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Are gutters worth the investment

Baldmonkey

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Are the gutters worth the investment of the gutter vac and what would be the best starter machine, thanks

 
Im getting asked a bit about gutters and would also be interested in starter gutter vac advice, for those who do gutter repairs and replacement how do you cope with porches, connies etc to do repairs? Thanks

 
I paid £460 in April 2018. I bought it from a company called Gutter Cleaning Systems. Their website no longer exists so I assume they have gone out of business in the meantime. I made my money back within a couple of months. It's a nice add on to fill the diary with, much more popular than GFS or Conny roof cleans for example.

 
Are the gutters worth the investment of the gutter vac and what would be the best starter machine, thanks




In my opinion yes definitely if I told you what we did today and what we earned you wouldn’t believe it , but you need to price high ,like all jobs watching someone do it it looks easy try doing it yourself and it’s a lot harder than it looks it is a skill that needs to be mastered it’s not just a case of sticking the vac end in a gutter . I have had several vacs over the years , several on hear rate the sky vac atom as a first vac , I have no experience with that model but it’s cheap enough to buy ,only need a few small jobs and it’s paid for , if you then find you need something bigger for doing large commercial or 3-5 storey stuff sell it and buy a bigger vac that’s what I did .try asking existing customer if it’s a service that they would like , we have lots of regular jobs ranging from every 12 weeks to annual jobs it’s a nice change from cleaning glass , we did 450 meters of guttering today all heavy soiling but I thoroughly enjoyed it .   

 
It's like any add on, if you get the work then definitely. Getting volume is hard, unless you live in an area that has a lot of trees, then it's easier. I can make 2 or 3 times more doing gutters than windows, and that's on the cream window jobs

 
What sort of price ranges are people charging... Windows I'm sorted.. Gutters no idea? 

Would like to start with a powerful machine so as not to have to upgrade to soon, any recommendations? 

 
What sort of price ranges are people charging... Windows I'm sorted.. Gutters no idea? 

Would like to start with a powerful machine so as not to have to upgrade to soon, any recommendations? 
We tend to just look at a job and think how long it will take... so a standard 3/4 bed house would probably £25 front £25 back and £25 for other bits like garages and flat roofs. Unless you can see loads of stuff hanging out... then just double it.

An average house takes no more than half an hour, and and your taking between £50 and £100 easy money

 
What sort of price ranges are people charging... Windows I'm sorted.. Gutters no idea? 

Would like to start with a powerful machine so as not to have to upgrade to soon, any recommendations? 




We have a minimum price of £65 for anything , so a  3 bed mid terrace or semi is £65 if it’s heavy growth then it will be more , time taken to do a job like this once you are proficient with the vac is 20-45 muinits maximum , we always try and get a few neibours on board if we can to boost earnings , Ime not putting on hear our dearest jobs but 4-5 storey stuff is let’s say expensive ???  

 
You don't initially need to buy an expensive all singing all dancing vac. What you need to do is buy a cheap metal vac with no poles or tools etc. and then buy the Spinaclean side entry casting, cuff, hose, poles and tools. You've then got something that will do a good job for around £1200, which is at least half what it would cost buying a named side entry vac. Front entry vacs will do a job but really don't compare to side entry.

 
You don't initially need to buy an expensive all singing all dancing vac. What you need to do is buy a cheap metal vac with no poles or tools etc. and then buy the Spinaclean side entry casting, cuff, hose, poles and tools. You've then got something that will do a good job for around £1200, which is at least half what it would cost buying a named side entry vac. Front entry vacs will do a job but really don't compare to side entry.
What’s the difference? I use probs one of the lesser models on the marke(gutter sucker junior, front entry)  and up to now it’s been fine. On the inside of the entry there’s a right angle price of plastic that shoots the debris and muck around the edge like a vortex instead of straight at the filter. Would this give the same effect as a side entry? 

 
I was thinking going in at from £60 a time, so if done in 1 hour great, done in 2 ok.


I’d suggest that you set a pricing scale.

i charge £1 per foot or £3 per metre. (It all depends if you’re old like me and use imperial or modern and use metric)

just charging £60 per time is great if it’s a 2 bedroom semi but not if it’s a 5 bedroom detached with adjoining garage.

good luck

 
What’s the difference? I use probs one of the lesser models on the marke(gutter sucker junior, front entry)  and up to now it’s been fine. On the inside of the entry there’s a right angle price of plastic that shoots the debris and muck around the edge like a vortex instead of straight at the filter. Would this give the same effect as a side entry? 
A lot of people on here often talk about vortex’s in there modified vacs. After the debris and muck enters the vac it will go straight to the suction source. Doesn’t matter if it’s side entry or a plastic deflector like yours. It’s point to point. There is nothing in a plain cylinder of a vac to make a vortex. 

 
A lot of people on here often talk about vortex’s in there modified vacs. After the debris and muck enters the vac it will go straight to the suction source. Doesn’t matter if it’s side entry or a plastic deflector like yours. It’s point to point. There is nothing in a plain cylinder of a vac to make a vortex. 
Ah right. It just looks that way with the pattern that’s left by the dirt etc when u open it. 

 
I got a skyvac atom around a year back and have done quite a few jobs this winter now. The machine has been good, I think it's more about your technique, it's not as easy as it looks in some cases! I've been faffing around with nozzles, cameras etc to try and hone my technique.

If it's a dead simple ladder pitch I will get the ladders off every time and use a Harris pole with pro gutter attachment and a bucket - it's Def quicker than setting the vac up. Just yesterday a regular window customer wanted just their front gutters done..ladder up, 10-15 mins of work, £20 extra..easy.

For a terrace front and back normally charge 50-60 but you normally can't get the ladders through so that's where the vac comes in.

I really enjoy the work, it's very satisfying and you can earn well from it, however I've quickly learnt that the majority of the time people are calling you because there is an issue with water damage, it's either pouring over the edge of the gutter or there's water ingress to the property, they just want you to sort the problem and that might involve doing things like fixing the gutter as well.

The other day I turned up for a clean but soon discovered they had bigger problems, the corner section of the gutter was completely missing and a roof tile and felt had disintegrated so that water was pouring straight into the roof and down the cavity and into their boiler!

I ended up going to the roofing supplier round the corner and picking up the materials and replacing the tile and gutter section. Totally fixed their problem and saved them a lot of money, they were buzzing with the service and paid me accordingly ? in fact they ended up asking me to quote for replacing 6m on their outbuilding which I think I'm going to do.

I've only just scratched the surface with This and can see it developing into something much bigger, especially if your willing to do the repairs and replacements as well, there's so much work there. So I would say go for it, get an atom or something similarly priced and crack on!

 
I have 60 customers plus the care home. The 60 customers all need their gutters cleared every few years so who is going to do it? Either me their window cleaner or they have to try and get someone else. Its a no brainer really.

 
I've only just scratched the surface with This and can see it developing into something much bigger, especially if your willing to do the repairs and replacements as well, there's so much work there. So I would say go for it, get an atom or something similarly priced and crack on!


That's what I have been saying on here since I begun window cleaning 2yrs ago. I am a joiner but anyone can fix or replace plastic gutters now even by watching a utube video. If you slowly move into property maintenance then the money flows in but you will be working 16hrs a day in the summer. It's up to the individual but the work is out there and that's just with our customers. ? 

 
What’s the difference? I use probs one of the lesser models on the marke(gutter sucker junior, front entry)  and up to now it’s been fine. On the inside of the entry there’s a right angle price of plastic that shoots the debris and muck around the edge like a vortex instead of straight at the filter. Would this give the same effect as a side entry? 
I've used both and can assure you they  are light years apart. I think the majority of front entry are 32mm whereas side entry is 51mm.

I had a front entry Kiam that was forever blocking. If you're only doing the odd residential job then you probably don't need anything better than what you have but I do circa £20k a year of gutter work and wouldn't like to be doing it with front entry.

 

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