Updated · Make This Useful
Gutter cleaning job checklist
Run the checklist in the order of the work: walk the house and note hazards, photograph damage, clear each run to its outlet, flush every downspout, then clean up and take after photos. Sparkle Service on Chicago’s North Shore includes clearing, flushing, debris removal and photos in its $150 single-story starting price (checked October 2026). If the companies near you include photos, put them on your list too.
Edit the gutter list
From the walk-around to the last downspout. Take off what this job does not include and add what the house needs.
Gutter cleaning job checklist
- Walk the house: runs, stories, guards, ladder spots and power lines
- Photograph sagging runs, loose hangers and damaged downspouts first
- Lay tarps under the work area and keep debris off plants
- Scoop each run to the outlet and bag the debris as you go
- Guards: lift, clean under and refit, or clean on top, as quoted
- Clear each outlet and the elbow at the top of the downspout
- Flush every downspout and watch the water leave at the bottom
- Note any underground drain that backs up; quote it separately
- Check for leaking seams, loose spikes or hangers and runs holding water
- Blow off the roof edge and pick up what fell
- Rinse or sweep walks, the driveway and the patio
- After photos of each run and each downspout running clear
- Tell the customer what you found and when the next clean is due
Why flush every downspout?
A clean gutter that drains into a blocked downspout overflows in the next storm, and the customer calls you, not the weather. Run water through each one and watch it leave at the bottom. If water backs up into a buried drain, write it down and quote it separately; clearing an underground line is a different job with different tools.
What should you photograph?
Before you start: any sagging run, loose hanger, crushed downspout or roof damage you can see from the ladder, so nobody thinks you caused it. When you finish: each run clear and each downspout running. Those pictures answer the “did they do the back of the house?” call before it comes.
What do you tell the customer when you finish?
What you found, in plain words: two loose hangers on the back run, a slow downspout that feeds a buried pipe, front guards working fine. Then when the next clean is due, given the trees around the house. That short conversation is where repair work and the next booking come from.
Frequently asked questions
Should gutter guards be removed or cleaned on top?
Screens and snap-in mesh usually come off, because debris settles under them. Micro-mesh usually needs only its top brushed and rinsed. Either way, put guard work on the quote as its own line: lifting and refitting takes longer than scooping an open run.
Do I bag the debris or leave it?
Bag it unless the customer wants it in their compost or yard-waste bin. Piles left on the lawn make a job look unfinished even when the gutters are spotless, and wet debris kills grass if it sits for a few days.
When should I stop and come back another day?
High wind, ice, a wet roof or lightning. If a ladder spot is unsafe, say so and offer a different access method at its own price rather than forcing it. A rescheduled visit costs you a morning; a fall costs the business.