Ok maybe this is just splitting hairs, but I’m curious as to how many of you use the term “gutter cleaning” instead of “gutter clearing”? It seems that “cleaning” could mean that your cleaning the outsides of the gutter, but “clearing” seems more specific to me. I plan to use “clearing” to avoid any confusion.
How about you?
Have you run into anybody who has mistaken your service for something else because of the wording?
Gutter Cleaning and Down Spout Flush
If I were to clean the outside, I would use the term gutter whitening. (I don’t do as of yet)
My estimate and invoice state my process in detail, so that there should not be any confusion for my customers.
Ya, I assume most people think of gutter cleaning as what’s inside of the gutters, not outside.
When I list the service on my bills I do write “cleared” if I’m just getting the loose stuff out.
Standard service – “Clear debris from roof and gutters; remove from property. Ensure downspouts are clear.”
Premium service – add “Rinse interior and exterior gutter surfaces; ensure water flows through downspouts.”
Add-on service – “Remove exterior streaks from front and bottom gutter surfaces.”
I use the term Cleaning…It seems to be the Norm in the Northeast.
Larry,
just curious. You dont flush The downspouts with water on your standard service?.
Also I like your wording on your ad-on service. I get to many people whom i did gutter whitening for, think it included the facia(aluminum) also. Do you do the facia as a ad ad-on??
I’ve used the term Gutter Leaf Removal for the past 4 years as opposed to gutter cleaning. Its worked well for us because, we don’t get it confused with the shingle grits in the gutters. Which can take significantly longer to clean out. We’ll upsell and give recommendations if there is a lot of that stuff in the gutters.
My website says “Gutter cleaning / gutter whitening”. A lot of people don’t know about gutter whitening, its a good selling point.
If you are thinking in terms of website targeted terms “gutter clearing” isn’t going to work as well as “gutter cleaning”. Just in case you hadn’t thought of that aspect.
i had a guy ask for the outside of his gutters to be cleaned. "are you sure? the outside not the inside " i asked . then i spent ages getting the already clean gutters to shine using boot polish. After i finished and knocked on his door to get my money he asked how bad were they,how much dirt was up there. turns out he meant the outside of the insides !
luckily for me there was no dirt on the insides
We used to use Gutter Cleaning, which posed some confusion. Occasionaly a customer would say, " we want our gutters cleaned ". Sometimes they meant the outside of the gutter was dirty and had streaks on it. Other times they meant clean them out, leaves, etc.
So several years ago, I decided to go with " Gutter Clean-Out ". This (terminology) is on the side of our vans and on any ad or coupon.
I just always ask the customer if they want the inside outside or both cleaned.
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I have never experienced a customer that confused the two terms, but I can see it happening. If you look up the key words on Google, Gutter Cleaning ranks # 1 so it seems that most people think of gutter cleaning as the trough portion of the gutter.
I also have gutter cleaning [B]and[/B] gutter whitening on my website. I do ask tho when someone calls for gutt cleaning if they mean in or out, that leaves it open to let them know that we do both. Some people dont realize what “whitening” is. Gutter [B]clearing[/B] to me implies just scooping/blowing out leaves, gutter [B]cleaning[/B] says to me, scooping and flushing,until theyre [I]crystal clear[/I] which, of course, is how we do it 
