Opinions on this gutter clearance please

[Norf86]

Hi all, new chap here and would appreciate your opinions on this job I carried out the other day. 

I carried out inspection from the ground on this property and I won the quote. Great, but the job turned out to be a right pain in the.. Well, shoulders to be precise. I've done quite a few gutter clearances and have come across a couple of narrow gutters but nothing like this. 

Has anyone done these difficult jobs before?, do you avoid doing them? or do you just quote a silly amount. 

I quoted £90 but I only thought the ground level gutter at the front was going to be tricky. From the ground and sides the top gutters looked like normal width (the bits circled were actually normal width) with plenty of room for the vac nozzle. Turned out the whole lot was about an inch to inch and half wide max took me 2.5 hours to complete and I still felt like there was solid muck underneath the tiles. I used the special SkyVac black plastic crevice tool and even that was getting stuck between tile and gutter edge.

Would love your opinions and maybe some sympathy as my missus doesn't know what the hell I'm on about and told me to stop whinging!!  

And by the way, whoever installed these gutters should be shot or savagely beaten up, I'm not fussy ?

 

[Pjj]

Unfortunately this is ware experience when quoting comes in to play when we quote a job like that it will be considerably dearer , if we choose to quote it and we normally would , I explained to the customer and show them video footage of the problems involved with the job ,it’s then down  to them some will some won’t . I think you have learnt a valuable lesson that we all have to learn some time I still drop the occasional clanger but thankfully not to often ??

obviously cannot see the back of the house but I feel £90 for that size house is to cheap Evan if the access was good into the gutters we would be £130-145 if easy access difficult access £200+ 

 

[Part Timer]

During heavy rain the water would go straight over the top of those, fortunately there is a roof below so no damage would be caused. Spinaclean have a thin wide tool to do these types of jobs but you wouldn't get the rubbish out from under the tiles. 

 

[Norf86]

During heavy rain the water would go straight over the top of those, fortunately there is a roof below so no damage would be caused. Spinaclean have a thin wide tool to do these types of jobs but you wouldn't get the rubbish out from under the tiles. 

Yes that's what I said to the owner actually. That's the tool I used, the thin wide black one from spinaclean. Still was getting stuck. Was very glad to pack my stuff up and drive home that day. 

 

[Part Timer]

Yes that's what I said to the owner actually. That's the tool I used, the thin wide black one from spinaclean. Still was getting stuck. Was very glad to pack my stuff up and drive home that day. 

Be careful if, when, material gets stuck in this tool. If you try and tap it out it is very easily broken. We carry a bamboo stick to clear any debris.

 

[Norf86]

Unfortunately this is ware experience when quoting comes in to play when we quote a job like that it will be considerably dearer , if we choose to quote it and we normally would , I explained to the customer and show them video footage of the problems involved with the job ,it’s then down  to them some will some won’t . I think you have learnt a valuable lesson that we all have to learn some time I still drop the occasional clanger but thankfully not to often ??

obviously cannot see the back of the house but I feel £90 for that size house is to cheap Evan if the access was good into the gutters we would be £130-145 if easy access difficult access £200+ 

Yea I think you're right and when I got home I said to myself that was a very hard lesson learnt. Back of house was one long gutter, no breaks in like the front but I did have to lean over a large conny to do it, still just as narrow as the front. That's where I started to feel the lactic acid building up. Ouch

I am going back to do fascias and conny next month and they've signed me up for windows as well. So although I felt 90 was too cheap it has lead to more work. Hopefully my muscles have recovered by then ?

 

[ksp]

Unfortunately this is ware experience when quoting comes in to play when we quote a job like that it will be considerably dearer , if we choose to quote it and we normally would , I explained to the customer and show them video footage of the problems involved with the job ,it’s then down  to them some will some won’t . I think you have learnt a valuable lesson that we all have to learn some time I still drop the occasional clanger but thankfully not to often ??

obviously cannot see the back of the house but I feel £90 for that size house is to cheap Evan if the access was good into the gutters we would be £130-145 if easy access difficult access £200+ 

Just to empty the gutters? What you would charge to clear and a G/F/S if you don’t mind me asking? It looks like I massively under quote gutter clearances. To clean the G/F/S along with the windows I’d be around £90-£100. To clear the gutters I’d have said an extra £50 as they were having the rest of the work done. 

 

[Part Timer]

I am going back to do fascias and conny next month and they've signed me up for windows as well. So although I felt 90 was too cheap it has lead to more work. Hopefully my muscles have recovered by then ?

Good luck doing those peaks, if you think vaccing the gutters was hard work. Give us a report after doing them, probably be the next day as you'll not have the energy to type 

 

[Norf86]

Be careful if, when, material gets stuck in this tool. If you try and tap it out it is very easily broken. We carry a bamboo stick to clear any debris.

Cheers pal, I'll remember that ?

 

[Pjj]

Just to empty the gutters? What you would charge to clear and a G/F/S if you don’t mind me asking? It looks like I massively under quote gutter clearances. To clean the G/F/S along with the windows I’d be around £90-£100. To clear the gutters I’d have said an extra £50 as they were having the rest of the work done. 

To clean all the gfs downpipes ,Windows garage door would be £ 200 -250 depending what it’s like plus the cost of vaccing them out as well , and yes we do get the majority we price like this , we don’t need the work it’s specialised stuff doing jobs like this , hard work and expensive poles needed so charge well . 

 

[Pjj]

Just to empty the gutters? What you would charge to clear and a G/F/S if you don’t mind me asking? It looks like I massively under quote gutter clearances. To clean the G/F/S along with the windows I’d be around £90-£100. To clear the gutters I’d have said an extra £50 as they were having the rest of the work done. 

If working as a sole trader those prices are way to cheap if employing and charging that we would be bankrupt in a month ???

 

[HWCS]

My question is the inspection you carried out from the ground was it using a camera? Or was it just a quick look and count up from the ground?

If it was the latter then it maybe a good idea to get a camera of somesort.

 

[THL4KEL]

You probably would of been better using a different tool. The Spinaclean black fitting is a bit thick to get in really tight spaces. If I was you I would buy a 50mm alloy pole and make your own end tool.

 

[ksp]

To clean all the gfs downpipes ,Windows garage door would be £ 200 -250 depending what it’s like plus the cost of vaccing them out as well , and yes we do get the majority we price like this , we don’t need the work it’s specialised stuff doing jobs like this , hard work and expensive poles needed so charge well . 

Cheers for that. When I was doing my research before I started, I was confident with the price for window cleaning being towards the higher end based on what I know of competitors. Less so with this, but thought I was middle of the park for G/F/S cleaning. It appears I’ve misjudged this one ?
 

 

[HWCS]

You probably would of been better using a different tool. The Spinaclean black fitting is a bit thick to get in really tight spaces. If I was you I would buy a 50mm alloy pole and make your own end tool.

Pinch it down with a vice to make it narrower ??

 

[harunh]

Unfortunately this is ware experience when quoting comes in to play when we quote a job like that it will be considerably dearer , if we choose to quote it and we normally would , I explained to the customer and show them video footage of the problems involved with the job ,it’s then down  to them some will some won’t . I think you have learnt a valuable lesson that we all have to learn some time I still drop the occasional clanger but thankfully not to often ??

obviously cannot see the back of the house but I feel £90 for that size house is to cheap Evan if the access was good into the gutters we would be £130-145 if easy access difficult access £200+ 

People doing gutters down ehre for £30/£40 for a 3 bed semi detached house lol

 

[Part Timer]

People doing gutters down ehre for £30/£40 for a 3 bed semi detached house lol

Gutters are like windows up here, if there's no conny you'll probably end up walking away or it being an average job. With conny's the ladder users can't do them very easily and you should be able to get better prices.

 

[Norf86]

Good luck doing those peaks, if you think vaccing the gutters was hard work. Give us a report after doing them, probably be the next day as you'll not have the energy to type 

Thankfully the peaks are the cleanest part of the property. So shouldn't waste too much energy on them. The thing with the vaccing on this job was the sheer amount of time of holding my arms out in the extended position, trying to angle that thin nozzle into the gutter at an effective angle to actually suck stuff up.. For 2.5 hours non stop Aarrghh!!!  At least with scrubbing high up with wfp I can put the pole down and maybe conentrate on an easier section or just have a rest for a minute ?

Thankfully the peaks are the cleanest part of the property. So shouldn't waste too much energy on them. The thing with the vaccing on this job was the sheer amount of time of holding my arms out in the extended position, trying to angle that thin nozzle into the gutter at an effective angle to actually suck stuff up.. For 2.5 hours non stop Aarrghh!!!  At least with scrubbing high up with wfp I can put the pole down and maybe conentrate on an easier section or just have a rest for a minute ?

And yes will defo let ya know afterwards ?

 

[Norf86]

You probably would of been better using a different tool. The Spinaclean black fitting is a bit thick to get in really tight spaces. If I was you I would buy a 50mm alloy pole and make your own end tool.

Yea I have thought of doing this mate to be fair. I'm just thinking if I made a piece much thinner than the spinaclean one, is it going to block up all the time. I guess it's just trial and error isn't it. I have to say though, I'm definitely pricing higher with these gutters in future. They're just bloody awkward no matter what tool you have 

 

[Norf86]

My question is the inspection you carried out from the ground was it using a camera? Or was it just a quick look and count up from the ground?

If it was the latter then it maybe a good idea to get a camera of somesort.

It was a quick look up from the ground. Like I said though from the ground the two ends ( blue circles) looked like normal width and they were because when I started vaccing up there I had the normal nozzle on. Then went to do the other bits and had to change to the thinner nozzle. But yes I have a camera attachment and pole so should have used it and its a hard lesson learnt. Sometimes though you can just tell what type of gutter you're dealing with from the ground. Well, so I thought anyway ?

 

[windowsurfer]

I packed up my kit at a gutter job the other day, as was just too much for one guy(me) to work safely, standing on a flat roof, with hose hanging over edge, doing silly angle work. Cleaned one gutter out of about 7 other awkward bits, I got a coffee n a baguette for my effort( its a deli, part of a 3 story old fashioned flats. Then headed off to a bungalow n made a much easier, but still mucky £50.