New Milton gutters, from a terrace to a block
Houses, terraces and blocks of flats. Every run cleared and proved with water, and a quote written so a managing agent can act on it.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
A quarter of the homes in New Milton are flats, and on a block nobody living there owns the gutter. So the first thing to sort out is not the blockage, it is who is allowed to instruct the work.
We get both sorts of call here, and both peak in autumn after the leaves are down. A homeowner on one of the terraces or the 1980s closes, ringing because water is coming over the front edge and staining the render. And a managing agent or a resident director, ringing because a downpipe on a block has been overflowing for a fortnight and the leaseholder underneath has had enough.
Either way the site visit is free and the method is the same. Every run is worked from both ends, debris scooped out by hand or lifted on a vacuum, outlets and shoes cleared, and then we run water through each downpipe so somebody can see it go. The written itemised quote splits clearing from repair, which matters even more when it has to go to a freeholder or round a group of leaseholders before anybody can say yes.
The work
Terraces, closes and the runs on a block
Houses. The town's terraced and semi-detached runs are usually continuous over two or more properties with one or two outlets serving the lot, so debris travels along the fall and packs at the downpipe end. An annual clear suits most of them, with a second seasonal look in spring where a run sits under a mature tree. We clear the whole length rather than the bit in front of one door, dig out the outlet, rod from the shoe where water is backing up, and prove each pipe with water. Leaf, moss, silt and sludge go into a bucket and into the van rather than being flushed away.
Blocks of flats. A block is the same job with more of everything: long eaves runs, several downpipes, often a hopper head at first floor level where a walkway drains in, and sometimes a flat roofed section with a box gutter or an internal outlet. The internal ones matter most, because when they block the water goes into the building rather than down the outside. We clear them, check the grating, and photograph every run before and after for the file.
Access without disturbing anybody. Two storey runs come off a ladder, three storey wants a tower, and a balcony or car park frontage sometimes needs the tower moved through the day rather than left in a bay. On tight ground a reach pole with a vacuum does a good deal of it from below, and a camera on the pole shows what is up there without anybody climbing. The survey says where we can stand and when, in writing, before the day.
Repairs. The faults are the same on a block as on a house, there are just more of them: a bracket that has let go, a length sagging so water stands in the dip, a union whose seal has hardened and drips onto a walkway. Brackets are refixed, we realign and re-hang the length to its fall, and a union gets a new seal or is replaced. Anything communal is priced on its own line so it can be approved separately.
What the overflow is doing. Water over the front edge keeps brickwork and render wet all winter and brings the green with it. Water behind the gutter rots the fascia and travels along the soffit. Soft fascias, and on a block damp staining in a top flat's ceiling or on a stairwell wall, are where it usually shows first, and by then it has been going on a while.
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 gutters needs no planning application and nothing for building control to sign off, and there is no conservation area over most of the town and only a handful of listed entries. On a leasehold block the constraint is different: where the cost to any one leaseholder passes the statutory threshold, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires the freeholder to consult before the work is placed, so agents usually want the quote itemised early.
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 terraced house with a shared run and one downpipe, a 1980s detached with a conservatory on the back, and a three storey block with a walkway along one side are three different jobs, and only the last of them might want a scaffold rather than a tower. 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. On a block, tell us which flat is seeing the water and on which floor, because that usually names the run before we get there. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
On a block, the hold up is rarely the gutter
Flats are about a quarter of the housing in the town, and communal rainwater goods sit in an awkward gap. The leaseholder who can see the problem cannot instruct the work. The freeholder who can instruct it cannot see the problem. The agent in between needs a written price before doing anything, and above a certain cost per flat has a consultation to run as well. That is why a blocked downpipe on a block can sit for a month while the same fault on a house is done in an afternoon.
What speeds it up is a quote written the way the process needs it. Ours separates communal runs from anything private, prices each elevation on its own line, and comes with photographs so nobody takes a description on trust. Residents can send it straight to the agent, and agents can put it in front of a board or into a consultation without coming back for a breakdown. If you are a resident and do not know who holds the freehold, ring anyway.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover New Milton, Barton on Sea, Ashley, Bashley, Hordle and across to Milford on Sea, broadly BH25, under New Forest District 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
New Milton questions we get asked
Who arranges gutter clearing on a block of flats?
The freeholder, normally through a managing agent, because communal rainwater goods are not the leaseholder's to instruct. A resident can still ring us, and often should. We look, and put it in writing with photographs so you have something to send on.
Why does work on a block take so long to get approved?
Because of the consultation. Where the cost to a single leaseholder passes the statutory threshold, the freeholder has to consult before placing the work, and that takes weeks. An itemised quote with each elevation on its own line is what lets an agent start that process.
Can you reach the gutters on a three storey block?
Yes, normally off a tower rather than a ladder, and sometimes with a vacuum on a reach pole where the ground will not take a tower. We agree in writing where we can stand and when, so bays and walkways are not blocked without warning.
What is an internal outlet and why does it need checking?
It is a rainwater outlet set into a flat roof rather than at the eaves, common on the flat roofed parts of a block. When it blocks the water has nowhere to spill except into the building, so it shows as a damp ceiling in a top floor flat rather than a stain outside.
Do you provide photographs of the work on a communal job?
Yes, before and after, run by run. On a block somebody has to justify the spend to leaseholders, and a description alone is hard to defend. They come with the itemised quote and again with the record of what was done and how long each elevation took.
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Thomas comes out, clears and proves every run, photographs each elevation and sends a written itemised quote broken down by block. Free.