reality check: installed (covered) gutter pricing

[gotta56forme]

I built my garage a year ago, and just started receiving bids for new gutters. I received my first bid from one of the companies that has the type that guard against leaves coming in...nudge, nudge, wink, wink... For 74 feet of gutter and three 9 foot downspouts, the bid (after deducting their labor special) was $2200+! I about had a heart-attack... Is that really what I'm dealing with?

 

[kbs2244]

I don't know about cost since I do that kind of stuff myself.
But I have yet to see any to the covered gutters do what they are claimed to do.
If they are covered well enough to keep all the bad stuff out, then they are covered too well to let a heavy rain in and the water just flows over the edge.
Not what you want in a heavy rain.
I just walk the edge of the roof with an electric leaf blower.
I can do 200 feet of gutter in less than 30 min
I do have the little upside down wire baskets to keep the leaves out of the down spouts.

 

[67pete300]

I just got a quote to replace the gutters on my whole house. I don't know what the lineal feet are, but it is a fairly typical two-story, 2500sf house. It included a bunch of oversized (3"x4") downspouts because the current system lacks capacity. The quote was $1500 for the gutters. There were three gutter guard systems quoted. The cheapest added about $500 and the most expensive nearly doubled the quote. The advice I got from the guy doing the quote was to go with the cheapest version. None of them completely keep stuff out (not "zero maintenance") and the more expensive ones are just more restrictive to keep more stuff out, including water during heavy rains (as mentioned above) when you really need them.

I'm going to get at least one more quote before I pull the trigger. But yours sounds a bit high for just a garage, depending on the gutter guard system.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

The cheapest I ever saw the style that was enclosed and all in one, was $9 a foot, not installed, no downspouts, etc. There are covers as well that you can do the same thing with, but they were high tool
From what I have seen, while these do help with leaves the water uses surface tension to ride into a slot for it, while the leaves go over the edge. In winter, the water will flow over and form ice cicles, just as heavy storms will (but heavy storms will both overfill and shoot over the gutters as well. Several companies used to claim if they ever needed cleaning they would come out and do it (don't know if they still do). But I talked to a couple of people who said these would not stop pine needles (what I had). Heck, all I needed to replace was one 10' section of guttering at one end (actually more like 3 feet, where a downspout should have been). But no one carries the old 4" gutters anymore.

 

[Junkman]

Not all gutters are created equally. You need to know the size of the gutter in inches 4"... 5"....or 6". Then the next question is the gauge of the metal that they are using. I have 6" gutters on the front side of the house, and they are one piece and a very heavy gauge. they each have one over-sized downspout, and they never run over. On the back side, I have a 4" gutter that was made by a truck mounted machine. It is a much thinner gauge, and it didn't handle the water very well. I was forced into going with this because of the 40' length, whereas the front are only 30'. The 30' gutter was the longest that could be delivered by the truck, and the company that made it (Harvey Industries) doesn't have a truck mounted machine in my area that would come to the site and make the gutter. 4" thin gauge was the best that I could find at the time. I had to add 4 additional downspouts to the two that were originally installed for it to handle the amount of water that comes off the roof. It still isn't totally satisfactory, but it is the best that I can get for the time being. Buy the best that you can find, because anything less will be unsatisfactory in the future. This is one area of the house not to skimp on. Forget the covers because they are more nuisance than they are worth.

 

[Kevin54]

My father just had a quote for replacing the gutters on his whole house (probably guessing at 140' with 8 downs at a little over $900, But that is in Ohio.

 

[wrigh003]

My father just had a quote for replacing the gutters on his whole house (probably guessing at 140' with 8 downs at a little over $900, But that is in Ohio.

That's about what I recently paid for my house- I worked it in with the re-roofing project and it wound up adding right about $1000 to the total. That was for probably ~160' of 6" seamless gutters, rolled on site, and either 7 or 8 downspouts. It handles a LOT of water.

But, these are standard (albeit heavy duty) open-top gutters. I have had gutters with the grid-type covers before, and never could get them to work right, due to not being able to get them clean. I have heard similar stories about folks with the rigid gutter guard system.

 

[ddawg16]

I put gutters on my house 3 years ago.....about 130' of seamless aluminum....the rolled the stuff out right there at the house....will never need painting unless I want to change the color. It cost me about $800 installed....and that is here in Los Angeles...

Neighbor has the gutter covers....yea, it kinda keeps out the leaves....but all the gravel from the roof shingles still goes in as well as the small stuff....

Don't waste the money....because of the gravel you will still need to clean them out and it will be a lot easier without the covers on......All you need to do is go up about once a year with the water hose and wash them out.

 

[JMURiz]

I built my garage a year ago, and just started receiving bids for new gutters. I received my first bid from one of the companies that has the type that guard against leaves coming in...nudge, nudge, wink, wink... For 74 feet of gutter and three 9 foot downspouts, the bid (after deducting their labor special) was $2200+! I about had a heart-attack... Is that really what I'm dealing with?

Sounds about like the quote I got for mine...so I decided to just go ahead and get regular gutters w/o the tops on them. I just couldn't justify the costs or trust the **** that comes off my Oak trees wouldn't clog up the fancy gutters anyway.

 

[JohnK007]

we wanted to gutter our garage two years ago. Hip roof, gutters on all four side, about 22-24 foot square. Anyway, my wife was in charge of getting quotes. They were something like your quote. A little more than I could afford so we went to the Home Depot and bought their 10' aluminum sections, downspouts, hangers, etc. Her and I did it ourselves in a weekend for something like $400. One of the guys who gave her a quote stopped by after we finished. She told him what we done. He said, "Well you get what you pay for" She told me that and I said F*CK him!! It may not have been a professional job, but the water is going where we want it, no leaks, and it was something we did together.

 

[mister honey]

I really like the Gutter Shutter product. I won't go into its details, but it really is the best design I've ever seen! Search on the net, if you are curious about it.

Their sales approach, however, leaves a lot to be desired.

I had already decided their product was the best and called for a quotation; about 170 lineal feet of gutter, as I recall, with new downspouts, etc.

The sales dude came out, talked for two hours, measured the house & garage and tells me:

"our compeitiors would charge $7100 for this job."

I advised he was out of his f*cking mind.

"we have a rebate program right now that will bring it down to $5900."

I repeat...

"if we can leave our sign in your yard for three weeks the price is $4400."

(getting interesting, yes?)

"let me call the factory...yes, they have found an extra roll of dark brown aluminum material ...$3400."

No thanks...

"let me call the owner...the rock bottom best we can do is $2900."

I tell this doofus to leave, which he does after asking what is wrong!

Two days later, my phone rings and the supervisior of sales quality discusses my project and the sales call, then offers to do the job for $2250!

Great product, shyster sales tactics!
Your experiences may vary in other parts of the country, but I do not trust these guys.

Mike

 

[Torque1st]

From what I have learned over the last few years most of the "Home Improvement" contractors are disreputable. I called one that shall remain nameless the other day about replacing 10 windows and they wanted over $13,000 to do it. I told them no way... I have checked and I can buy some decent similar window units for less than $200 each. The trim work would require some labor but there is no way I am paying someone $11,000 to install $2000 worth of windows.

The covered gutter quotes I received were in the same range as the OP's.

Several companies wanted as much to cover the soffits and fascia on my house with aluminum as they wanted to cover the entire house including the soffits and fascia.

They are all crooks.

One of my neighbors has had excellent luck with the plastic gutter cover sold in 4' lengths at Home Depot.

 

[russlaferrera]

Around here we have "the Gutter Helmet" As you said you need a 2nd mortgage to afford it. One vendor, his area. Take it or leave it.

 

[mcdtommy23]

I really like the Gutter Shutter product. I won't go into its details, but it really is the best design I've ever seen! Search on the net, if you are curious about it.

Their sales approach, however, leaves a lot to be desired.

I had already decided their product was the best and called for a quotation; about 170 lineal feet of gutter, as I recall, with new downspouts, etc.

The sales dude came out, talked for two hours, measured the house & garage and tells me:

"our compeitiors would charge $7100 for this job."

I advised he was out of his f*cking mind.

"we have a rebate program right now that will bring it down to $5900."

I repeat...

"if we can leave our sign in your yard for three weeks the price is $4400."

(getting interesting, yes?)

"let me call the factory...yes, they have found an extra roll of dark brown aluminum material ...$3400."

No thanks...

"let me call the owner...the rock bottom best we can do is $2900."

I tell this doofus to leave, which he does after asking what is wrong!

Two days later, my phone rings and the supervisior of sales quality discusses my project and the sales call, then offers to do the job for $2250!

Great product, shyster sales tactics!
Your experiences may vary in other parts of the country, but I do not trust these guys.

Mike

1-800-HANSENS uses the same tactics. I got a quote last year (WAY HIGH), they called about 25 times over a 6 month period offering "specials" and "manager authorized discounts", etc. I asked them time and time again to please stop calling. Just the other day they called and "really need to keep their crews working", so they want to come back out and "re-quote" the job. NO THANKS! The very next day they call back AGAIN! I gave in and set up an appointment for which I won't answer the door. Some of these guys are as bad as Kerby salespeople! I might call and have my friends call and set up appointments at some abandoned properties in the hood. We could keep their crews working - watching their a** in the ghetto.

 

[rburke65]

Three years ago I was going to have a new roofing installed...shingles. HD had color and quality that matched the originals. Had HD come out to give me a quote, and as luck would have it the guy they sent out is a high school buddy. Now I know this is going to be.......ballpark....$1,500 to do a tareoff, another $1,500 for shingles, $1,500 labor = $4,500+-. He comes up with $11,700!!!!!!!!! When he handed me that piece of paper, I looked at him and just walked away! I did not ever say 'thanks but no thanks', 'go screw', nothing.... walked into the house through the garage, put down the garage door, and left him standind there. $11,700!! I did get the job done, a brother of a guy I work with for $4,600.

 

[gotta56forme]

Update: I had another company come out. The gave me two quotes:

1) 70' of basic 5" gutter with three downspouts - a smidge under $600 installed
2) Their gutter covering treatment - $2240 on basic gutter install (see #1) that they would throw in for free.

I guess it would have been nice to have a 'maintenance-free' gutter system, but at those prices, I'll pay myself to clean the gutters each year.

I think the guy has given so many bids, he can read people pretty well. He said right up front that he knew (without my saying a word) that I didn't want to spend $2K+ for gutters. He said I wanted basic gutters and told me what I wanted in them, some of which was helpful. He said under no circumstances settle/accept 'spike & ferule' attached gutters. The spike will back itself out of the rafter tail over time. He said they are not even used in the snowbelt because that attachment fails so quickly. He told me to make sure the gutter is attached with some sort of a screw - which won't back out.

I'm going to go back to the drawing board and contact a couple more companies and get 'basic gutter' bids.

Scott/Gotta56forme

 

[palsor1]

I recently got quotes to put uncovered gutters up around my house from 4 or 5 different companies and two things really amazed me. First, all of the companies used the same materials. Unfortunately, I don't recall the name off-hand. Second, the quotes ranged from $800 to $3k+ for the exact same work with the exact same materials. Now, some of the companies offered 10 year warranties vs. 15 year warranties vs. lifetime warranties, but in my opinion those all amounted to the same thing.

In the end I got frustrated with the various companies and just decided to wait. I think the only thing I was convinced of was what everyone else seems to be saying. These companies are frustratingly unscrupulous and unstandardized. It almost made me want to go to Home Depot and pay them to do it just so I could complain to a major chain rather than some local guy if there were problems. In the end, I'll probably just put some up myself. It seems like every time I think about getting a contractor to do something, I end up doing it myself .

 

[Torque1st]

Spike and ferrule gutters are OK. It all depends on the spikes. There are serrated spikes available that don't back out easily. If they do they can be easily replaced with screws.

My gutters have been up for almost 20 years now and there are a half dozen spikes that I keep an eye on because they are loose. The roof may be coming off due to hail damage tho. It seems like many times when doing a tear-off they damage or rip up the gutters and they have to be replaced anyway.

 

[kbs2244]

They use long screws instead of spikes for that style now.
But I don't like seeing the ends showing along the front edge.
Use the hidden hangers and use screws to install them
The screws are faster, easier, stronger, and the hidden ones can be installed where needed

 

[nonhog]

You may want to contact COLUMBIA SHEET METAL , INC of WA
after looking at there website and talking on the phone I almost past.
Thinking they would be pricey . They were cheaper on the custom style V-box
than the regular k-line stuff. worth a try.

 

[dcjredline]

Just got a quote for some seamless gutters installed. $3.20 per lineal foot. Not too shabby I think I am having them done in about 3 weeks.

 

[jay50]

I had a guy install seamless gutters about 3 years ago. He had a good price; did good work, but stayed drunk most of the time....