Gutter cleaning in Ferndown, and what comes next
Nothing here is listed and there is no conservation area, so the only question about your gutters is what they are actually worth repairing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Nothing here is listed and there is no conservation area, so what happens to your gutters is entirely your decision. Clear them, repair them or replace them in a different material: nobody has to be asked, and that is worth knowing before anyone quotes you.
It matters because the honest choice on an older run is often not clear or replace but somewhere between the two. Over four in ten homes here are bungalows and another three in ten are flats, so most of what we look at is either a long low run within reach of a ladder or a communal run on a block where the freeholder instructs the work.
Either way we clear first and judge afterwards, because a run full of wet silt tells you nothing. Then you get a written itemised quote that separates the clearing from any repair, with photographs of anything we think should be done now, and nothing beyond the clearing happens unless you say so.
The work
Clear it first, then decide what it needs
The decision is easier once somebody has actually seen the inside of the gutter.
Clearing. Leaves, moss off the tiles, roofing grit and the black sludge and silt they turn into, scooped out by hand from a ladder and bagged. Where a border or a conservatory blocks a ladder pitch we lift it with a vacuum on a reach pole from the ground. Every outlet is cleared, every downpipe is flushed through with water while you watch, and anything that will not take it gets rodded or a camera down it.
Bungalow runs. A single storey house spreads its rooms out, so it carries a long run front and back and a hip at each end, with a garage or a conservatory often bolted on. More metres and more outlets than a two storey house of the same size, all of it within reach without a tower or a scaffold, which is why this is the cheapest work we do.
Communal runs on the blocks. Where the rainwater goes into a hopper at high level and then into a pipe fixed to the flank wall, the failure shows as a stain on a ceiling rather than a splash on a path. Those are cleared and proved the same way, and we quote them to the freeholder or the managing agent rather than to a leaseholder, since the gutters are retained rather than demised.
Repair rather than replacement. Sagging between brackets, a union whose seal has hardened, a bracket screwed into a soft fascia, a length knocked out of fall. All of it is small work, all of it is far cheaper than an elevation of new gutter, and all of it is photographed and priced before anything is touched. We refix into sound timber, realign the fall and re-hang a dropped length rather than condemn a run that is mostly fine.
When replacing is the right answer. Cracked lengths, a run that has gone chalky and brittle all the way along, or brackets with nothing sound left to screw into. Then the choice of material is genuinely yours, and we will talk through it honestly rather than fit whatever is on the van. What decides it is usually the damage below: a run that has been backing up for two winters leaves green staining down the render, damp on the inside face, and soft fascias and soffit behind it.
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.
Nobody's permission is needed for any of it. There is no conservation area in Ferndown and nothing here is listed, so clearing, repairing or replacing rainwater goods is ordinary maintenance with no planning application and nothing for building control to sign off, which Planning Portal guidance sets out. In a block the freeholder's consent still comes 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 hipped bungalow with runs on four sides, a block of flats with a hopper at high level, and a chalet with a dormer over the front are three different jobs. 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 ten minutes up the road, so an overflow soaking a wall does not have to wait a fortnight. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Nothing here is listed, so the choice is yours
This is unusual on our patch and genuinely useful. Most of the settlements around here have a conservation area, a run of listed buildings or both, and on those the rainwater goods are part of what is protected: you can clear them freely, but taking cast iron off a frontage and putting plastic up instead becomes a planning matter rather than a repair. Ferndown has neither. No conservation area, and no listed entries at all.
So the decision is purely economic, which means the questions to ask are about value rather than consent. Is this run actually finished, or is it three cracked lengths and a tired seal? Would repairing it now buy several more years for a fraction of the cost of replacing it? If it is being replaced, what is going up, and is the bracket spacing right for the fall? None of that needs a council, an application or a heritage argument, and none of it should be rushed by somebody who would rather sell you an elevation of new gutter than spend an hour repairing the one you have. We price the clearing, the repair and the replacement as three separate lines precisely so the comparison is in front of you. On frequency, most houses here want the main clear in late autumn after the leaves are down, with a spring look at the outlets alone: a seasonal habit rather than an annual full clear.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Ferndown, West Parley, Longham, West Moors and Stapehill, broadly BH22, under Dorset 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
Ferndown questions we get asked
Do we need permission to replace our gutters?
Not in Ferndown. There is no conservation area and no listed building here, so rainwater goods are ordinary maintenance: no planning application, nothing for building control, and the material is your choice. That is not true of most of the villages around us, which is why it is worth saying.
How do you decide whether a run can be repaired?
By emptying it and looking. Chalky brittle plastic, cracked lengths and brackets with nothing sound left to screw into mean replacement. A hardened union seal, a sagging length or a bracket that has worked loose are repairs, and repairs on an existing run cost a fraction of a new elevation.
Does a single storey house take less time to clear?
Quicker to reach, not necessarily quicker to clear. A single storey house often has more metres of gutter and more outlets than a house of the same size, but the whole lot is within reach of a ladder, so there is no tower or scaffold in the price.
We rent a flat here. Who should we be asking?
The managing agent or the freeholder. On a block the gutters, hoppers and downpipes are retained rather than demised, so the instruction has to come from them. Report it in writing, say which elevation is overflowing, and ask that we are invited to price it.
Will you try to sell us new guttering?
No. Thomas prices every job himself, and the clearing, the repair and the replacement go on the quote as three separate lines so you can see what each one actually costs. If the run has years left in it we will say so.
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Have the run cleared, then priced three ways
Thomas comes out, empties every run, flushes the downpipes and itemises clearing, repair and replacement separately. The visit and the quote are free.