Gutter cleaning in Bournemouth, houses and blocks
Half the homes here are flats, so the first question is often who is allowed to book the work. We answer that on the visit, then price every run, outlet and downpipe separately.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
If you live in a flat here, the gutter is probably not yours to book. Half the homes in Bournemouth are flats, and the rainwater goods on a block belong to the freeholder, so the useful first call is to the managing agent rather than to us.
The calls arrive in three shapes. A house owner in Winton or Charminster who has watched water sheet over the front edge in a downpour and leave a dark stripe down the brickwork. A leaseholder who can hear a downpipe gurgling and has been told for two winters that it is in hand. And a freeholder with a block to look after and no record of when the runs were last opened up.
The work is simple. What is not always simple in town is who may instruct it. We are a mile or two up the road, so the visit costs nothing: we look at every run, outlet and downpipe, and you get a written itemised quote with a plain note of anything we think you cannot authorise on your own.
The work
Runs, outlets and the pipes nobody can see
Clearing is the easy half. Finding out why it filled up is the half that saves you money.
The run itself. Leaves, moss washed down off the tiles, roofing grit and the black silt that all of it turns into. We scoop it out by hand from a ladder, or lift it with a vacuum pole where the ground will not take a footing, then bag it and take it away rather than tip it in a border. Moss is the heavy one: a wet mat of it holds water like a sponge and pulls a plastic run out of level, so a gutter nobody has touched comes out as sludge rather than leaves.
The outlet, the hopper and the downpipe. A gutter almost never blocks along its length. It blocks where it drains, so the number of outlets matters more than the metres of run. We clear each one, drop a rod or a camera down the pipe where it is not obvious, and run water through afterwards so you can see it goes. On the town blocks the pipe often disappears into a hopper at high level and then inside the building, and a failure there stains a ceiling long before anything shows outside.
When clearing is not the answer. Plenty of gutters drip after they have been cleared, and that is not a failed clean. It is a joint that has lost its seal, a union that has been pulled apart by ice, a length that has sagged between brackets so the fall runs the wrong way, or a bracket that has come off a rotten fascia. We refix, realign or re-hang short lengths on the same visit and photograph anything that wants replacing, with a price, before we touch it.
The valley and the flat roof outlet. A valley gutter between two slopes, and the outlet on a flat roof over a bay, take the same debris and get looked at half as often. Both back up quietly, and both put water under the covering rather than over a front edge, so nothing shows until a ceiling does.
What the overflow is doing meanwhile. Water over the front edge soaks the same strip of brickwork or render every time it rains: green staining first, then saturated masonry, then damp on the inside face, while the fascia and soffit below stay wet and go soft. Clearing is the cheapest job on this page and it stops all of that.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, the length of run, the number of outlets and downpipes, any repair, and where the debris goes on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Clearing needs nobody's permission. Replacing can. The town has no conservation area of its own and seven listed entries, and on a listed building the original cast iron rainwater goods are protected fabric, so swapping them for plastic is a consent question, and the council keeps the list for the whole council area. In a block the freeholder says yes first.
Cost
What decides the price of a gutter clean
No rate per square metre, because a metre of gutter behind a conifer and a metre on an open gable are not the same metre.
Getting to it. A semi in Winton with a ladder pitch on both sides, a three storey block where the run sits behind a parapet, and a terraced house with no side access are three different jobs before anybody opens a ladder. A bungalow run comes off a ladder or a pole, a three storey gable wants a tower, and a valley gutter between two roofs wants a proper platform. The work at height rules are why the access is a priced line rather than something absorbed into a rate.
What is in it, and how far it has travelled. Leaf litter lifts out in minutes. Moss washed off the tiles sets into a wet mat that has to be dug out, and silt in a long run behind a hedge is heavier and slower than anything a photograph shows. The number of outlets matters more than the length, because that is where it packs.
Whether it is a clean or a repair. A joint that drips once it is running again, a downpipe blocked at the shoe, a length of plastic that has sagged between brackets: none of that is clearing, and it is the part that decides whether you are booking an hour or half a day.
Comparing quotes? Ask whether the downpipes are being run through or just the gutter cleared, whether the outlets and hoppers are checked, whether it is a clear or a clear and a check for leaks, and who takes the debris away. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is overflowing now
Water coming over the gutter in heavy rain
Ring rather than use the form. Water running down a wall in a downpour soaks the brickwork and finds its way to a ceiling faster than most people expect, so a blocked outlet in a wet week goes to the front of the queue. We clear it, run water through to prove it, and tell you honestly if what you actually have is a broken joint rather than a blockage. We are a mile or two from most of the town, so a blocked outlet in a wet week is usually a same week visit. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
In a block, the gutter is not yours to book
Just over half the homes in the town are flats, and around Winton and Boscombe a good many are conversions: one house, one continuous gutter, four front doors. That changes who can do anything about it. Under a normal lease the roof, the walls, the gutters, the hoppers and the downpipes are retained by the freeholder and maintained out of the service charge you already pay. You cannot instruct a contractor to work on them, however long they have been overflowing, and paying for it yourself does not make it your repair.
So the route is not to book us. It is to get the run onto the agent's list and ask that we are invited to price it. Ring them, say which elevation is overflowing and roughly since when, and put it in writing so there is a date on it. We quote freeholders, management companies and residents associations regularly, and we price the communal runs and any private balcony or garage gutter on separate lines so everybody can see what belongs to whom. Own a house here and none of this applies: you can simply book it.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the town centre, Winton, Charminster, Springbourne, Boscombe and Southbourne, broadly BH1 to BH11, under Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Questions
Bournemouth questions we get asked
We live in a flat. Can we book a gutter clean ourselves?
Usually not. On a block or a converted house the gutters and downpipes are retained by the freeholder and paid for out of the service charge, so the instruction has to come from them or from the managing agent. Ring the agent, put the problem in writing, and ask that we are invited to quote. We are happy to price it for them.
How often do gutters need clearing in a town street?
Once a year is the honest default, in late autumn once the leaves are down. A run with nothing overhanging it will often go two years, and one under a mature street tree wants doing twice. We tell you which you have rather than sell you a schedule.
Is the downpipe part of the job, or charged as an extra?
Yes, and it is the part that matters most. A gutter blocks at the outlet rather than along its length, so clearing the run without proving the pipe is half a job. Each downpipe is rodded or vacuumed and then flushed through while you watch.
Our gutter still drips after it was cleared. Is that normal?
It means the problem was never debris. A dripping joint, a union pulled apart by ice, or a length that has sagged between brackets so the fall runs backwards will all drip on a clean gutter. We photograph it, price the repair, and get your agreement before doing anything beyond the clearing.
Can you reach a third floor gutter without scaffold?
Often, yes. A vacuum pole reaches three storeys from the ground and a tower covers most of what it cannot, so scaffold is a last resort. Where the run sits behind a parapet somebody has to get up there properly, and the access is then its own line on the quote.
Nearby, and next door
Gutter cleaning near Bournemouth
Gutter cleaning nearby
Our other trades in Bournemouth
Everything we do in Christchurch Gutter cleaning, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get every run and downpipe checked before the next downpour
Thomas comes out, opens up each outlet, runs water through the pipes and sends a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are free.