + November weeks every year — same flat rate, no "annual contract" nonsense.
How to book a Newark gutter clean
Pick "Light repairs" at the booking form, choose a 2-hour slot for a typical two-story house, and add a sentence in the notes — number of stories, type of roof, any known clog. We confirm by text within ten minutes. Most Newark customers book the Saturday-morning slot so they can see the before-and-after photos right after the crew leaves.
