Gutter cleaning in West Parley, mostly off a ladder
A bungalow has about twice the gutter of a house the same size and almost none of the access cost. That makes this the cheapest job on our list.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
More than a third of the homes here are bungalows, and a bungalow has roughly twice the gutter of a two storey house with the same floor area. Twice as much to clear, and almost all of it within reach of a ladder.
That is why gutter work is the cheapest thing we do on this side of the Stour and the thing most often left too long. Spread a house over one floor and you get long eaves runs front and back, a hip at each end, and often a garage, a porch and a conservatory with runs of their own. Every one has an outlet, and outlets are where a gutter blocks.
What we get called to is usually a run overflowing at one corner, a downpipe that has started discharging down the wall, or green staining under a joint that somebody has finally had enough of. We come and look at the whole property, including the outbuildings, and send a written itemised quote with the runs, the outlets and any repair on separate lines.
The work
More gutter than a house, and most of it within reach
Low eaves make this quick, so the money goes on the number of outlets rather than on getting up there.
Clearing the run. Leaves, moss off the tiles, roofing grit and the black silt they break down into, scooped out by hand from a ladder and bagged. Where a border or a conservatory roof stops a ladder going in, the same run comes out with a vacuum on a reach pole from the ground. Nothing gets flushed down a downpipe to get rid of it, because that is how a pipe blocks at the shoe.
Outlets, downpipes and the ground below. Every outlet is cleared and every downpipe is flushed through while you watch. Where a pipe will not take it we rod it, use a camera if it is not obvious, and check the gully or shoe at the bottom, since plenty of what looks like a blocked gutter is a drain backing up.
Hips and the corners. A hipped bungalow roof throws water into the corners of the gutter run rather than along it, so debris packs at the mitres and at the stop ends. Those are the spots that go first and the spots a quick clear from a ladder in the middle of the run never reaches.
When it needs a repair rather than a clean. Sagging between brackets, a union with a perished seal, a length knocked out of fall by the weight of wet moss, a bracket screwed into a soft fascia. On a bungalow these are visible from the ground once you know what to look at, which is a real advantage. We photograph anything of the sort, price it, and get your say before we refix, realign, re-hang or replace anything.
The garage, the porch and the conservatory. Short runs, low level, and easy to forget. They matter because an overflow at that height goes straight into brickwork just above the damp proof course, or down painted render onto a door threshold, rather than dispersing down a whole storey of wall first. The soffit and fascias behind a run like that stay wet all winter and go soft.
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, repairing or replacing rainwater goods is maintenance: no planning application and nothing for building control to sign off. West Parley has no conservation area and four listed entries, and on a listed building the original rainwater goods are protected fabric, so there you need listed building consent before anything is swapped. We check an address 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 all four sides, a chalet with a dormer over the front, and a two storey house on the main road are three different mornings. 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 away, so an overflow in a wet spell does not sit long. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
A bungalow is twice the gutter and half the access
Take a house and a bungalow with the same number of rooms. The house stacks them, so it has one set of eaves and a short run at each end. The bungalow spreads them, so it has a long run front and back, a hip at both ends and usually an extension or a garage bolted onto the side of it. That is a lot more metres of gutter, a lot more joints, and two or three more outlets, and every one of those is somewhere it can block.
The good news is the other half of the sum. On a two storey house the access is the expensive part, and on a bungalow it more or less disappears: the whole run is within reach of a ladder or a reach pole, no tower, no scaffold and no work at height charge for standing a platform. So a bungalow clear costs less than people expect and there is no reason to skip a year. It also means the sensible thing is to have the lot done at once, house and garage and conservatory together, rather than paying twice for somebody to come out. And because the eaves are low, you can inspect it yourself: stand outside in heavy rain and you will see exactly which outlet is not coping. As for frequency, an open plot here will usually go two years between clears. Do the main one in late autumn after the leaves are down, and add a spring look only where something genuinely overhangs the roof.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover West Parley, Longham, Ferndown, Hampreston and across into Bournemouth, 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
West Parley questions we get asked
Why is the access so much cheaper on a bungalow?
Usually yes, and the saving is almost all in the access. There is no tower to build and no scaffold to hire, because the whole run is within reach of a ladder or a pole. The length of gutter is often greater than on a house, so the labour is not less, but the platform cost largely goes away.
Why does a single storey house have more gutter?
Because the same rooms are spread over one floor instead of two. That gives you a long run front and back rather than a short one, a hip at each end, and usually a garage or a conservatory with runs of their own. More metres, more joints, and more outlets to block.
Do you clear the garage and the conservatory gutters as well?
Yes, and we would rather do them at the same visit. They are short, low and easy to forget, and an overflow at that height goes straight into brickwork near the damp proof course or onto a door threshold instead of running down a whole storey of wall first.
What if the downpipe is blocked below ground?
We find that out by running water through and watching where it stops. If it backs up at the shoe or the gully the blockage is at the bottom, not the top, and clearing the gutter would not have fixed anything. We clear what we can reach and tell you plainly if it goes beyond that.
Can you tell from the ground whether ours needs doing?
On a bungalow, often. Sagging between brackets, a joint with a green stripe under it, or plants growing out of the run all show from the garden, which is why an annual look costs you nothing. What you cannot see from below is how deep the silt is or whether the outlets are clear, so we still put a ladder up before quoting.
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Have the whole property cleared in one visit
Thomas comes out, looks at the house, the garage and everything in between, and sends a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are free.