I’ve got a friend who owns a brush clearing business and nearly half his clients have some sort of gutter clearing needs.
Here in the Oakland Hills it’s required not only that tall brush be cleared from your property but also that your gutters get cleared of any flammable debris during the Summer, e.g. dry leaves, twigs, etc. This is a mandatory regulation that passed as a result of the Oakland Hills firestorm in '91.
Anyway my friend gets a lot of requests for gutter clearing, but he doesn’t do this type of work. He sees a great opportunity to build his business by adding this service, but he doesn’t have the time to do it. Plus he can’t stand the thought of climbing a ladder and getting up on roofs.
So since I’m familiar with using ladders and climbing on roofs as a window cleaner, he doesn’t mind giving me the gutter clearing work and we share the profit.
I really like the idea, but I have no experience clearing gutters. I know I’ll learn fast, just like I did window cleaning. But I don’t even know what equipment to start off with, or what the procedure is for clearing away debris in a gutter and downspout.
Any help would be great.
By the way, for those of you who offer both window cleaning and gutter cleaning, do you need extra insurance along with your window cleaning insurance when you clean gutters? Or will my window cleaning insurance cover me if I also clean gutters?
Besides ladders the basics would be, a ladder stand off, a pole, a gutter spoon, a five gallon bucket with a painters hook, and contractor bags. I’m not sure on the insurance issue.
You need proper training! It takes years of training with a Master Gutter Cleaner (aka, MGC) before you can go on your own… J/k!
It takes you reaching in the gutter and getting out anything that should not be in there. As time goes on you will find ways to move faster and make things easier. It not a hard job at all just keep saftey in mind and you will be okay.
I use a pulex bucket instead of a 5 gallon. I is less top heavy and it holds another gallon of debris
Also you will need a good hose (one that doesn’t puncture easily) and a sprayer.
As far as the sprayer is concerned, I prefer the ones with the twist nozzle vs. the “trigger” type.
You will more than likely run into a variety of gutter guards. These hoses are easy to run under the guards once 1 section is removed and you can run them down downspouts.
As far as a leaf blower, it might work in Texas but in the midwest the debris is always soppng wet. A leaf blower is good for blowing off the roof prior to cleaning gutters though.
The best way to clean gutter’s is to do it by hand or use a gutter scooper. you can find them at Window’s 101 or they may have them here. Scoop out the gunk & rinse the gutter’s, test out the downspout’s & your done.
Cool. Thanks for the info guys. I feel confident that I can do this. Most of the equipment ya’ll listed I already have:
Ladder - CHECK
Stand Off - CHECK
Pole - CHECK
5 gallon bucket - CHECK
Gutter spoon - NOT YET
Contractor bags - NOT YET
Hose - NOT YET
Nozzle - NOT YET
In regards to using a hose, do I use my own only when my client’s hose can’t reach the gutter, or should I always use my own? Also, how long of a hose would you suggest I purchase?
Bring your own and use your own, you never know what the customer may have as well if it is about to burst/break/leak etc. If you break your own sprayer or hose it’s an easy fix. If you break theirs it is a hassle.
Get a pair of poly something or other glove(thick rubber) It’s easy to get cut up scooping that stuff out and plus it saves your hands from most of the nasty stuff.
Get a great pair of shoes( I like Merrells
Get a NON KINk hose
I like to use little 13 gallons kitchen bags instead of a bucket. there cheap and easy
it’s much easier(IMO) to use a bucket with a painters hook on it than tying or holding a trash bag on a ladder. When you get down the ladder you can dump it in a bag.
Fair enough, but sometimes you’ll have WAY more than a 5 gal or even a pulex bucket worth of debris on top of a roof. I like to throw a bunch of bags in my pocket. For ladder work, I should prob try the bucket again…
How is everyone disposing of their gutter debris? Put in customers yard waste? Put in bag and take with you and put in your own yard waste or dump out somewhere?
Larry,
Liking your Stihl? What model is it? Thinking of Redmax but value experience.
